ASSIGNMENT #2
Case Analysis for
place business names here
A study of issues in:
List the topic areas here such as (order matching ‘submitted by’ list):
IT Human Resource Management
Business Continuity Management
Submitted by:
Place your student numbers and names here; these match the topic order above
Group # (place your group number here)
Place date submitted here
IT Manager Interviews for place names of businesses here
List your names here followed by a comma and your email address:
Jane Smith, Jane.Smith@vu.edu.au
Abstract
The abstract summarises the contents of the paper in around 200 words. A good abstract contains as much information about the case study analysis as possible, reflecting the reasoning behind any recommendations or conclusions. T
he abstract should contain answers to the following questions: (1) what is the case study company and what is its purpose? (2) what is the main problem, issue, opportunity identified? (3) What has literature said on the problem, issue or opportunity? (4) What is the main recommendation posed in the paper and how can this recommendation solve the problem?
Introduction
The introduction should be a brief description of what this document is about and how it is structured. In mentioning the literature analysis, give a brief summary about the literature you have looked at and how you found it useful in this case analysis. It is sufficient to have a short paragraph or two for this section.
Organisation background
Put the name of Organisation #1 here
This section contains a brief description of the two organizations and its situation. Only include information that you feel is necessary and useful for other parts of the paper. Also include information that you think a reader must know about so that they understand the issues or problems or opportunities facing the organization. The introduction should approximately one page for each organization.
You MUST include:
• The NAME of the business. Even if the business remains anonymous for your presentation, you must include the name of the business here.
• The LOCATION of the Head Office of the business and the location of the person in the business that you interviewed.
• The size of their IT department
• The URL (web address) of the business and the name and title of the person you interviewed.
• A SCREEN DUMP of the home page of the business for the section you are interviewing. For instance, if the main office of the business is in India, but you are interviewing someone in the Australian branch of the business, include a screen dump of the home page of the Australian branch. If this is not available explain why and then provide the general screen dump.
Put the name of Organisation #2 here
Description here is as for Organisation #1
IS Planning
Here you should show how each organisation responded to your questions on IS Planning. This will provide a good idea of each business’ attitudes towards IT and will provide a good foundation for the rest of the report.
IS Planning Literature Analysis
The literature analysis should be the length as set in the assignment sheet.
Again, remember what a literature analysis is. Do not list each article or discuss the article one after the other. That would be more of a summary or articles rather than a literature analysis. Instead, look at the themes that are common to the articles, and create a synthesized summary based on those themes. You may also compare and contrast the articles if they have a different view towards the issue/problem/opportunity.
Only briefly introduce the topic in the literature analysis – get straight to the literature that relates directly to the questions you are posing.
DO NOT mention any of your results here.
Remember that literature often will not pose a solution to the problem in the case, but rather provide a conceptual framework through which you may identify a set of possible solutions. You will need to assess each article you read in terms of how much insight it sheds on the particular problem/issue/opportunity that you are studying.
If at any point in your literature analysis you need to include any tables, figures, illustrations etc, these should be placed as close as possible to the first reference made to it. They should be numbered and identified by a brief description. For example, see Figure 1. Make sure that you put the source of any diagrams or figures you use.
Figure 1: Two circles and a rectangle (Style: Figure caption)
Citing references
Citations should be in Harvard style. This involves references to Smith (1979) or to a publication (Smith 1979). Multiple authors (three or more) are referred to as Anderson et al. (1982). Multiple publications by the same author within the same year are differentiated as Jones (1983a, 1983b). Where the author is unknown, or is an organisation, an appropriate surname or organisation name or acronym is used, e.g. (OECD 1985, ACS 1980). Make sure that if you use text verbatim, you should place these in quotes (“ ”), and reference appropriately, with the page number included. For example, “This is a direct quotation from a particular source,” (Smith 1979, p. 22).
Organisation #1
Put organisation #1 responses here. Note - do not copy them word for word – put their responses in your own words so that it reads as a narrative.
Organisation #2
Put organisation #2 responses here.
Comparative analysis
This is an important section where you draw together the literature and the results of your interviews.
Relate (compare, contrast) your literature to your discussion of Organization 1 solutions and Organization 2 solutions. At least half a page in length. This means that there are two types of comparisons you have to make here. Compare the businesses to each other AND compare the results back to specific literature.
Issues studied
This is an introduction to the topics being analysed. Briefly describe the topic areas (eg, IT for competitive advantage, etc) and why you have selected them. Per topic, organise it as follows:
Topic 1 – Put topic name here
Introduction to Topic 1. What is it all about? What are the important issues for this topic? Which issues have you decided to focus on?
Then for each topic, discuss the following sections:
Literature Analysis
The literature analysis should be the length as set in the assignment sheet.
Organisation 1
A discussion of the solutions that organisation 1 may have selected or implemented in relation to your topic area. At least half a page in length (minimum). If you do not get detailed enough answers then try asking a follow up question. For instance, if someone answers ‘yes’ to having a particular solution, try to find out some detail.
DO NOT mention the literature in this section of the report. DO NOT JUST LIST THE IT MANAGER RESPONSES HERE – summarise what they are saying in their answers.
Organisation 2
As for Organisation #1.
Comparative analysis
This is an important section where you draw together the literature and the results of your interviews.
Relate (compare, contrast) your literature to your discussion of Organisation 1 solutions and Organisation 2 solutions. At least half a page in length. This means that there are two types of comparisons you have to make here. Compare the businesses to each other AND compare the results back to specific literature.
References
Sufficient descriptions should be given to enable the reader to locate all publications referred to in the text. They should be arranged in alphabetical order by surname of first-named author, then date. Unpublished works or private communications are to be mentioned within the text, but omitted from the reference list. References to electronic documents should include an appropriate Universal Resource Locator (URL) and date of access.
Lewis, P.J. (1993a) Linking Soft Systems Methodology with Data-focused Information Systems Development, Journal of Information Systems, 3, 169-186.
Lewis, P.J. (1993b) Identifying Cognitive Categories: the Basis for Interpretative Data Analysis within Soft Systems Methodology, International Journal of Information Management, 13, 373-386.
Nijssen, G.M. (1989) “An axiom and architecture for information systems” in E. D. Falkenberg and P. Lindgren (eds.) Information Systems Concepts: an in-depth analysis, North-Holland.
Zanker, A.G. (1995) A proposal for a revised Internet service, URL http://www.is.southern.edu.au/Papers/TR-9506, Accessed 14 Jan 2002
APPENDIX 1
Appendices are the last section of the paper. Only include them if absolutely necessary. Do not start a new page.