CIS/500 CIS500 CIS 500 WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT 1

CIS 500 WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT 1 

CIS 500 – Information Systems for Decision-Making

Strayer University.

CIS 500 Page 1 of 3

Assignment 1: The CEO’s Challenge

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Because the current information system is inadequate, inefficient, and outdated, the CEO is inviting everyone in the organization to propose a new operational, decision support, or enterprise information system to replace it.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.

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

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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