Survey of IS theory
Assessment item 2—Survey of IS theory
Due date: 12:00PM (AEST) Thursday of Week 11 ASSESSMENT
Weighting: 30% of total course assessment
2 Length: Maximum 3500 words.
Objectives
This assessment item relates to course learning outcomes 1,2,3,4 & 5 as listed in course
profile. The main purpose of this assignment is to guide you through an exploration of major
topics in information systems to build up your knowledge, and for you to demonstrate that you
understand and can explain the basic concepts underlying Information Systems. The use of
word processing skills is required in completing the assignment.
NOTE: You can use non-Microsoft software, such as Open Office or Star Office, but
make sure you save your work in Microsoft Office format and that you only submit the
Microsoft Office format files.
An intended side benefit of completing this assignment is to provide additional review and
practice for successfully sitting the final examination at end of term. The exam will consist of
questions similar to those covered in both Parts A and B.
Assignment Overview
This assignment is in two parts, explained below as Parts 2A & 2B.
Part 2A – Discussion and contribution
On-campus students:
Tutorial in-class discussion and contribution: The topics to be discussed each week are
outlined in the Study Guide. You should bring the Study Guide and the Valacich textbook
with you to every tutorial. Your attendance, participation and contribution will be marked –
see marking guide below.
Distance Education students:
You must participate and contribute to discussion on the Assignment Two Discussion Forum,
accessible via the course website. The topics to be discussed each week are outlined in the
Study Guide. You must obtain a copy of the Study Guide and the Valacich textbook
Your participation and contribution will be marked – see marking guide below. The topics to
be discussed in tutorials are outlined in the Study Guide.
Part 2B – Theory questions
ALL students will complete this part, to be submitted as a word-processed document on the
Assignment Submission System available in Moodle (the course website).
You are to research and prepare answers to all questions listed below. You may use quotations or
referenced paraphrasing, but you must always summarize your findings and conclusions in your
own words. Failure to do this will cost you marks – see marking guide. Answers to each question
should be around 300 to 400 words. Be succinct and to the point.
Sources of information:
Direct quotes and any paraphrasing from sources must be correctly referenced in-text and in
the References section, using the Harvard referencing standard. Remember that after quoting
or paraphrasing, you are required to summarize the points you are trying to make in your own
words.
Use a variety of web sources, journals and books (avoid using Wikipedia for every question). It is
always helpful to read the same topics from more than one source. The minimum resource to use for
all questions is the prescribed textbook. See Resources in the course website for other possible
textbooks to which you could refer.
The Questions:
1. Define the term “information systems” (IS) and explain its data, technology, people, and
organizational components.
2. Four examples of Information systems are: Management Information System, Knowledge
management System, Customer Relationship Management system and Supply chain management
system. For each information system:
? Describe the functions of the system.
? Explain broad areas or fields in which the system is used and how the system has improved
or changed the way work is done in that area.
3. What is cloud computing? Discuss its characteristics and issues to be considered by an
organization when considering use of cloud computing. List two example cloud computing
services for personal use.
4. View the following sites:
? www.informationweek.com;
? www.itwire.com
? www.delimiter.com.au
? www.computerworld.com.au
Then write a paragraph on which technologies and issues seem to be current (‘hot’) at the moment,
and which seem to be most important to business managers, according to each of these sites.
5. List the Latest version of three popularly used operating systems in personal computers. Discuss
the features of the operating system you would prefer and why.
6. You are hired as an enterprise consultant by a leading financial institution. While doing
requirement study, you notice that the company is using a number of legacy systems. Identify the
challenges that you would face in converting these legacy systems to enterprise applications.
7. What are intelligent systems? Discuss the different types of intelligent systems and their use in
different fields.
8. Explain the concept of “web services” and why they are important to e-businesses.
9. Do you think that educational institutions should be allowed to monitor e-mail sent and received
on school computers? Why or why not? Do you think that any e-mail messages sent or received
over a computer at work should be considered company property? Why or why not?
10. List the different types of technological safeguards employed by organizations. Also explain
encryption and how does it help to secure information by taking any popular encryption software
as an example.
Report document layout and formatting requirements
This report should be from third person point of view, which is standard in business reports.
Your report must have the following sections in the order listed:
1. Title Page: Include on your title page a suitable title for the assignment, your name, student
number, date.
2. Table of Contents: The Table of Contents (TOC) must be generated by the word processor
software. The title page and table of contents itself should not appear in the table of contents. The
table of contents should be on its own page.
3. The Questions: Type out each question formatted as a sub-heading. Each question should then be
an entry in the Table of Contents with page reference. Your answer should then follow the question
with a space in between.
4. Hint: You don’t have to make the entire question a heading that appears in the Table of Contents.
You can use the first sentence of the question as the heading, and then include the question as plain
text below this heading. Do not attempt to shorten or to re-phrase the question, as this runs the risk of
accidentally changing the question. Marking will always be against the original question as published
in the course profile.
5. References: include in this section any web site addresses from which you obtained information,
as well as information or help you received from any other sources, including the textbook.
Remember that only cited sources should be included in a References section. Use the Harvard
system of referencing to correctly cite in-text as well as listing in the References.
6. Header & Footer: Provide a header and footer for your assignment. In the header, put your
student-ID on the left side and your full name on the right side. In the footer, insert a page number,
centred. The header and footer should not appear on the Title Page or on the Table of Contents page,
but should appear on all other pages.
7. Style: Use a word processor to create the business report in portrait-mode, single spaced, Times
New Roman, 12-point font for all non-heading text.
Submission Checklist
For this assignment, you need to upload 1 file, a word-processor document, and it must be in
Microsoft Office format. If you are using non-Microsoft software, such as Open Office or Star
Office, then make sure you save your work in Microsoft Office format and that you only submit the
Microsoft Office format files. For example, use “Save As” to save word-processor files as .DOC or
.DOCX. DO NOT submit any other kinds of file, such as ODS, ODT, PDF, RTF, etc. Before
submitting your work, review the assignment requirements. Have you achieved all of these? Have
you included all of the sections of the report? You may wish to check the detailed marking guide for
the assignment to verify that your assignment meets the marking criteria.
Submit your assignment files electronically by using the assignment upload links provided on
the course website.

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