Management Information Systems

Group Assignment: Relational Database Design

Task structure:

1) Working in your groups analyze the organisation of information that the Facebook social networking site potentially uses.

2) Suggest the organisation of information and data and then how it can be used in a relational database.

3) Assess the strategic value of the proposed organisation of business data to the Facebook social network site.

Assignment brief:

If data were stored in an unorganized manner within a system, how difficult would it be to retrieve them? It would be difficult to use and exploit the data collected for its intended purposes. Thus in all systems, data resources should be organised and structured in some logical manner so that they can be accessed easily, processed efficiently, retrieved quickly and managed effectively (O'Brien and Marakas, 2010 p 170).

It is signifcant to appreciate the value of database management; this is something that is clearly central to the success of companies like Facebook social networking. The emergence of social network services like Facebook have a perspective on the critical elements of management information and the associated topics such as knowledge management and decision making. Understanding how data are structured, stored and accessed can help businesses gain greater strategic value from their organisations data resources.

As a group produce a report which examines the given aspects of data management and operations for Facebook:

1) Information organisation

• Justify your views on how data might be structured and used. Emphasis here is placed on profile and customer preference data.

2) Facebook operations:

• Analyze the Facebook social network service offering to the individual and/or business entities. What is the focus based on how data is collected and used?

3) Improvement and alternative data uses:

• Suggest potential enhancements or innovations to existing services given by Facebook social networking and exemplify them.

4) New applications and commercialisation:

• Critically assess how your suggestions for improvements meet the expectations of users and how they can be commercialised.

• Outline the implications for how your suggestions will influence the existing infrastructure for Facebook.

Submission requirements:

Your written report should be 2,000 min words long (excluding reference list), typed, 1.5 spaced and fully referenced in the Harvard style.