BS Business Management Capstone (5 Days)

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Updated 3/31/18

This blog post is part of a series where I chronicle my advancement through WGU’s Bachelor of Science, Business – Information Technology Management degree. It includes detailed reports on my study methods and strategies as well as occasional tips and tricks. To see all entries in this series, click the “WGU” link under “Categories” on the left sidebar (bottom of the page if viewing on mobile)

The Capstone project is no easy task. I suppose it’s easier than Principles of Finance, but then again, so is a root canal. Here’s my advice:

  • Read the requirements carefully – they differ for different types of students and you don’t want to inadvertently do the wrong assignment.
  • Email the course mentors early and often. I have a thread with 13 back-and-forth emails to them.
  • Watch the videos and take notes of any ‘gotchas’ before completing the sections. I watched afterwards and ended up having to do quite a lot of revising because I’d made some hasty assumptions.
  • Write down your numbers. You’re going to be making sales predictions, financial forecasts, etc. I suggest keeping those numbers somewhere where you can easily reference them. I didn’t do that, and as a result I was constantly scrolling back and forth trying to make sure my estimates were consistent throughout the assignment.

Here’s how I completed this assignment in 5 days:

Day 1: Wrote the Executive Summary (yes, I know this is supposed to come last, but it’s required for the Portfolio, so I had to write it first)

Day 2: Wrote the Company Summary

Day 3: Wrote the Market Analysis

Day 4: (1) Wrote the Market Strategy, (2) wrote the Implementation Strategy

Day 5:

  1. Created the Financial Statements
  2. Wrote the Financial Report
  3. Reviewed, compiled, and formatted the document
  4. Did one last read-through to ensure I met the paper’s specifications
  5. Submitted the paper

As of right now I haven’t gotten my assignment back, so I don’t actually know whether or not I passed. I’m 499th in the queue, so it might be a while. When I get it back, assuming that I passed, I’ll write up a final post about my experience with WGU. It’s been a positive one. I know I have a few regular readers  and so I hope that these posts have been helpful.

I’ll do more of the wrap up in my next, and final, WGU post. Also, if I didn’t pass the Capstone for some reason, I’ll add an edit to this post and explain why and how to avoid my mistakes.

Update 3/30/2018:

I got the Capstone kicked back for revision. I used a lot of “interesting” language to describe how I felt about that (luckily there were no children present). It got it kicked back for three reasons:

  1. I did not include statistics and references in C2. Industry Analysis
  2. I did not provide enough detail in G2. Financial Position regarding the reasons for my assumptions and how those assumptions informed the financial projection
  3. My “References” page was not in APA format

Okay, that last one was my own fault. In my first reference, I’d forgotten to include an element, and then I based every other reference on that first flawed one. That was a stupid mistake, and I deserved it

Oh well, so it goes. I resolved the issues and resubmitted. When I did so I was 620 in the queue.

Update 3/31/2018:

Got the results back and, with the revisions, I passed.

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