INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
INS3282
CAPSTONE PROJECT II
Topic Selection Guide
10 broad MIS project topics for student teams to explore and adapt
Each team should select one topic and adapt it to a specific company, organization, university, sector,
or realistic case context.
Summer 2026
For student topic exploration and project proposal preparation
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
How to Use This Guide
The ten topics in this guide are broad topic families, not fixed project titles. After selecting a topic, your team
must adapt it to a specific organization or realistic case and define a clear MIS problem.
Select a broad topic → Study a real process/problem → Define requirements → Design and
develop an MIS solution → Evaluate value with evidence
Before selecting a topic, discuss these five questions
Which business process or problem does your team
1. Interest
genuinely want to understand?
Can you interview users, observe a process, use public
2. Access
information, or create a realistic case and dataset?
Does the topic involve information, users, workflows,
3. MIS relevance
management, decisions or organizational value?
Can the core system be designed, implemented, tested
4. Scope
and evaluated within the capstone period?
Does the topic fit your strengths in system development,
5. Team capability
data, analytics, AI, UX or business analysis?
Quick topic comparison
No. Topic Primary focus Difficulty AI / analytics
1 CRM Process + customer data Medium Optional
2 Inventory DSS DSS + analytics High Strong fit
3 Sales BI BI + dashboards Medium Strong fit
4 HRIS Enterprise workflow Medium Optional
5 Support + KM Service + knowledge Medium-High Strong fit
6 Scheduling IS Operations workflow Medium Optional
7 Procurement IS Workflow + DSS High Strong fit
8 Academic DSS Risk analytics + cases High Strong fit
9 Complaint IS Service workflow Medium Strong fit
10 Maintenance DSS Operations + DSS High Strong fit
Difficulty is an indicative guide only. A well-scoped project in any topic can achieve a high grade; an over-ambitious project can fail
even when the topic is technically advanced.
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
Customer Relationship
01 Management System
CRM
MIS FOCUS INDICATIVE DIFFICULTY
Enterprise IS / CRM / Process Management Medium
CORE FOCUS BEST SUITED TO
Customer data, interaction history, follow-up workflow and Teams interested in business processes, customer service,
relationship analytics sales and practical full-stack development.
Suitable case contexts
Education centres; hotels; clinics; travel agencies; banks; retail or service SMEs.
Typical business problem
Customer information is often scattered across Excel files, email, phone notes or messaging apps. Staff may miss follow-
ups, duplicate records, or lack a complete history of customer interactions.
Suggested core system scope Possible KPIs for evaluation
Customer and organization profiles Lead conversion rate; follow-up completion rate; average
Lead / enquiry pipeline and status tracking response time; duplicate record rate; customer retention or
repeat-contact rate.
Interaction history: calls, email, meetings and notes
Follow-up tasks, reminders and staff assignment Optional advanced extensions
Customer segmentation and search Churn risk scoring; AI-generated interaction summaries; next-
Management dashboard and customer reports action recommendations; email classification.
Users and data Example adaptations
Typical users: sales staff, customer service staff and managers. CRM for an English language centre
Suggested data: customers, contacts, leads, interactions, tasks, Customer relationship system for a hotel
staff, segments and opportunities.
Student recruitment CRM for a university
SCOPE WARNING: Do not build only a customer CRUD application. The project should include a real relationship workflow,
follow-up process and management insight.
Before selecting this topic, your team should be able to answer: Which specific organization or case will we study, who are
the users, what process is currently weak, and what measurable improvement will our system target?
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
Inventory & Demand Decision
02 Support System
Inventory DSS
MIS FOCUS INDICATIVE DIFFICULTY
DSS / Operations IS / Business Analytics High
CORE FOCUS BEST SUITED TO
Stock monitoring, demand analysis, reorder decisions and Teams that enjoy data, business rules, analytics and decision-
inventory planning support features.
Suitable case contexts
Retail stores; pharmacies; cafes; warehouses; e-commerce sellers; small manufacturers.
