This capstone project is admissible for use as a direct result of the current impact of the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

It is intended strictly for use as a replacement for the practicum component for current students in those programs that have been designated as being eligible for replacement under the current situation. The programs that are eligible to use this project as a replacement for the practicum are listed below.

• Accounting and Payroll Administration
• Business Accounting Technician
• Business Administrative Professional
• Business and Digital Marketing Management
• Child and Youth Services Worker
• Dental Office Administration
• Event Specialist
• Hospitality Business Management
• Human Resources Administration
• Human Resources and Payroll Coordinator
• Legal Assistant/Paralegal
• Medical Office Administration
• Oil and Gas Administration
• Pharmacy Assistant
• Social Media and Web Marketing
• Social Media Specialist
• Travel & Tourism
• Veterinary Health Care Assistant

Programs not appearing on this list are not eligible.

This project expires when the situation surrounding the COVID-19 returns to normal.

Introduction:

The recent evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe has resulted in the application of a large number of measures ranging from social distancing, limiting the number of people allowed in any gathering, to the closing of schools, business and offices and the cancelling of all non-essential activities.

These measures have given rise to a large number of unprecedented impacts on individuals and businesses in all sectors of activity. For these reasons, scheduled practicums in the programs listed above are not permitted to take place.

Our objective is to do everything that we can to keep our students and staff safe at all times during these critical times. This alternative project is provided as means to cover the requirement of the practicum component for each of the programs above.

Important things to remember:

• A practicum is usually set at 100 hours or five weeks duration in most cases
• Any alternative projective must be of an equivalent or appropriate duration and complexity
• The effort required to complete an alternative project should be similar to the time on task that would be required during a practicum

Project Requirements:

Each sector of business activity has been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. The force of this outbreak has impacted individuals, families, businesses and government services in many ways. Each sector of activity has been impacted or will be impacted to varying degrees.

Your task is to identify five (5) key players (business or other organizations) that are part of your sector of activity and describe how they have been and may be impacted by the outbreak. In the context of this project, a player is defined as any business, group, industry or other entity that actively participates in that specific area of activity. For example, in the Tourism industry, players could be Travel Agencies, Airlines, Hotels, Insurance companies, etc. In accounting and payroll, examples of players could be the stock markets, Government agencies such as Employment Insurance, self-employed individuals, or businesses in general.

Keep in mind that regardless of your industry, there are some players that may be common to more than one program.

Each player will be impacted to varying degrees along several fronts. Below is a list of nine areas or factors that players may face challenges with or require coping strategies. For each player, select five different factors that you wish to research and present.

1. Economic / financial challenges
2. Sales and Marketing challenges
3. Human resources and payroll challenges
4. Legal impacts
5. Communication challenges and strategies
6. Adaptive strategies ( during the crisis)
7. Emergency response challenges and strategies
8. Rebounding strategies ( after the crisis)
9. General societal issues and challenges ( g. health care system ability to cope)

Your task is to select five (5) relevant factors from the above list and research, describe and discuss how each of your five players are impacted.

Report Format

The report format must include an Introduction section where you provide an overview of how the COVID-19 outbreak has affected in general, the industry or sector that is aligned to your program of study.

Then for each of your five (5) players that you select, you must provide an overview of that player, what role it occupies in the industry or area of activity in which it participates, statistics on the player such as number of employees, office, geographical locations if possible, and any data that you can obtain through research and is relevant to your project. You must also indicate in this section an overview of the five (5) factors that you will be discussing for that player.

Your report must be a written report following the general structure described above. In addition to the written report, you must include a variety of different visual support resources such as PowerPoint slides, graphs illustrating data, video sequences, articles and any other support items that are relevant and related to your report. Any reference to any specific supplemental resource such as a PowerPoint slide must be referenced in your written report. All sources of information must be properly referenced as well. You will be required to present your report via video conferencing or other means as instructed by your campus administrator.