SWOT Analysis Of a Current ICT Service In An Organization.

Task

Task A (10 marks):

You are required in your new role as an Enterprise Architect (EA) to do a SWOT Analysis of a current ICT service in an organization. The default organization is Charles Sturt University, but you can substitute another known entity such as your current workplace.

SWOT is an acronym for questioning the Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat and helps with the analysis needed to identify the internal (S, W) and external (O, T) positives and negatives as indicated in Fig.1. Such a process can be informative and help the Enterprise Architect (you) to identify the issues and problems, set goals develop an action plan and help strategic IT Infrastructure planning and decision-making.

Figure 1. SWOT analysis diagram

1. Get a copy of the 31-page SWOT Analysis Strategy Skills eBook from http://www.free-management-ebooks.com/dldebk-pdf/fme-swot-analysis.pdf and note the conditions of use. Use the eBook to guide and develop your 1-2 page report summary for this task.
2. Choose a current IT service in your organization that may need updating or changing.
3. Use the following SWOT table format to develop questions that will reveal any issues or problems.
4. Identify up to a maximum of 5 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
5. It is suggested that you use bulleted items in a list in SWOT boxes of the template.

SWOT Template Organisation:                                                                   Date: DD/MM/YYYY
Description of current/new ICT service:
STRENGTHS	WEAKNESSES
OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS
Summary and Recommendations: [Summarise your SWOT results to review goals and objectives] Short Term (Now) What action would you take now? [For example comparison with competitors; alignment with the business model or strategic plan goals and objectives]. Mid Term (next 12 months) How can you take advantage of strengths and use them to develop new opportunities such as new service delivery relationships with ICT vendors and products? Long Term (next 3 to 5 years) How would you map out an action plan for the longer term?

Task B (17 Marks):

Write a paper, 4 pages (2-column format) in length, on a topic covered in our textbook. For this assignment, you need to plan, research, and, use your initiative to express the knowledge you learnt in this subject as well as your own independent thinking and reasoning.

Possible topics

Your attention in this paper can be focused on any of the following topics covered in our text:

• Information Management / IT Architecture.

• Database, Data, Warehouse, and Data Mining.

• Networks, Collaboration, and Sustainability.

• CyberSecurity, Compliance, and Business Continuity.

• E-Business & E-Commerce Models and Strategies.

• Mobile Technologies and Commerce.

• Social Media.

• Enterprise Systems and Applications.

• Performance Management Using Data Visualization, Mashups, and Mobile Intelligence.

Approach

Choose a topic which you are interested in and/or which is related to your work. You should do this as early as possible. Once you have chosen a topic, read our text carefully followed by detailed research. Once this is done, you should set up a structure/a series of subtopics and decide what to write under each section (subtopic).

Here is a suggested structure (you don’t have to follow it, but your own structure must be logical):

Abstract: a condensed summary. If someone reads your abstract only, he/she should understand your main points. You may want to write this section last;

Index terms: list the key words used in your paper;

Introduction: introduce the topic you are going to write about. This section must be related to the topics you learnt during the Session. However, you should branch out by carrying out your own research to enhance this section;

Subtopics and supporting argument: write a series of body paragraphs with sub-points;

Conclusion: Many students get confused between the conclusion and the abstract. In the conclusion, you can reflect on how your topic relates to larger issues; evaluate the concepts you have presented; issue a call for action on the part of your audience; ask questions generated by your findings; make predictions, recommend a solution or give a personal statement about the topic.

With your structure in order, you have a skeleton for your paper: you can now begin by writing out your analyses of the passages you have chosen. As you write and revise, you may have the need to add to your analyses or to re-order your chosen arguments. Using a structure as the skeleton for a paper in this way can carry you more than halfway to a completed draft.

Types of papers

Academic papers can be broadly categorized into 2 types:

1. Argumentative Papers;

2. Analytical Papers.

For details, please see http://www.writeawriting.com/academic-writing/how-to-write-academic-paper/

Format and mechanics

Your lecturer will provide you with a format template during the Session, you must strictly follow the format provided in the following link, such as space, font, margin etc…

Task C (5 marks):

1. Generate a Turnitin originality report and submit this report via Turnitin;

2. Submit an early draft to Turnitin for self-checking, then look carefully at all the matches marked in bold font and various colours in the self-check/originality report.

