BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in Computing

HND Assignment BriefSession: February 2021Programme titleBTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in ComputingUnit number and title14Business Intelligence (L5)Assignment number &title1 of 1Business Intelligence (L5)Unit LeaderDr SorooshAssessor (s)Dr SorooshIssue Date23/02/2021Final assignmentsubmission deadline07 – 12 June 2021Late submission deadline14 – 19 June 2021The learners are required to follow the strict deadline set by the Collegefor submissions of assignments in accordance with the BTEC level 4 –7 submission guidelines and College policy on submissions.Resubmission deadlineTBAFeedbackFormative feedback will be available in class during the semester.Final feedback will be available within 2 – 3 weeks of the assignmentsubmission date. GeneralGuidelines• The work you submit must be in your own words. If you use a quote or anillustration from somewhere you must give the source.• Include a list of references at the end of your document. You must give all yoursources of information.• Make sure your work is clearly presented and that you use readilyunderstandable English.• Wherever possible use a word processor and its “spell-checker”. Internal verifierK. AliSignature (IV of thebrief) *Date18/02/2021 Department of Information Technology Page 2 of 7 ICON College of Technology and ManagementBTEC HND in ComputingUnit 14: Business Intelligence (L5)Session: February 2021CourseworkRecommended maximum words 2,500 You are strongly advised to read “Preparation guidelines of the CourseworkDocument” before answering your assignment.ASSIGNMENTAim & ObjectiveThis coursework is designed to demonstrate the broad understanding and knowledge of the unit,assessing and evaluating the student’s strength and level of analysis; divided into four learningoutcomes. The coursework should be submitted as one document in a report format in finalsubmission.Assignment Scenario:Business processes are core elements of any intelligent system. Design and development ofintelligent systems largely depend on understanding the activities of business processes, theirsequences, all relevant decisions around them, and the possible inputs and outputs of them.Business processes exist in any business. Scenarios below are two examples of them.Case Scenario 1: Event ManagementYou have been asked to organise a small concert for a charitable group, to raise money for a goodcause and also attract more members for the charitable group.Tickets for the event will be sold in advance (online or by phone) and ‘on the door’. It has beendecided to set three price levels for the tickets:• £5 for concessions (pensioners/ unwaged) and for existing members of the charitable group,• £7 for students not existing members; and• £10 for others.• Anyone who joins the charitable group (annual subscription £5) will get a £2 discount on theevent.At the time of the event you will know how many tickets have been pre-sold.You should note that ‘at the door’ activities can involve signing-up new members on the spot inaddition to simply checking tickets purchased in advance and selling tickets not already pre-sold.The two main responsibilities of door personnel are to;(a) ensure the right entrance fees are being charged; and(b) accurately record ticket sales and membership applications.There are two complications. Your venue has a capacity limit (300) and you must not exceed thatcapacity (or the function may be stopped on health and safety grounds).Department of Information Technology Page 3 of 7Alcohol will be on sale at the venue, which is thus restricted to those aged 18 or over. Control iscritically important and therefore you must also include processes which ensure that the venuecapacity is not breached, and that under-age visitors are not sold alcohol.Case Scenario 2: Staff RecruitmentRecruiting new staff is usually complex and costly for many companies, and largely depends on thesize of the company, the job’s requirements, and the job market conditions. But, most humanresource (HR) teams follow the following steps in their recruitments in general:• Forming a selection committee: the committee defines the job description, sets therequirements, and makes the recruitment decision. The committee may involve technicalmanager(s), relevant director(s) and an HR advisor. The committee members should have agood understanding of the job vacancy, job market, and some basic rules and guidelines like“equal opportunities”.• Write the job description: this should include job title, location(s); expectations andresponsibilities; main objectives; section/manager (i.e. who the role should report to); requiredqualifications, capabilities, and skills; career promotion opportunities; and salary and benefits.Some general company information should be provided too.• Posting the job advert: This can be done via the company’s website, job sites, head hunters,local papers, and social media.• Receiving and short-listing the applications: The committee should review all submittedapplications and CVs and choose the most relevant ones (i.e. the ones which meet the mainrequirements of the job). Shortlisting can be done based on a scoring system too. Usually threeto seven people are short-listed for the interview. The applicants should not be discriminatedbased on the age, gender, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, marriage status, pregnancyor having children, or religion.