Information Systems assignment and teaching plan

Assignment Objective:
The assignment, which accounts for 30% of your overall score in this module, has to be done individually. The objective of this assignment is to develop your skills in assessing approaches in: (a) initiating, planning and controlling information systems projects and (b) identify and apply methods of organizing and accounting for information systems delivery and information systems projects.

Assignment Question:
“With their information technology (IT) investments, most organizations focus on the implementation of technology not on the realization of expected business benefits. Consequently, benefits are not forthcoming despite projects being considered a technical success. This failure to realize benefits is primarily due to methods and tools that emphasize improving the supply-side of IT delivery, including the use of outsourcing. No IT investment is ever just about technology.” (Peppard, Ward and Daniel, 2006).
Critically assess 2 IT project management/ IT-enabled change approaches of your own choices in terms of their strengths and weaknesses in guiding IT projects to achieve realization of expected business benefits. Your assessment on the 2 IT project management/ IT-enabled change approaches should be based on the benefits-dependency network of Peppard, Ward and Daniel (2006). In your discussion, you need to make use of a few real-life examples from published sources or from your own working experience as illustrations to support your line of reasoning.

Reference
Peppard, J., Ward, J. and Daniel, E. (2006) “Managing the Realization of Business Benefits from IT Investment” A paper submitted to MIT Sloan Management Review, April.


Content of the Assignment:
Your assignment comprises two parts, which should be submitted together on or before the deadline set by the school, as follows:
• A Harvard-style formatted essay in approximately 2,500 words with reference to relevant published works, e.g. academic journal articles and textbooks.
• A properly filled Essay Structure Form. The form is to help you write with explicit purpose(s) and to ensure readability of your essay. A fail mark will be granted for any non-submission of or deliberate omission in the form.

Assignment Tips:
A good essay should address the following requirements:
1. Evaluate the viewpoints and the benefits-dependency network of Peppard, Ward and Daniel (2006), in terms of clarity, theoretical validity and practical values of their ideas.
2. Explicitly evaluate 2 IT project management/ IT-enabled change approaches in terms of the benefits-dependency network and similar ideas on benefits realization.
3. Provide relevant real-life examples to support your line of reasoning.
4. Discuss your assignment topic with explicit reference to the two assignment objectives
5. Ensure that your essay purposes and major arguments in your essay are clearly related to the information that you provide in your Essay Structure Form.
6. Conduct sufficient literature review and study so as to develop an informed and organized line of reasoning in your assignment essay.
7. Use outlining, e.g. 1, 1.1, 1.2, etc. as well as a proper essay title and subheadings in your assignment essay.




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Also refer to IS key concepts
; IS subject syllabus





Teaching plan
Part 1 topics
* Briefing on assignment
* Benefit dependency network and IT investment evaluation
* IT Outsourcing
* Business Process Re-engineering
* Spiral model
* Intranet and extranet

Part 2 topics
* Project initation
* Network analysis terminology in project management
* Time analysis in project network analysis
* Cost scheduling in project management
* Analyze project networks

Part 3 topics
* Systems development - management and controls
* IT governance: a related article on IT governance

Part 4 topics
*BPR
* Activity on node
* computer security

Part 5 topics
* Exam revision + miscellaneous topics