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.”
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
Click
here to claim a 30% discount on this essay. Our team is made up of professionals who
have excelled in different areas of academia. Try our service and you will
never be disappointed.
No comments:
Post a Comment