BUS5600 Business case development - Semester 2 , 2007

Clayton

• Ian Martin
• Yen Cheung

Clayton

• Josh Akerstein
• Lin Chen

Prerequisites

Before attempting this unit you must have satisfactorily completed a business systems computing unit.

Relationships

You may not study this unit and BUS3600 in your degree.

Unit leader

Lecturer(s) :

Tutor(s) :

• The approach to teaching and learning in this unit is to reinforce the lecture topics with practical assignments and real case studies. The particular emphasis is on simulating the business environment by working in teams to develop and present case studies, orally and in writing.

• Students are nominated in teams of six by their tutors to provide a mix of students in each team (local, foreign, industry based learning stream, coursework stream, male and female students).  Normally there are three distinct teams in each tutorial. The student teams then work on a group assignment and a separate case study.

• The assignment requires a literature search of topics covered in the lectures and a two to three thousand word written report.

• Case studies are provided to the different teams and business cases for change and improvement are developed during the semester in concert with the lecture topics. The teams orally present their business cases in the lecture theatres to the assessors (tutors and lecturers) and their peers. The teams also submit a twenty page written business case report.

Timetable information

For information on timetabling for on-campus classes at all Australian campuses please refer to MUTTS, http://mutts.monash.edu.au/MUTTS/

• Monash aims to provide a learning environment in which students receive a range of ongoing feedback throughout their studies. You will receive feedback on your work and progress in this unit.

• This feedback may take the form of group feedback, individual feedback, peer feedback, self-comparison, verbal and written feedback, discussions as well as more formal feedback related to assignment marks and grades. You are encouraged to draw on a variety of feedback to enhance your learning.

• It is essential that you take action immediately if you realise that you have a problem that is affecting your study. Semesters are short, so we can help you best if you let us know as soon as problems arise. Regardless of whether the problem is related directly to your progress in the unit, if it is likely to interfere with your progress you should discuss it with your lecturer or a Community Service counsellor as soon as possible.

Tutorial allocation

Students should register for tutorials using Allocate+.

Communication, participation and feedback

Monash aims to provide a learning environment in which students receive a range of ongoing feedback throughout their studies. You will receive feedback on your work and progress in this unit. This may take the form of group feedback, individual feedback, peer feedback, self-comparison, verbal and written feedback, discussions (on line and in class) as well as more formal feedback related to assignment marks and grades. You are encouraged to draw on a variety of feedback to enhance your learning.

It is essential that you take action immediately if you realise that you have a problem that is affecting your study. Semesters are short, so we can help you best if you let us know as soon as problems arise. Regardless of whether the problem is related directly to your progress in the unit, if it is likely to interfere with your progress you should discuss it with your lecturer or a Community Service counsellor as soon as possible.

Unit Schedule

Week	Topic	References/Readings	Key dates
1	Introduction	BCD Textbbok Chapter 1	July 17
2	Business Processes & Modelling	BCD Textbook Chapter 3	July 24
3	Human Factors in Change	BCD Textbook Chapter 7	July 31
4	Measuring Performance	BCD Textbook Chapter 2	August 7
5	Business process reengineering	BCD Textbook Chapter 4	August 14
6	BPR/Change Mgmt Case Study	BCD Textbook Chapter 8	August 21
7	BPR & IT Case Study	BCD Textbook Chapter 6	August 28
8	Quality Management	BCD Textbook Chapter 5	September 4
9	Internal and External Strategies		September 11
10	To be decided		September 18
Mid semester break
11	Case Study Presentations	BCD Textbook Chapter 9	October 2
12	Case Study Presentations	BCD Textbook Chapter 9	October 9
13	Summary and Review		October 16

Prescribed text(s) and readings

• Prescribed Text: Business Case Development (2002) published by Pearson Education Australia, ISBN 1 74009 406 9, Yen Ping Cheung and Ian Martin.

• Prescribed Text: Reengineering the Corporation (2001) published by Nicholas Brealey, ISBN 1 85788 097 8, Michael Hammer and James Champy.

• Text books are available from the Monash University Book Shops. Availability from other suppliers cannot be assured. The Bookshop orders texts in specifically for this unit. You are advised to purchase your text book early.

Recommended text(s) and readings

• Bhuvan Unhelkar, 2005, Practical Object Oriented Design, Thomson Social Science Press, ISBN 0-17-012299-9.

• Porter M E, 1985, Competitive Advantage Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, The Free Press, ISBN 0-684-84146-0.

• White and Bruton, 2006, The Management of Technology & Innovation, A Strategic Approach, ISBN 0-324-14497-0.

• Handouts and recomendations at lectures.

Required software and/or hardware

There is no software requirement.

