FKLT/12-00

Assignment Cover be sure to keep a copy of all work submitted

To be completed by student PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY

Name: ID Number: Lecturer Lab group / Tutorial group / Tutor (if applicable)

Course and Course Code 302KM - Business Information Systems Strategy Assignment No. / Title

Submission Date:

Extension & Late submission: Allowed / Disallowed

Assignment type: Individual/Group

% of Assignment Mark 50%

Returning Date:

Penalties: 1. 10% of the original mark will be deducted for every one week period after the submission date 2. No work will be accepted after two weeks of the deadline 3. If you were unable to submit the coursework on time due to extenuating circumstances you may be eligible for an extension 4. Extension will not exceed one week

Declaration: I/we the undersigned confirm that I/we have read and agree to abide by these regulations on plagiarism and cheating. I/we confirm that this piece of work is my/our own. I/we consent to appropriate storage of our work for checking to ensure that there is no plagiarism/ academic cheating.

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Full Name: This section may be used for feedback or other information

302KM Business Information Management Strategy Individual Assignment 1 (50%)

Introduction This assignment requires you to: Demonstrate your capacity to reflective thinking and apply all the theories that you already learned. Successfully completing this assignment means that you will have: Gained experience on how to do a thorough research after all it will reflect to your final year project. Developed a deeper understanding of the module subject area that can be conveyed through the lecturers alone. Demonstrate that you can conduct research or analysis, at a level appropriate to a Degree program. Deliverables You are required to write an individual professional report in about 10 pages including references. Word count must be shown and complied with. Use Coventry University Harvard Referencing to avoid any plagiarism. Task 1 Task 2 Generate a report based on the case study and answer all the questions (40%) Learning Outcomes (10%) What have you learn in this assignment? Do you get any information and gain knowledge regarding the issue? You will need to write not more than 2 pages of A4 paper. Plagiarism Students must attach together plagiarism report generated from http://www.paperrater.com/ and the minimum originality percentage (%) is 85% and above. How to use it? Step 1: Copy Paste ALL your material and references Step 2: Education Level- College (Undergraduate) Step 3: Type of paper- Research Paper Step 4: Originality detection- Include (Slower) Step 5: Generate Report Format Your report must include coursework cover sheet, table of contents, references, appendix and using Arial 11, 1.5 spacing. Submission

Notes

Do not merely search the internet for an article and merely present it as your own. The penalties for plagiarism may be severe.

Case: RBS computer failure 'caused by inexperienced operative in India'

By Hannah Furness

The computer glitch at the Royal Bank of Scotland which left millions of customers unable to access their accounts could have been caused by just one junior technician in India, it was suggested last night. The inexperienced operative accidentally wiped information during a routine software upgrade, it has been claimed. The member of staff, who was working on the programme for the Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Ulster Bank, is believed to have been based in Hyderabad, India.

According to technology website The Register, at least some of the team responsible for the error were recruited in India following redundancies in the department in the UK. Unions have already blamed the fiasco on the decision to outsource much of the companys IT jobs, as Indian staff are paid as little as 9,000, compared with 50,000 their British counterparts were paid. Stephen Hester, chief executive of RBS, said that there was no evidence that outsourcing had caused the problems. He said: The IT centre in Edinburgh is our main centre, it is nothing to do with overseas. Things go wrong. Things go wrong in technology. We have to learn the lessons from what went wrong here and try to make then less likely to happen in the future. The error is understood to have occurred after a software update froze part of the banks computer systems last Wednesday, affecting 17 million customers. Although the problem was resolved on Friday, it created a backlog of more than 100 million transactions that were not paid in or out of bank accounts as they should have been. Deleted information then had to be painstakingly re-entered into the bank groups computer system. A source, who worked for RBS for several years, told the Register an inexperienced operative had made an error while performing the relatively routine task of backing out of an upgrade. He said: When they did the back-out, a major error was made. An inexperienced person cleared the whole queue ... they erased all the scheduling.

RBS have not yet commented on the claims.

The bank has already promised customers will be reimbursed for the cost of fines or late payment fees incurred as a result of the delays. Banking experts said that the cost to RBS of dealing with the IT problems, including extra staff costs as well as the money to reimburse customers, is already likely to be between 50 million and 100 million.

Mr Hester has also admitted that the bonuses of senior members of RBS staff are likely to be reduced because of the incident. He said: All of us are judged in part by customer service, from me on downwards. And we should be.

Earlier this year Mr Hester was forced to waive a share bonus worth 963,000 after a public outcry and political pressure. The Financial Services Authority said: We will expect RBSNatWest to provide us with a complete account of the issues once this is fully resolved and to take any necessary steps to ensure that the risks of these problems occurring again are addressed.

Article adapted from: Furness, H. (2012). RBS computer failure 'caused by inexperienced operative in India'. The Telegraph [online] available from <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/9358252/RBScomputer-failure-caused-by-inexperienced-operative-in-India.html> [5 October 2012]

Questions:

1. Critically evaluate the competitive advantage that can be gained by companies through IS/IT outsourcing. Provide suitable example to support your answer. 2. Assess the main threats of IS/IT outsourcing and put these possible threats in order based on its importance. Justify your answer 3. Discuss measures companies need to take in order to prevent computer systems failure.

302KM: Marking Sheet Student: ____________________________________________________ ID: __________________ Ranges 100 Presentations and Organization of Report Excellent organized and structured. Full use of communication tools such as diagrams, tables and graphs. Very well presented. Properly and fully referenced work. Evidence of careful planning and awareness of relevant issues: Well presented Report content IS/IT issues is clearly identified. Shows clear evidence of effective thinking about the issues, sound interesting and clear argument and relevant recommendations. Appropriate with understandable IS/IT issues, arguments and relevant recommendations. Report present good evidence of the issues IS/IT Issues described reasonably. Tasks identified may be inconsistent. The issue may not explain well. Originally, Innovation and appropriateness Clearly support the arguments and ideas regarding the issue taken. Understand the issues and giving wide recommendations. Overall Work of a very high standard

70

69

60

Shows reasonable evidence of reflective thinking about the issues with adequate recommendations

Work of good quality

59

50

49

45

Adequate structure and presentation. Poorer presentation should not interfere with communication of ideas but will suggest lower mark. Inconsistent referencing. Structure less clear. At lower end of the marks the structure is poor and only just adequate. Some attempt at referencing

Adequate interpretation, lacking in dept of reflective thinking with respects to major points. Some appropriate recommendations.

Acceptable and adequate work

IS/IT issues may not be well chosen. Some irrelevant information include in the report.

44 38 Below 38 Grade

Only just adequate structure and presentation. No referencing. Inadequate structure and/or poor presented A:

Unclear or incomplete report.

Inappropriate or substantial response B:

Largely descriptive, less appropriate recommendations, less adequate dept of reflective thinking. At the lower end of the marks, parts of the work may be inaccurate or irrelevant. Clear signs of understandings, but only just adequate analysis and recommendations. Lack in judgement C:

Work with some merit but at the lower end only just achieving what is required

The work is only just acceptable in its present form The work is deemed inadequate Total (A+B+C/ 3) = /100

Markers Comments (If any):

Markers Initials: