ITECH2305 Analysing the Modern Business (2020-20)
Assignment 2 – Business Analysis Case Study and Presentation
Overview
For this assignment, you will propose solutions to address an identified business need for an organisation. After performing strategy analysis of the current state of affairs, you will identify and manage a set of requirements, design possible solutions, analyse and compare the solutions for potential value and make a recommendation of a particular solution. You will communicate your analysis, designs, and recommendations through a written report and an oral presentation.
This is an individual assignment. The work must be your own work.
Timelines and Expectations
Percentage Value of Task: 40% (comprising: Written Report 30%, Presentation 10%)
Oral Presentation Due: in Week 10 Lab class (Week commencing 24 May, 2021) Written Report Due: 9:00am, Monday 31 May, 2021 (Week 11).
Minimum time expectation: 10 hours
Maximum time expectation: 30 hours
Learning Outcomes Assessed
The following course learning outcomes are assessed by completing this assessment:
• K2: Discuss a variety of contemporary tools and techniques used for business analysis and when these are appropriate to use
• K3: Identify and explain the core concepts of business analysis
• S1: Analyse, document and manage business requirements
• S2: Investigate and compare various business analysis methods, tools and techniques
• S3: Identify and apply appropriate means of communication for disseminating information between stakeholders
• S4: Determine a variety of possible solutions and make recommendations to address business needs
• A1: Develop, manage, and effectively communicate business requirements
• A2: Analyse and critique the implementation of a business solution
• A3: Prepare and justify a case for business change
Assessment Details / Tasks
Overview
You are required to identify an opportunity for a change to an organisation or sector, where that change will involve an Information Technology solution. That means a change to or introduction of an information system which stores/manages data in some manner.
You are then to perform a range of business analysis activities, in order to prepare a document proposing at least 2 solution designs, as outlined in more detail below.
The focus of your “opportunity” must be related to some current issue as reported in reputable Australian news media. “Current” means anything that has come to the world’s attention since August 2020 until
CRICOS Provider No. 00103D | RTO Code 4909
April/May 2021. “Reputable media” means organisations listed in the Appendix at the end of this document.
Some past examples of “opportunity” involving an information system solution, include the following:
• When there are large-scale bushfire events which require citizens to be evacuated, people often want to know if their relatives from the affected area are safe and accounted-for. What sort of Information System solution could be developed to enable the authorities to coordinate the process of accounting for the whereabouts of citizens who normally live in the evacuated area so that relatives can know if they are safe?
• When the Coronavirus is identified in the general community, government health authorities need a way to be able to contact everyone that the person has been in contact with over a period of a fortnight. What sorts of information systems could be developed to help make the process as quick and reliable as possible for the government to contact the close-contacts so that they can be tested?
• The government had a program of trying to recover from citizens, social security payments that had been made to the citizens, in the case where it was later determined that the citizens had possibly not been eligible to receive those payments. This process was being done by an automated information system which had a poor algorithm, that relied on poor data sources, and was referred-to by the media as the “Robo-debt” scheme (because of its automated nature). What would be a more appropriate design for a system to perform this function and how could the data sources be made more reliable?
You cannot choose those past examples. You will need to choose something that has arisen since August 2020. You should check with your tutor that the issue you choose is appropriate. You tutor may even suggest possible topics.
In clarifying what the opportunity you end up focusing on is: it could be inspired by identifying an area for potential growth through observation of a current issue being experienced (as the examples listed above were), or from perceiving (from your own observations and experience) an opportunity to improve an organisation’s current systems.
You cannot simply describe an already existent IT-based process; you must be proposing some change. (For example, if you had chosen the issue ‘contact tracing’ which was applicable in previous semesters, you could not just discuss the CovidSafe App which was a solution the government proposed to the identified need which it addressed – you would need to propose your own alternative).
Once you have identified an opportunity, you are to image that you have been assigned the role of Business Analyst to work on this project. Important Note: You must not contact any actual organisations. Instead, you may conduct research using online and library resources and ask your tutor or other students / friends to provide different perspectives – any such assistance from other people must be fully acknowledged in your assignment.
Your role entails performing tasks from across various Knowledge Areas of the BABOK that are covered in the course (and listed below). You then need to present the outcomes of that work in a report.
