www.angelsoft.org.uk
Cambridge Technicals ICT
Level 3, Unit 2
sangland
2012-2013
Contents
Assessment Criteria ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Underpinning Knowledge for this Unit ......................................................................................................... 3
Unit Outline - pointers .................................................................................................................................. 4
Learning Objective 1 ................................................................................................................................. 4
Learning Objective 2 ................................................................................................................................. 4
Learning Objective 3 ................................................................................................................................. 4
Learning Objective 4 ................................................................................................................................. 4
Creating Your Portfolio ................................................................................................................................. 5
Element 1: How organisations use business information......................................................................... 5
Element 2: Understand the issues related to use of information ............................................................ 7
Element 3: Know the features and functions of information systems ..................................................... 8
Element 4: Be able to use IT tools to produce management information ............................................... 9
Page 1
Assessment Criteria
All organisations have to develop ways and structures to manage people and information, You’re about
to show how well you know this! The work that you produce for this is your coursework, so understand
that while your teacher can HELP you, they are NOT ALLOWED to do it for you. This is YOUR research, so
be careful what you pick…
OK, so what do you need to do?
Well, let’s start with the easy stuff. Turn over the page and breathe…
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Underpinning Knowledge for this Unit
This one takes a lot of thinking, so for this you will need to create a sort of newsletter/brochure thingy
that covers your thoughts on each of the issues – including accurate, relevant and recent evidence to
support your point of view! Include a bibliography, so your sources can be checked… and they will be, I
promise.
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How is information used, in general life? How is it passed between people, and between
organisations? How do you know how to trust it? Johnny Depp has died three times, if you
follow gossip about him on Twitter! And yet, look at how the ‘Arab Spring’ events were shared
using social media. Is this a useful method of information communication? Is it reliable? Why?
What are primary and secondary information? Witting and unwitting testimony? How reliable
are each? Why? When would each be a wise choice? Why?
Why it is important to check that the information you have, as an individual and as an
organisation, is valid and reliable? How would you do this with information gleaned from
newspapers, magazines, TV and radio news, gossip in the corridor?
How does the purpose of the communication, and the bias of the reporter of that information,
affect the content of that communication? How can we try to ensure we get more of the facts,
less of the bias – or does that matter?
How does the timing of the information matter? If the information is 5 minutes, weeks or years
old – what’s the difference? Why? Does the answer to this section change if you change the
topic of the information? Why?
Does the audience for the information make a difference? Look at two newspapers that aim at
very different markets (e.g. The Express and The Independent, or The Sun and The Guardian) but
cover the same news. How does their coverage show tailoring to their audience? Does the
actual story seem to change?
Deadline – One week after start
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Unit Outline - pointers
Learning Objective 1
1) Name your chosen organisation, and give some detail on what it does. Include information on
what information the organisation holds, in what format, and for what purpose(s) that
information is used.
2) How is this information ‘good’ or, well, not so good? How do they try to make it ‘good’? For
higher grade – explain some ideas about how they could improve the way they manage their
information.
Learning Objective 2
1) What are the issues that must be addressed when you are handling information – personal or
business information? How are these types of information different? What are the rules? What
is ‘best practice’? What other ‘real’ examples are there to support what you’re saying?
For higher grade – explain the legal, ethical and practical issues that can help and hinder the
use of information by the organisation. Compare your organisation with another different
example.
Learning Objective 3
1) Describe the features and functions of an information system, using your chosen business as an
example. Use Data Flow diagrams where appropriate to help you make your points as clear as
possible.
For higher grade– Make sure you clearly identify the ‘inputs’ and ‘outputs’ of the information
system, including types of information, formats of information, usage and reliability; explain
the legal and ethical implications of these inputs and outputs. Compare your organisation
with another different example.
Learning Objective 4
1) Collate and use information for your organisation to suggest a future strategy. Explain how
and why you collected the information, and use a range of tools to support your
recommendations. Present your conclusions supported by charts, calculations, observations
and diagrams as appropriate.
For higher grade – explain how this process can be helped by the use of a management
information system (MIS). Evaluate the use of such a system for your chosen organisation.
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Creating Your Portfolio
Element 1: How organisations use business information
You need to look at the information flow through your chosen organisation. You need to make detailed
comment about each element of information creation and use, so it’s worth printing off this page,
maybe, and crossing off each bit as you cover it!
Find out:
1) The purposes of the information used by the organisation, such as:
a. operational support (e.g. monitoring and controlling activity)
b. analysis (e.g. to identify patterns or trends)
c. decision making (e.g. operational, tactical, strategic)
d. marketing and sales
e. communication
f.
flow (e.g. internally and externally)
2) The types, or categories, of the information used, such as:
a. Sales
b. Purchasing
c. Competitor
d. Manufacturing
e. Marketing
f.
Finance
g. Operations
h. Personnel
i.
Administration
3) The sources of this information (where do they get it?) such as:
a. internal (e.g. financial reports, market analysis)
b. external (e.g. government, suppliers, trade bodies)
c. Primary data/ Secondary data (define these too!)
d. Qualitative data/ Quantitative data (define these, too!)
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4) How the organisation handles the information (what they do with it) such as:
a. data v information (define the difference!)
b. collection and storage
c. manipulation
d. retrieval
e. analysis
f.
presentation
5) How the organisation ensures the standard of the information (and avoids looking like a mug)
such as:
a. reliability
b. validity,
c. relevance,
d. time frame,
e. accessible,
f.
quality
g. cost-effective
h. appropriate
The task
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You need to create a ‘nice’ looking report template (yes, a proper TEMPLATE first, and email
that to your teacher, before you launch into the actual product) with the title: ‘Information Flow
in Organisations’.
