itb 002 – it professional studies itb002 - it professional studies week 2 analysing and...

ITB 002 – IT Professional Studies

ITB002 - IT PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

Week 2Analysing and Investigating

Business Needs


Definition & Planning

Analysis

Design

Build

Implementation

Where are we?

Weeks 1, 2 & 3

Weeks 4, 5, 6 & 7

Weeks 8 & 9

Weeks 10 & 11

Weeks 12 & 13


Lecture Topics

Understanding business needs The environmental scanning model Investigating business needs Citing and referencing sources


Why Analyse Business Needs?

• As an IT professional, you have a responsibility to:– understand the business requirements and the client’s needs

Requirements Analysis

– understand the needs of the users/target audience of your system (your Web site)

Market Research, Current trends

– ensure that the system you develop will align with the Client’s business objectives

– Ensure that the system you develop is compatible and compliant


Using a model to Identify needs

• What is Environmental scanning? Environmental scanning (ES) is the gathering, analysis and use of

information about events, trends and relationships in an organization’s surroundings – the knowledge of which is used in planning the organization’s future.

ES involves three main activities. The first is the gathering of information that concerns the organization’s environments. The second is the analysis and interpretation of this information and the third is the application of this analyzed information in decision making.

• The INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT• The EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT


Environmental Scanning

• The internal environments are those ‘inside the organisation’ conditions that affect how the organisation operates such as changes in business, target audiences and resources.

• The external environments are any of the ‘outside of the organisation’ conditions that happen like cultural, political, technological changes, demographic trends and patterns. One part of the external environments of an organisation is the competitors of the organisation (or the competitor environment) .


An Example

• Internal Environment - New business

- Changing image

- Target audiences

• External Environment - Social

- Health

- Laws

- Competitors


EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT(Government, Business & Society)

Environmental Scanning

COMPETITOR ENVIRONMENT(The industry)

ECHO BAY ORGANISATION

(Internal Environment)


Environmental Scanning in theCompetitor Environment

ProductionHow your industry

does business

OrganisationStructure and operation

ManagementTrends in management

and marketing

PersonnelPeople, staff, training

ECHO BAY ORGANISATION (Internal Environment)


COMPETITOR ENVIRONMENT(The industry)

How would you get information about the industry and about your competitors?

Where from?

Environmental Scanning in theCompetitor Environment

ECHO BAY

ORGANISATION (Internal Environment)


How to Monitor the Competitor Environment

• Annual reports– Usually indicate organisational structure

– Sometimes discuss strategic direction and plans

• Web sites– Competitor’s Web sites often include information about organisational

structure and strategic direction

– Commercial Web sites selling hardware / software often list “partners” or large companies who use their products / services.

• Customer feedback• Market research and trend monitors


Monitoring Annual Reports

• Library subscribed annual report databases– Mergent Online

• http://www.library.qut.edu.au/databases/fullrecord.jsp?id=3305

– Aspect Annual Reports Online• http://www.library.qut.edu.au/databases/fullrecord.jsp?id=472

– Annual Report Collection (Connect 4)• http://www.library.qut.edu.au/databases/fullrecord.jsp?id=320

• Competitors’ Web sites– Who are the competitors of the Echo Bay event?


Monitoring Market Research and Trend Monitors

• Finding Market Research– http://www.library.qut.edu.au/subjectpath/market_research.jsp

• Library subscribed databases– Gartner provides research and analysis about the global information technology industry.

Information can be browsed by specific topics, industries and markets. Specialising in:

– Information Systems and Management– Information Systems and Management (General)– IT in Business, Commerce and Industry– IT in Society


SocietyAll aspects of general

social trends

TechnologyDevelopments in IT

and productiontechnology

EconomyGeneral

economic trends

PoliticsLaws, policies, political

change

Environmental Scanning in theExternal Environment

PROJECT

ORGANISATION (Internal Environment)


EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT(Government, Business & Society)

How would you get information about trends in governmentin society, technology and the economy that may

affect your business?Where from?

Environmental Scanning in theExternal Environment

PROJECT ORGANISATION

(Internal Environment)


How to Monitor the External Environment

• Statistics• Journals• Conferences• Newspapers• Magazines• Internet• Professional associations


Monitoring Statistics

• AusStats (Australian Bureau of Statistics)– http://www.library.qut.edu.au/databases/fullrecord.jsp?id=540

• 6535.0 Household Expenditure Survey• 4173.0 Time Use on Culture/Leisure Activities

• Don’t forget statistics are also often quoted in books and journal articles!


