Sponsor a Core Project for innovative solutions

Partner with talented business technologists from the top-ranked Kelley School of Business

The MSIS Core Project connects graduate students in the Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS) program with a real-world organization like yours to solve a complex business technology problems during an intense two-and-a-half-week period. As a project sponsor, your organization defines a meaningful IT-related challenge or initiative for teams of driven students to address as they complete our demanding Core business tech module.

Consultation details

Cost: Free
Duration: 3 weeks
Deliverables: Diverse set of innovative solutions

Project parameters

Projects emphasize management-level IT challenges such as investigating market opportunities around current or emerging technologies, improving data or cybersecurity practices, evaluating systems integration, or developing decision-support tools. Projects may include limited development or prototyping (e.g., dashboards or mock-ups), but the primary focus is on applying business and technical acumen to real challenges your organization faces. The students are supported by Kelley faculty and operate as professional teams, managing expectations, providing updates, and delivering a whitepaper with their recommendations. We raise the stakes by choosing five teams with the most exceptional work to present to senior IT leaders at the sponsoring firm.

Results for your organization

When you sponsor a Core Project, your organization benefits from our students’ enthusiasm and the expertise of supporting faculty, who are leaders in their field. Many clients return year after year, providing an experiential learning opportunity for students that benefits clients’ businesses and makes our MSIS program one of the best in the country.

Frequently asked questions

Core Projects center on a real, current, business‐technology challenge that can be framed as a detailed case. Working with the Core Project coordinator, company representatives help shape a case that draws on issues such as IT strategy, process design, data governance, emerging technology opportunities, or other critical IS topics. The emphasis is on analysis and recommendations rather than building a production system.

The Core Project is a three-week intensive that follows the students’ rigorous three-month foundational IS curriculum. Teams of graduate IS students work full-time—often 40 to 80 hours per week including weekends—exclusively on the company’s challenge.

Kick-off: Typically the Monday after Thanksgiving break, company representatives present the case to all student teams.
Q&A sessions: During the three-week sprint, the company hosts one or two virtual or in-person Q&A sessions to clarify details and answer follow-up questions.
Final presentations: At the end of the three weeks, selected teams present their solutions to a panel of company judges and program faculty.

Most companies dedicate a small core group:

A primary contact or project lead to help shape the case in advance (usually a few hours during the planning phase).
1 or 2 representatives to present the challenge at kickoff.
Subject matter experts to join the Q&A sessions (about 1 to 2 hours each).
Several judges for the final presentation day. Many sponsors also choose to fund or provide prizes for the winning teams, though this is optional.

MSIS students come from diverse academic and international backgrounds, primarily with business or informatics bachelor’s degrees. Some have internship or professional experience. All of the students have been selected through a competitive admissions process.

While small-scale prototyping such as mock-ups, Excel tools, and wireframes may be part of the deliverables, you should not scope projects as software development engagements.

All deliverables and artifacts produced by the team belong to the client and can be used internally as appropriate.

You will receive a final presentation from the top five teams, a whitepaper specific to your needs, and any other relevant project artifacts.

Michael Douglas Frutiger

Clinical Associate Professor
mfrutige@iu.edu

Michael's bio

“A Core Project offers companies a breadth of fresh thinking, as dozens of graduate IS teams tackle a current challenge from multiple angles — providing a portfolio of creative solutions while helping students build practical problem-solving skills and industry awareness.”

Michael Douglas FrutigerClinical Associate Professor

Sponsor a Core Project for innovative solutions

Partner with talented business technologists from the top-ranked Kelley School of Business

Consultation details

Project parameters

Results for your organization

Frequently asked questions

What kind of challenges are suitable for a Core Project?

What is the typical timeline and schedule for a Core Project?

How much time will my organization need to commit?

Who are the students and what backgrounds do they have?

Will the students develop software for us?

Who owns the deliverables created by the student team?

What do we receive at the end of the project?

Michael Douglas Frutiger

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