You have been hired by a medium-sized widget manufacturing company (approximately 200 employees) to do a complete evaluation of their computer needs and make recommendations to them about an information system to support their business. Currently several of their support departments are using manual processes, and they wish to automate their accounting and human resources business processes. They also want to harness the power of the Internet in their business.
Your recommendation to the widget manufacturing company will consist of the following three components:
Written report
Spreadsheet detailing the costs of the information system components
PowerPoint presentation that you will present to the company executives
Details for all three components of your recommendation are provided below. You will work on producing Parts 2 and 3, your Excel Spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation, as part of your coursework in Modules 4 and 5.
Submit your written report, spreadsheet, and presentation to your mentor. The Final Project counts as 30% of your total grade.
Part 1: Written Report
Your written report should be a 5-8 page, double-spaced report in APA format and using Microsoft Word in which you address the following topics giving support to your recommendations:
The components of the system that you recommend including input devices, output devices, and storage.
The operating system, utility, and application software that you recommend.
The company's communication and network needs.
The database management system that you recommend.
Information about development of the information system.
The enterprise integration of the new information system.
Your plan for the company's utilization of cloud storage.
Your recommendations for harnessing the power of the Internet and the World Wide Web to give the company a competitive advantage.
Part 2: Excel Spreadsheet
Next, you will conduct research to determine the cost of the various components that you are recommending and create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that displays this information clearly to the company executives. Your spreadsheet should calculate a total cost of the information system and display the costs of individual components in a graph. For further details of what this component involves and how to produce it, consult Module 5.
Part 3: PowerPoint Presentation
Create a presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint that will present information about the components of the system that you recommend as well as the cost data to the company executives. For further details of what this component involves and how to produce it, consult Module 4.