Assignment: The CEO's Challenge

You've just left an all-hands meeting at your company*. The CEO was very upset at the rise of shadow IT projects - a major indicator that the company's internal information system has failed to meet its needs.

Because the current information system is inadequate, inefficient, and outdated, the CEO is inviting everyone in the organization to propose a new operational, decision support, or enterprise information system to replace it. The executives have allocated $5 million to fund the most promising idea.

This is your chance to make a difference in the company (not to mention your own career). Write your proposal as a memo that the entire C-suite will review. Include at least these points, in your own words, to be persuasive:

1. Identify the main functions of your proposed information system and why they are important to the business.

2. Describe what types of data your information system will hold and how data quality will be ensured.

3. Explain how the old information system handles the functions you mentioned, the problems that occur, and why your information system will handle things better.

4. Offer evidence of feasibility: Show that similar information systems have been built successfully and that they save more money than they cost.

The executives are busy, so keep your memo to 1-4 pages and avoid any extraneous content.

*You may use a current or former employer, but do not disclose anything confidential. Or, you can pick another organization if you are familiar with their internal (not customer-facing) information systems. You can disguise the organization and populate it with famous names. Made-up companies are problematic because of the amount of detail and realism they require.