Assignment

Applicable course objective:
- critically analyse business requirements from an information systems perspective
- critique information systems concepts to identify and resolve problems within a business context
- identify the appropriate information systems to develop practical solutions within a business context
- communicate information systems concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences within a business context.

Applicable graduate qualities and skills gained from this assessment instrument:
- Problem Solving (Skill U2)
- Written & Oral Communication (Skill U4)

Task 1: Personal Research Journal (max. 500 words)

Prepare a journal that records your activities and progress related to completing this assignment. In date order, clearly list the following:

- Date of research activity/discussion
- Full description of research activity / discussion (at least 25 words)
- List of all appropriate web sites visited to collect information; other references accessed (using
Harvard AGPS Referencing style - submitted separate to the List of References in Task 2).
- Time duration of the activity
If you are working in a team, clearly state the activities of each team member.

Submit this journal as an appendix to Task 2 (after the List of References and include in the Table of Contents).

Any references to web pages and online documents, such as white papers, should be listed at the end of the journal.

Task 2: Case Study Report (max. 4,500 words)

Your report should include a professional title page, computer generated Table of Contents (including List of Tables and List of Figures) and Appendices.

Report Section 1 - Hardware, Software and Networking Infrastructure / Cloud Services

What type of hardware and software, including networking infrastructure, or the cloud service arrangements should the business acquire to expand their capabilities to meet their new e-business initiative?

- Develop a computer hardware proposal (including printer(s)) to allow the business to provide up to fifty (50) staff with computer access, including current Australian prices for the equipment. Alternatively, you may include a cloud-based infrastructure solution to enable cloud services for infrastructure for server and data storage requirements, e.g. Amazon EC2 or Microsoft Azure. Justify why your proposal is necessary for the business.

- Develop a computer software proposal, including both system and application software, to support the proposed computer hardware proposal, including Australian prices for the software. Alternatively, you may include a cloud-based software solution to enable cloud services for software for e-commerce solutions, e.g. Microsoft Dynamics e-commerce or BigCommerce. Justify why your proposal is necessary for the business.

- Develop a networking and communications proposal, including a suggested network architecture, topology and communication medium to support the proposed computer hardware and software proposal. Alternatively, you may include a cloud-based network solution to enable cloud services for platform for networking and network security requirements, e.g. Amazon EC2 or Microsoft Azure.
Justify why your proposal is recommended for the business.

Include a diagram of the proposed hardware, software and network infrastructure; or the proposed cloud solution architecture; to help Dr John Smith visualise what you are recommending.

Report Section 2 - Business Intelligence

What would be the benefits to the business of using business intelligence?
- How could the business use business intelligence? Outline for Dr John Smith how business intelligence can assist the business decision making.
- How could the business use data mining to gain competitive advantage? What type of data mining
would best suit the current businesses analysis needs? Why?
- What type of business intelligence tools would best suit the businesses current needs? Why?

Report Section 3 - Collaboration Systems

What would be the benefits to the business of implementing a collaboration system?
- How could the business benefit from using a collaboration system with its external partners?
Outline how the business could implement such a collaborative system from both a structured and unstructured collaboration category.
- How could the business benefit from using a knowledge management system? What are the types
of explicit knowledge assets that could be easily managed with such a system? Why?
- How could the business benefit from the use of a content management system? What type of content management system would be of most value to the business? Why?

Report Section 4 - Privacy

What privacy issues should the business be aware of when embarking on an online presence?
- What Australian laws should Dr John Smith be aware of regarding privacy? How do these laws affect how the business collects and uses information collected from its customers?
- How should the business communicate its commitment to the privacy of customers? Provide two (2) examples of how similar businesses achieve this communication of commitment of customer privacy.
- As the business's potential client base is international, what other global information privacy issues should Dr John Smith be aware of?

Report: Conclusions and Recommendations to the Business

Your report should include separate conclusions and recommendations sections.
- Conclusions provide a summary of your key findings from the body of the report.
- Recommendations provide a summary of the recommendations to the business based on the research conducted in the report.

Task 3: PowerPoint Presentation to Client

Mrs Tara Dis has asked you to provide a professionally developed business presentation to the client, The Doctor, outlining the project scope, key findings and key recommendations from the Case Study Report. Create a Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation (using PowerPoint 2007 to current) and name it.

Make sure that your professional developed business presentation is prepared so that it conforms to the course StudyDesk presentation resources. These resources include, but are not limited to the Practical Appendixes found on the Study Schedule and Module Materials and various videos.

The professional business presentations set of slides should be structured as follows:
- Title - outlining the full Business Name, Project Description, Student Name and Student ID.
- List of Topics
- Presentation Content - the following are the topics the presentation must answer: o Outline the Scope of the Report
o List and discuss the Key Findings from the Report
o List and discuss the Recommendations from the Report