Our current web platform is an eCommerce site that allows producers and consumer to buy and sell merchandise. Users have requested the functionality to contact buyers and/or sellers directly. To address this, we would like to add a real-time chat function to our existing application.

We currently are using the Facebook chat integration and find that it is a hinderance to business not an asset. We would like a system that has hours of availability and the messages do not disappear.

We would like students to focus on:

• Selecting the best technologies for creating a real-time application.
• Creating a general chat application which can be easily ported to any other existing system.

The final deliverables should take the form of a final report and presentation including:

• The reasoning behind technologies chosen.
• Documentation around models and attributes used to model any data.
• A brief wireframe or mock-up of the resulting system’s user interface.
• The product roadmap used to create the system and implementation plan including a list of user stories detailing all possible interactions with the system.
• The source code for the system, preferably in a source control system such as Git.
• instructions on how to use the system.
• Test the system and make sure that it works

Students will connect directly with the employer for mentorship throughout the project.

• communication in slack
• project management in trello
• files in onedrive
• weekly meetings to update on progress