3. Answer the following questions to interpret the Turnitin originality report

1. a)     Are any of the bold, coloured text matches in my self-check report missing in-text references?  (We need to avoid plagiarism of ideas.)

1. b)     Do any of the bold, coloured text matches in my self-check report include more than three words in a row copied from the original source without quotation marks?  (We need to avoid plagiarism of language.)

1. c)      Do direct quotations take up more than 10% of the essay?  (We need to change some of the direct quotations to summaries and paraphrases so that at least 90% of every essay is written in our own words.)

1. d)     Are any of the bold, coloured text matches in my originality report purely coincidental?  (Sometimes our words coincidentally match with words in other online sources that we have never seen before and that are completely irrelevant to our research topic.  If so, we do not need to change anything at all.)

1. e)     Do any of the short strings of matching text indicate that my attempts at paraphrasing were not completely successful?  (We need to avoid sham paraphrasing, one type of plagiarism, by using synonyms and changing the sentence structures completely. Remember that we should not copy more than three words in a row from the original without quotation marks.)

1. f)      Have I synthesised all of the sources’ ideas into my essay by introducing each piece of source information with a signal phrase and by adding my own comments or interpretation to it in the following sentence?  (We need to avoid dropped-in quotations and simply reporting facts or other people’s ideas because that approach means that instead of building our own arguments and writing our own essays, we are merely stringing together other people’s words and ideas.)

It should be noted: Turnitin can help you avoid plagiarism, but the Turnitin score, or matching percentage at the top of the report, is not particularly helpful in doing that. The percentage score only indicates matches between your text and other sources. There are many different reasons why your text might match with other sources; for example, students in the same class all working on the same assignment are using the same sources, or it could be a pure coincidence that a student has used the same string of words that appear in another random website. Therefore, we cannot assume that the matches indicated by the Turnitin score involve plagiarism or deliberate cheating.

You may ask, “What Turnitin score is an acceptable cut-off mark so that I can be sure that I have not plagiarised?” However, due to the large number of variables in the way writers handle sources, no cut-off score can be reliable; in fact, a cut-off score can mislead people into thinking that they have avoided plagiarism, whereas they might have still plagiarised inadvertently. For example, a score of 14% could involve no plagiarism, but a score of 9% does.

Instead of focusing on avoiding plagiarism or the appearance of avoiding plagiarism, let’s consider Turnitin as a tool for improving your skills in handling sources as you construct arguments in your essays.

Turnitin is more than a ‘gotcha’ device – it is an effective learning tool:

Because the sophisticated use of sources involves a complex set of research, critical thinking, and writing skills, you should expect to take several years to master them. Turnitin can be a helpful tool in this developmental process. You should use your originality reports as feedback on a first draft so that you can improve your use of sources before submitting the final draft for marking.

Interpreting the Turnitin Originality Report:

After you submit your draft to Turnitin for self-checking, you should look carefully at the originality report so that you can improve on your use of sources. Your essay will be on the left side of the screen, and the matching colour-coded sources will be listed on the right. Then you can make the necessary changes to your essay before you submit the final draft for marking.

You need to register with Turnitin to create a Student Account under the CSU Turnitin Licence at http://www.turnitin.com/login_page.asp

Further information on how to use Turnitin can be found through the following link: http://student.csu.edu.au/study/plagiarism/checking

Rationale

Task A is aligned with objectives 1 and 4 and measures your ability to read and acquire the knowledge and understanding of the main ICT Infrastructure management and technical issues that are concerned with the overall Enterprise Architect practices that are crucial for business success.

Assessment Task B is aligned with objectives 2, 3, 5 and 6 and measures your ability to undertake, investigate, analyse and evaluate the impact of new and current ICT services.

Assignment Task C is designed for you to learn the functions of the Turnitin software.

Marking criteria

You will not be marked down for incorrect answers.

