Introduction
Topic area
Research question
Significance to knowledge
Literature review
Previous research
others & yours
Interlocking findings and Unanswered questions
Your preliminary work on the topic
The remaining questions and inter-locking logic
Reprise of your research question(s) in this context
Methodology
Approach
Data needs
Analytic techniques
Plan for interpreting results
Expected results
Budget
Bibliography (or References)
The Basic Thesis Outline

Introduction
Topic area
Research question  (finding?)
Significance to knowledge
Literature review
Previous research
others & yours
Interlocking findings and Unanswered questions
Your preliminary work on the topic
The remaining questions and inter-locking logic
Reprise of your research question(s) in this context
Methodology
Approach
Data needs
Analytic techniques
Plan for interpreting results
Results
Discussion and Conclusions
Bibliography
Another outline (maybe from Gary Fuller?).

Introduction
Topic area
Research Question and its significance to knowledge
Literature review
Previous research
Your preliminary work on the topic
The remaining questions and their inter-locking logic
Reprise of your resulting question in this context
Methodology
Approach to answering the question
Data needs
Analytic techniques
Plan for interpreting results
Budget
Expected results

The Business Case

 

In order to receive support and funding for your proposed technology solution, you are required to write a business case.  A Business Case provides the reason, or justification, for a proposed project.  A strong business case provides the justification for pursuing one project over another, as the preferred project is seen to be in the best interest of the organization.  A business case should be comprehensive, yet concise.   It describes the project clearly, estimates its cost and the time it will take, and identifies the benefits to the organization over other alternatives.  A business case makes the “case for change” and provides the economic justification in terms of a cost/benefit analysis and return on investment.  It can be used to explain a proposed solution or project, to establish criteria for measuring success, and to obtain funding.  When organizations must choose among investments they often use business cases to determine which investments they will pursue.  A business case assists organizational stakeholders in making decisions regarding the viability of the proposed project effort.  Use of a business case is considered standard practice throughout private and public industry.    Additional information on business cases is included in Course Module 4.

Purpose of this Assignment

This assignment gives you the opportunity to apply the concepts of this course to address the planning, development, implementation and on-going management of the technology solution you have proposed by developing a business case for it.  This assignment specifically addresses the following course outcomes to enable you to:

• evaluate information systems and enterprise solutions to determine the best fit to enable the organization’s strategic outcomes
• use enterprise systems  to support business intelligence gathering and decision making
  • apply best practices and methodologies to develop enterprise level information system solutions
  • identify and evaluate trends and determine applicability to enterprise information system solutions

 

Assignment

Using the Case Study provided and your proposed IT solution, prepare an annotated outline 3-4 pages in length (no cover sheet), as if you were preparing for a presentation to the IT steering committee.  The outline will address the basic elements of a formal business case shown below. External resources are not required, but if you use them, remember to correctly cite and reference them in APA style format.  Use the Grading Rubric to be sure you have covered everything.  Your outline should be in Microsoft Word outline format.  Submit your paper via your Assignment Folder as a Word document with your last name included in the filename.

An annotated outline provides the basic information in full sentences, but in outline form rather than in paragraph form.  In this case, you will address each component of the business case to support your proposed technology solution.  You should provide all of the important facts, without the expanded discussions used in full papers.   Each of the topics in the list below should be explained as they apply to your proposed technology solution and to the Case Study, using one or two sentences for each topic and providing information specific to your solution.

The components of a Business Case, as described in Course Module 4 (figures 4.1:  Components of a Business Case and 4.2:  Business Case Tips) where you can also find examples of each of these), are shown below.  These should form the basis for your annotated outline:

• Business Need: What is the business issue, problem or opportunity that the proposed system will address?
• Business Objectives: What will be the result when the need identified is achieved? Include any short-term, long-term or operational goals and objectives.
• Proposed Solution:  What is being proposed to meet the needs and objectives?  (a few sentences telling what the solution does, not a list of hardware/software, etc.)
• Other Solutions Considered:  A high level description of what other alternatives were considered and why they were not selected, and the rationale for selecting the proposed solution.  Other alternatives could include: reusing existing people, equipment and processes; build/buy/lease; outsourcing; Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) solution vs. building a solution.
• Cost Components: Identify the cost components of the proposed solution.  Rather than projecting the dollar costs, provide the components of cost to implement the proposed solution (for example, the cost of a house might be $200,000, but the components of cost include building materials, land, etc.).  If you are consolidating the financial systems, you should calculate the costs over a five-year period (annual licenses, support, one-time fees, consulting, etc.) for each company.  You should present the information in a spreadsheet embedded into the outline.  If you chose Sales or Supply Chain solutions, you should research the software that you have chosen and determine the initial and costs over a five-year period.
• Detail the Benefits:  What value and benefits will the organization gain from the proposed solution?  Provide details beyond meeting the identified business objective(s).
• Other Implementation and Impact Issues: What, besides acquiring a new system, should the organization consider?