Equipment and consumables required or provided

Students may use the facilities available in the computing labs. Information about computer use for students is available from the ITS Student Resource Guide in the Monash University Handbook. You will need to allocate up to 3 hours per week for use of a computer, including time for newsgroups/discussion groups.

Study resources

Study resources we will provide for your study are:

This unit information outlining the administrative information for the unit.

The BUS5600 website on MUSO where the lecture slides, assignment, case studies and past exam papers will be posted.

Library access

The Monash University Library site contains details about borrowing rights and catalogue searching. To learn more about the library and the various resources available, please go to http://www.lib.monash.edu.au.  Be sure to obtain a copy of the Library Guide, and if necessary, the instructions for remote access from the library website.

Monash University Studies Online (MUSO)

All unit and lecture materials are available through the MUSO (Monash University Studies Online) site. You can access this site by going to:

1. a) https://muso.monash.edu.au or
2. b) via the portal (http://my.monash.edu.au).

Click on the Study and enrolment tab, then the MUSO hyperlink.

In order for your MUSO unit(s) to function correctly, your computer needs to be correctly configured.

For example :

• MUSO supported browser
• Supported Java runtime environment

For more information, please visit

http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/downloadables-student.html

You can contact the MUSO Support by: Phone: (+61 3) 9903 1268

For further contact information including operational hours, please visit

http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/contact.html

Further information can be obtained from the MUSO support site:

http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/index.html

Unit assessment policy

• The unit is assessed with two assignments and a two hour closed book examination.
• To pass the unit you must pass the exam and achieve no less than 50% of possible marks.

Assignment tasks

• Assignment Task

  Title :

  Assignment 1 group report

  Description :

  Choose one of the following topics and do a literature review write-up.

  Your group should also critically review about five related articles. 

  Topic 1:          Business Analysis and Modelling

  Topic 2:          Measuring Business Performance

  Topic 3:          IT and Business Improvements

  Topic 4:          Business Process Reengineering

  Topic 5:          Leadership, Teams and Change Management

  Topic 6:          Quality and Business Performance

  Weighting :

  10%

  Criteria for assessment :

  • One written report per group.
    
  • Minimum 2000 and maximum 3000 words.

  Due date :

  September 7, 2007

  Remarks ( optional - leave blank for none ) :

  Contact Library Student Services for help on how to write a report. Ly Thi Tran has been employed by the Matheson Library to help Faculty of IT students with business presentation and writing skills.

• Assignment Task

  Title :

  Case Study Presentation

  Description :

  • Each team of six students will present their business case for 15 minutes to the assessors and their peers in week 11 or 12.

  • Six teams will present in each of three venues each week between 1.00 and 3.00pm on Tuesday, October 2 and Tuesday, October 9.

  Weighting :

  12%

  Criteria for assessment :

  • Content of presentation.
  • Quality of slides presented.
  • Continuity or flow of presentation.
  • Participation of group members in presentation.
  • Adherence to presentation time limits.
  • Clarity of speech in presentation.
  • Exceptional features of presentation.

  Due date :

  October 2 or October 9, 2007 as determined by the tutors.

• Assignment Task

  Title :

  Case Study Written Report

  Description :

  A twenty page written report to include the following:

  • Executive summary.
  •  Introduction.
  • Problem statement.
  • Approach/methodogy.
  • AS-IS model.
  •  Benchmarking.
  • Alternative solutions considered.
  • TO-BE model.
  • Proposal/business case.
  • Implementation and conclusion.

  Weighting :

  18%

  Criteria for assessment :

  • Executive Summary.
  • Objective, introduction, problem statement.
  • Business Case Development methodology.
    • SWOT analysis.
    • AS-IS analysis.
    • Benchmarking.
    • Alternative solutions reviewed.
    • Reengineering, process changes, TO-BE analysis.
    • Recommendation and justification.
    • Implementation plan, change management.
  • Presentation of report.

  Due date :

  October 12, 2007.

Examinations

• Examination

  Weighting :

  60%

  Length :

  2 hours

  Type ( open/closed book ) :

  closed book

  Remarks ( optional - leave blank for none ) :

  • Normally in two sections.

  • Section A composed of 60 multiple choice questions. Students are asked to answer all questions.

  • Section B composed of five short answer questions. Students are asked to answer four of the five questions.

Assignment submission

Students should submit the assignment in building 63 box 3 by 3pm with the appropriate cover sheet correctly filled out and attached.

Students should submit the case study written report in building 63 box 3 by 3pm with the appropriate cover sheet correctly filled out and attached.

