BCO6603 Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
Research Report
(worth 30% of your overall mark)
Due Dates : See VU Collaborate
• Assignment dropbox (Turnitin) closes on : See Collaborate for final due date
• For each day the assignment is late a 10% penalty will apply
• Please start immediately with the assignment and you may submit as many times as you like from today on VU Collaborate.
“ERP Systems in the Cloud”
There has been significant media attention and hype about the potential of cloud technologies. Companies are investigating how these technologies can be applied to their ERP Systems requirements. Companies are presented with a number of options which they need to consider. These include:
• On-premise: This refers to the traditional approach where a company purchases the licences for an ERP systems and then installs it within their company.
• Hosted ERP System: This refers to where the company purchases the licences for an ERP systems and then installs it on a third party’s infrastructure (hosted) in the cloud. This is sometimes referred to as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
• Cloud ERP System: This refers to an ERP system which is developed to operate purely in a cloud environment. The company pays a subscription to access the ERP system and shares it with other companies. This is often referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS).
Companies are faced with increasing pressure to investigate the potential of these different offerings and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Management have become aware that you are studying ERP Systems at Victoria University and have given you the task to prepare a research paper on the different ERP system offerings described above, their benefits and risks.
In the discussion you should use case study examples (from literature searches) to demonstrate different company’s experiences in reinforcing the different benefits and weaknesses.
Your task is to produce a 3000 word research paper which discusses the issues relating to the above. The paper should demonstrate a depth and breadth of reading and should be appropriately referenced. The paper should be referenced using the Harvard referencing standards and formatted according to the approved style guide.
You must submit two documents, your assessment declaration and your report to Turnitin.
Assessment Declaration: Use the assessment declaration (coversheet) provided on VU Collaborate. Complete all sections including the Title, Assignment number, Student Name and Number and Unit. This document must be uploaded separately to your report to ensure your Turnitin similarity results are not compromised.

Your report must include the following:
Introduction: Introduction to the topic, a statement of the purpose of the report and a brief description of the report’s structure.
Body: Discuss, compare and/or contrast different perspectives and present arguments supporting the purpose of the report. Use relevant business case studies to illustrate key points. All points must be presented with Harvard citations to high quality (journal/book) references that have a corresponding entry in your reference list.
Conclusion: A summary of the points you have made in the body of the report. These should match your stated purpose.
Reference list: A complete Harvard format reference list. Review the Library style guide for citation and reference list examples http://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/harvard.
Presentation: You should include a title page that has your name and the title of your report. Every page should feature a footer that includes your name, student ID, and page number.
You should review: http://www.vu.edu.au/campuses-services/student-support/academic-support-development/academic-writing for some general help on academic writing, especially the sections on essays and referencing. Review the Library Harvard style guide for citation and reference list examples http://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/harvard.
Submission:
Your report must be submitted via the Assessment 4 drop box link on VU Collaborate (this links to Turnitin) in MS Word format. Name your assessment 4 file in the form s3999999Assn4.docx and where the 39999999 is replaced by your student number. You must submit your assessment declaration as a separate document. Your report document submitted to Turnitin must include only a title page, your report, and the reference list. Your submission on Turnitin will be marked electronically, so ensure it is complete. Note that if your lecturer asks you for a hard copy, you must submit the complete originality report version produced from Turnitin.
Notes on referencing, paraphrasing, Turnitin and similarity
You must include citations with matching references to demonstrate research relating to the discussion and analysis in the body of your report. You should aim to paraphrase sources where possible, writing the report in your own words and including citations and corresponding reference list entries to demonstrate research where appropriate. You should submit your report to Turnitin well in advance of the due date to ensure your similarity does not exceed twenty per cent (for a submission including your reference list). Note that:
• Turnitin scores for your report higher than 20% will be heavily penalised.
Note this percentage does not apply to your assessment declaration document which should be uploaded separately.
It is normal that your reference list is highlighted in Turnitin; this is acceptable and is factored into the 20% threshold. It is not acceptable for whole sentences and paragraphs to be highlighted. This usually indicates exact similarity with another source. If this happens you must revise your work and resubmit. Note that you can resubmit your report up until the submission deadline. Originality results can take up to twenty four hours to process. Therefore, ensure you submit early so you can avoid problems at the last minute.