Case Study Project – Report and System Requirements

Scenario

You work as the graduate consultant for the consulting firm in one of the branches (Australia, Malaysia or Hong Kong) of University. You have worked there for six months. Company has been in operation for five years and has 70 employees including general manager, administrative staff, project managers, programmers, business analysts, consultants, a technical preparer and a trainer. Company provides Information Systems consulting services and also develops lightweight database driven information systems in Visual Basic for small businesses, organisations and charities. Visit University Consulting web site in an Assessment Information folder on Blackboard to determine more about company.

Introduction

University Consulting has three new clients who require advice on whether to adopt the different kind of information system:

• Amanda Jane Horsewear

• Trendy Tractors Pty ltd

• Perky Pies Pty Ltd

You would provide consulting services to one of the clients mentioned above as part of a consulting team.

The consultancy report and specifications would provide your chosen University Consulting client with the overview of the chosen system so they could find out if they want to proceed with implementing such a system in their own business. It would also guide them on the needs for the new system. The report would also highlight the benefits and issues associated with adopting such a system.

Learning objectives

• After successfully completing this assessment task, you must be able to:

• Show understanding of the fundamental concepts of information systems

• Conduct independent research

• Describe the issues and benefits associated with implementing an information system

• Produce a professional report for a business audience

Preamble

To be able to successfully complete this assessment task you require to be familiar with the content. Information Systems is significantly different from just computing or computer science. Information systems include five components; computer components and software but most significantly people, procedures and data. An information system produces information which helps with decision making.

We have also learnt that information systems assist in essential areas of customer relationship management, supply chain management and electronic commerce. These are integrated systems which are used by all types of businesses to reduce costs, distinguish themselves from other businesses and to increase market share. These systems are of particular significance to all business students irrespective of their chosen discipline.

Report Format

Your report should have research topic, applied it to the case study and have argued a direction the business should take.

You should be able to relate the things you have found about these systems to the different components of information systems: hardware, software, data, people and procedures. The most significant are the last three components so ask problems such as:

People

What sort of things would need to be done to include people who use the system? Remember, we are not talking about customers but people in the business.

Procedures

What changes would be essential to the present processes (or procedures) in the business to ensure that the system would be successful?

Data

What sorts of data would be collected and how would this be done?