IS6600 Coursework (40% of IS6600 marks)
This is a group assignment for groups of four to six people. You need to write up a report
which contains a case description of how a global organisation is currently managing either
its information resources or its knowledge resources. You will also need to present your
report in class. The organisation must be real, but it can be located anywhere in the world.
You should attempt a critical review of the current situation, i.e. don’t just describe, but also
indicate what is good, what is less good, and what improvements or changes should be
considered. Your description and analysis can cover technology, internal and external
stakeholders, political considerations, the way different departments within the organisation
work together or fight, the way cultural variations across the organisation (locally,
professionally, regionally, internationally) affect the way information or knowledge is
managed. You will find it valuable to incorporate your own research into the report, i.e. you
need to read articles about information systems and knowledge management in organisations
(some examples are provided on the course website). Please ensure that you cite all such
external sources appropriately.
I expect that each report will be different, yet all will have some common characteristics. In
particular, I expect that each report should be structured so as to have: Executive Summary;
Introduction (including motivation); Literature Review; Case Description; Analysis and
Discussion; Conclusions; References. Please don’t use footnotes for references. If you cite
web pages, please provide the complete URL – so that I can find the exact source.
Length: I recommend that you write about 5,000 words. This should be long enough to be
complete. You can write less - but be sure to cover the necessary materials. You can write
more, but don’t write just for the sake of writing. Every word has to add value. The more you
write, the higher the risk that you include irrelevant material that will cause you to lose
marks.
Please ensure that you proofread the report - and spell check it. I will mark for content and
for style. Please do not plagiarise. If you do, you will get a Fail Grade for this assignment –
and that means that will fail IS6600 as a whole, since you must pass exam and coursework
to pass the course.
Presentation. This will be organised in week 12. Each team will get 15 mins to present. All
team members must present. Each team member will be individually assessed for the
presentation. There are no specific guidelines for the presentation, except that it should be
clear and effective. You must develop PowerPoint slides to accompany the presentation.
Deadlines:
Groups must be formed no later than class 4
I suggest that you submit a half-page proposal no later than class 6 - in which you identify the
organisation you are writing about, your area of focus, the actions that you plan to take as you
write the case, the identity of team members and the individual resposibilities within your
team. I will give feedback on this proposal. However, this proposal is optional.
The final deadline for the report is April 12th (the day before the presentations)
Please submit the report by email to me - isrobert@cityu.edu.hk - before midnight on April
12th. Early submission will be appreciated. If you want to submit a draft by April 1st I will be
happy to read it and give some general feedback.
If you are late in submitting the report, the following penalties will apply. For each period of
24-hours that the report is late, I will deduct 10% of the marks. So, if you submit the report 2
hours late or 19 hours late, the 10% deducation will apply. If the report is 1 day and 1 hour
late, 20% will be deducted. If the report is 3 days and 2 hours late, then 40% will be
deducted. The exact amount of the deduction will depend on the quality of the report. If the
report is worth 75 marks, then 10% = 7.5 marks.
To give you a rough idea as to how I will mark the reports, please consider the following
information from ARRO:
A
Excellent. Strong evidence of original thinking; good organization; capacity to
analyse and synthesize; superior grasp of subject matter; evidence of extensive knowledge
base.
B
Good. Evidence of grasp of subject; some evidence of critical capability and analytic
ability; reasonable understanding of issues; evidence of familiarity with literature
C
Adequate. Student who is profiting from the university experience; understanding of
the subject; ability to develop solutions to simple problems in the material
D
Marginal. Sufficient familiarity with the subject matter to enable the student to
progress without repeating the course
F
Failure. Little evidence of familiarity with the subject matter; weakness in critical and
analytic skills; limited or irrelevant use of literature.