Typical business problem
Organizations may experience stock-outs, overstock or slow-moving inventory because replenishment decisions are based
on manual checks or staff experience rather than timely data.
Suggested core system scope Possible KPIs for evaluation
Product, warehouse and supplier master data Stock-out rate; excess inventory; inventory turnover; forecast
Stock-in, stock-out and inventory movement records error; replenishment lead time; percentage of urgent
purchases.
Current stock and low-stock monitoring
Demand trend and product performance analysis Optional advanced extensions
Reorder rules, suggested order quantities and alerts Demand forecasting; ABC analysis; safety-stock calculation;
Inventory decision dashboard and reports scenario analysis; supplier lead-time risk.
Users and data Example adaptations
Typical users: store staff, warehouse staff, purchasing staff and Inventory DSS for a convenience store
managers. Demand planning system for a pharmacy
Suggested data: products, stock movements, sales, suppliers,
warehouses, purchase orders and reorder parameters. Stock decision support for a fashion retailer
SCOPE WARNING: A basic stock-in / stock-out system is not enough. The project must support replenishment or inventory
decisions using rules, analytics or forecasting.
Before selecting this topic, your team should be able to answer: Which specific organization or case will we study, who are
the users, what process is currently weak, and what measurable improvement will our system target?
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
03 Sales Analytics Dashboard
Sales BI
MIS FOCUS INDICATIVE DIFFICULTY
BI / MIS Reporting / Data Analytics Medium
CORE FOCUS BEST SUITED TO
Transform sales data into business KPIs, trends, comparisons Teams interested in BI, data modelling, dashboards and
and actionable insight evidence-based management.
Suitable case contexts
Retail; e-commerce; food and beverage; hotels; education centres; service businesses.
Typical business problem
Managers may receive late or fragmented sales reports and cannot quickly identify changes by product, branch, channel,
customer group or time period.
Suggested core system scope Possible KPIs for evaluation
Sales data import or integration Revenue growth; average order value; target attainment;
Structured analytical data model gross margin; sales by channel; top / declining products;
branch performance.
Executive KPI dashboard
Sales analysis by product, branch, channel and period Optional advanced extensions
Target-versus-actual and trend analysis Sales forecasting; anomaly detection; customer cohort
Drill-down, filters and exportable reports analysis; AI-generated narrative summaries of dashboard
changes.
Users and data
Typical users: sales managers, branch managers and senior Example adaptations
management. Sales dashboard for a coffee chain
Suggested data: sales orders, order items, products, customers,
branches, channels, staff and sales targets.
Retail performance analytics for an electronics store
Course enrolment and revenue dashboard for a training centre
SCOPE WARNING: Do not create a collection of attractive charts without clear management questions, defined KPIs and a
meaningful analytical data structure.
Before selecting this topic, your team should be able to answer: Which specific organization or case will we study, who are
the users, what process is currently weak, and what measurable improvement will our system target?
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
Human Resource Management
04 System
HRIS
MIS FOCUS INDICATIVE DIFFICULTY
HRIS / Enterprise IS / Workflow Management Medium
CORE FOCUS BEST SUITED TO
Employee information, HR workflows, records and Teams interested in enterprise systems, approval workflows
management reporting and organizational processes.
Suitable case contexts
SMEs; universities; schools; hotels; clinics; technology firms; service companies.
Typical business problem
Employee profiles, leave, attendance, contracts and evaluations may be maintained in separate files, causing duplicate
data, slow approvals and poor management visibility.
Suggested core system scope Possible KPIs for evaluation
Employee profiles and organizational structure Leave approval time; attendance anomalies; contract-expiry
Leave request and approval workflow alerts; appraisal completion rate; staff turnover; training or
document compliance.
Attendance or work-status records
Contract, certificate or document tracking Optional advanced extensions
Performance review records Attrition-risk analytics; CV / document extraction; HR chatbot
HR dashboard and workforce reports linked to policies; workforce trend analysis.
