Capstone Project: Design an AI System

This is your final project. Everything you have learned across all eight waves comes together here. You will design a comprehensive AI system for a real business -- combining strategy, tool selection, workflow design, agent creation, and ROI analysis into a document you could actually present to a leadership team.

Choose one of the following business scenarios (or use your own business):

Scenario A: The Growing E-Commerce Brand

A direct-to-consumer brand selling handmade skincare products. 15 employees, $2M annual revenue, growing 30% year-over-year. Pain points: drowning in customer emails, can't keep up with content creation, inventory forecasting is manual and often wrong.

Scenario B: The Professional Services Firm

A 25-person consulting firm specializing in environmental compliance. Pain points: proposal writing takes 20+ hours per proposal, knowledge is trapped in individual consultants' heads, client reporting is manual and inconsistent.

Scenario C: The Local Restaurant Group

A group of 4 restaurants with 60 total employees. Pain points: scheduling is a nightmare, customer feedback is ignored, menu optimization is based on gut feeling, marketing is inconsistent across locations.

Scenario D: Your Own Business

Use your real business. This produces the most valuable output — you'll actually use what you create.

Your capstone project should include all of the following components:

1. AI Readiness Assessment (10%)

• Current state audit: What tools and processes exist today?
• Team capability assessment: What's the AI skill level?
• Data inventory: What data is available and where does it live?
• Gap analysis: What's missing?

2. Opportunity Map (15%)

• List 10+ AI use cases for this business
• Score each on Impact (1-5) and Feasibility (1-5)
• Plot on the prioritization matrix
• Select the top 3 for your roadmap

3. Phased Roadmap (15%)

• Phase 1: Quick wins (Month 1-2)
• Phase 2: Team workflows (Month 3-4)
• Phase 3: Integration (Month 5-6)
• Include specific milestones and success criteria for each phase

4. Detailed Design for Phase 1 (30%)

For your #1 priority initiative:

• Agent design: System prompt (using CRISP framework), knowledge base outline, tool list
• Workflow design: Trigger, steps, data flow, error handling, monitoring
• Tool selection: Evaluation scorecard with 2-3 options compared
• Implementation plan: Step-by-step build guide with timeline

5. ROI Analysis (15%)

• Value created (time savings, error reduction, revenue increase)
• Total cost (tools, setup, maintenance, training)
• ROI calculation and payback period
• Sensitivity analysis: What if costs are 50% higher? What if savings are 50% lower?

6. Risk Assessment & Mitigation (15%)

• Technical risks (AI accuracy, integration issues)
• People risks (adoption, resistance, skill gaps)
• Business risks (cost overrun, vendor dependency)
• Mitigation plan for each risk
• Kill criteria: When to stop

Your project will be evaluated on:

• Specificity: Real numbers, real tools, real timelines (not "some AI tool" or "significant savings")
• Feasibility: Could a non-technical business owner actually implement this?
• Completeness: All 6 components addressed thoroughly
• Critical thinking: Risks acknowledged, limitations noted, honest ROI projections
• Communication: Clear enough for a business stakeholder to understand and act on

1. 1Start with the business problem — not the technology. What's broken? What hurts?
2. 2Talk to people (or imagine talking to them) — What do employees actually do all day? Where do they waste time?
3. 3Be realistic — A $2M business isn't going to spend $50K/year on AI tools. Scale your recommendations.
4. 4Think end-to-end — Don't just design the AI part. Design the human workflow around it.
5. 5Include the failures — Show that you've thought about what could go wrong.