Grade allocations: Marks for all questions will be totalled and grades awarded based on percentage of the total available marks. (FL <50%; PS 50-64%; CR 65-74%; DI 75-84%; HD 85-100%)

Task A SWOT Analysis of a current ICT service
 

Criteria	HD => 85%	DI 75-84%	CR 65-74%	PS 50-64%
Description of the current ICT service under investigation 1.00%	Provides a thorough and detailed description and understanding of a current ICT service in the workplace, worthy of analysis. 0.85 to 1.00%	Provides a comprehensive description and understanding of a current ICT service in the workplace, worthy of analysis. 0.75 to 0.84%	Provides a good description and basic understanding of a current ICT service in the workplace, chosen for analysis. 0.65 to 0.74%	Provides only a brief description or unclear understanding of a current ICT service in the workplace, as chosen for analysis. 0.50 to 0.64%
Identifications of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threat (maximum of 5 each) 5.00%	SWOT table items identified demonstrate a thorough and insightful understanding of the key concepts, principles and theories of SWOT analysis. 4.25 to 5.00%	SWOT table items identified demonstrate considerable understanding of the key concepts, principles and theories of SWOT analysis. 3.75 to 4.24%	SWOT table items identified demonstrate good understanding of the key concepts, principles and theories of SWOT analysis.3.25 to 3.74%	SWOT table items identified demonstrate limited understanding of the key concepts, principles and theories of SWOT analysis. 2.50 to 3.24%
Summary of SWOT results, Critical Thinking & Recommendations 2.00%	Summary and Recommendations demonstrates a high degree of critical thinking and ability to use specific strategies to gather information and generate recommendations for the ICT service under SWOT analysis. 1.70 to 2.00%	Summary and Recommendations demonstrates considerable critical thinking ability to use specific strategies to gather information and generate recommendations for the ICT service under SWOT analysis. 1.50 to 1.69%	Summary and Recommendations demonstrates some critical thinking ability to use specific strategies to gather information and generate recommendations for the ICT service under SWOT analysis. 1.50 to 1.69%	Summary and Recommendations demonstrates limited critical thinking ability to use specific strategies to gather information and generate recommendations for the ICT service under SWOT analysis. 1.00 to 1.29%
Stated review of goals and objectives in short, mid and long term plans 2.00%	Review of goals and objectives demonstrates a high degree of ability as an EA to use an organizational pattern of results to structure ideas for planning and development. 1.70 to 2.00%	Review of goals and objectives demonstrates considerable ability as an EA to use an organizational pattern to structure ideas for planning and development. 1.50 to 1.69%	Review of goals and objectives demonstrates some ability as an EA to use an organizational pattern to structure ideas for planning and development. 1.50 to 1.69%	Review of goals and objectives demonstrates limited ability as an EA to use an organizational pattern to structure ideas for planning and development. 1.00 to 1.29%

Task B:

	GRADING STANDARDS
Criteria	HD (>84%)	DI (75% – 84%)	CR (65% – 74%)	PS (50% – 64%)	FL (<49%)
Ability to undertake, investigate, analyse and evaluate the impact of new and current ICT services.	Well-chosen, specific, interesting topic; compelling choice of evidence; lucid and original use of the evidence to prove claims; clear line of thought which develops over the course of the paper; correct citation mechanics; clear writing; few or no spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors.	Coherent but less surprising topic; good use of evidence to support points; clear line of thought exists but shows only a moderate development over the course of the paper.	Some summary where interpretation or argument is needed; some issues at the conceptual or interpretive level; some problems with citation mechanics, spelling, or grammar.	Over-general topic; evidence is present but it is not interpreted to support claims; evidence is relevant to the topic but the line of thought remains unclear or static; excessive reliance on summary or paraphrase.	Completed but unsatisfactory in several major areas. Major omissions in the explanation and Unsubstantiated/ invalid conclusions. Major mechanical problems of spelling or grammar.

Task C:

(1) Turnitin original report: two marks for submission via Turnitin. (2) Q&A, three marks.

You will not be marked down for incorrect answers.

Grade allocations: Marks for all questions will be totalled and grades awarded based on percentage of the total available marks. (FL <50%; PS 50-64%; CR 65-74%; DI 75-84%; HD 85-100%).

 

Table of Contents

Executive Summery. 3

Task A.. 3

Task B. 6

Abstract. 6

Introduction. 6

E-Business. 6

E-commerce business models. 7

E-commerce business strategies. 8

Conclusion. 9

References. 10

 

Executive Summery

The table below will give a short SWOT analysis of the University of Sydney. SWOT refers for a combination of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threat of a company, or any institution, that can be a financial or educational one concerned. Here the SWOT analysis is based on the CIT or the Information and Communication Technology of the University of Sydney. ICT tools create the skeleton of the total system running the university and should be updated time to time to progress with the progressing market demands. This assignment also includes the results from the SWOT analysis to give scope for further improvement of the company. Thus it can be said that SWOT analysis mainly based on the CIT tools is a necessity of every organization and such an analysis of the University of Sydney is given below.