Facelift Ltd. is a general merchant selling office furniture in the UK market.  They have 100 stores, 8,000 employees and have projected to increase the turnover significantly. The economic downturn having affected their core business of office furniture, Facelift Ltd. has decided to diversify into the home furniture market.

You have been selected as Consultant to the Board of Directors of Facelift Ltd to advise on this diversification program. You are required to:

1. Prepare a formal report detailing the primary and secondary data collection plan detailing the type of primary and secondary data that can help Facelift diversify into the Home furniture category. (AC-1.1, 3.4)

Describe and justify the survey methodology you will use to carry out the research.

(AC-1.2)

1. Develop a questionnaire for this research and justify its design.(AC-1.3)

(This should cover Assessment Criteria 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 & 3.4)

  Task 2- Analyzing Business Information

Facelift Ltd. has records of their office furniture sales for the last 12 months as shown in the table below:

Months	Cabinets ( Million £)	Chairs ( Million £)
January	145	215
February	154	325
March	179	185
April	192	332
May	215	406
June	219	522
July	244	412
August	251	614
September	204	544
October	181	421
November	152	395
December	105	255

 Required:

  Create an excel sheet by summarising data using representative values. (AC-2.1)

1. Analyse the data using tools for measures of dispersion to derive information for Facelift Ltd. (AC-2.2 & 2.3)
2. Explain how quartiles, percentiles and the correlation coefficient can be used to draw

useful conclusions for Facelift Ltd. (AC- 2.4)

(This should cover Assessment Criteria 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 & 2.4)

 Task 3- Presentation of Business Performance

 

Facelift Ltd intends to sell 4 types of home furniture and their respective projected turnovers are tabled below:

 

Year          Type	2014	2015	2016	2017
Beds	£4M	£5M	£5.5M	£6.5M
Sofa	£6M	£6.3M	£6.9M	£7M
Wardrobes	£2M	£2.1M	£2.3M	£2.5M
Dining Table	£3M	£3.5M	£2.5M	£2M

Required:

1.         With the aid of the spread sheet, present your information on pie charts, line graphs, bar graphs as appropriate and draw your conclusions.(AC-3.1)

 

2.         Demonstrate the business trends for each product and with the help of appropriate trend lines try to forecast the business for the next year. (AC 3.2)

 

3.         Prepare a business presentation for the above results using appropriate software and techniques to disseminate information effectively. (AC 3.3)

(Your answer should be presented in a report format with use of graphs for better presentations).

(This should cover Assessment Criteria 3.1, 3.2 & 3.3)

 Task 4 – Using Decision Making Tools

 In order to cope with the projected growth resulting from their diversification and to improve their customer service, Facelift Ltd wishes to implement a new Management Information System (MIS). Two firms have been shortlisted as suppliers of the MIS system.

Option A- ABC Systems

Initial cost of equipment and installation is £1m.

 Option B- XYZ Solutions Ltd

XYZ has quoted a slightly higher initial cost of £1.5m though this highly sophisticated system can handle overseas volume transactions in case Facelift decides to explore the international market in the future.

Projected Cash-flows from the two options are as follows:

 

	ABC Systems	XYZ Solutions
2014	300	400
2015	350	425
2016	400	450
2017	425	475
2018	450	500

Other Information

(a)The cost of capital for both options is 5%.

(b)The project implementation schedule to be imposed on the chosen supplier of the MIS has been decided as follows:

Activities                                                      Duration                Preceding Activity

(Weeks)

A   Obtain estimate for a

new powerful pc and wiring                       01                                   –

B   Arrange computer link with

head office                                                  05                                   –

C   Appointing new staff                                  02                                   –

D   Office alteration                                          02                                  A

E    Test computer links                                     0.5                               B, C

F    Train new staff                                            02                                  C

G   Internal re-wiring                                         01                                  D

H   Install internal computer links                     0.5                                  D

I     Install new computer                                  0.5                                  H

J     Test new computers                                     01                              F, G, I

K   Test new system                                          01                                 E, J

 Required

1. Explain the benefits of MIS and how it can be used to manage inventory effectively.(AC-4.1)
2. Using available investment appraisal tools, you are required to propose the best MIS investment alternative to Facelift with clear justifications supporting your proposed choice (AC- 4.2)
3. Using a network diagram, prepare a plan on how you are going to implement the above system for Facelift and determine the critical path. (AC-4.3)

Consider the current and future implications of Canada’s aging population and discuss, in form of a three to four page essay, the changes that may be required the following
1. Health
2. Nutrition
3. Housing
4. Financial planning
5. Family relationships

Read the Euthyphro, and write a paper in which you do the following:
Explain how the concept of holiness emerges in the dialogue and why it takes a prominent position in the conversation between Socrates and Euthyphro.
Present the three definitions that Euthyphro uses in his response to Socrates, and then present Socrates’s refutation of each of Euthyphro’s definitions.
Develop your own argument as to what you think Socrates’s goal is in this dialogue. How do you know that is his goal? What features of the dialogue align with your interpretation of his goal?
Provide your own definition of piety/holiness and then create a Socratic response/critique of your definition. After you present your definition, take on the role of Socrates and respond to your own definition as you think he would

Write the physical and human geographic account of the European region that demonstrates its distinctiveness from other world regions.