Your report must:
• Include an Executive Summary (no more than 10 lines) of the report contents, providing a brief overview of the analysis and also the recommended design solution.
• Document the outcomes of the tasks you perform (see on next page), so that the analysis and design work you have undertaken is clearly identifiable. This should enable another person to see the work you have completed and understand the outcomes you have identified. (Some of the information may be difficult to represent professionally in a report, such as diagrams produced on computer– in such cases you may use screenshots where appropriate to show the relevant
information, and submit the complete model-files separately from the report.)
• Be presented in a professional manner suitable for issuing to an executive team at the organisation. It should have a table of contents, and pages should be numbered. If you refer to any books or websites for any information, this should be cited in the body of the report, and the citation should appear at the end of the report under “references”.
Remember, a report is not an essay. It is a technical/business document, which will include paragraphs but also diagrams/figures.
Tasks:
1. Perform analysis to Identify Current State
You need to gain a clear understanding of the current situation of the organisation or sector that has an issue that you have identified you wish to address.
Consider the aims and strategy of the organization/sector. Consider the existing processes and roles within the organsiation and how they interact. This is likely to help you to identify exactly where the problem or the opportunity sits.
In your report you need to give an explanation of your findings from this analysis, in particular you should:
• Explain the organisation or the sector of the economy where the issue arises – what are the key aims or business objectives of the organisation/sector, and who is served by the organisation/sector.
• Identify key processes or capabilities that are already in place – list these. Additionally try to describe 2 of the processes using either BPMN or detailed use case descriptions.
• Try to identify the current organisational structure – what roles exist within the organisation to support and execute the processes and capabilities.
• Identify key technologies that are already in use and briefly list or describe these.
Then having documented those things, give a brief introduction of what/where the identified issue or opportunity for change exists. This may be in the form of a two or three very high-level business objectives. (The detail will be presented in the Requirements section).
Note that you are not to include a SWOT analysis or a Business Model Canvas for this assignment (though you might find these useful aids to think with).
2. Perform Elicitation to Identify and Document Stakeholders and Requirements
You need to perform various elicitation and requirements analysis techniques in order to identify a range of requirements that would need to be addressed by any solution that is to be proposed, and then to define the requirements architecture to present these appropriately in the report.
You will also need to identify and describe each group of relevant stakeholders who would be impacted by and who may need to be involved in informing this change project, and that will help you to identify requirements (by considering what each stakeholder needs the solution to be able to do). Describe what a typical member of each stakeholder group is like (e.g. job titles/roles, level of engagement with the issue/process/systems either now and/or after a change and also during elicitation).
In terms of requirements, you need to consider/identify:
• Business requirements
• stakeholder requirements (which are broken down into functional requirements and nonfunctional requirements),
• transition requirements
In your report you will need to consider the ways that you will present all of the requirements that you identify (this is called the requirements architecture). This can involve producing lists of requirements, detailed use cases, process models (such as BPMN diagrams). Also consider how you will show how the more detailed requirements can be traced back to more abstract requirements (such as business requirements) – this is called requirements traceability. You will probably want to use numbering to crossreference requirements in different places in the report.
Make sure you explain what the key business objectives that need to be addressed actually are. Detailed requirements should somehow be derived from the key business objectives. Remember that business objectives are high-level descriptions – statements of goals, objectives, and outcomes that describe why a change needs to be initiated.
3. Propose a change/solution that addresses the identified issue / requirements (Design Definition)
Having identified the requirements that need to be addressed by a proposed design solution, it is now time to actually design the solution. (Refer to Lecture 8 about designing solutions).
You are to propose 2 alternative solutions. Both proposed design solutions must address the same requirements – that is, each “solution” should address a large subset of the requirements, but may leave one or two aspects out (for example, the first solution may address 10 of 12 requirements, and the second might address 8 of the same 12 requirements plus the 2 requirements that were not addressed by the first solution).
In particular, for each solution you propose you must include in your report:
• A description of the key computation elements of the solution. For example, is a database needed? (If so, what key items of information will it store?) Does the system require special servers, and should these be hosted on-premises or in the cloud? Or is it just an app that runs on a laptop or mobile device? Are apps required to be built that work on mobile phones / tablets, or does a web-browser app or desktop app need to be developed? Do any physical devices (similar to Myki/Opal cards and their readers, as used on public transport) need to be involved in the solution?
