School of Information Management INFO386 – IT ARCHITECTURE Trimester One 2017 Architecture Analysis Assignment: an individual inquiry report Description: Business report (3000 words max) Due: 5:00pm – Monday 15th May Electronic hand-in on Bb detail closer to the due date. Assesses learning objectives: 1,2,4,5 Value: 40% of final course mark The following assignment is an independent inquiry exercise. You are expected to carry out your own research and investigation of the material. The topics are related to topics we discuss in class but are not a simple restating of materials from class. Before you write the report you will need to understand the technologies, how they are used, and most importantly why they can help solve the clients problem. We know that there are solutions to this problem already out there. Your challenge is to design a solution using a combination of technologies some may be commercial off the shelf (COTS) products, some might be modified or repurposed technologies and others may need building from scratch. Have some fun and design a solution that is plausible. Your challenge is to write an informative business report that: a) Uses plain language to explain what each of each of the technologies involves (don’t just dump a technical description – we can get that from Wikipedia), b) Discusses the potential business benefits and risks that each topic represents, c) Examine how technology convergence means that your architecture is plausible, d) Provide examples of products and services that implement these technologies that could work in a New Zealand context and, e) Discusses potential privacy, security and organisational risks that users of these services might need to be aware of. This report needs to use language and examples that a non-technical, business focused audience can relate to. Note. This is an individual exercise, you are encouraged to discuss and share ideas and resources with your classmates but your final report must be all your own work. To do this you will need to: a) Explore and review a cross section of IS literature and technical resources to learn about these topics. Avoid technical jargon and advertising materials; your discussion should be technically agnostic by focusing on benefits and outcomes rather that cataloguing product features. b) Have an opinion. Describe the potential benefits but also look at the potential negative consequences of these technologies. Format: business report (with an academic reference page where appropriate). 3000 words (maximum, this is not a target) Properly referenced using APA style Footnotes are OK for explaining technical terms. To help us with marking, please include a cover page with your report that has the following: • Your name (that matches your enrolment) • Your Student ID number Your brief: Mike’s Menus Mike is a chef and owner of the Salty Fish bar on Wellington’s waterfront. Mike’s customers love his menu of seasonal dishes with ingredients sourced from suppliers all over New Zealand. At least five times a week Mike is asked for a recipe and how to obtain the ingredients he uses. This has sparked an idea. Mike’s Vision: Inspired by Nadia Lim’s successful myFoodBag grocery and recipe service, Mike wants to launch a web and app based food delivery service styled around his restaurant. • Each time Mike puts a new item on his restaurant menu he wants to also create a simplified version for home cooks to construct in 30mins. He has run market trials and knows that the business model is sound. • Customers will sign up to Mike’s Menu and choose a dish they want to cook in 24 hrs time. Mike’s team will prep the ingredients, deliver the kits at a pre-arranged time to the customer’s home and the customer will cook and serve the meals. • Mike will create a how to video to go with each recipe on Mike’s Menu. • The recipes will be stored in a database so that ingredient schedules and quantities can be retrieved whenever Mike wants to offer an item. • His suppliers will deliver to the restaurant as usual but Mike will have a pack and deliver process. • Because Mike’s key ingredient is fresh fish he wants to use text messages to confirm someone is home and then send the delivery. • Mike is not an IT guy so he wants the simplest technology possible and is prepared to pay to get it right – especially since Mike’s trials have shown that customers are ready to pay good prices. • Almost all of Mike’s suppliers are online, some with full e-commerce websites and others taking email orders. • Mike’s brother in law is an IT guy (who has lots of time to talk but no time to help) and has told Mike “everything is in the cloud now” so Mike wants to know if that is possible. Customer stakeholder 1: Jenny and Tom are typical examples of customers. They are young professionals working in busy IT and management consulting companies in Wellington. They get home around six pm and want a healthy, delicious meal at around seven with a minimum of fuss. Customer stakeholder 2: Sarah owns a vineyard in Martinborough that has boutique self-catering accommodation. Sarah wants to be able to order Mikes Menu meals for her customers to be able to cook. She wants a mobile app that her customers can use but she will bill them and pay Mike herself (after collecting a small fee of course!). Supplier stakeholder 1: Lou Colletti from Island Bay is Mikes seafood supplier with a sophisticated website that posts his daily specials and tells chefs what Lou’s boats have caught that day even before the return to shore. Mike wants to be able to make full use of the data on Lou’s site. Supplier stakeholder 2: Tony Wang is Mike’s vegetable supplier in Otaki. Tony likes to do most of his business over the phone or face-to-face. He will concede and accept orders by email if they arrive by 5pm the day before the vegetables are needed. Your Task: You agree to investigate for Mike what options exist already and what could be developed. You explain to Mike the idea of buy, modify or build when selecting new technology. You also agree that your deliverable will include a high-level IT Architecture diagram, plus a discussion paper about the use of mobile apps for online ordering. You have a vague memory of seeing something at a conference last year about validating mobile app ideas before starting the actual development but want to explore the options fully before saying any more. ------------------------ Notes You should present your ideas in the form of a logical, informative, and coherent discussion. Where necessary, you should provide authoritative support in the form of correct referencing. In text APA style is expected as the faculty standard. Limited use of footnotes is also fine, especially for clarifying technical material and terms. You should assume your audience is intelligent but not trained in information systems topics. Use clear language that takes the reader with you. Tip. I use my family doctor as an example; she can explain complex medical topics to me without confusing me, and so I should be able to explain information systems topics to her in clear language without insulting her intelligence. You should seek multiple sources of information. For example, if you find an interesting point in Wikipedia or an industry white paper you should check its authority and understand the biases that may influence its author. Relying solely on Wikipedia (or any other encyclopaedia for that matter) is not regarded as good scholarship. Highly ranked peer reviewed sources have much more academic credibility. You are writing a report that displays your critical thinking skills; you are not doing a piece of journalism. You will need to understand the ideas and make sure your discussion flows sensibly from one idea to the next and leads to a logical conclusion. Make sure you show how your own thinking has developed and how the ideas you think are important and should come through in your writing. It is OK to have an opinion; it is even encouraged! However, when you express your opinion, show the reader how you formed that opinion and explain why they should agree with your analysis. Note. We don’t have to agree with you to give you marks, but we do need to be able to follow your argument. Please, get someone else to proof read your work for grammar and clear flow of ideas, proof readers don’t have to know the subject matter in detail and should find that your paper explains what they need to know in order to understand your ideas.