Discuss the following in your paper:

Major demographic, political, economic, cultural, and physical/environmental trends and contemporary issues confronting Europe, and
Spatial or geographic variations in physical and human geography within the region (meaning intraregional differences between the 4 subregions: Western Europe, Northern Europe, Mediterranean Europe, and East Central Europe)
You may want to consider the following physical and human characteristics to discuss the physical and human geography of the European region:

Physical Geography
Landscapes, natural vegetation, resources, ecological regions
Climate, precipitation, temperature
Physical barriers at the region boundaries like oceans, seas, mountains, deserts, rain forests, rivers etc.
environmental challenges or issues
Cultural and Political Geography
Religion, language, ethnicity, politics, other…
Economic Geography
Level of development (based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) GNP per capita, Human Development Index (HDI)
Major economic sectors (agriculture, forestry, mining, manufacturing, services, and so on)
Percentage of labor force in primary, secondary, tertiary economic activities
Population and Urban Geography
Population growth rate (natural increase rate): birth rates, death rates
Age-sex structure of the population
Population distribution
Stages in the demographic transition
urbanization (% urban)
rate of urban growth
Urban problems
Historical Geography
Historical legacy of the region (pre-colonial history, Colonial experiences, independence, post-independence)
Culture hearths or civilizations

In an analytical report, you must carefully examine a topic or an issue to fully understand it. For this assignment you will explore the Underground Railroad, a phenomenon that played an important role in American history. Writers often analyze the causes, reasons, effects, and factors related to what they are writing about. For this essay you might look at the causes of the existence of the network, the factors that contributed to its emergence and kept it going for a long time, the aspects of its operation, and the effects it had on the society. You will use the texts provided by your instructor in class and do some research in the library, you will rely on these sources to learn about and to describe the Underground Railroad

Topic:
Opinion:
Explain: You need to generally tell the reader how your topic sentence is true.  Think of what questions the reader may have (why…, what…, how…)
What questions will the reader have about the topic sentence?
Example:  Should help to prove the opinion in the topic sentence.  Should be a real experience or a fact and not just a general idea.
What experiences can you think of that support your topic sentence?  Does the meaning of the example match the meaning of your topic sentence?

The purpose of this research project is for you to write a scholarly, graduate-level research paper in current APA format. Competency in current APA format is required of all Business graduates, as set forth by policy of both the Graduate Faculty and the administration.

You will research and write a paper analyzing the cultural perspectives of doing business in another nation. You will select a nation to study, and have approximately eight weeks to research and write the paper. Your instructor will provide a list of approved nations by the second day of class. Simply select a nation; then, begin working on the project.

After reading your paper, the reader should be able to comprehensively answer the following research questions. Thus, the research questions form the major aspects (APA Level 1 headings) of your outline.

• What are the major elements and dimensions of culture in this region? (See Unit 2, Ch. 7 for a list of the required dimensions.)
• How are these elements and dimensions integrated by locals conducting business in the nation?
• How do both of the above items compare with US culture and business?
• What are the implications for US businesses that wish to conduct business in that region?

You are an explorer and trader from the (fictional) autonomous free city-state of Fullerton, a trading port somewhere on the eastern Mediterranean Sea.  The date is sometime between 1400 and 1900 (depending on the cultures you choose).  While exploring newly discovered lands, you are witness to a first contact between two peoples, a “Western” culture and a “Non-Western” culture.  You have been instructed not to get too involved with either the natives or Westerners, except in matters of commerce. Your city is anxious for new avenues of trade, and awaits your report and recommendations.  However, due to the dangers of travel, 5 years pass before a ship comes to take you home.  This allows you to begin to see some of the longer-term consequences of the contact between the two cultures.  It also allows you to learn about the non-Western culture (this will be your ‘theme’).  In the meantime, you exchange information and ideas with others (your classmates).  Your final paper will be your report to your home city.

Activities

 1.  Topic: 

Early in the semester, you will be asked for these 4 pieces of information:

a.  “Non-Western” culture:  The culture can be a band, tribe, chiefdom or state (i.e. at any level of social complexity), but it should be one that has experienced a significant contact situation with the West between the years 1400 and 1900.  If you choose one of the cultures from the Fagan text, there is an additional requirement for a source (see Sources below).

b.  “Western” culture:  Find out which Western culture had the first contact with the non-Western culture you have chosen.

c.  Date of first contact:  Indicate the day (if known), month and year of first contact.  Make sure it is within the date range 1400-1900, and that it is actually the first contact with Westerners.

d.  Theme:  While much of your report will be on the general situation, 1 to 2 pages should be on a specific aspect of the non-Western culture that you will research.  Aspects of culture may be one of the following:  subsistence, ecology, economics, politics, religion, social organization, kinship/family, sex/gender relations, medicine and healing, arts, crafts, science, technology.  Other similar themes might be acceptable as well.