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Project Description:

We are students in the Project Management Graduate Certificate program who collected $2,170.50 worth of non-perishables for the AC food cupboard as part of our Applied Project Management course. AC food cupboard provides students who require food and other basic necessities. For the 2022 AC Food Cupboard project, there were two sponsors, i.e., Prof. David Solomon and Julia McCann. Two of the main requirements of the Project Sponsors were, too;

1. Raise goods to be donated for the Algonquin College’s food cupboard with a sponsored amount of $40 and achieve the funds ROI of 25:1 with an approximate amount of over $1000.00.

2. Goods must be delivered to AC Food cupboard on 27th July and, at least 70% of the items must be the items which are in high demand.

To raise the required funds, we speculated an amount. Then, each of us contacted cooperate companies and also the communities and informed them about the project. To advertise the project, we created posters and shared them through our social media accounts. Additionally, we created a “Go fund me” charity event, emphasizing the project and advertised that via social media. To collect these funds, we set up an account with our communications manager, Vishnu Bhan.

From 20th June 2022 to 23rd July 2022, we collected the funds through cooperative companies and communities and managed to raise $1,836.76. To procure the items, we conducted a market analysis and reached retailers such as Costco, Sysco, and Walmart. Out of these three companies, we shortlisted Costco and Walmart and our Communication Manager got in touch with the store management to procure the items. Then based on the percent allocation we created at the planning stage of the project, we purchased items from Costco and Walmart. Through special discounts, we managed to save $283.44. The total MRP of the items purchased through the retailers was $2,120.20. Additionally, we received $50.36 worth of items as a donation through one of our community channels. This sums the total MRP of $2,170.50 items toward the AC food cupboard.

In the early stages of the project, the funds accumulated slowly. We kept on reaching the cooperating companies and conducted a marketing campaign. We learnt that this target can be ascertained only through effective communication. Unknown risk struck on 23rd June as our contact in Sysco reported that she contracted Covid, and we knew we wouldn’t be able to purchase items through Sysco. Another Unknown risk occurred as one of our transport’s (Project Manager’s SUV) had an engine failure on the day of procuring. However, our contingency plans helped us to raise $2,170.50 worth of items for the students in need.

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Project Description:

More than the name of the project, “Fill the Shelves” was not only established for Algonquin College Food Cupboard, but also a remarkable learning experience for Project Management students.

The project’s goal is to aid the Algonquin Food Cupboard Program in the form of donated and purchased items, with quality and quantity approved. Each team that participated has to raise donations, with a starter fund of $40 from the School of Business, and the target is $1000 worth of goods. This amount ensures the Algonquin Food Cupboard Program with sufficient resources to help students with food insecurity. The donations can be money, canned food, proteins, dry goods, and toiletries. All items will be delivered to the food cupboard on the 27th.

The overall project was divided into two stages: raising money and buying goods. Our team has planned various activities in the first phase, namely crowdfunding in Parliament hills, fundraising from gofundme.com, donation events in Tim Hortons, door-to-door fundraising, and asking for support from personal connections. For each event, we prepared designed pamphlets to raise interest among donors.

Throughout the fundraising process, we have faced so many challenges. For instance, it was inevitable that a lot of people we asked in person at events showed no interest, no sympathy, and just wanted to avoid us as much as possible. However, we took that as a motivation to change our approach, learn to communicate, find compassion and raise awareness about the meaning of the project. Gaining this experience has helped us to fulfill our project’s requirements as well as make unforgettable memories within our team.

Reaching the end of the project, our team has successfully collected $737.1 of monetary. We then organized team members to use discounts at Walmart and Costco to buy the best quality products for more than $2000 valued items for the organization. Also, we stored them safely and in good condition and delivered to Algonquin Food Cupboard on the final day of the project.

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Project Description:

The project started when the client Never Knew I Needed (NKIN) commissioned the team to build a new product customization website. They currently have a website selling products like clothing and accessories with unique designs. The client’s needs were not met by this website, as they have customers who own retail outlets which order custom products in bulk. The team was commissioned to solve this problem by implementing a product customization website that was intended for use by retail customers only. The goal was to allow retail customers to log in to the new website with the same credentials they used for NKIN’s current website. This application would allow the retail customer to customize the clothing and accessories with their choice of color, images, and logos.