• A description of three key processes that will be performed by different stakeholders of the updated system once it is set-up and running. These should be in the form of BPMN diagrams that describe something which puts information into the system, and something which produces output from the system. Aim for at least 3 different processes.
• Consider whether a change to the organisational structure (reporting lines, roles required) is needed. Describe the key roles / job functions that will interact with the solution when implemented, and state which processes they will be responsible for, and link these back to the identified requirements. Are any new roles required? Are any old roles no longer required?
• Depending on the exact issue you have chosen, and the current state of the organisation described earlier, you may need to also describe: changes to business policies and rules, additional software that might be required to be purchased to enable the solution; identify some vendors who may need to provide specific technology to implement/support the proposed solution; consider how security or integrity of the data or the system will be ensured. Summarise these issues as they pertain to the particular solution you are describing.
• Construct a requirements traceability matrix that links the identified requirements to elements of the proposed designs (so that it is clear why elements are present in the designs).
You are not expected to go into technical detail, so you are not expected to produce class diagrams or database schema designs or collaboration or sequence designs or detail the exact software that should be installed on computers or servers. Just describe at a high level as to whether a server may be needed and if so what is the role/purpose of the server, rather than saying it needs to run Linux and some specific web server.
A reasonable effort would involve about 2-3 pages for each solution (including diagrams and text for nondiagram elements of the solution).
4. Analyse Potential Value and Recommend One Solution
Having provided two potential solutions, you now need to analyse the potential value of each solution, and then recommend one of them with a proper justification.
In order to be able to analyse and justify, you will need criteria.
In your report, first describe the set of criteria by which you are going to analyse the anticipated value of the two proposed solutions against. Make sure to explain how you will assess solutions against the criteria (e.g. a rating system, or a direct measurement, or other possible technique of evaluation).
Suggested criteria can be found in the Week 8 Lecture (in the section “Analyze Potential Value and Recommend Solution”). Aim for at least 6-8 different criteria. The criteria must be things which can be determined about a proposed solution prior to an implementation of the solution (but may be based on vendor statements about capability).
Then, actually assess each solution against those criteria and possibly utilise another technique to analyse their potential value.
Then, make a recommendation of one solution, and say why it is the recommended solution (and why the other one is not recommended).
Oral-Presentation
In addition to your written report, you are required to present your work in an oral presentation, as though you are presenting to a group of stakeholders from the organisation who will be deciding whether to proceed with the change and if so, with which design, based on your presentation. It is therefore necessary that you pay attention to your presentation aids, your personal appearance and the quality of your spoken presentation, as you need to make a good impression and convince the stakeholders of the merits of your work. This presentation must be of no more than 6 minutes duration.
(Depending on government social-distancing restrictions and your education institution’s policies, you may be required to do this presentation using an online conference system that allows your teacher and fellow students to be in attendance while you present, if you are not able to attend a classroom physically.)
In giving the presentation, you may assume that the attendees have access to your written report (although other students won’t have these, and it is actually due after you do the presentation), so you do not need to provide full details of all your work, but you do need to provide enough information in the presentation to enable people who haven’t read the report to follow your reasoning.
The presentation should therefore:
• identify briefly the opportunity you examined, and how this aligns with the business objectives.
• outline the overall requirements of a solution to this opportunity that you identified as being the reason to investigate change (the “needs” that were to be addressed). You may find that the models you developed in completing the tasks included in the written report are particularly useful to present this information in a readable format in your talk.
• discuss the identified measurement and evaluation criteria you will use to judge between 2 potential solution designs.
• give details of the two solution design options proposed.
• recommend one of the designs, with justifications as to why this is the optimal solution.
Presentations will be conducted in your allocated week 10 lab class.
Please refer to the next page for marking criteria
Submission Requirements & Implications of Missed Deadlines
Your completed report is to be uploaded to Turn It In via the link in Moodle. Only one file is permitted for your submission, as your completed report (saved as either a .doc, .docx or .pdf format file) should contain all information in a format that would be presentable to a business client.
