Although information systems are an integral part of every modern organization, IS faculty often struggle to show MBA students the value of the core IS course in the MBA curriculum. This is also evidenced by the fact that some business schools do not have an IS course in the core MBA curriculum. MBA courses often use case analyses to provide students opportunities to apply conceptual material. However, written business cases are necessarily simplifications of reality, and therefore lack the richness of live business situations. Projects that require students to engage in some activity with a live organization are another way to provide students the opportunity to apply newly-learned concepts. This paper describes the use the Information Orientation (IO) Maturity Model as the basis of a MBA course-based project. The IO model explicitly draws the relationship between business performance and several information and technology management concepts. More importantly, the IO Model is accompanied by a specific method of gathering and analyzing data, and includes general recommendations on how to improve the "IO Maturity" of an organization. The IO model posits that the organization that demonstrates effective uses of information (information orientation behaviors and values--IBV), information management (information management practices--IBV), and management of its information technology (information technology practices--ITP) in combination affect organizational performance. Their research indicates that if an organization is "mature" (i.e., effective) in all three of these areas, the organization will experience superior business performance. The IO model is particularly useful for the project we describe below because of its comprehensiveness in integrating what has heretofore been disparate streams of IT management research. The concepts of the model, coupled with the structure present in the data collection and analysis process, allow students to experience the dynamic environment of a live organization in a manner beneficial to both them and the organization. The students became much more knowledgeable about the IO model and developed a much stronger appreciation of the importance of information management and use. The students also had an opportunity to learn how information and information technology is used in organizations, while having a framework that helped them identify good and bad practices. Finally, the project provided useful insights for many of the participating organizations and helped management identify means of improving business performance. Anonymous student surveys and student reflection papers were used to gather information on the value of the project. Both the students and the cooperating organizations found the projects valuable. At the completion of the project, the students had a greater appreciation and understanding of the role of information and technology management in the success of an organization, and simultaneously benefited from observing the management issues in the organization. We plan to continue using this project and expand the use of the Information Orientation Maturity Model in the core MBA course. (Contains 1 table.)