Information Systems in Organizations

As part of the formal assessment for the HNC/D programme you are required to submit an assignment for each module. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.

After completing the module you should be able to:

 Understand information needs within different functional areas of organisations

 Be able to compare information systems

 Be able to use information systems to produce management information

Assignment Task

Read the following scenario and base your answers on the individual tasks (Task 1, Task 2 & Task 3) that follow it, with reference to the particular business of the organisation described.

Scenario – RBS and the information systems in its organisation

Your background – a management consultant:

You work for a small management consultancy called Anders Limited. The management consultancy specialises in the analysis of business organisations to understand their information needs and how these may be supported by different types of information systems. As well as being interested in all levels of authority and business functions of organisations, you are particularly interested in information systems which support the management of organisations in their decision making, to provide them with information in a form which is relevant to their work at middle and senior management levels. Your company also provides strategic advice to CEOs and CIOs in respect of future information systems developments that are „coming over the horizon‟, e.g. in respect of current trends and future developments in the social web and Web 2.0.

The organisation‟s background – RBS:

“Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (RBS), through subsidiaries, accepts deposits and offers commercial and retail banking services. The bank offers business term loans, commercial mortgages, professional practice loans, asset finance and invoice finance loans, residential mortgages, consumer loans, credit cards, financial planning services, and life, personal lines, and income protection insurance.”

[Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/]

The consultancy:

You are about to start a new contract for RBS to help them understand the current information systems and needs of their large organisation, a major part of which is involved in retailing banking services (e.g. day-to-day consumer banking including cash withdrawals and deposits, opening and closing accounts, etc.).

Assignment draft

In order to assist with your learning and to give you some early feedback you are strongly encouraged to submit a draft of your answer to Task 1 to your tutor as early as possible. This is optional and does not contribute to the grading for the module and whether you do this or not you must still submit a complete answer to the assignment. You can alter the draft after receiving feedback and before the final submission.

Task 1 – This task concerns understanding the information needs of different functional areas of the RBS organisation (Word count: 1500 words).

a) Describe the different functional areas of the RBS organisation (1.1).

b) Describe the different levels of authority within the RBS organisation (1.1).

c) Explain why the information needs of the RBS organisation vary across the different functional areas and at the various levels of authority (1.1).

Task 2 – This task concerns comparing the different information systems that are suitable for the different functional areas of the RBS organisation (Word count: 1500 words).

a) Describe the different major types of information system potentially available for use in the RBS organisation (2.1).

b) Describe current trends in information systems to solve problems in business organisations (2.2).

c) Explain the suitability of the different types of information systems you have described for the different functional areas of the RBS organisation (2.3).

Task 3 – This task concerns producing management information in the RBS organisation and alternative methods of problem solving. (Word count: 1000 words).

a) Describe how you would generate valid, accurate and useful information to research a Sales business performance problem at RBS (3.1).

b) Produce two pieces of realistic management information, using MS Excel spreadsheet, to display Sales performance at RBS over the last 12 months which will be useful and relevant to: i. middle management, and ii. senior management executives to aid them in their respective decision making at the bank (3.1).

c) Describe the alternative methods available for solving Sales performance problems that could be used at RBS (3.2).

d) Produce a Fishbone diagram to solve a Sales performance problem at the bank and discuss whether you think this is the most effective tool when compared to the alternative methods (3.2).

Student Guidelines

1.    You should write the answers to the tasks in the form of a report.

2.    You should use diagrams and tables of figures where appropriate ensuring to reference their source.

3.    You should include a reference list and a bibliography using the Harvard referencing system. You must ensure that the submitted assignment is all your own work and that all sources used are correctly attributed. Penalties apply to assignments which show evidence of academic unfair practice.

4.    It is advised that you write your report within approximately 4000 words in order for your research and summarising skills to be developed, and for effective time management. You are required to ensure that the assignment addresses all of the assessment tasks.There is no penalty for being over the suggested word count, however, in the interests of good academic practice, assignments submitted with excessive word counts (e.g. over 5000 words) may be returned to students and asked to be reduced before marking.

The word count excludes the title page, reference list and appendices. Where assessment questions have been reprinted from the assessment brief these will also be excluded from the word count. ALL other printed words ARE included in the word count. Printed words include those contained within charts and tables.

5.    Your assignment should be submitted as a single document. For more information please see the “Guide to Submitting an Assignment” document available on the module page.

Recommended Additional Resources

Textbooks

EBSCO Business Source Complete – Online ‘library’ resource available via ilearn

Websites

www.bsa.org                                                     various business software alliance resources

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