It needs a summary of your findings at the front.
It needs clearly laid out sections throughout highlighting each element from the list below that
you researched. Notice that the markgrid uses the words ‘explain’ and ‘discuss’ in this section:
you must do more than just list what you’ve found. Say how you think these processes can be
improved, and give a valid example, and you’re on your way to top marks.
It needs a bibliography and list of other sources that you used.
You are expected to need more than one draft to get it perfect… and you are expected to number those
drafts. Fewer than three, and I will be suspicious. More than eight, and we will be having an interesting
conversation about how much time we’re spending on this.
Deadline: Six weeks after start
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Element 2: Understand the issues related to use of information
So you now know what they’ve got, how they check it, store it, use it, present it.
But, as you should remember from the number of court cases involving Google and its street-mapping
programme, holding information isn’t ever a simple business. It’s a minefield. Using information isn’t a
cakewalk either, because there are issues there which MUST be considered – just ask Google!
So in this section we’re sending you off to find the tools that will help you navigate this minefield safely,
for this course and all other work that you do. Because information is everywhere – and you must use it
well.
For this element there is another hit list that you could print and tick off, if you want. Most of it ought to
be well-known to you – but for A Level, remember, a simple list is barely the starting point. Provide
examples of good – and bad– behaviour in each case to show a deeper level of understanding and
research. Your teacher will be a useful port of call here, so get some good notes!
Areas to cover in this element:
1) Legal issues:
a. data protection legislation (e.g. Data Protection Act 1998)
b. Freedom of Information Act 2000
c. other relevant legislation (e.g. Computer Misuse Act 1990, could look at the Patriot Act
and its implications for US-based organisations)
d. copyright considerations
2) Ethical issues:
a. Moral, whistle blowing, disability, use of information
b. codes of practice (e.g. email, internet, internal policies, intellectual property, content)
c. other (e.g. reporting bad practice or breaches)
3) Operational Issues:
a. security of information (e.g. backups)
b. health and safety (e.g. processes, procedures, regulations)
c. organisational policies
d. costs (e.g. for development, modification, training, system upgrades)
e. continuance planning
The task
Use a website template of your own design to produce the evidence for this one. Make it user-friendly,
with a clear bibliography of sources. For the higher grade, compare these issues as well as itemizing
them. Again, there will probably be a handful of drafts before this one is as good as you can make it. Use
all your proofing skills to ensure that this is done to perfection.
Deadline: Four weeks after start
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Element 3: Know the features and functions of information systems
Back in the olden days, a sales ledger and a good memory would be almost all a successful business
would need. But nowadays, well, things are more complex. Take a look at this school, for example. Think
about the way we use information, and how that has defined the system(s) we use. Your teacher again
will be the main source of info here, so make sure you are glued to them as they cover the following
elements:
1) Features of an information system:
a) data;
b) people;
c) hardware;
d) software;
e) communication/data flows
2) Function:
a) Data input and storage
b) Processing, reporting and analysis
c) Closed and open systems
3) Types of information systems:
a) management information systems (MIS) including features, benefits and suitability for purpose
b) marketing analysis
c) human resources (HR) (e.g. staffing, training and development)
d) financial (e.g. sales, costings, investment returns)
e) competitors
The task
Using the school as your example (and this could include the Uniform shop, or the Catering department
for extra credit) create a clear Data Flow Diagram showing the uses, types and flow of information
through our school. Use industry-standard icons, images and terms!
Choose an appropriate medium (interactive presentation? Report?) to explain the information system(s)
which are used. How? Why? What information is used? How? Why? Who are our competitors? And for
the higher grade what are the legal issues here? Look back at the markgrid to make sure you cover what
you need for the grade you want.
Deadline: Four weeks after start
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Element 4: Be able to use IT tools to produce management information
We start with a quick theory session for this one, where your teacher will give you the lowdown on the
stuff we need to cover, and the outline for this element. That’s this lot:
1) Selecting information that you will need to answer the question:
a) define scope (e.g. content, detail, timescales, constraints)
b) identify potential sources
c) source and select information
2) Tools that you will use to find the answers:
a) software (e.g. databases such as CRM, ERP, KMS)
b) artificial intelligence and expert systems
c) predictive modelling and forecasting;
d) internet searches and facilities
e) others
And then it’s back to your original organisation for this one, or the school if you’re stuck! We’re going to
present some information to allow the organisation to make some decisions. I’m going to use the school
here, so you can see where this has to go. You may use this scenario if you wish – just whatever you
choose, keep going back to the markgrid to make sure you’re covering all the elements for the grade you
want!
The Uniform Shop has been making enough money to break even – in other words, to cover its costs.
The school would like to help our partner school get uniforms for their students, too, because in that
area this is a tough call for parents who have so many more challenges than we do, here. Children there
are proud of their uniforms, because going to school is a seriously big deal: many children do not have a
chance to go and even learn to read and write, let alone use a computer or understand basic scientific
principles or the rudiments of another language.
So what would be the impact of adding a small percentage to the prices of uniform items for us to help
them? What would be enough to be useful in their area? What would be too great a percentage for our
parents here? What would you recommend?
Could the Uniform Shop actually sell different items, such as a School Exams Pack of pen, pencil, math
equipment, the usual stuff? How much would that cost the Uniform Shop, and what could they sell it
for? Would it make enough money to be worth the effort? How might that help our partner school?
What would you recommend?
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The task
Create a presentation, to be videoed, showing your research, investigations and conclusions. Show how
you checked that the information you used was valid and reliable. Include relevant charts and graphs.
Consider the usefulness of the model you used. How would you check or refine the results if you had
more time?
Deadline: four weeks after start
That’s all, folks!
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