Task:

Form a group of 3-5 students, choose a business organisation operating in Oman, do a research, compile a report, in which following points should be revealed:

1. Company profile: briefly describe history, company's main operations and identify company's competitive advantages.

2.
a. Choose any functional area of the company and investigate how such function is supported by IT/IS: what kind of IT/IS are used by the company to support particular function.
b. Identify how competitive advantage of the company is gained by the use of IT/IS.
c. Evaluate the role of IT/IS in the company by analysing the use of IT/IS in particular function and its reflection on company' performance.

3. If you were business development consultant for this company, which managerial approach for the IS/IT function you would recommend to boost the company performance?

4. Elaborate on the process of determining IT/IS strategy for the business.

Students should use different sources of information for the report: websites of companies, publications about the company in newspapers, magazines, specialised journals, if needed - conduct an interview with company's representatives.

The assignment consists of 4 parts: a) proposal submission, 10 marks / group report, 70 marks (total 80 marks scale down to 40% , group presentation (100 marks, scale down to 50%), reflection on self/ individual contribution (100 marks, scale down to 10%).

Part I Group Report.

Group report should disclose consolidated results of group work on the task.

The group report will consist of 2-part submission. The first submission (proposal submission) will be in Week

10. Provided template shall be provided. Submission shall be through Moodle only. Allowed similarity index is 30% only (7% from individual source).

Proposal will carry a maximum of 100 marks (scale down to 10% of the total group assessment marks).

1. The choice of organisation should be approved by the instructor.

2. For the assignment students are expected to refer to secondary and primary data, but for the interview students should get prior approval from the instructor.

3. Total words count should not exceed 3000 words.

4. The report should contain:

- cover page, which indicates title, names of students, name of instructor and date and place of submission (students can use provided template);

- table of content;

- introduction, which discloses the goal of the report, indicates objectives, explains the main methods and data used for the research, briefly describes structure of the report;
- discussion, description of main points with proper in-text references;

- conclusions that reveal main findings regarding each point and challenges faced during completing the assignment;

- list of references with in-text citations (using CU Harvard style of referencing);

- appendices if needed (appendices are not included in the main report words count);

- individual reflection - a report of at least 500 words.

5. The report should be done in Word, font size 12, font style Times New Roman, text color black, colors can be used ONLY in appendices, main body of the report should be black and white.

6. Report should be submitted through Moodle ONLY on time, any delay will lead to marks loose

Part II Presentation

Each group shall make a presentation for 15-25 minutes. Presentation shall reveal the group work results and disclose contribution of each student.

A Power Point presentation may be made. However, the slides should be made according to the following instructions:
- avoid too many font styles & colors, needless animation and not-related pictures like flowers, butterflies, birds, kids, animals, etc.;
- avoid overloading slides with too much of text;
- avoid overloading slides with too much of pictures;
- avoid putting too many details for one issue;
- avoid too general statement (like discussion);
- disclose all findings from the group research, don't make empty slides with only headings.
- reflect the logic of the report;
- make clear structure of slides;
- attract attention of the audience, make it interesting;
- apply creative approach.

Presentation is schedule on week 13 during classtime. Student that is not present during the group presentation will get zero mark for the presentation.

Part III Reflection on self/ individual contribution

The students have to submit a reflection on their assignment (at least 500 words). The reflection should cover the following:

1) What was the objective of the group work done?

2) What was the students contribution in group work?

3) What did the student learn from the assessment? An indepth answer with analysis is expected from the student to qualify for marks above 70%.