• Interviewing: To find more about the candidates and their suitability for the vacancy, a face-toface, online, or telephone interview may be arranged. Interviews may run in multiple rounds.For example they can start with skype interviews, followed by another shortlisting and theninviting the final list to the face-to-face interview meeting.• Making the final decision: The committee should compare all candidates at this stage anddecide who best fits the job. The second and third preferred people should be kept in the listtoo.• Checking references. If the references are not available, the selected candidate should beasked for another reference(s).• The offer can be made after receiving the references. If the offer is not accepted, somenegotiations might be needed with the candidate.• If the agreement cannot be reached, the offer can be made to the next preferred candidateafter checking his/her references. If there is no next preferred candidate, the job can beadvertised again.Choose ONE of the above scenarios. You are required to produce a report, which should addressthe following tasks:Task 1Develop a process map or flow chart for the selected case, and examine its core steps andsupporting processes. Then, identify its key input and output data and classify and differentiate themin terms of unstructured and semi-structured data.Recommend an application software which can be employed to process the business activities ofthe case scenario above, and evaluate its benefits and drawbacks for business processing.Department of Information Technology Page 4 of 7Task 2Identify the key decisions to be made in the business process above, and compare the support(s)needed to be available for making those decisions. Then, explore the opportunities for intelligentsystems to contribute to the decision-making processes and justify their required features.Accordingly, compare and contrast some information systems/ technologies that can be used tosupport organising the selected business process, as described in the case scenario, at strategic,tactical and operational levels.Task 3Specify one or two applications of business intelligence for the business process that you choseearlier, and determine its particular tools and techniques. Elaborate your answer by using specificexamples in the context of the case scenario.Based on the application(s) you specified above, design a business intelligence tool (or applicationor interface) that can support a specific task (e.g. decision making, problem solving, prioritising, andcustomer relationship management) of the process, mapped earlier for your LO1. Try to customisedifferent features of your business intelligence tool to enhance its user-friendliness or functionalinterface.Critically review your design in terms of how it meets specific user or business requirements and itscustomisation capabilities.Task 4Review the key decisions being made in the above case scenario, and discuss how businessintelligence tools can enhance their effectiveness.Given that legal issues are very critical in your selected case scenario, explore their involvement inexploitation of business intelligence tools recommended earlier for the case scenario above.Through a wider research on other organisations or sectors, identify two examples of businessintelligence tools, which are employed to improve their operations.Discuss how business intelligence can help organisations to enhance their competitiveness andexpand their markets. In particular, evaluate the role of security legislations in the businessintelligence’s above achievements.Relevant InformationTo gain a Pass in a BTEC HND Unit, you must meet ALL the Pass criteria; to gain a Merit, you must meet ALLthe Merit and Pass criteria; and to gain a Distinction, you must meet ALL the Distinction, Merit and Pass criteria.1. Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria Learning Outcomes and Assessment CriteriaPassMeritDistinctionLO1 Discuss business processes and the mechanisms used to supportbusiness decision-makingD1 Evaluate the benefitsand drawbacks of usingapplication software as amechanism for businessprocessing.P1 Examine, using examples, the terms ‘BusinessProcess’ and ‘Supporting Processes’.M1 Differentiate betweenunstructured and semistructured data within anorganisation. Department of Information Technology Page 5 of 7 Learning Outcomes and Assessment CriteriaPassMeritDistinctionLO2 Compare the tools and technologies associated with businessintelligence functionalityD2 Compare and contrast arange of informationsystems and technologiesthat can be used to supportorganisations at operational,tactical and strategic levels.P2 Compare the types of support available forbusiness decision-making at varying levels within anorganisation.M2 Justify, with specificexamples, the keyfeatures of businessintelligence functionality.LO3 Demonstrate the use of business intelligence toolsand technologiesD3 Provide a critical reviewof the design in terms of howit meets a specific user orbusiness requirement andidentify what customisationhas been integrated into thedesign.P3 Determine, with examples, what businessintelligence is and the tools and techniques associatedwith it.P4 Design a business intelligence tool, application orinterface that can perform a specific task to supportproblem-solving or decision-making at an advancedlevel.M3 Customise thedesign to ensure that it isuser-friendly and has afunctional interface.LO4 Discuss the impact of business intelligence tools and technologies foreffective decision-making purposes and the legal/regulatory context inwhich they are usedD4 Evaluate howorganisations could usebusiness intelligence toextend their target audienceand make them morecompetitive within themarket, taking securitylegislation intoconsideration.P5 Discuss how business intelligence tools cancontribute to effective decision-making.P6 Explore the legal issues involved in the secureexploitation of business intelligence tools.M4 Conduct research toidentify specific examplesof organisations that haveused business intelligencetools to enhance orimprove operations. 