Users and data Example adaptations
Typical users: employees, line managers and HR staff. HRIS for a hotel
Suggested data: employees, departments, positions, leave Staff information system for a private school
requests, attendance, contracts, evaluations and documents.
HR workflow system for a small technology company
SCOPE WARNING: Keep payroll and complex labour-law calculations out of scope unless the team has reliable requirements
and enough time. Focus on HR information and workflow quality.
Before selecting this topic, your team should be able to answer: Which specific organization or case will we study, who are
the users, what process is currently weak, and what measurable improvement will our system target?
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
Customer Support &
05 Knowledge Management
System
Support + KM
MIS FOCUS INDICATIVE DIFFICULTY
Knowledge Management / Service IS / AI-enabled IS Medium-High
CORE FOCUS BEST SUITED TO
Ticket handling, service workflow, shared knowledge and Teams interested in service management, knowledge systems
faster problem resolution and optional AI / RAG features.
Suitable case contexts
Technology firms; e-commerce; university helpdesks; telecom services; internal IT support.
Typical business problem
Customer or user requests may be lost across email and chat. Staff repeatedly answer the same questions, while useful
solutions remain in personal notes rather than a shared knowledge base.
Suggested core system scope Possible KPIs for evaluation
Ticket creation and request intake First-response time; average resolution time; SLA compliance;
Category, priority and status management first-contact resolution; reopened ticket rate; knowledge article
usage.
Assignment, escalation and SLA tracking
Conversation and resolution history Optional advanced extensions
Knowledge article creation, review and search AI ticket classification; RAG-based answer suggestions; ticket
Support performance dashboard summarization; duplicate-ticket detection.
Users and data Example adaptations
Typical users: customers / end users, support agents, IT helpdesk and knowledge system for a university
supervisors and knowledge editors. Customer support system for an e-commerce business
Suggested data: tickets, users, agents, categories, SLA rules,
messages, resolutions and knowledge articles. Technical support platform for a software company
SCOPE WARNING: A chatbot alone is not a complete MIS capstone. The central system should manage requests, service
workflow, organizational knowledge and performance.
Before selecting this topic, your team should be able to answer: Which specific organization or case will we study, who are
the users, what process is currently weak, and what measurable improvement will our system target?
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
Appointment & Resource
06 Management System
Scheduling IS
MIS FOCUS INDICATIVE DIFFICULTY
Operations IS / Scheduling / Process Management Medium
CORE FOCUS BEST SUITED TO
Booking, availability, staff or room allocation and service- Teams interested in workflow design, scheduling logic and
capacity management operational information systems.
Suitable case contexts
Clinics; salons; tutoring centres; consulting services; laboratories; university facilities.
Typical business problem
Manual booking can cause double-booking, uneven resource use, long waiting times, missed appointments and poor
visibility of staff or room capacity.
Suggested core system scope Possible KPIs for evaluation
Service, staff, room or resource configuration Resource utilization; no-show rate; average waiting time;
Availability and scheduling rules cancellation rate; booking completion rate; appointment lead
time.
Appointment booking and confirmation
Reschedule, cancellation and waitlist workflow Optional advanced extensions
Check-in and appointment status tracking No-show prediction; smart reminders; scheduling optimization;
Utilization and appointment dashboard recommended time slots based on capacity.
Users and data Example adaptations
Typical users: customers / students / patients, reception staff, Appointment system for a dental clinic
service staff and managers. Room and consultation booking for a university
Suggested data: users, services, appointments, staff, rooms,
resources, schedules and status history. Tutor and classroom scheduling for a language centre
SCOPE WARNING: Do not build only a calendar. The project should model availability, operational constraints, resource use
and measurable service performance.
Before selecting this topic, your team should be able to answer: Which specific organization or case will we study, who are
the users, what process is currently weak, and what measurable improvement will our system target?
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
Procurement & Supplier
07 Evaluation System
Procurement IS
MIS FOCUS INDICATIVE DIFFICULTY
Enterprise IS / DSS / Governance High
CORE FOCUS BEST SUITED TO
Purchase requests, approvals, quotation comparison and Teams interested in enterprise workflows, governance and
evidence-based supplier evaluation multi-criteria decision support.
