BISM1201
Transforming Business with Information Systems
Assignment
Semester 2, 2023
Course Coordinator: Ping Wang
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Assignment Specification Semester 2, 2023
There are two parts to this assessment.
Part A consists of three information systems questions (35 marks)
Part B consists of Excel questions to be answered in an Excel worksheet (15 marks)
Worth: 50% of total assessment
Individual Completion: This assignment is to be completed individually by each student. Students
are encouraged to discuss issues that arise in this course together, however, the written work you
submit must be entirely your own. Similarly, you must not help another student to cheat by sharing
assignments (present or past).
Due Dates: The assignment is due by Wednesday 11th October 2023 at 3PM (Brisbane time).
Submissions after this date and time will be considered "Late" and relevant penalties will apply.
Submission
Part A and Part B must be submitted directly to the assessment section on Blackboard using the link
Assignment submission link (PART A and PART B) (see the assessment folder).
• Submit Part A as a PDF file via the submission link.
• Submit a copy of Part A on Turnitin – use the link Turnitin submission for Assignment PART
A. You must ensure that the Part A that you submit to Turnitin matches Part A submitted via
the submission link. We will not mark Part A submissions if there is no matching file on
Turnitin.
• Submit Part B as an Excel workbook file “BISM1201 Assignment Part B Excel S2 2023.xlsx”
(this file is available on course Blackboard site. Your answers should be entered into the
relevant cells of the Excel file, as per the assignment brief.
Your two submission files MUST be named (ALL CHARACTERS IN UPPERCASE) in the following
format: Tutorial number (comprising T followed by the full digit tutorial number i.e., T10, T02). This
tutorial number must then be followed by an underscore character, your full name and Student_ID
e.g., "T10_TIMSMITH_45894125”. (Student tutorial number can be found on Blackboard under Class
Timetable & links)
NOTE: You are allowed multiple attempts to submit (we only mark the last submission). However,
each time you submit using the submission link you should submit both files (PDF and Excel file),
because Blackboard treats each submission as new.
No hardcopy or email submission is required or accepted.
For information on how to submit Part A and Part B on Blackboard via the assignment submission
link, please visit: https://web.library.uq.edu.au/library-services/it/learnuq-blackboard-help/learnuq-
assessment/blackboard-assignments/assignment-submission-instructions
For information on how to submit Part A to Turnitin, please visit:
https://web.library.uq.edu.au/library-services/it/learnuq-blackboard-help/learnuq-
assessment/turnitin-assignments
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Document Layout Instructions
• For Part A, you must follow the word length requirements (+/-10%).
• Your assignment must be presented using the sections as sub-headings (note: each section does
not need to start on a new page).
• Be sure to use double-spacing, 12-point font, page numbering and 2.5cm margins on all sides of
the page.
• Please proofread your assignment for spelling and grammatical errors.

Referencing and Citing
Part A questions require you to do basic analysis of the cases. You must base your answers and
terminology on the material covered in our weeks of information systems theory.
If you wish to report another author's point of view you should do so in your own words, and
properly reference in accordance with an approved referencing style (see below). Direct quotations
should be used sparingly, form a small part of your work, and must be placed in quotation marks and
referenced.
Part A Question 1 requires you to give a real-world example. Examples are to be sourced from The
UQ Library or Google Scholar – blog posts and marketing material are not considered quality
academic sources. The real-world examples must be referenced using in-text refencing and included
in the reference list at the end of the assignment. For example, “Nike uses a product differentiation
information system strategy because it allows customers to use its online platform to customise its
sneakers. This means that Nike can use information systems to offer a different value proposition
than its competitors (Smith & Chang, 2010)”.
For more information on referencing styles, visit the library or see:
https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing. Please use either the APA (6th or 7th edition) or the
UQ Harvard style. No other referencing style will be accepted.