Monitoring journals, conferences, newspapers and magazines

• Library subscribed databases– IT databases

• ACM Digital Library• IEEE Xplore• ScienceDirect

– Legal databases• http://www.library.qut.edu.au/databases/subjectguide.jsp?su=008001003

– Society, public affairs, and newspaper databases• Factiva.com• Australia/NZ Reference Centre• Informit


Databases

• ACM Digital Library– http://www.library.qut.edu.au/cgi-bin/library/dbtitle_full.pl?RN%3D000100– Try Advanced Search - Try different keyword combinations– Another example search:

• Select “Special Interest Groups (SIGs)”• Select the Special Interest Group – SIGMULTIMEDIA• Try searching within these publications e.g. “digital rights management”


Databases

• IEEE Xplore

– http://www.library.qut.edu.au/cgi-bin/library/dbtitle_full.pl?RN%3D002790

– Example search: • Advanced Search interface• Try different keyword combinations• There are some useful results…

– e.g. electronic commerce AND protocols– e.g. electronic messaging AND information retrieval


Databases

• Informit– http://www.library.qut.edu.au/databases/fullrecord.jsp?id=2886

– Example search: • Click “Search” to access search interface• Try different keyword combinations• There are some useful results…

– e.g. (games OR computer games) AND

(marketing OR advertis*)


Information from the internetThink critically! Ask yourself:

• Who wrote this? Were they qualified?

• Why did they write this? What is their agenda?

• Is it reliable? Backed up by facts or links to research?


Need Help?

• Ask-a-librarian– http://www.library.qut.edu.au/ask.jsp

• Finding information guides– Web Design and HTML http://www.library.qut.edu.au/subjectpath/web_design_HTML.jsp

– Multimedia and Interactive Design http://www.library.qut.edu.au/subjectpath/multimedia_interactive_design.jsp


Remember...

• Everything is covered by copyright– Including Web material, e-mail, etc.

• You must provide consistent, accurate (APA) citations in the text everything that you quote or paraphrase

• You must provide an accurate bibliographic (APA) reference list to all the sources you use to write your assignments.


You Must Cite and Reference Your Sources

• Cite (or Citation) – providing the reader with the link to the original author(s) of the information you

are quoting or paraphrasing

• References (or Bibliography) – providing the reader with all the information needed to accurately identify the

original source of the authors you have quoted or paraphrased

• Referencing Example


• It enables the reader to follow up on your research if desired

• It is a courtesy to the original author to give them credit for their own ideas and work

• Makes you look professional and authoritative i.e. like you know what you’re doing

Why should you cite and reference your sources


• You’re likely to get a better mark on your assignment

• Assessment is designed to help to learn, copying defeats that purpose

• Not providing proper citations and referencing makes you guilty of copyright infringement

Why You Should Cite and Reference Your Sources


So What is Plagiarism?

• It’s a type of academic dishonesty where you take another author’s work and use it without acknowledgement. It includes:

– Copying verbatim or just changing a few words

– Copying text, graphics, logos, etc off web pages

– Putting a reference at the end of the assignment, but not in the text where the words or ideas are quoted


QUT & Academic Dishonesty

“Academic dishonesty is a breach of QUT's Student Rulesrelating to assessment, and penalties may be imposed underthese procedures in accordance with Student Rule 29.

Students are expected to exhibit honesty and ethical behaviour inundertaking assessment requirements. Any action or practice onthe part of a student which would defeat the purposes ofassessment is regarded as academic dishonesty, and may bedealt with in accordance with these procedures.”

Queensland University of Technology Manual of Policy and Procedures: PolicyC/9.3 Procedures for academic dishonesty. (2002). Retrieved 30 July 2004, fromhttp://www.qut.edu.au/admin/mopp/C/C_09_03.html


Quoting & Paraphrasing

• QUOTING = anything that is the exact words of another author– Used with “ ” or indented separate paragraph– Should include page reference in the citation

• PARAPHRASING = using other peoples ideas and putting them into your own words without reinterpretation or re-contextualization or without synthesizing the work with that of others. I.E. writing something that is not your own idea

– You must properly acknowledge the original author– You cannot just change a few words


References

• For APA, references should go at the end of the assignment in a list– Alphabetical by author or title (if there is no author)– Do not separate by format (print or electronic)

• SEE: – The Written Assignment. Bob Cope, QUT 2006 online

• Available in the QUT Bookshop for $4.50• Available in QUT Library Reference Collection

– Publication manual of the American Psychological Association• Available in the QUT Library Reference Collection

– Referencing Using APA Style• http://www.library.qut.edu.au/subjectpath/APA.jsp


References

• Follow the style guidelines exactly and check your spelling and punctuation carefully.

• Try to do the best you can for Skills Portfolio – Part 1.• Activities in the week 4 & 5 practical classes.


Summary• Performing an informed analysis of business needs is a critical step in the

systems development process.

• Environmental scanning provides a useful model for organizing the types of information you may need to consider from the external environment and competitor environment

• As a university student you are expected to use academically sound & discipline relevant information available in the subscribed databases as well as on specialist Web sites

– Information is available in a wide variety of sources OTHER than Google!

• You MUST cite and reference your information sources correctly using in APA style

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