Suitable case contexts
Universities; hotels; manufacturers; retailers; offices; medium-sized organizations.
Typical business problem
Purchase requests may be handled by email or paper, approval status is difficult to track, and supplier selection may be
subjective or based only on price.
Suggested core system scope Possible KPIs for evaluation
Purchase request creation and department submission Approval cycle time; cost saving; supplier on-time delivery;
Multi-level approval workflow supplier score; urgent purchase rate; request-to-order time.
Supplier profiles and quotation records Optional advanced extensions
Quotation comparison and evaluation criteria AHP / TOPSIS supplier ranking; supplier risk alerts; document
Purchase order and delivery-status tracking extraction from quotations; budget-control rules.
Procurement and supplier performance dashboard Example adaptations
Users and data Procurement system for a university
Typical users: requesting departments, managers, procurement Supplier evaluation system for a hotel
staff and approvers.
Suggested data: purchase requests, items, departments, Digital purchasing workflow for an SME
suppliers, quotations, criteria, scores, approvals and purchase
orders.
SCOPE WARNING: Do not turn the project into an online shopping website. The MIS focus is internal procurement workflow,
control, transparency and supplier decisions.
Before selecting this topic, your team should be able to answer: Which specific organization or case will we study, who are
the users, what process is currently weak, and what measurable improvement will our system target?
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
08 Student Risk Alert System
Academic DSS
MIS FOCUS INDICATIVE DIFFICULTY
DSS / Education IS / Analytics / AI-enabled IS High
CORE FOCUS BEST SUITED TO
Early identification of at-risk students and structured academic Teams interested in education, analytics, DSS and responsible
intervention AI / predictive modelling.
Suitable case contexts
Universities; colleges; schools; professional training programmes; language centres.
Typical business problem
Students who are academically at risk may only be identified after major failure. Academic data may exist, but advisors lack
timely alerts and a structured intervention process.
Suggested core system scope Possible KPIs for evaluation
Student academic profile and data import Detection lead time; advisor response time; intervention
Risk indicators, thresholds or scoring rules completion rate; high-risk case follow-up rate; precision / false-
alert rate when using a model.
Student risk list and explainable risk factors
Alert generation and advisor assignment Optional advanced extensions
Intervention / counselling case records Machine-learning risk prediction; explainable AI; intervention
Risk and intervention dashboard recommendation; risk-trend analysis.
Users and data Example adaptations
Typical users: academic advisors, programme staff and Early warning system for a university programme
authorized managers. Attendance and performance risk alerts for a college
Suggested data: students, courses, grades, attendance, LMS
activity, warnings, risk scores and interventions. Learner risk monitoring for a language centre
SCOPE WARNING: Do not submit only an ML classification model. The project must include alerts, users, case-management
workflow and privacy-aware handling of student data.
Before selecting this topic, your team should be able to answer: Which specific organization or case will we study, who are
the users, what process is currently weak, and what measurable improvement will our system target?
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
Complaint Management
09 System
Complaint IS
MIS FOCUS INDICATIVE DIFFICULTY
Service IS / Workflow / Quality Management Medium
CORE FOCUS BEST SUITED TO
Capture, track, escalate and analyse complaints across the Teams interested in service quality, workflow, SLA monitoring
resolution lifecycle and text analytics.
Suitable case contexts
Airlines; hotels; banks; universities; public services; e-commerce; telecom services.
Typical business problem
Complaints may arrive through different channels and are difficult to trace. Managers may not know which cases are
overdue or which recurring problems create the most dissatisfaction.
Suggested core system scope Possible KPIs for evaluation
Complaint submission and multi-channel recording Average resolution time; SLA breach rate; escalation rate;
Category, severity and priority management repeat complaint rate; customer satisfaction; top recurring
complaint categories.