2. Preparation guidelines of the Coursework Documenta. All coursework must be word processed.b. Avoid using “Text box” in writing your assignment.c. Document margins must not be more than 2.54 cm (1 inch) or less than 1.9cm (3/4 inch).d. Font size must be within the range of 10 point to 14 points including the headings and body text (preferredfont size is 11) in Arial.e. Standard and commonly used type face, such as Arial and Times New Roman, should be used.f. All figures, graphs and tables must be numbered.g. Material taken from external sources must be properly referred and cited within the text using Harvardsystemh. Do not use Wikipedia as a reference.3. Plagiarism and CollusionAny act of plagiarism or collusion will be seriously dealt with according to the College regulations. In thiscontext the definitions and scope of plagiarism and collusion are presented below:Plagiarism is presenting somebody else’s work as your own. It includes copying information directly fromthe Web or books without referencing the material; submitting joint coursework as an individual effort.Collusion is copying another student’s coursework; stealing coursework from another student andsubmitting it as your own work.Suspected plagiarism or collusion will be investigated and if found to have occurred will be dealt withaccording to the College procedure (For details on Plagiarism & Collusion please see the StudentHandbook).Department of Information Technology Page 6 of 74. Submissiona. Initial submission of coursework to the tutors is compulsory in each unit of the course.b. The student must check their assignments on ICON VLE with plagiarism software Turnitin to makesure the similarity index for their assignment stays within the College approved level. A student cancheck the similarity index of their assignment up to five times in the Draft Assignment submissionpoint located in the home page of the ICON VLE.c. All Final coursework must be submitted to the Final submission point into the Unit (not to the Tutor).The student would be allowed to submit only once and that is the final submission.d. Any computer files generated such as program code (software), graphic files that form part of thecoursework must be submitted as an attachment to the assignment with all documentation.e. Any portfolio for a Unit must be submitted as an attachment in the assignment5. Good practicea. Make backup of your work in different media (hard disk, memory stick, etc.) to avoid distress due toloss or damage of your original copy.6. Extension and Late Submissiona. If you need an extension for a valid reason, you must request one using an Exceptional ExtenuatingCircumstances (EEC) form available from the Examination Office and ICON VLE. Please note that thetutors do not have the authority to extend the coursework deadlines and therefore do not ask them toaward a coursework extension. The completed form must be accompanied by evidence such as amedical certificate in the event of you being sick, and should be submitted to the Examination Office.b. Late submission will be accepted and marked according to the College procedure. It should be notedthat late submission may not be graded for Merit and Distinction.c. All late coursework must be submitted to the Late submission point into the unit (not to the Tutor)in the ICON VLE. A student is allowed to submit only once and that is also treated as the finalsubmission.d. If you fail in the Final or Late submission, you can resubmit in the Resubmission window.7. Submission deadlines Formative feedbackWeek 12Final Submission07 – 12 June 2021Late submission14 – 19 June 2021 Submit to: Online to the ICON VLE onlyGlossary:Analyse: Break an issue or topic into smaller parts by looking in depth at each part. Support each part witharguments and evidence for and against (Pros and cons)Evaluate: When you evaluate you look at the arguments for and against an issue.Critically Evaluate/Analyse: When you critically evaluate you look at the arguments for and against anissue. You look at the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments. This could be from an article you readin a journal or from a text book.Discuss: When you discuss you look at both sides of a discussion. You look at both sides of the arguments.Then you look at the reason why it is important (for) then you look at the reason why it is important (against).Explain: When you explain you must say why it is important or not important.Describe: When you give an account or representation of in words.Identify: When you identify you look at the most important points.Define: State or describe the nature, scope or meaning.Implement: Put into action/use/effectDepartment of Information Technology Page 7 of 7Compare: Identify similarities and differencesExplore: To find out aboutRecommend: Suggest/put forward as being appropriate, with reasons why