Task A

SWOT Organization: University of Sydney                    Date: 03/02/2017
Description of current/new ICT service: Information and communication technology or ICT of the University of Sydney provides with integrated MIS for students, academic staff, and professional staff. In fact, there are separate columns for each department of the university which are all integrated into a single MIS or Management Information System of the University (Michaels et al., 2014.)
STRENGTHS 1.      The presence of advanced machines of technology aids. 2.      Presence of experienced developers or skilled developers 3.      Well defined ICT services as per role of the individual in the university. 4.      Accounts and access, audiovisual services, computer support, email, and collaboration are some of the specialized columns made available to the different entities of the University which give the ICT a touch of simplicity.	WEAKNESSES 1.      Immediate responses to any individual related to the university still not efficient. 2.      Over simplicity of the ICT servicers sometimes lead to fraudulent. 3.      Access to any individual to the MIS made for other specified entity causes security issues 4.      Less simplicity in the library MIS.etc.
OPPORTUNITIES 1.      Development of new wings of MIS for the lower grade staff 2.      Submission of pupil’s assignments and aids for making their assignments should be aided by specific MIS 3.      Installation of more ICT tools 4.      Application of innovative strategies to strengthen the ICT services of the university and to maintain its uniqueness.	THREATS 1.      Confidentiality and security are at risk. 2.      The pupil is sometimes misguided and forced to enter the wrong path by the complexity of the ICT tools.
Summary and Recommendations: Thus it can be concluded that ICT services Sydney University through successfully aids the related individual with categorized MIS which are actually integrated thus providing updates to each category every sec still there are some gaps which may lead to a lack of security. More strategically progress is needed in the development of the ICT tools of the University. Short Term (Now) New and more developers should be recruited to enhance the security of the system. More machines should be installed and of course, more amount of skilled staff to ensure efficiency. Mid-Term (next 12 months) Development of new wings of MIS for the lower grade staff to quarry entry and others should be done.  Update of student’s complaints should follow a specific route to ensure his harmless career. More columns should be included in the university website and also university affiliated college websites. Attendances of the staffs and students below requited percentage should be marked automatically by the ICT tools. Long Term (next 3 to 5 years) ICT is the backbone of the systems running a university. Each university has integrated MIS to ensure accuracy and updates for each related to the university, whether a staff or student. Mobile technology is already well utilized to make the ICT services rigid, but more application should be developed for more accuracy. Lower and upper grade of staffs should equally get the aids of human and technology collaboration or the ICT services for further development and accuracy of the system running the university (Shrivastava and Bhattacharjee, 2014).

Task B

Abstract

E-business is nothing but running a business through an electronic system or internet. Electronic business is responsible for marketing products, customer services, payment processing, managing production system and delivery of the products concerned. This huge business field requires specific strategies and models to be followed.

Introduction

E-business is occupying or can be considered as the main building block of the business world of today. Not a single business is independent of the electronic system starting from educational organizations to every sector. Banks, research centers, product selling, etc. needs the support rather runs through electronic aids. A child knows now a day to operate a mobile or computer and order stuff of requirement. From a pin to huge houses and flats are also sold through the internet. Even grocery shops are running through huge loss due to internet facilities for the transaction. Communication is rarely through calling and sending letters after the advent of the social media. All small to big companies are run through technologies. E-commerce can be called the backbone of the world business which runs following strategies.

