Create and broaden your network of contacts from business contacts to family and friends. You may also look at businesses around places you frequent. Get creative in finding prospective clients!

You can begin eye-balling company clients as early as you can. Perhaps, you can already start scouting as early as IT1220L - Information Management/L. However, caution on committing early as clients can get impatient and may move on if it takes too long for the group to actually execute Capstone.

A suitable company client is one who actively engages the group and answers inquiries. This may take time in the form of relationship building. It is ideal that all members in the capstone group familiarizes him or herself with the client contact and other relevant stakeholders to ensure continuity in the unfortunate event that some members become unavailable.

To avoid difficult client-related issues, work to ensure the ff:

• The company is a stable company and won't go under any time soon.

• The company understands the timeline for Capstone so expectations of when the solution will be produced is realistic.

• The company understands the limitations on ownership (they can use the system, but not access the code). 

• The company client is 100% supportive of the group's capstone endeavors and is invested in its success (because it would also benefit the company).

Beyond all of that, the problem identified should require an IT solution. This should not be a trivial problem nor should it be a trivial technology solution. The solution should encompass all the areas of the BSIT program from business operations, to operating system, networking, software development, data modeling, etc. 

A Capstone Group consists of three (3) BSIT students and is formed during IT131D. Students are expected to select their own group mates.  Depending on the situation, groups of two (2) are allowed with a maximum number of four (4).

No.  Once the group is formed in IT131D, the group remains for the duration (IT132DL, IT141DL).

No. This is highly discouraged as this effectively delays the capstone group's progress by 1 semester. There are special circumstances where this becomes a necessity, but this request, in principle, will not be entertained.

Students can suggest their preferred faculty adviser but the final decision is made by the CPAR Coordinator (FIC of IT132DL).

A capstone group is assigned a faculty adviser. Students are expected to collaborate with the adviser on all matters regarding the research problem and the IT solution. The capstone group can consult on technology to use, development related matters, etc. 

The Faculty Adviser is expected to regularly check on the group to encourage steady progress. They must vet the Capstone Proposal as established in IT131D and determine whether the solution is appropriate for Capstone. The CPAR Coordinator can be brought into such discussion to ensure the standards are met.

Students are free to select any programming language or framework for the implementation of their solution.  Caution should be made however in that the technology solution should require significant amount of development work.  For example, the use of WordPress and its suite of plugins means that development of the solution involves just configuring the plugins. This will not be sufficient for Capstone. 

Rapid Application Development Platforms

This should not mean that students are restricted to use low level languages as there are plenty of rapid application development platforms available that can be chosen that spans several languages from Java, to C#, PHP, Python, etc.:

• https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/top-10-most-popular-java-frameworks-for-web-development/ 

• https://www.jmix.io/ 

• https://analyticsindiamag.com/10-best-python-frameworks-for-web-development/ 

• https://kinsta.com/blog/php-frameworks/ 

• https://medium.com/@SeloSlav/rapid-application-prototyping-with-c-and-parse-net-b805bdcde7da 

• https://wisej.com/ 

• https://www.clariontech.com/blog/top-mobile-app-development-frameworks-in-2019  

• https://www.mongodb.com/mean-stack 

• https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/mern-stack/

• https://laravel.com/     

Expect a learning curve when using these frameworks, but also recognize the benefit once time has been invested on it. Capstone groups will be able to complete functions much faster once the framework chosen is well understood.

Front-End Frameworks

Capstone groups are encouraged to adopt and invest in advanced front-end frameworks that streamline the user interface and user experience (UI, UX).

• https://www.altexsoft.com/blog/engineering/most-popular-responsive-css-frameworks-bootstrap-foundation-materialize-pure-and-more/

• https://getbootstrap.com/ 

• https://semantic-ui.com/ 

• https://materializecss.com/

Source Code Management

As capstone projects are developed by group of students together, a source code management (SCM) system is required. There are three major options:

• https://git-scm.com/ (Git)

• https://www.nongnu.org/cvs/ (CVS)

• https://subversion.apache.org/ (Subversion)

Mostly, the expectation is for the capstone group to use Git through the various free online repositories available:

• https://about.gitlab.com/ 

• https://github.com/

• https://bitbucket.org/

Capstone groups are encouraged to practice on git so that they are able to manage and integrate the work quickly and easily.

A Capstone Group is expected to execute using the concepts delivered in IT132DL. For additional assistance, the group may consult with the Faculty Adviser. The software must be developed steadily over the duration of IT132DL and IT141DL (for completion).

Yes!  You are allowed and encouraged to utilize the laboratory for capstone.

As much as possible, the composition of the capstone group is maintained for the duration of the capstone program. However, situations can arise when a member files for LOA, or receives INC, etc. that may render it impossible for such members to enroll with the group. Such situations are treated on a case-to-case basis. As deemed necessary by the Faculty Adviser and the CPAR Coordinator, these members may be dropped from the group.

The capstone group is strongly encouraged to resolve any intra-team issues internally. The Faculty Adviser is there as an external party that can help guide conflict resolutions. For extreme cases and with the recommendation of the Faculty Adviser, the group may raise the matter with the CPAR Coordinator. A final decision will be rendered which may involve removal of the member.

It is important to stress that a member will not automatically be removed on a whim. This is not a trivial process nor is any decision to remove a member taken lightly.

Deployment of the solution developed by the group is an important component of Capstone as collecting data and monitoring the solution shows how potent it is in solving the problems. This requirement has to be made clear to the client. In addition, the relationship between client and students have to be made clear that because it is pro-bono work and that the students are not vendors, the university is not liable for any damages that can be incurred from its use. Furthermore, there is no warranty  period for any solution created and deployed.

For possible platforms that capstone groups can use to test deployments, here are some options:

• Vultr (free trial)

• Kamatera (free trial)

• Linode (free trial)

• Digital Ocean (free trial)

• Amazon Web Host 

• Python Anywhere (free tier) 

• Heroku 

• Infinityfree

• Freehostia 

Consult with the Faculty Adviser and/or the Faculty-in-Charge (FIC) for your Capstone course ASAP.

Setup your approval sheet on PDF using DocHub (https://dochub.com/) and have the panelists sign it.