UQ value academic integrity, referencing others' work is a key part of this. Please see this link for
more information on academic integrity: https://my.uq.edu.au/information-and-services/manage-
my-program/student-integrity-and-conduct/academic-integrity-and-student-conduct
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PART A: Information
Systems Theory
35 marks
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Question 1. IS strategy and enterprise applications (15 marks)
ShoesCo is a discount footwear chain operating in the Australasian market. Established in 1962 by
the couple Joe and Patty Abercrombie, the privately held company grew from the original location in
Sydney's CBD to over 30 stores throughout Australia and New Zealand by 2019. ShoesCo sells many
different types of footwear including shoes, sneakers, boots, and sandals, to mostly price-sensitive
customers. The company can achieve low operational costs and low prices because the company
has, over the years, fostered and maintained preferred partnerships with many footwear suppliers in
Asia and with major footwear brands. In addition, ShoesCo's multi-decade investment in its
inventory replenishment system has also contributed to its operational excellence, allowing ShoesCo
stores to keep prices low and shelves well stocked.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed the fortune of this mostly brick-and-mortar
footwear retailer. Due to rapidly declining sales and increasing operating costs, ShoesCo closed
nearly half of its stores in 2021 and 2022. Fortunately, the company has avoided bankruptcy thanks
to its still small but growing online operation. That is, more and more people are buying shoes from
ShoesCo's store online. This development gives ShoesCo a glimpse of hope, but the company
recognises that it is far from "digitally ready" or "financially safe." Its e-commerce operation mainly
uses its warehouses and even stores as fulfillment centers. As online orders pile up, operational
costs are getting out of control due to skyrocketing property rents and shortage of skilled order-
fulfillment staff.
As the pandemic is winding down, ShoesCo is at a critical crossroad. On the one hand, customers are
returning to shop in ShoesCo' physical stores. Although same-store sales have not returned to even
half of the pre-pandemic level, the growing trend is obviously promising. On the other hand, online
sales continue to rise, pushing the company's operations to the limit. While "bouncing back" to the
pre-pandemic "business as usual" would be an option, ShoesCo managers have noticed different
patterns of buying from the customers both online and offline. For example, casual footwear is
getting increasingly popular, perhaps due to the work-from-home and hybrid modes of work. Also,
high-end product sales increase nearly twice as fast as that of discount items. However, these
patterns are just managers' ad hoc impressions that have been relayed to the executives, who do
not yet have an up-to-date comprehensive view of their customers. Urgently, ShoesCo's executives
need to decide whether to embark on a digital transformation - shifting the company's focus from
brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce, and whether to begin to court mid- to high-end customers
with premium products such as luxury boots, collectible sneakers, and vintage shoes.
Regardless of the specific business strategy ShoesCo's executives formulate eventually, the company
needs an enterprise application that can help them execute that strategy, streamline operations,
and make data-driven and evidence-based decisions. An enterprise application is a software system
that integrates various business processes, such as accounting, inventory management, human
resources, and customer relationship management, into a single, unified system. It provides real-
time visibility into business operations and helps streamline processes for increased efficiency and
productivity. Specific enterprise applications can aid towards different competitive advantages by
reducing costs, meeting strategic business objectives, and improving operational efficiency. An
effective enterprise application can help businesses optimize their supply chain, improve customer
satisfaction, and enhance employee productivity.
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Q1.1: (a) Before the pandemic, which of the following information systems strategies for dealing
with competitive forces did ShoesCo use and what are the key factors that characterise this
strategy? (b) Explain how the strategy helped ShoesCo grow and remain competitive pre-pandemic.
(No more than 100 words, 2 Marks)
(i) Basic strategy/align IT with business objectives;
(ii) Low-cost leadership;
(iii) Product differentiation;
(iv) Focus on market niche;
(v) Strengthen customer or supplier intimacy.
Q1.2: Fast forward to today, recommend an IS strategy to ShoesCo's executives and explain why it
can address the challenges the company is facing now. (No more than 200 words, 5 Marks)
Q1.3: Name a specific type of enterprise application and explain to ShoesCo's executives why this
type of enterprise application can help support the strategy you recommended in Q1.2. Give two
reasons. Provide a real-world example for each reason (i.e., one example per reason). You should
reference your examples. Examples should not be from the course textbook (or seminar/tutorial
material). The examples can come from any industry, not necessarily about footwear retailing. (No
more than 300 words, 8 Marks)
(For Q1.1, Q1.2, and Q1.3, no more than 600 words in total, 15 marks).
KEY ISSUES AND LEVELS OF ACHIEVEMENT
Question
addressed
comprehensively
and correctly.
100% – 85%
Question mainly
addressed, small
omissions/errors
in the analysis.
84% – 75%
Question
addressed, some
omissions/errors
in the analysis.
74% - 65%
Question partly
addressed,
significant
omissions/errors
across the
analysis.
64% – 50%
Question not
addressed/major
omissions or
errors across the
analysis.
49% - 0%
Q1.1 Information system
strategy correctly
identified, and its
distinctive
characteristics well
defined. Explanation
highly relevant to the
case.
Information system
strategy correctly
identified.
Characteristics clearly
defined.
Explanation not clearly
relevant to the case.
Information system
strategy correctly
identified.
Characteristics not
clearly defined.
Explanation not clearly
relevant to the case.
Information system
strategy mis-identified.
Characteristics not
clearly defined.
No explanation.
