DIF Project

Measure and structure dental school student development

DIF is partnering with Temple’s Kornberg School of Dentistry to implement the PRO platform, to measure, structure, and motivate the professional development of dental students. The DIF team includes Manoj Chacko, Laurel Miller, and Munir Mandviwalla, co-founders of PRO Community LLC, a Temple University spin-off company that arose from the first DIF project.

At Kornberg, according to Dean Amid Ismail: “Student development is a critical part of our mission. Professional development of students can be advanced by PRO that document and allow faculty to measure the professional development and experience of students.”

Currently, an extended soft release is underway, with the platform set to become mandatory for all students starting in fall 2024 (see PRO Platform for more information).

Transplantability and Tailoring of Enterprise Systems

Michael Bradshaw, Senior Vice President, Global Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI, Kyndryl, an IBIT partner, is collaborating with IBIT on a research project to rethink organizational enterprise systems strategy and propose new management concepts. The IBIT team includes Munir Mandviwalla and Amrit Tiwana, Professor, University of Georgia.

The project is focused on important questions about systems strategy, evolution, and value. The results include a framework to assess the opportunity and risks of generating business value over time from enterprise systems.

Rethinking the UX of TU Portal

Abey John, Director, Temple Information Technology Services is partnering with DIF to improve the user experience and governance of TUportal – a platform for information and transactions for internal stakeholders.

The DIF team includes Amy Lavin, Associate Professor of MIS who is conducting focus groups to evaluate usability and identify needs. The team also includes Manoj Chacko and Munir Mandviwalla.

Fanalli – Fair-priced tickets for true fans

The Fanalli platform ensures that genuine fans can access concert tickets at fair prices. Rhea Mohite, Management student, recognized that ticket bots inflate prices, depriving fans of fair prices: “Fanalli unlocks the power of fandom to create an enjoyable concert ticket buying experience.”

DIF Role

Prototype a mobile platform, that combines real-time user data from music platforms like Spotify and creating a loyalty based ticket buying experience.

Project Founders

Rhea Mohite
*Management Student*
*Fox School of Business*

DIF Consultant

Ayush Gupta
*Computer and Information sciences (CIS) student*

Cole Roberts
*Computer and Information sciences (CIS) student*

DIF Awards

Ayush Gupta, Recipient of the Fall 2024 Fadem Endowed Scholarship

Impact

“The project has allowed me to refine the skills I acquired as a Management Information Systems (MIS) major including building an application and starting a business.” Cole Roberts

“I enjoy learning new programming languages and getting a glimpse into the dynamics of working in industry and startups.” Ayush Gupta

Manoj Chacko managed this project for DIF

PRO Platform receives Patent

“System and Method for Quantifying Professional Development” – U.S. Patent No. 11989679 was issued May 21, 2024 listing the IBIT and DIF team of Munir Mandviwalla, Manoj Chacko, and Laurel Miller as inventors.

The patent is on how the PRO platform structures, motivates, and measures student and employee development in universities and corporations. PRO develops students, a goal that all universities have but few have found a way to motivate and systemize beyond course work and GPA. See: “A System to Structure, Measure, and Improve Student Development,” IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies.

PRO is housed in IBIT’s Digital Innovation Foundry (DIF), which applies Design Science Research. PRO was the first DIF project, serves as DIF’s anchor tenant, and led to the DIF endowment.

PRO Community, LLC is a 2020 spin-off co-founded by the patent inventors and Niraj Patel with support from Steve Nappi and Niraj Muni in Temple’s Office of Technology Commercialization and Business Development.

San Jose State University’s School of Information Systems and Technology, is the first licensee with more than 2000 student users since 2018. Temple’s Kornberg School of Dentistry, led by Dean Amid Ismail signed on in 2022. University of Scranton’s Kania School of Management led by Dean Mark Higgins and Associate Dean Murli Rajan just signed on.

Earlier versions prior to PRO evolving into a complete product were licensed by Scholastic Corporation, Georgia State University, Loyola University Maryland, and KIPP Philadelphia Schools.

PRO started in Temple University’s Management Information Systems (MIS) department in 2008. Temple MIS is the living lab for the platform, which has impacted more than 4,000 MIS graduates.