Business Problem:
AMBA600 / BCIS290 INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Self-selecting Case Study Assignments
Part A Due Friday 6th September 2016, 11:55 p.m. Part B Due Friday 11th October 2016, 11:55 p.m. INSTRUCTIONS You must submit the following: 1. An electronic copy of your report submitted to Moodle. 2. Other than approved extensions, late submissions will have 10% of the mark awarded deducted per day.
Student name/I.D ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
This Assignment is worth 36% of the total marks for this course. This paper has four (4) pages including the cover sheet.
School of Business / Department of Computing
AMBA600 Assessment 2 – Part A and B Case Study Sem 2 2016.docx 18/07/2016 Page 2
SELF SELECTING CASE STUDY REPORT To satisfy the requirements for this assessment you must complete the following: Part A:
Identify one business problem or opportunity that you are aware of. It could be a problem or opportunity in a business or organisation you have worked at or had dealings with. It could be some business or organisation that a family member has an association with. The other alternative is that it is a business or organisation that is currently in the media and which interests you however unless you have personal experience or contacts within the organisation, the required level of information may be impossible to obtain. The important point is that you have access to detailed information about that organisation. It is also important that the issue or opportunity is not too big in nature. It is also vital that this problem does not yet have a solution or opportunity has not yet been realised.
This problem or opportunity:
may be local, national or international in scope.
can relate to public, private or not-for-profit sectors.
should be capable of being written as a clear problem/ opportunity statement
—-MUST NOT yet have a solution or realisation of the opportunity.
should have sufficient information available (e.g. in the public domain) for the student to analyse, both for the organisation and its external environment. If a large organisation is chosen the required detailed information may be impossible to find on the internet
should not be a problem or opportunity that the student has previously analysed.
should be different to any selected by their class peers
Write a summary (maximum of one page) of the problem or opportunity and the information available to analyse it (including its source).
School of Business / Department of Computing
AMBA600 Assessment 2 – Part A and B Case Study Sem 2 2016.docx 18/07/2016 Page 3
Part B:
Prepare and submit a written report (including any diagrams considered relevant and appropriate) on the problem or opportunity chosen in Part A. The report should:
1) Explain (briefly) the identified business problem or opportunity;
2) Analyse the ‘business domain’ that the problem/ opportunity relates to e.g.
i) macro external environment; ii) micro external environment; and iii) organisational environment
3) Devise an appropriate business analysis plan, identifying the proposed steps (and their dependencies) to move from the problem/ opportunity to a successful solution.
4) Provide justification for:
i) the expected stakeholders to be involved in the plan and their management; ii) the proposed investigation methods identified within the plan (i.e. why selected and why other methods weren’t); and iii) any other aspects of the plan that you consider the reader needs to appreciate.
Note: If students make any assumptions (i.e. due to an absence of available information) then these assumptions should be clearly identified and explained.
Part B Report length:
– the report must not exceed 4,000 words
– A report of less than 3,000 words is highly unlikely to receive a satisfactory mark
– Students should provide a word count on the front cover of their report
School of Business / Department of Computing
AMBA600 Assessment 2 – Part A and B Case Study Sem 2 2016.docx 18/07/2016 Page 4
General Points:
• The purpose of Part A is to provide assurance to the course lecturer that the student has identified a relevant topic and that appropriate information appears to be available to enable him/her to perform Part B. • It is suggested that students do not attempt to: analyse too wide a problem/ opportunity i.e. keep the topic as a well-defined problem/ opportunity; complete Part B of the case study until the relevant material has been lectured. • 20% of the marks available will be awarded for: Structure and presentation; Written expression Diagrammatic use and presentation; and Referencing; • The remaining 80% of the marks will be split as follows: 1) Problem/ opportunity definition: 5% 2) Analysis of the business domain: 29% 3) Business analysis plan: 21% 4) Stakeholder analysis: 12% and 5) Investigation techniques: 13% • Excellent marks will be available when a student: shows excellent understanding and use of the frameworks taught; logically, consistently and effectively applies them to the problem /opportunity being analysed, using appropriate source materials; and effectively balances their answer across all parts of the assignment
• There will not be a ‘right’ answer to any problem/ opportunity selected but there will be well explained and logical solution approaches to each. • You may seek advice from your lecturer (e.g. during classes and tutorial times), but the help given will be limited to guidance. • Include your name on all documents. • An electronic copy of your completed assignment must be submitted to the AMBA600/BCIS290 Moodle website by the assignment due date and time. • All source materials used must be clearly identified and referenced. Where information is sourced from the Internet or electronic publications, APA format should be used for references
Introduction
Information overload, specifically the bombardment of unsolicited information, remains one of the biggest problems that businesses face today. Although it is a challenge that businesses have been experiencing for years, no single organization can claim that its employees have fully addressed the issue. Everyday, employees get unsolicited e-mails, and even though there is a spam filter to help address the issue, most employees do not fully trust the filter and will check it just incase some important information was wrongly dumped………………