Information system
strategy mis-
identified.
Characteristics not
defined. Use of
generative AI text in
the answer.
Q1.2 Recommended
strategy clearly
defined in terms of its
characteristics.
Explanation presented
aligns well with the
recommended
strategy, and
intricately ties to the
contextual details of
Recommended
strategy clearly
defined in terms of its
characteristics, minor
errors in the
explanation of why the
strategy can address
challenges, and well
linked to the case.
Recommended
strategy clearly
defined in terms of its
characteristics, minor
errors in the
explanation of why the
strategy can address
challenges, and not
well linked to the case.
Poor description of
recommended
strategy in terms of its
characteristics, poor
explanation of why the
strategy can address
challenges, and lacking
link between case and
strategy identified.
Strategy mis-
recommended. Poor
explanation with no
link to the case. Use
of generative AI text
in the answer.
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the case.
Q1.3 Describe reasons in
detail correctly.
Relevant example that
links to reasons.
Examples referenced
appropriately
Minor errors in
reasons.
Relevant example that
partly links reasons.
Examples referenced
appropriately.
Incorrectly described
reasons or irrelevant
reasons given.
Only partly relevant
example.
Examples not
referenced
appropriately
Poor explanation.
Lack of links between
example and reasons
given.
Major
omissions/errors.
Use of generative AI
text in the answer.
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Question 2. Entity relationship diagram (ERD) (10 marks)
For its post-pandemic hiring spree, ShoesCo urgently needs an information system to manage the
recruitment process. After a quick bidding process, ShoesCo selected Application Architects (AA), a
Brisbane-based independent software vendor, to develop this system. An AA analyst will lead the
system development. However, also due to shortage of skilled staff, AA has subcontracted the data
modelling part of the project to you. Specifically, you have been commissioned to draw the entity
relationship diagram (ERD) for ShoesCo's recruitment information system.
After collecting and analysing the requirements, the AA analyst describes to you ShoesCo's
recruitment process as follows.
Each job applicant must register an account in the system. In each applicant's account, the system
automatically assigns an applicant ID to the applicant and collects the applicant's name, mobile
number, postal address, and email address. Each registered applicant may apply for zero, one, or
more open positions at ShoesCo. Each position has an ID, title, description, department associated
with the position, and the date when the position opens.
In each application submitted by an applicant for a position, the system automatically captures the
applicant ID. In the application, the applicant must specify the position ID and provide the name and
email of one, and only one, reference (i.e., the person who can be asked for information about the
applicant's character, experiences, abilities, etc.). The system automatically sets up an account for
each reference, including the reference's ID, name, and email address. Once the applicant has
submitted the application, the system captures the date when the application was submitted, and
the "status" field of the application will show "pending."
Depending on how many applications are received and the quality of the applications for each
position, ShoesCo may choose to interview zero, one, or more applicants. For each interview, the
system records the applicant ID, position ID, and the date of the interview. In addition, an applicant
may be interviewed more than once, in two or even more rounds of interviews, depending on the
circumstances.
Moreover, at any stage of the recruiting process, if an applicant's application looks interesting,
ShoesCo may request a reference letter from the applicant's reference. If an application does not
look interesting, the applicant's reference will not be asked to provide a reference letter. For each
reference letter received, the system captures the applicant ID, position ID, reference ID, and the
rating and comments the reference has provided.
At ShoesCo, reference letter requests and interviews are separate parts of the recruiting process. If
an applicant is invited to an interview, his/her reference may or may not be asked to provide a
reference letter. Similarly, the applicant whose reference is asked to provide a reference letter may
or may not be invited to an interview.
Finally, based on the hiring manager's evaluation of the interview results and/or reference letters,
ShoesCo may hire one or more people for a position. Sometimes, if none of the applicants has a
good fit, the company may choose to hire nobody for a position. If an application is unsuccessful, the
status of the application will turn from "pending" to "rejected." In contrast, if an application is
successful, then the application's status will turn from "pending" to "job offered."
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Q2: Draw the entity relationship diagram based on the requirements above. Generate the ERD
diagram with whatever method you are most comfortable with – Pen and Paper are an acceptable
option. Submit a signed and dated version of your diagram. The data types for the attributes are
NOT REQUIRED.
Make sure your diagram has a good, clean layout and clearly indicates the Primary and Foreign Keys
in the entities. Consider well the relationships between the entities and draw the appropriate Crows
Foot notation required. (10 marks).
KEY ISSUES AND LEVELS OF ACHIEVEMENT
ERD drawn
comprehensively
and correctly.
100 – 85%
Missing some
Attributes, but
otherwise all
Entities and Keys
detailed.