Assignment and resolution workflow
Escalation and SLA monitoring Optional advanced extensions
Resolution history and customer feedback NLP complaint classification; sentiment analysis; duplicate /
Complaint trends and root-cause dashboard similar complaint detection; root-cause trend alerts.
Users and data Example adaptations
Typical users: customers / service users, complaint-handling Complaint management for a hotel
staff, department owners and managers. Student complaint and service recovery system for a university
Suggested data: complaints, customers, channels, categories,
priorities, SLA rules, actions, staff and feedback. Customer complaint tracking for an e-commerce company
SCOPE WARNING: A contact form with an admin page is too weak. The project needs a full resolution lifecycle, escalation
logic, service metrics and trend analysis.
Before selecting this topic, your team should be able to answer: Which specific organization or case will we study, who are
the users, what process is currently weak, and what measurable improvement will our system target?
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
Asset Maintenance Decision
10 Support System
Maintenance DSS
MIS FOCUS INDICATIVE DIFFICULTY
Operations IS / Asset Management / DSS High
CORE FOCUS BEST SUITED TO
Asset records, maintenance work orders, preventive planning Teams interested in operations, asset management, DSS and
and maintenance prioritization technically richer business cases.
Suitable case contexts
Universities; factories; hospitals; hotels; office buildings; transport operators.
Typical business problem
Maintenance is often reactive: assets are repaired after failure. Incomplete asset history makes it difficult to prioritize work,
plan preventive maintenance or identify repeated faults.
Suggested core system scope Possible KPIs for evaluation
Asset registry, category, location and status Asset downtime; mean time to repair (MTTR); preventive
Fault reporting and maintenance requests maintenance compliance; repeated fault rate; work-order
completion time; maintenance cost.
Work-order creation, assignment and status workflow
Preventive maintenance schedules and alerts Optional advanced extensions
Maintenance history and repeated-fault analysis Priority scoring; predictive maintenance; sensor-data
Maintenance decision dashboard and priority support integration; spare-part demand analysis.
Users and data Example adaptations
Typical users: asset users, facility staff, technicians and Facility maintenance DSS for a university
operations managers. Equipment maintenance system for a hospital
Suggested data: assets, locations, faults, work orders,
maintenance plans, technicians, parts and maintenance history. Asset and work-order system for a factory
SCOPE WARNING: An asset inventory database is not enough. The project should include maintenance workflow, asset
history, operational KPIs and a clear decision-support element.
Before selecting this topic, your team should be able to answer: Which specific organization or case will we study, who are
the users, what process is currently weak, and what measurable improvement will our system target?
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INS3282 - CAPSTONE PROJECT II | TOPIC SELECTION GUIDE
Topic Selection Worksheet
Use this worksheet before submitting your project proposal. Shortlist two or three topics, compare them
honestly, and select the topic with the strongest combination of MIS relevance, access to information and
feasible scope.
Step 1 - Shortlist your options
Rank Broad topic Possible organization / case
Step 2 - Score the shortlisted topic
Score each criterion from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong). A higher score indicates a more suitable capstone topic for your team.
Criterion Guiding question Topic A Topic B Topic C
Real problem We can clearly identify a real organizational or user
problem.
Access We can obtain requirements, interviews, process
information or realistic data.
MIS relevance Information, users, workflow, decisions and
organizational value are central.
Feasibility The core system can be completed and tested within
the available time.
Team fit The topic matches our technical and analytical
strengths.
Evaluation We can define measurable KPIs or evidence of
improvement.
TOTAL / 30 Select the strongest feasible option, not simply the
most fashionable technology.
Step 3 - Write your preliminary topic statement
Use the following pattern:
[System / topic] for [specific organization or case] to improve [process / decision / information
problem]
Example: Inventory & Demand Decision Support System for a Local Pharmacy Chain to Reduce Stock-outs and Improve
Reorder Decisions
Final reminder
A strong MIS capstone is not defined by the newest technology. It is defined by a clear problem, well-
understood users and processes, appropriate information management, a coherent system design,
reliable implementation, and evidence that the solution creates value.
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