E-Business

E-business is concerned about few services starting from the development of internet and intranet to e-services. The main objective of e-business is to accomplish the tasks with the aid of the application service providers. An application service provider is an entity that offers any individual or institution the access to a practical application required for their service. This allows many institutions to operate all the activities easily and keep track of them. Sometimes ASP or Application Service Providers are also termed as “apps on tap” or ASP which is nowadays has become a support to every small and big organization or institutions.(Huang and Benyoucef, 2013) Important business bodies or hubs rethink their business regarding the internet. Small to big companies start their business from buying parts through the internet, keeping track of them through the internet, promotion through the internet and of course running the business through the internet through the internet. But not those only machines and no human beings are needed to run a business. Developers are an integral part of business. There should be a healthy relationship between the electronic systems and human brains. The Internet is a support of backbone of any busyness. E-business, this term was 1^st introduced to the world by the big name IBM in the year of 1997 in October(Laudon and Traver, 2016)

E-commerce business models

E-commerce or electronic commerce are based on certain business models, which are listed below,

• Business to business (B2B)
• Business to consumer(B2C)
• Consumer to consumer(C2C)
• Consumer to business(C2B)
• Business to government(B2G)
• Government to business(G2B)
• Government to citizen.(G2C)

Business to business (B2B)

This is a simple concept which explains a website to the customer through primary buyer relation, that is a whole seller buys a product from the website of a company who is designated as the primary buyer here, and then he sells the same to a customer from his outlet.

Business to consumer (B2C)

This is a no middle man business. A customer directly selects the product of his requirement and then orders the same from the website of the company. As soon as the order received, the website sends an email to the company, and the company delivers the product accordingly to the customer.(Chiu, C.M., Wang, E.T., Fang, Y.H. and Huang, H.Y., 2014)

Consumer to consumer (C2C)

Here website acts as a connection between two customers, where one of them acts as the seller, and the other acts as the buyer of the product that is a consumer can promote his product on the website, seeing which a customer can buy it either through the internet.

Consumer to business (C2B)

In this model consumer approaches website in search of a particular service at the pocket-friendly cost, the consumer selects the business organization fulfilling his requirements, and then the business organization approaches the consumer and provides the service required.

Business to Government (B2G)

In this model, the government shares information with various business organizations via the website and allow submitting applications via the website to the government.

Government to Business (G2B)

In this model, the government takes the help of a website to approach business organizations for the services concerned.

Government to Citizen (G2C)

This model shows a relationship where Government takes the help of a website to reach the public in general or citizen. Based on this model the websites create pathways through which public can apply or register to the government directly, for an instance birth and marriage registration and issuing death certificates, or government can give auctions of vehicles and other products.

E-commerce business strategies

For growing a business one needs to go by strategies and not arbitrarily. Some Strategies which should be followed for growing a business are explained below.

• Small target and online business
• Personalization or meeting the needs of the individual customer, rather matching the needs of an individual and giving it a tag of “one of a kind.”
• Strong content to attract buyers
• Web designing to attract customers
• Creation of multi-channel offerings
• Focusing on mobile commerce
• Step to logistics
• Subscription business channelization
• Elimination of middleman and substitution with the internet
• Focus on the promotions and advertisement of the product.
• Promotion of uniqueness of a product

Conclusion

E-business is the backbone of the business world. The Internet provides information of a particular product which can meet individual customer’s needs that are like the personalization of the product and also the uniqueness of the product to attract the customers. Such promotions and following other strategies engaged under a particular business model gives the product or provides the product its market. Not only selling a product defines e-business, every small event, but that is also starting from the usage of a personalized application, to give a platform to the public in general to sell their property, and even finding life partner through the internet is standing erect with the strong structure of e-business. Successful e-business can be made following specific business models and most importantly following strategies. Thus it can be concluded under the format of business models, and specific strategies e-business is the skeleton of the business world in the modern world of technology.

References

Michaels, G., Natraj, A. and Van Reenen, J., 2014. Has ICT polarized skill demand? Evidence from eleven countries over twenty-five years. Review of Economics and Statistics, 96(1), pp.60-77.

Shrivastava, U., and Bhattacherjee, A., 2014. ICT Development and Corruption: An Empirical Study.

Chiu, C.M., Wang, E.T., Fang, Y.H. and Huang, H.Y., 2014. Understanding customers’ repeat purchase intentions in B2C e‐commerce: the roles of utilitarian value, hedonic value, and perceived risk. Information Systems Journal, 24(1), pp.85-114.

Laudon, K.C., and Traver, C., 2016. E-Commerce 2016: Business, Technology, Society. Pearson Higher Ed.

Huang, Z. and Benyoucef, M., 2013. From e-commerce to social commerce: A close look at design features. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 12(4), pp.246-259.