Assignment
OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technicals in IT
Unit 2: Information Systems
Unit Overview
This unit demonstrates the types of information held in the workplace, how it can be used to gain a
competitive edge and how it must comply with legislation by the end of this unit you shall;

Understand how organisations gather, analyse and use data

Be able to explain the characteristics of “good” data

Be able to select and use data to support business activities

Be able to present data in an appropriate format for specific purposes
LO1 – Understand how organisations use business information
Assessment Criteria; P1, P2, M1
Managing information is an important activity in any organisation. Effective information
management means using information to ensure that organisational purposes are met, whether it
is ensuring efficient day-to-day operations and meeting longer-term goals.
The Maths & ICT Department at Bluecoat use a wide range of information. Some of this
information is produced by us and some is produced elsewhere. We also supply information to
other parts of the school and to outside agencies.
To achieve a P1 you need to explain how organisations use business information, in order to
explain this in detail you need to first understand the following key terms. Create a PowerPoint or
report explaining how different organisations use information. You will need to include examples of
how different businesses use the following;
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a. Information vs. Data
b. Qualitative information
c. Quantitative information
d. Primary source
e. Secondary source
f. Internal information source
g. External information source
h. Business functional areas
To achieve P1 you also need to study the management information reports in Public (that are
produced and/or used by your ICT teachers) and produce a report for each of the individual
reports to summarising the key facts about them. For each report you must include the;
a) Report title
b) Description of the information
c) Type of information; is it qualitative or quantitative; detailed or summary?
d) Who produces the report; is it produced internally or externally? If internal, which business
functional area produced it?
e) Source of information
f)
How is the data handled and by whom
g) Purpose of the information / how is it used ((operational support; analysis; decision making;
marketing/sales, communication)
h) Data flow of information (Data Flow Diagram)
i)
Reliability of the information
NB: At least three different internal and two external functional areas should be included
to provide sufficient complexity.
In theory, the reports that you studied provide good, useful information. To achieve a P2 you need
to discuss the characteristics good information. In either a report or presentation explain the
following characteristics and discuss them in the context of the reports you have studied as well as
other examples of management information that you have encountered during this unit.

Reliability

Validity

Relevance
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
Time Frame

Accessible

Quality

Cost-effective

Appropriate
To achieve M1, use the characteristics mentioned in P2 and identify at least two improvements
which can be made to Bluecoat Academy information system could be developed to enhance their
capture and improve the use of gathered information.
LO2: Understand the issues related to the use of information
Assessment Criteria; P3, D1
To achieve P3 you need to create a report explaining the legal, ethical and operational issues that
relate to collecting, processing and using information as well the impact this can have upon
organisations such as cost, procedures to put in place etc.
a) Legislation Issues

Data Protection legislation (e.g. Data Protection Act 1998)

Freedom of Information Act 2000;

Other relevant legislation (e.g. Computer Misuse Act 1990)

Copyright considerations
b) Ethical Issues

Codes of practice; Email, Internet, Internal Policies, intellectual property and content in the
workplace.

Examples of ethical issues e.g. moral whistle blowing (how will the organisation respond
and protect those staff who inform of malpractice), Disability and use of information.

Other (reporting bad practice or breaches in contracts)
C) Operational Issues

Security of Information;

Health and Safety; (e.g. processes, procedures, regulations)

Organisational Policies

Costs (e.g. for development, modification, training, system upgrades)
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
Continuance Planning
To achieve D1 in your report you need to ensure you compare at least two of the criteria for each
of the legal, ethical and operational issues and how they affect different organisation types. For
example how the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act affects private
organisation e.g. Capital One compared to a public organisation e.g. local council. Any evidence of
adverse effects on the organisation must be clearly explained.
LO3: Know the features and functions of information systems
Assessment Criteria; P4, P5, M2, D2
To achieve P4 you must demonstrate and understanding of the features and functions of
information systems. Create a presentation which shall be filmed to teach others about different
types of information systems.
In your presentation you will need to describe the different types of systems that are used, you
must also include the features and functions of the information systems as well as an explanation
of the purpose of the system and who might use them (real business examples would be
beneficial here).

Types of Information
Features of Information
Functions of Information
Systems
Systems
Systems
Management Information

Data;

Input
Systems (MIS)

People;

storage;

Marketing Analysis

Hardware;

Processing;

Human Resources

Software;

Output;

Financial

Communication/data flows

Control and feedback

Competitor
loops;

Closed and open systems.
To achieve P5 you need to identify the information systems used in a specified organisation.
Bluecoat Academy staff use many different information systems. The main ones are SIMS and
SLEUTH but there also systems for Finance, HR etc. which various staff members have discussed
with you over the past few lessons.
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Produce a report or presentation with accompanying notes to show four information systems that
are used within school. For each system (Finance, Personnel, Student Information) cover the
following:

The name of the system;