Assignment coversheets

Faculty of Information Technology GROUP ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Due dates and extensions

The due dates for the submission of assignments are given in the previous section. Please make every effort to submit work by the due dates. It is your responsibility to structure your study program around assignment deadlines, family, work and other commitments. Factors such as normal work pressures, vacations, etc. are seldom regarded as appropriate reasons for granting extensions. Students are advised to NOT assume that granting of an extension is a matter of course.

Requests for extensions must be made to the unit lecturer at your campus at least two days before the due date. You will be asked to forward original medical certificates in cases of illness, and may be asked to provide other forms of documentation where necessary. A copy of the email or other written communication of an extension must be attached to the assignment submission.

Late assignment

Assignments received after the due date may be subject to a penalty of one mark per day late. Assignments received later than one week after the due date will not normally be accepted.

Return dates

Students can expect assignments to be returned within two weeks of the submission date or after receipt, whichever is later.

Assessment for the unit as a whole is in accordance with the provisions of the Monash University Education Policy at http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/assessment/

• We will aim to have the case study presentation results available to you one week after your presentation.

• The case study written report results will be available with the final results and the written report will not be returned to you.

Plagiarism, cheating and collusion

Plagiarism and cheating are regarded as very serious offences. In cases where cheating  has been confirmed, students have been severely penalised, from losing all marks for an assignment, to facing disciplinary action at the Faculty level. While we would wish that all our students adhere to sound ethical conduct and honesty, I will ask you to acquaint yourself with Student Rights and Responsibilities (http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/about/committees-groups/facboard/policies/studrights.html) and the Faculty regulations that apply to students detected cheating as these will be applied in all detected cases.

In this University, cheating means seeking to obtain an unfair advantage in any examination or any other written or practical work to be submitted or completed by a student for assessment. It includes the use, or attempted use, of any means to gain an unfair advantage for any assessable work in the unit, where the means is contrary to the instructions for such work. 

When you submit an individual assessment item, such as a program, a report, an essay, assignment or other piece of work, under your name you are understood to be stating that this is your own work. If a submission is identical with, or similar to, someone else's work, an assumption of cheating may arise. If you are planning on working with another student, it is acceptable to undertake research together, and discuss problems, but it is not acceptable to jointly develop or share solutions unless this is specified by your lecturer. 

Intentionally providing students with your solutions to assignments is classified as "assisting to cheat" and students who do this may be subject to disciplinary action. You should take reasonable care that your solution is not accidentally or deliberately obtained by other students. For example, do not leave copies of your work in progress on the hard drives of shared computers, and do not show your work to other students. If you believe this may have happened, please be sure to contact your lecturer as soon as possible.

Cheating also includes taking into an examination any material contrary to the regulations, including any bilingual dictionary, whether or not with the intention of using it to obtain an advantage.

Plagiarism involves the false representation of another person's ideas, or findings, as your own by either copying material or paraphrasing without citing sources. It is both professional and ethical to reference clearly the ideas and information that you have used from another writer. If the source is not identified, then you have plagiarised work of the other author. Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty that is insulting to the reader and grossly unfair to your student colleagues.

Register of counselling about plagiarism

The university requires faculties to keep a simple and confidential register to record counselling to students about plagiarism (e.g. warnings). The register is accessible to Associate Deans Teaching (or nominees) and, where requested, students concerned have access to their own details in the register. The register is to serve as a record of counselling about the nature of plagiarism, not as a record of allegations; and no provision of appeals in relation to the register is necessary or applicable.

Non-discriminatory language

The Faculty of Information Technology is committed to the use of non-discriminatory language in all forms of communication. Discriminatory language is that which refers in abusive terms to gender, race, age, sexual orientation, citizenship or nationality, ethnic or language background, physical or mental ability, or political or religious views, or which stereotypes groups in an adverse manner. This is not meant to preclude or inhibit legitimate academic debate on any issue; however, the language used in such debate should be non-discriminatory and sensitive to these matters. It is important to avoid the use of discriminatory language in your communications and written work. The most common form of discriminatory language in academic work tends to be in the area of gender inclusiveness. You are, therefore, requested to check for this and to ensure your work and communications are non-discriminatory in all respects.

Students with disabilities

Students with disabilities that may disadvantage them in assessment should seek advice from one of the following before completing assessment tasks and examinations:

• Faculty of Information Technology Student Service staff, and / or
• your Unit Coordinator, or
• Disabilities Liaison Unit

Deferred assessment and special consideration

Deferred assessment (not to be confused with an extension for submission of an assignment) may be granted in cases of extenuating personal circumstances such as serious personal illness or bereavement. Special consideration in the awarding of grades is also possible in some circumstances. Information and forms for Special Consideration and deferred assessment applications are available at http://www.monash.edu.au/exams/special-consideration.html. Contact the Faculty's Student Services staff at your campus for further information and advice.