Management Information Systems Report: Walmart's Data Systems and Information Security

Interconnection of Walmart's Business Units

As part of the formal assessment for the programme you are required to submit a Management Information Systems report. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on 
preparing and submitting assignments.

1. Demonstrate an understanding of information needs within different functional areas of organisations. 
2. Identify and compare information systems within different functional areas of organisations. 
3. Use information systems to produce management information at middle and senior management levels of organisations. 
4. Identify and examine the legal implications associated with information handling and security.  
5. Identify and examine the ethical implications associated with information handling and security. 
 
Please note that exceeding the word count by over 10% will result in a reduction in grade by the same percentage that the word count is exceeded. You must not include your name in your submission because Arden University operates anonymous marking, which means that markers should not be aware of the identity of the student. However, please do not forget to include your STU number.
 
You have been engaged as a MIS consultant for the following organisation Walmart is the largest retail company in the United States . Currently Walmart operates over 4,700 retail facilities globally (Walmart Inc., 2020) with revenues of more than 510 Billlion U.S. Dollars (according to the Fortune 500 index). Recently, Amazon implemented  a  new  innovative  strategy  called  ‘Amazon  Go’  convenient  stores,  where customers  can  simply  pick  up  items  and  walk  out  of  the  store  without  checking  on  a cashier. In the same vein, Walmart is currently looking for counter-strategies in order to increase their e-commerce shares.  
 
For the specified focal organisation (Walmart), you should contact your own research in order to provide a report to the board of directors, which will answer the following: 
 
Describe  how  the  different  business  units  of  Walmart  are  interconnected.  In  your analysis, you should provide an organisation chart and data flow diagrams to represent the  dependence  of  each  of  the  business  units  to  each  other  and  the direction  of  data flows within the organisation and provide the reasons behind this structure. 
 
Describe the different forms of data and the role of data warehousing in Walmart. In your analysis, you should evaluate the current Information Systems and provide recommendations  to  the  board  of  directors  about  big  data  solutions.  In  order  to  fully answer the question, a detailed description of the proposed solution is needed providing the advantages and disadvantages of the system in response to Amazon’s strategy.  

By  taking  into  account  information  from  the  latest  programme  of  Walmart  (ethics  and compliance) and the new GDPR data protection legislation, provide a summary of your key concerns about ethical, legal and professional implications associated with information handling and security.
 
Formative Feedback 
 
You have the opportunity to submit a draft assignment to receive formative feedback The feedback is designed to help you develop areas of your work and it helps you develop your skills as an independent learner. If you are a distance learning student, you should submit your work, by email, to your tutor, no later than 2 weeks before the actual submission deadline. If you are a blended learning student, your tutor will give you a deadline for formative feedback and further details. Formative feedback will not be given to work submitted after the above date or the date specified by your tutor - if a blended learning student.
 
You MUST underpin your analysis and evaluation of the key issues with appropriate and wide ranging academic research and ensure this is referenced using the AU Harvard system. The My Study Skills Area contains the following useful resources Students are required to indicate the exact word count on the title page of the assessment. The word count excludes the title page, executive summary, tables, figures, diagrams, footnotes, reference list and appendices. Where assessment questions have been reprinted from the assessment brief these will also be excluded from the word count. ALL other printed words ARE included in the word count. See ‘Word Count Policy’ on the homepage of this module for more information. Assignments submitted late will not be accepted and will be marked as a 0% fail. Your assessment should be submitted as a single Word (MS Word) or PDF file. For more information please see the “Guide to Submitting an Assignment” document available on the module page on iLearn.  
 
You must ensure that the submitted assignment is all your own work and that all sources used are correctly attributed. Penalties apply to assignments which show evidence of academic unfair practice. (See the Student Handbook which is on the homepage of your module and also in the Induction Area).