Type of system

Which department(s) uses it

The purpose of the information system

The specific features and functions

The effectiveness of the system (benefits, weaknesses and is it fit for purpose)
To achieve M2 you must illustrate the input and output of information within specified functional
area of an organisation. To do this you need to create two Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs) explaining
the input and output of information within the Maths & ICT Department at School. These can either
be created on the computer “Smart Draw” or hand drawn and scanned into the report. You must
check each process to ensure that you have used the industry recognised symbols and correct
errors.
For D2 you need to analyse the legal and ethical implications of the specific inputs and outputs of
the system you have identified in your data flow diagrams. You can either annotate these on your
diagrams and/or a separate report.
LO4: Be able to use IT Tools to produce management information
Assessment Criteria; P6, P7, M3
Last year, a number of Year 9 students on the DIDA course performed poorly (compared to their
target grade). Mr Li (Assistant Director of ICT and Maths) would like to try to understand the
reasons for this, and to see whether there are any patterns or trends. This information will help Mr
Li to improve / change the course run to ensure future students do not achieve poorly.
To achieve P6 you need to show evidence of selecting information to support / discourage the
decision to change the year 9 ICT course used in school.
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When collecting your information you may wish to consider some of the following; What possible
factors do you think could account for variations in student performance? Why would two students,
both in the same class and with the same target grade, get different results? Make a list of all of
the factors that you can think of (i.e. things that may vary from student to student). To see whether
any of the factors are significant you will need to collect and analyse the data. How easy will it be
to obtain the data you have identified? What form is the data likely to be in? How reliable is the
data likely to be? Are there any other issues?
Create the table form below in a word document and explain what data you want to collect and
why;
What might affect the
Data item
required
Possible
sources of the
data
accuracy of the data I
collect? How might I have to
Explanation of why I think
phrase the question to
this data might be useful
ensure accuracy? Are there
any other issues.
As the data is on the school
information system that is used
every day this will be accurate.
However, I do not have access
to these systems. I would have
to ask the teacher to provide
Student
Name or
identifier
This information
is on SIMS
this data and there may be
Data Protection issues.
If I include this data then the
rest of the data will not be
anonymous - this means that
It would be useful to know who
the student was if I wanted to
follow up with further questions.
It would also enable me to
double-check the accuracy of
some of the rest of the data.
students may be less likely to
provide other data as it would
be attributable to them.
Diet
I would have to
I would have to think carefully
There is a known relationship
collect this
about the actual question I
between diet and how well
information
asked. For example, if I just
students do at school. For
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myself by
ask "do you eat a healthy
example, keeping blood sugar
questionnaire or
diet?", the answer would be
levels stable stops keeps
by asking the
highly qualitative. I might be
concentration levels high. If I
student.
better to seek a quantitative
could get at accurate data there
answer - I could ask students
may well be a link between diet
to rate their diet on a scale of
and performance.
1- 6 or ask how many portions
of fruit and vegetables they eat
a day. This kind of response
will be easier to analyse.
The data is unlikely to be very
accurate as it will probably
vary from day to day or week
on week.

You must then collect all of the data mentioned in your table above to help decide if the course
should be changed for the 2013-2014 year group?
To achieve P7 you need to first identify and explain using examples the possible IT Tools to
produce management information;

Software (e.g. databases such as CRM, ERP, KMS or Spreadsheets)

Artificial Intelligence and expert systems

Predictive modelling and forecasting

Internet Searches and Facilities

Others
To achieve P7 you also need to select IT Tools which we have in school and analyse the data
collected in P6 to produce useful meaningful management information which can be shown to Mr
Li and the Senior Management Team to help address the factors queried in the LO4 Scenario.
Possible ways to achieve this could be to;
1) Input / import the data into Excel and analyse it. You could then produce at least 3 reports;
examples could be a table or graph that shows "The relationship between diet and student
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performance" or a pie chart that shows the percentage of students giving each response to
a particular question but it is up to you how you do this. But remember you must;

Make sure that each report is well laid out, has a clear title and shows the date it was
produced.

If you draw graphs, make sure the axes are labeled.

If you produce pivot tables, make sure that the row label and column labels are
meaningful and it is clear that the overall figures represent the number (or percentage)
of students.
2) A data base which can be used by teachers to search students names, forms, targeted
grades and achieved grades
Once you have analysed your data you must input your findings a final report or presentation
which can be delivered to Mr Li which explains;

The purpose and content of your findings

Why you think the information is interesting and/or useful; how might the teachers use it?
What kind of decision(s) may the teacher make on the basis of this information?

How valid are the conclusions that might be derived from the information? Are there any
other factors that might need to be taken into account?

How accurate is the information (how accurate was the data)? What might have affected
it's accuracy?
For M3 you must also explain in a report the value of the new management system that you have
created, what benefits this will bring to the Academy and what other outcomes may also follow
through using the information system.
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