You are to prepare a 3,000 word report on the following topic.
From an information system perspective, describe and analyse either
- An information system of your choice
- or an organisation of your choice.
This could be
- either by giving an overview
- how a chosen information system is used across industries or organisations
- or how a chosen organisation is using different information systems
- or by specifically looking at how one chosen organisation is using one chosen tool or system.
The organisation can be a private company, a department of a company or even a project team, but might also be a non-profit organisation, an artistic body, an international institution, a government or a political party.
There are many ideas what an information system can be. Examples that would be suitable for this report are Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, Knowledge Management Systems, Accounting Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Transaction Processing Systems, the Internet for e-commerce, Social Networking Sites and so on. Please check with the lecturer whether your chosen information system is suitable.
The challenge is for you to find out sufficient information about the organisation or information system so that you can understand the kind of information that it handles, the staff involved, the software (possibly also hardware) involved, how it is implemented and for what purpose and to what effect.
One of the most difficult tasks will be for you to decide on the precise organisation/tool/system that you wish to prepare your report about. Please try to make your decision soon, as this will make the preparation of the report more straightforward.
Report structure
Your report should have a structure. Here is an example of a structure:
- Introduction
- General overview of the organisation/tool/system
- Description e.g. of an organisation’s information system
Example: What kind of information does it deal with, what is its purposes, etc.
- Analysis e.g. of an organisation’s information system
Example: How it was implemented, any conflicts between stakeholders or emerging issues during implementation, how it helps/supports the organisation/management, how do they profit from the system, etc.
- Conclusion
- References
- Appendices