84% – 75%
Attributes and
Crows foot
notation in error
or missing.
Entities and Keys
are correct.
74% - 65%
Entity(ies) missing,
Keys incorrect or
missing, Crows
foot notation in
error. Attributes
missing.
64% – 50%
Question not
addressed/major
omissions or
errors across the
ERD.
49% - 0%
Q2 All Entities correctly
identified. All Primary
and Foreign Keys
identified. All Crows
Foot Notation correctly
drawn. All Attributes
correctly identified
All Entities correctly
identified. All Primary
and Foreign Keys
identified. All Crows
Foot Notation correctly
drawn. Some
Attributes missing.
All Entities correctly
identified. All Primary
and Foreign Keys
identified. Some Crows
Foot Notation
incorrectly drawn.
Some Attributes
missing.
Entities incorrectly
identified. Most
Primary and Foreign
Keys identified. Some
Crows Foot Notation
incorrectly drawn.
Some Attributes
missing.
Some Entities
missing. Primary and
Foreign Keys missing.
Crows Foot Natation
missing or incorrect.
Attributes missing.
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Question 3. Information systems development (10 marks)
Australia Post is a government business enterprise wholly owned by the Australian government. It
runs at a profit in a fully competitive market and boasts a workforce of over 50,000. Around 2012,
traditional business pillars such as letters were in continued decline and they faced stiff competition
from the growth of e-commerce, against other delivery services such as Fastway, UPS, and
Transdirect. Australia Post couldn’t afford to rest on its legacy relationships with government,
business and citizens to satisfy their needs. New sustainable competitive advantages had to be
formed. Australia Post started with a reinvention of its Digital Division. But in a large government
business enterprise, the Division needed to garner support upwards from the executives, across
from other divisions, and from within. Underpinning all this was a switch to a customer-focus, and
the conscious adoption of an Agile methodology.
There was immediate head office support for Agile Principles to drive the development of new
customer-oriented products. To kick-off the shift to agile ways of working, staff who were seconded
onto ‘sprint’ teams were relieved of their day-to-day tasks for the week when the sprints were
occurring. Project funding reforms also occurred to enable speedier development. Traditional
business cases which had fixed costs, time and scope, are a poor fit for digital innovation. So instead,
funding was given to a broad opportunity area, such as ‘mobile/cellular’, then work would be
undertaken to create improved customer satisfaction in that area. This is called “capacity funded
investments.” Scope was continuously developed and was informed by customer feedback and
business needs.

Australia Post’s mission is “to deliver great sender and receiver experiences that delight our
customers”. To measure this, new products were constantly tested with customers using their
feedback to shape further iterations. Speed and innovation were prioritised in forming cross-
functional teams. These teams operated in flat structures across a range of subject matter experts.
They were given power to succeed, but also permission to fail, and a focus on learning from this. This
encouraged persistent experimentation and improvement. Organisational leaders supported these
initiatives, through altered funding arrangements, freeing up resources and breaking down divisional
silos so changes to products could be quickly rolled out.

Two responses are highlighted here as to how Australia Post began shifting to Agile Principles in
problem-solving. The first looks at how the structure of Australia Post’s teams changed, with the
second example looking at agile ways that process changed. Both of these examples are
underpinned by a culture of curiosity and innovation with a focus on customer experience.

The Digital Division changed its internal structure to include multifunctional teams of six-to-ten
people. The aim is to have people who have a deep knowledge in their specialist area and a solid
general knowledge to assist in other ways in the team. A team usually has a business analyst,
designer, tester, several developers, and an ‘iteration manager’ – who managed the workflow of the
team. The iteration manager role was developed to also manage the reporting and progress
components of its agile delivery. Each team has a Kanban wall. These walls, also known as success
walls, consist of coloured cue cards. Each card is a task within a larger project and has a ‘user story’
that relates to the task, such as “add login widget to home page”. Each task is given a two-week
period to go from ‘backlog’, ‘ready for development’, ‘development complete’, and ‘ready to test’.
Each task has an owner in the team who is accountable to its completion. One central and ongoing
challenge these teams face is maintaining continuous delivery of services while developing, testing,
and implementing tasks.
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The small business team kicked off with a series of four full design sprints in five weeks. These
entailed putting together cross-functional teams whose sole focus was to further develop Australia
Post’s technical platform aimed at assisting small businesses. They started with planning each sprint
upfront in two weeks. A sprint each week followed (with one-week break), with two teams
completing two sprints each. These teams consisted of six-to-eight full-time members, with other
key stakeholders coming in to give advice or assist decisions. Australia Post is a large and complex
government enterprise, so to capture all necessary views some of these teams stretched to over 13
people. The larger-size teams can struggle with some members not being heard at the expense of
internal stakeholders’ views being accounted for. Likewise, smaller teams can have improved
involvement within the team at the expense of some stakeholders not being fully accounted for. This
is a conscious trade-off of nimbleness for organisational knowledge that must be factored in when
developing sprint teams.