Before you can submit your work, you must complete the online Declaration Agreement, to certify that the work is your own work. Once you have completed that, the link for you to submit the work will become available. Please make sure you read the content of the Declaration Agreement before you complete it. This online declaration should be done instead of using a cover sheet in your submitted report.
In accordance with the School policy, late submissions will have a penalty of 10% of the available marks deducted for each day (or part of day) that it is late. For example, if you submit the report 30 hours late, this is more than 1 day but less than 2 days, so a penalty of 6 marks (2 x 3 marks) out of 30 will be deducted from what your work is worth. If you have a legitimate reason why you won’t be able to submit on time, you must request an extension from your lecturer in advance of the due date, by submitting the relevant documentation. If you do not do you presentation on the day you are supposed to, a penalty of at least 10% (1 mark) will be deducted from the presentation mark.
Feedback
Feedback on the report will be provided within three weeks of the due date, or the date of submitting your assignment (whichever is the later). Feedback will be in the form of a completed version of the preceding marking pro-forma tables; there may also be remarks on your assignment submission itself. Marks will also be uploaded into fdlGrades.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the presentation of the expressed thought or work of another person as though it is your own without properly acknowledging that person. You must not allow other students to copy your work and must take care to safeguard against this happening. More information about the plagiarism policy and procedure for the university can be found at http://federation.edu.au/students/learning-andstudy/online-help-with/plagiarism.
The work you submit and present must be the result of your own thinking and working.
Marking Criteria – Written Report and Supporting Files (30%)
Marks will be awarded on the basis of the quality and extent to which you address each of the tasks, as well as the manner in which you present information, in accordance with the following table:
Task Available
Marks Marks Awarded
Executive Summary
• brief overview of the motivation for the change (the issue/opportunity), the work done and included in the report, and also a brief statement of key aspects of the recommended design solution
3
Analysis:
• Clear description of the organization or sector of the economy where the issue arises, and who is served by it.
3
• A reasonable list of key processes or capabilities that are already in place in the organization/sector, is provided 2
• 2 of the identified processes have been described by either BPMN diagrams or by detailed use case descriptions 3
• The roles that are likely to exist within the organization, and/or a potential structure of the organization at current, is provided 2
• The key technologies that are already in use are briefly listed/described 1
• A brief description of the current situation/issue/opportunity that needs to be addressed is provided (possibly with high-level business objectives that need to be addressed by the change) 2
Perform Elicitation to Identify and Document Stakeholders and Requirements:
• Thorough identification/description of the relevant groups of stakeholders who would be impacted by and who may need to be involved in informing this change project.
2
• Whether a sufficient set of requirements has been identified (and presented in the report) that will address the key or most important aspects of the issue needing to be addressed by the change – and this constitutes a significant-enough change to the current state. 2
• Whether the specified set of requirements collectively are thorough enough to completely explain the issue needing to be addressed, and whether they address/identify the needs of all the stakeholders. 2
• The appropriateness of requirements classified by the student as business requirements 2
• The appropriateness of requirements classified by the student as stakeholder requirements 2
• The appropriateness of requirements classified by the student as transition requirements 2
Continues…
Design Definition – Proposing solutions that address the issue / requirements
• two different, high level designs are developed that each address at least three quarters of the identified requirements (and these designs are valid/plausible solutions to the opportunity, compatible with the organisation’s overall strategy identified earlier)
1
• The first solution’s key computation elements, are identified and described. 2
• The first solution’s key changed or updated processes are explained / provided. 2
• Any other aspects that would be required to adequately present the first solution, are provided / explained appropriately. 2
• The second solution’s key computation elements, are identified and described. 2
• The second solution’s key changed or updated processes are explained / provided. 2
• Any other aspects that would be required to adequately present the second solution, are provided / explained appropriately. 2
• Across both solutions, there is adequate effort to achieve requirements traceability throughout the report. 1
Analyse Potential Value and Recommend a Solution
• Measurement and evaluation criteria, to enable evaluation of the success (or otherwise) of the change to be determined has been identified and articulated – how it will be used to determine solution’s value
2
• There is an actual analysis of the first solution design according to the identified criteria and/or evaluation techniques 1
• There is an actual analysis of the second solution design according to the identified criteria and/or evaluation techniques 1
• one design recommended as the preferred approach for the organisation to consider going ahead with, with justifications for this recommendation. 2
General other aspects of assessment:
• The work is presented as a properly formatted report suitable for presentation to the organization, with table of contents, page numbering, appropriate and consistent fonts. 1
• All non-original diagrams and sentences are appropriately cited and referenced. 1
Total (Written Report) –
Scaled to 30% (50)
(30% of course total)
In general, for a given item in the table: If you do the work correctly, and to the expected depth, you should receive the full marks available for the item; If correctly but not to the expected depth, one quarter of the marks will be withheld from the item; If done incorrectly but to a reasonable depth, or if done correctly but only to a basic depth, then no more than half the marks would be awarded for the item.
