Assignment 1: The CEO’s Challenge Due Week 3 and worth 150 points
You’ve just left an all-hands meeting at your company*. The CEO was very upset at the rise of shadow IT projects – a major indicator that the company’s internal information system has failed to meet its needs.
Because the current information system is inadequate, inefficient, and outdated, the CEO is inviting everyone in the organization to propose a new operational, decision support, or enterprise information system to replace it. The executives have allocated $5 million to fund the most promising idea.
This is your chance to make a difference in the company (not to mention your own career). Write your proposal as a memo that the entire C-suite will review. Include at least these points, in your own words, to be persuasive:
1. Identify the main functions of your proposed information system and why they are important to the business. 2. Describe what types of data your information system will hold and how data quality will be ensured. 3. Explain how the old information system handles the functions you mentioned, the problems that occur, and why your information system will handle things better. 4. Offer evidence of feasibility: Show that similar information systems have been built successfully and that they save more money than they cost.
The executives are busy, so keep your memo to 1-4 pages and avoid any extraneous content.
*You may use a current or former employer, but do not disclose anything confidential. Or, you can pick another organization if you are familiar with their internal (not customer-facing) information systems. You can disguise the organization and populate it with famous names. Made-up companies are problematic because of the amount of detail and realism they require.
CIS 500 – Information Systems for Decision-Making
© 2017 Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University Confidential and Proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. CIS 500 Page 2 of 3
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.
Points: 150 Assignment 1: The CEO’s Challenge
Criteria
Unacceptable Below 70% F
Fair 70-79% C
Proficient 80-89% B
Exemplary 90-100% A
1. Identify the main functions of your proposed information system and why they are important to the business.
Weight: 20% (30 points)
Inadequate or no information system
Limited information on the system proposed, inadequate detail
Main functions and importance unclear
Proposed an information system
Somewhat identified the main functions
Importance of main functions are unclear
Proposed an original information system
Identified the main functions of the system
Explained the importance of each function to the business
Explained the stylistic choices for architecture of information system
Connected main functions of system to business needs and shadow IT
2. Describe what types of data your information system will hold and how data quality will be ensured.
Weight: 25% (37.5 points)
Inadequate description of data types
Inadequate connection of data storage to the system
Inadequate explanation of data quality measures
Described data types, somewhat connected to the system
Somewhat explained the data storage in system
Reasonable explanation of data quality measures
Described the data types in the system
Explained how the system would hold each data type
Proposed how data quality would be ensured
Explained the system storage and interaction with data
Considered the impacts of cost and maintenance on data quality
3. Explain how the functions you mentioned are being handled by the old information system, the problems that occur, and why your information system will handle things better.
Weight: 25% (37.5 points)
Limited description of old system, no explanation of functions
Inadequate problem identification with old system
Limited justification for selecting new system over the old one
Somewhat explained functions handled by the old information system
Reasonable description of problems of the old system
Reasonable justification for how the new system is better than the old
Explained how the main functions are being handled by the old information system
Described the problems of the old system
Justified why the new system can handle things better than the old system
Described why inefficiencies of maintenance in the old system persist
Provided options for keeping the system separate, integrating with old, or scaling up/down based on business needs
CIS 500 – Information Systems for Decision-Making
© 2017 Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University Confidential and Proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. CIS 500 Page 3 of 3
4. Offer evidence of feasibility: Show that similar information systems have been built successfully and that they save more money than they cost. Weight: 20% (30 points)
Inadequate or unsuccessful system selected
Limited demonstration of cost savings
Inadequate defense of the new system to others
Identified one similar, successful information system
Somewhat demonstrated cost savings comparison
Reasonable comparison of the new system to other systems
Identified similar, successful information systems
Demonstrated cost savings comparison
Defended how the new system could operate similarly to successful systems
Explained what makes the information system identified similar to yours
Demonstrate how the new system outperforms similar systems
5. Clarity, persuasion, proper communication, writing mechanics, and formatting requirements
Weight: 10% (15 points)
Unclear structure, not persuasive, major grammatical errors
Somewhat clear structure, limited persuasion, grammatical errors, language too simple or too wordy
Clear structure, persuasive writing, minor or no grammatical errors, length and format within requirements, plain language
No grammatical errors, plain language, organized by topic, references business needs, connects to technical specs, persuasive