Our team chose to develop the website using a front-end JavaScript framework called React. Since the team had no experience with React, it required us to engage in self-learning through reading documentation and taking online courses. Once the team was familiar with React, the team started building the website. There were many hurdles to overcome, but once things came together, the team was happy with the level of customization the user is capable of with the new site.

Overall the project was a success and a great learning experience for the team. It’s always beneficial for the growth of a developer to learn a new language or framework from scratch. Additionally, working in an Agile team environment, with version control using Git, gives experience with the collaboration and organizational tools common in the software development workplace.

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Project Description:

Our project was to create a mobile application to support all communities to feel safe wherever and whenever they are. The application Aegis, which means a god shield, is so named because of our goal of protecting people. The goal was to create an interactive and intelligent app to assist users when they are in danger. It is important to first focus on the look and feel of the app with a simplistic design that allows the users to make use of the features efficiently including account management, navigation, contact adding and sending an SOS signal. Beyond basic functionality, there are different locations for navigating, calculating time and distance taken, and user tracking.

Runtime Terror is a team of six with different skills, who came across each other with the sole purpose of accomplishing the client’s idea with a working app. At first, individually, it was challenging for each person to recognize their strengths, weaknesses, and roles. However, going through the complete process, realizing that solving problems needs not only technical skills but other skills as well. We conducted research, analysis, and testing to ensure the product met the functional, performance, design, and implementation requirements.

Aegis is a big idea and starts from scratch. To start, the team had done large-scale research and completed detailed documentation to better understand the required software and tool. We found Firebase as a serverless service to use for data storage and authentication, followed by using the Dart and Flutter frameworks to program the application.

As this was our first time working for a client, we had to develop skills to best approach this project, as well as figure out how best to figure out what the client wanted out of the development of this application. One of our biggest challenges was keeping the scope of the project within a size we could complete within our timeframe. At the start of this project, we thought we would be easily able to finish all the features with no problems. However, halfway through we realized that we would have to work more efficiently to meet our client goals. To finish the project on time, we had to learn how to make our processes more efficient. To do this, Jira was used as a project management tool to handle the scope of such a project and to organize and prioritize the workload. This tool also helped to reduce stress and facilitate team productivity. Our team also used a development version control tool, which allowed seamless collaboration with a lower risk of severe loss in any development stage.

We gained much experience from completing this project. This project was amazing to work on and build, and we have gained many valuable skills for the future. We are glad to work on something that will help the community. We want to thank our client for giving us this project and for our professors for helping guide us through it.

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Project Description:

In collaboration with Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), students in the Interdisciplinary Studies in Human-Centred Design (IHCD) program were asked to examine service delivery at the IRCC Client Support Center (CSC). Our project team explored the journey and challenges faced by Permanent Resident (PR) clients throughout the application process while contacting the CSC.

To orient ourselves within the problem space, we conducted a literature review examining secondary sources such as published journal articles, newspaper articles, blogs, websites and social media. We developed a questionnaire in which we asked clients about their experiences with the application process and their interactions with IRCC through various channels. We used the results of the survey to inform interview questions for PR clients with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of client experiences and pain points. We also interviewed Subject Matter Experts including Immigration Consultants, Call Center Agents, UX Researchers and collaborated closely with IRCC to gain insight into their processes and eventually gain feedback on our proposed solutions.

Our research uncovered that many of the clients reaching out to IRCC through different channels were unable to reach an agent and many faced difficulties getting in the queue to connect with the agent. The clients who were able to reach the agents were often unsatisfied with the responses they received. Seeing little to no response within the expected timeline advertised on the website makes them feel anxious and frustrated about their application. Our primary research led us to develop the experience principles for the project, where we identified key principles that could help us develop our proposed solution for clients. The key findings from our research were that clients want tailor responses to their questions, they want to know “where in the process their file is,” and most importantly, they want to feel reassured about their application.

Our proposed solution is focused on reassuring clients before they reach out to call the CSC. The clients will be able to access the chatbot + live chat inside the PR application portal, where they’ll first interact with the chatbot. In case of a specific query, the clients would also be able to connect with the live agents directly, where the agents can provide updates on the client’s file. Our platform will help PR clients connect to the agents and get their queries acknowledged and heard. The chat history will also be recorded inside the portal to avoid miscommunication between agents and clients.

