Business Plan - Assignment Brief
As part of the formal assessment for the programme, you are required to submit a Management in IT business plan. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.
Learning Outcomes:
After completing the module, you should be able to:
1. Identify and appraise the different possible staffing approaches for an IT Department.
2. Critically analyse and evaluate the role of the strategic planning process and the IT manager's role within it.
3. Prepare and evaluate a staffing policy and plan for an IT department.
4. Appraise the impact of new technology on an organisation's strategic plan.
5. Plan the implementation of an IT installation. Manage employability, utilizing the skills of personal development and planning in different contexts to contribute to society and the workplace.
Your assignment should include a title page containing your student number, the module name, the submission deadline and a word count; the appendices if relevant; and a reference list in Arden University (AU) Harvard format. You should address all the elements of the assignment task listed below. Please note that tutors will use the assessment criteria set out below in assessing your work.
Management in IT Case Study:
A well-established university has one of the largest and most successful portfolios of online courses. This university is the first UK higher education institutions to develop a fully comprehensive online university model; a term sometimes referred to as e- university. Lessons are delivered using a variety of media and include live and recorded sessions. All aspects of university life are managed online. The success of this university is guided by having a clear vision and mission. The university's vision and mission are to be a leader and pioneer in advances in educational development. Recently, the university received financial funding for research and development to be used for new and innovative idea to support their students. One idea that they have not considered before is to create a virtual reality classroom experience. The idea is that occasionally and for specific modules, a software is used to would recreate the classroom/lab environment where students can sit and interactive in the virtual world.
To help you formulate your ideas better on this subject, you are recommended to read these papers.
Section 1: Case study and IT initiative
a) Provide a summary of the IT project initiative around the topics of virtual reality as a tool to running labs and classes of the future.
b) Suggest the University's overall strategic plan and objectives.
c) Justify the aim and objectives of the initiative in the context of the University's overall strategic plan and objectives.
Section 2: IT initiative staffing
a) Explain how you would conduct a review of the current IT staffing skills.
b) Create a comprehensive staffing policy plan for the IT department that would meet the IT initiative needs.
Section 3: Staffing approaches
a) Identify and evaluate the different staffing approaches that you can use.
b) Explain and justify your preferred approach to staffing.
c) Consider the ethical impact of your choice.
Section 4: IT installation plan
a) Create a detailed IT Implementation and installation plan.
b) Provide a scheduled plan using Gantt chart.
c) Create an IT initiative budget plan.
Section 5: Evaluation of initiative
a) Assess the impact of the new technology on the organisation. Explain how the investment in new technology aligns with the company's strategic plan.
b) Provide a brief Risk Assessment, Disaster Recovery Plan, or Business Continuity Planning for the IT initiative.
c) Consider the environmental impact of this project. Make recommendations for improvements where appropriate.
d) Provide a report conclusion.
You can contact the tutor at any point for feedback. However, during the term, there will be designated weeks in which students are required to contact the tutor to report on the progress of their work. Check the module calendar schedule online for these dates.