A strong culture of measurement and learning was developed during these changes. Some of the
highlighted positive results include a 100-fold increase in annual production deployments with a 98%
cost reduction. Despite this iterative product development style, the on-time product delivery rate
improved by 7%. With only a 20% increase in team size there was an increase of 400% more business
outcomes. Some lessons were highlighted from the sprint teams:
• Focus on the culture by recruiting people who are collaborative, non-hierarchical, and have a
hunger to learn and improve continually.
• Recognise you will need to change the broader working environment to sustain the changes.
• Invest in software tooling and automation to support teams working faster.
• Don’t be too ambitious with the first piece of work; start with less complex challenges.
• Don’t overthink it, just get started. You’ll learn more by doing than by planning.
• Concentrated collaboration is essential. A flat hierarchy of subject matter experts helped the
pace of work and the culture too.
• Customers are the boss.
• Don’t run a sprint in a departmental silo.
• Pressure creates unity.
• Hearing from the customer to create clarity on a decision. Get to the customer early.
• Fail fast – close down an idea and communicate why it didn’t work can save a lot of time.
• Get buy-in across the organisation.
The text is adapted from “Delivering change: How Australia Post became agile” by the Australia and
New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG), 26th May 2020 (available from:
https://anzsog.edu.au/research-insights-and-resources/research/delivering-change-how-australia-
post-became-agile/)
Q3.1: Detail two Agile ceremonies that might have appeared in the development of a new digital
product at Australia Post? Concisely explain each of these ceremonies – when do they occur, who
and what is involved, why are they important. Please ensure you discuss only two ceremonies. (No
more than 300 words, 5 Marks)
Q3.2: Explain how two characteristics of the Agile Methodology contributed to the changes that
Australia Post was able to make. Compare with two aspects of Waterfall Methodology that might
prevent these changes. (No more than 300 words, 5 Marks)
(No more than 600 words in total, 10 marks).
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KEY ISSUES AND LEVELS OF ACHIEVEMENT
Question
addressed
comprehensively
and correctly.
100 – 85%
Question mainly
addressed, small
omissions/errors
in the analysis.
84% – 75%
Question
addressed, some
omissions/errors
in the analysis.
74% - 65%
Question partly
addressed,
significant
omissions/errors
across the
analysis.
64% – 50%
Question not
addressed/major
omissions or
errors across the
analysis.
49% - 0%
Q3.1 Two distinct Agile
ceremonies for the
case study identified
with the details of
When, Who, and
What is involved.
Explanation of their
role in Agile
methodology and
their importance.
Two distinct Agile
ceremonies for the
case study identified
with the details of
When, Who, and
What is involved.
Missing explanation
of their role in Agile
methodology or their
importance.
Two distinct Agile
ceremonies identified
with the details of
When, Who, and
What is involved.
Missing explanation
of their role in Agile
methodology or
lacking some details
of their importance.
Vague or non-specific
details of Agile
ceremonies. Some
details of their role in
Agile methodology.
Some details of their
importance.
No Agile ceremony
described for the case
study. Vague or non-
specific details of
what is involved.
Missing details of their
role in Agile
methodology. Missing
details of their
importance. Use of
generative AI text in
the answer.
Q3.2 Two distinct aspects
of the Agile
Methodology
described in terms of
how they contributed
to the success of the
case study.
Comparison with two
distinct aspects of
Waterfall
Methodology that
would have caused
issues in the case
study.
Two distinct aspects
of the Agile
Methodology
described in terms of
how they contributed
to the success of the
case study.
Comparison with only
one distinct aspect of
Waterfall
Methodology that
would have caused
issues in the case
study.
Two distinct aspects
of the Agile
Methodology
described in terms of
how they contributed
to the success of the
case study. No
comparison to
Waterfall
Methodology.
One aspect of the
Agile Methodology
described in terms of
how they contributed
to the success of the
case study. No
comparison to
Waterfall
Methodology
No clear aspects of
Agile Methodology
described (vague or
non-specific details).
No comparison to
Waterfall
Methodology. Use of
generative AI text in
the answer.
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PART B: Excel
15 marks
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The Excel workbook file for the tasks described below (BISM1201 Assignment Part B Excel S2
2023.xlsx) is available on the assessment tab on the course Blackboard site.