Business Case for BI System Development Proposal

Critical Appraisal of Management Support Systems

Why not anonymously marked?

The University has introduced the requirement to anonymously mark all assessment work. However, it recognises that, for some forms of assessment, anonymous marking is neither possible nor appropriate. Following prior consultation between students and staff, it has been agreed that this assessment will not be marked anonymously as it comprises work individually negotiated with the tutor and there will be individual interaction with the tutor to acquire formative feedback. Thus, this work cannot be marked anonymously as the work will be individually identifiable by your assessing tutor.

The learning outcomes that are assessed by this coursework are:

LO1: To critically appraise an organisation’s existing provision of Management Support Systems (MSS), which includes BI systems, based on a comprehensive understanding of the theory and practice of BI systems and their relationships with other MSS

LO2: To identify, and provide a thorough and convincing business case for, a BI system development opportunity for a target organization

LO3: Drawing upon appropriate theoretical and professional literature, critically evaluate, and demonstrate systematic understanding of, a suitable development approach for a BI system

LO4: Demonstrate the ability to create and communicate BI systems proposals in a professional and persuasive manner, whilst drawing upon appropriate evidence sources which may, in turn, be incomplete, contradictory and complex

When completed you are required to submit your summative coursework:

As a Word Document via Turnitin (via the appropriate Turnitin facility set up within the Turnitin folder of IMAT 5166 module’s BB shell)

If for any reason Turnitin is not working at the date/time of the submission deadline, please provide it as an attachment to an email the specified deadline date/time and a subsequent Turnitin submission can be completed as soon as the facility is available again to use.

If you are providing any (voice-over) presentation for your coursework, this should be provided via email to the tutor by the date and time set.

If you need any support or advice on completing this coursework please visit the Student Matters tab on the Faculty of Technology Blackboard page.

Based on, or within, a company1 of your choosing2, provide a business case for a BI system development proposal for that company.

This could be a completely new BI system proposal (if there was none already present within your chosen company) or provide proposed changes to the existing BI System within your chosen company. The business case should allow senior management within that company to effectively assess the feasibility of your proposal. It should follow the Business Case report template that is provided towards the end of this brief, and provide at least the following information:

• An overview of the BI system proposal, which may include the management information it will provide, its possible data source(s) and its underlying technical architecture.
• How the BI system proposal aligns with your company’s corporate strategy.
• An analysis of existing BI systems found within your company’s key competitors, and what this means for the BI systems proposal that you are presenting.
• An overview of the current position with respect to MSS within your company and how the BI system proposal overcomes any weaknesses in these systems.
• Cost Benefit Analysis.
• Risk Assessment.

Non-technical, as well as technical, aspects will need to be considered where appropriate.

You MUST also provide an Appendix A to your business case that provides a concise and clear overview of the selected organization, including:

• Its purpose, including corporate vision and strategy.
• Its overall structure.
• Its existing MSS/IS/IT infrastructure.

Although not usually expected within a BI systems business case, Appendix A provides organizational context for your business case as well as allowing you to showcase your understanding of MSS features and categorizations.

You MUST also provide an Appendix B to your business case that discusses how you would approach the development of the proposed BI system. This should include a discussion on the overall methodology and steps you would employ to developing your proposal BI system. The discussion should incorporate examples based on your proposed BI system. For instance, the use of a Star Schema design and dashboard design could be illustrated by an example of these designs for your proposed BI system.