Throughout the course of our project, our team had the opportunity to learn by applying our theoretical knowledge to a real world issue and to adapt to several challenges as they came up. We also learned to enhance our collaboration skills by better understanding how to use the digital resources at our disposal.

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Project Description:

Genetic Affair’s front-end website was developed with the Vue framework and a JavaScript combination. The project encompasses a DNA relationship table to make comparisons off of, an AutoCluster diagram to give a visual representation of your genetic matches, and an Ancestral tree graph to allow you to explore your ancestry in more detail. One of the main purposes of Genetic Affair’s new website is to provide a user-friendly all-in-one resource that pools in your genetic matches and ancestry from multiple web sources.

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Project Description:

This project was planned to support the AC Food Cupboard and students who are experiencing food insecurity. The requirements are to raise $1,000 CAD with an initial investment of $40 CAD in a duration of 6 weeks, finalizing the project with the delivery of goods directly to Algonquin Food Cupboard on Friday July 29, 2022. The final proposal agreed upon by the team consisted of preparing boxes with a breakfast made up of pastries and coffee for two people. It was proposed the delivery of these boxes in a park, on this way, the people who wished could enjoy a morning picnic in the park. For reasons of quality and food safety, it was decided to buy the pastries, avoiding any issue of contamination. And after an arduous research and procurement by the team leader (Gabriella Michetti), two local companies in Ottawa agreed to donate products for the boxes, providing all the necessary products and equipment for serving coffee. With the help of these sponsors, the profit allocated for donation in each box increased, giving us the opportunity to have more margin. Through this project, it became clear that communication and procurement of stakeholders and sponsors, play an important role in the successful development of projects, marketing, and advertising is also required to make ourselves known, what is our project and why are we doing it. Finally, the skills of each member are added to be able to achieve the objectives. As final note, the funds raised were a total of 620CAD for procurement of goods.

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Project Description:

We know moving is a stressful experience, and when you have to move, it means something important is happening in your life. What do you look for when choosing a place to live? Location, nearby amenities, quality of the building, but most importantly, it’s the community. The community is what makes you feel at home and what you can rely on during a crisis.

Our project charter was to create a mobile application and an admin portal for Smart Living Properties. The goal was to create an interactive and engaging cross-platform mobile application to expand their reach and engagement, as currently, Smart Living Properties has 200+ properties around Ottawa with thousands of tenants. It was paramount that the application focused on accessibility, inclusiveness, and a simplistic design to be usable by a wide range of users. With accessibility and inclusivity in mind, we also created an intuitive admin dashboard to facilitate content management and moderation for the mobile application.

The Algonquin College’s Data Analytics Centre, a team, composed of Kiet Vuong (Team Lead), Evan Liko (Mobile App Developer), Son Tran (Web Developer), and Kseniia Chornokondratenko (UI/UX Designer) started working with the goal of achieving the client’s vision. Throughout the project, we learned that constant communication and collaboration were essential for effective group functioning. Moreover, we used the GitHub project management tool to help alleviate stress, increase productivity, host our codebase, and meet deadlines. We also used Figma as a collaborative interface design tool in order to design our administration portal and mobile application.

With community, safety, and accessibility as our core values, the team and the client came up with the list of features that were essential for the product; some notable features are private messaging between tenants, moderation of Not Safe For Work (NSFW) content on the newsfeed and marketplace screens through the use of AI, managing tenants, and sending correspondence by leveraging Cloud Functions. For the front end, we use the most professional and trusted cross-platform technologies to date, React Native Expo and ReactJS, to ensure it looks just right on both the mobile devices and the web portal. We used Google’s Firebase services for secure and robust data storage and transmission for our backend. All our data is kept here in Canada.

With the project’s phase nearing an end, we can say that this was the biggest project we have all had the opportunity to work on. Although we faced many challenges along the way, it was an experience that deepened our knowledge of designing and developing the product on a large scale.

We want to express our gratitude to our stakeholders, Rowland Gordon, tenants and staff of Smart Living Properties, Algonquin College, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council for their support and for this wonderful opportunity to be part of the team.

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