The following page shows the marking scheme that will be used for the presentation.
ITECH2305 Analysing the Modern Business (2021-07) – Assignment 2
Marks will be awarded according to the following table on the range of aspects listed on the left column. The first description working across a row which is fully met, determines the mark which is awarded for that aspect, giving a mark out of 10, which contributes up to 10% of the final course mark.
Aspect 2 1 0
Opportunity
Identification
/ 2 marks
Opportunity clearly identified and aligned with business’ objectives.
Opportunity clearly identified, but not aligned with business objectives
OR
Opportunity not clearly identified but business objectives clearly explained Neither opportunity nor business objectives identified and aligned.
Solution
Requirements
Identified
/ 2 marks Thorough outline of requirements required by a solution to the opportunity. These are clearly presented to the audience in a format readily understood, using models or other suitable formats to enable easy comprehension.
Thorough outline of requirements of a solution to the opportunity, but presentation of these requirements does not allow these to be readily
comprehended by the audience;
OR insufficient requirements identified to adequately address an opportunity Overall requirements that would be needed to be addressed by a solution to the opportunity, are not discussed.
Measurement
and Evaluation
/ 1 mark Not awardable for this row Measurement and Evaluation criteria for assessing a “good” solution are clearly identified. These are appropriate for the opportunity and can readily be assessed, and could be used before implementing the solution. Measurement and Evaluation criteria for accepting a
“good” solution are not clearly identified.
OR
Measurement and Evaluation criteria for accepting a “good” solution are clearly identified. But these are either not appropriate for the opportunity or cannot readily be assessed or cannot be assessed before implementation.
Design Options
/ 1 mark Not awardable for this row Details of two proposed designs are provided. These are described clearly and each meet at least ¾ of the requirements of the solution (not necessarily same requirements as each other). Links between each design and the organisation’s strategy are apparent. Doesn’t present details of two different proposed designs.
OR
Some details of two proposed designs are provided, but the description does not provide the audience with a clear understanding of what the designs involve
Design / 2
Recommendation
and Justification An optimal design is recommended and its selection is justified.
An optimal design is recommended, but its selection is not justified.
An optimal design is not recommended.
Presentation
Quality
/ 2 The presentation exceeds the basic requirements of a professional presentation. The presenter speaks clearly and confidently, uses presentation aids effectively, is appropriately attired and does not exceed the time allocation. The presentation meets the basic requirements of a professional presentation. Presentation aids are used, attire is suitable, notes are used as an aid rather than relied upon and the time allocation is met. The presentation is not delivered to a professional standard. This could be due to any of: lack of presentation aids, unsuitable attire, reading from notes rather than speaking to audience, exceeding the allocated time.
TOTAL: / 10
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ITECH2305 Analysing the Modern Business (2020-20)
Appendix – Some Possible Reputable News Media for finding topics:
Your chosen topic/organisation/issue must have been discussed by reputable news media.
“Reputable news media” includes reputable news sources published in English in Australia. Below is a list of news organisations which are considered “reputable”. If you wish to find a topic from another news organisation that is not listed below, you should check with your lecturer or tutor to confirm the suitability of the news media if you are uncertain.
You should not be doing your assignment about the news organisation itself. You use the news to find the issues about a topic.
Guardian Australia: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/all
Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s news website:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/
SBS News:
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/
The Age (Melbourne): https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/all
The Sydney Morning Herald: https://www.smh.com.au/
The Australian Financial Review: http://www.afr.com/
The Advertiser (Adelaide): https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/
