Groups will consist of four to six members. Groups are responsible for researching a project and producing a rudimentary business plan. This step involves researching an industry and identifying a potential business or type of business to implement on-line. The business should NOT be a simple copy of an existing business. It should be a valid, new, and interesting idea that given the resources could be developed into a full-fledged business.

     There is no strict outline your business plan must follow. Your textbook has some information on starting an ecommerce business you might find useful. However, the following information must be included in your business plan:
     a) Give a brief overview of the industry
     b) Discuss the opportunity or niche your business will take advantage of
     c) Discuss how your business will compete in its industry
     d) Discuss the goals of your business and provide a plan of action for accomplishing them
     e) Perform basic systems analysis and design and determine the information technology needs of the business
     f) Show some basic financial numbers (you do not need to go into detailed financial projections)
     g) Create a prototype of the business the includes some of the key pages using HTML. The prototype does not need to be functional beyond simple hyperlinks but it should give a good idea of what your site will look like and what its functionality will be when fully implemented

Given that potential investors have little time and short attention spans, the business plans should be short (maximum of 15 pages, double spaced, font size 12) but include all the necessary information. The same applies for the presentation which will be about 15 minutes only.

Due dates:

Due Date	Deliverable
Wed February 19th	A short (couple of paragraphs) write-up of the business idea that the group will work on. The group should NOT proceed with the project until the instructor has approved the topic.
Mon March 24th	The first part of the write up is due. It should consist of an executive summary, an industry analysis, and a competitive analysis of your business in the current market. Given the 15 page limit this should be around 4-5 pages.
Tue April 15th	A brief (2-3 pages) discussion on your marketing strategy for your business is due by this date
Mon May 12th Wed May 14th	Group Presentations
Wed May 14th	Complete business plan is due at the beginning of the class