The University of Sydney Business School
Discipline of Business Information Systems
INFS1000: Digital Business Innovation (Semester 2, 2022) Group Project
Page 1 / 8
INFS1000:
Group Project Assignment Outline The objective of this group
project is to apply the knowledge and practical skills acquired
in INFS1000 Digital Business Innovation to a real business scenario.
You are expected to create your own business idea for the scenario
described below. You need to follow the guidelines provided in this
document. As an integrative learning task, this assignment effectively
ties together TBL learning from Sessions 1 to 8 in the unit.
Business
Scenario: For pet owners, it can be hard to leave their loved
animal at home alone or in a shelter when they are away. Inspired by the
commercial success of businesses such as Mad Paws, your group has
decided to start an online pet-sitting portal to help pet owners connect
with pet sitters over the Internet.
Project Scope: This
project requires you to explore various creative ideas and
make a range of decisions regarding your business model. You
should first decide on the type and range of services you want to
provide (e.g., daycare, boarding services etc.). You will then need to
decide on the customer group (or groups) you want to target (e.g., dog
owners, cat owners, bird owners etc.). No matter what you decide, you
MUST have a strong rationale for the business decisions you make and
remember that your ultimate goal is to match your customers (i.e., pet
owners) and their needs with the right pet sitters. Keep in mind that
you cannot hope to do everything! You will have to decide what your
strategy is. The following questions will be helpful in defining your
strategy:
• Who are your current competitors and what are the services they are providing?
• What is the current state of the industry you have selected?
• What customer segment(s) are you targeting, and why?
• How will you attract your customers and stand out from your competitors?
• What requirements will your customers have? How will you capture them and create matches for your customers?
• How will you provide value for your customers?
•
Where will your revenue come from (e.g., commission from successful
matches, membership fees, advertising, etc.), and why have you
selected this revenue stream?
• Will you communicate with your
customers exclusively through your website or will you run personal
one-on-one meetings to find out their requirements?
• Will you offer additional value-adding services?
Quick Tip: Define your customer segment, decide on a compelling value proposition and don’t make it too complex.
The University of Sydney Business School
Discipline of Business Information Systems
INFS1000: Digital Business Innovation Group Project
Page 2 / 8
Group
Work: This is a group project. You are required to complete
this project in the same group that was registered and confirmed for
participation in the TBL sessions. You are not allowed to collaborate
across groups. You are only allowed to submit your own group’s
contributions. PLEASE NOTE:
Each group member is expected to be involved in the preparation, drafting, proofing and
checking of all aspects of this group assignment including ensuring no breaches of
academic honesty. Members will be held jointly responsible for the entire submission
and awarded the same merit mark. In the event of a breach of academic honesty the
penalty will apply to all group members irrespective of which member(s) caused the
breach.
Tasks/due
dates: The relative importance and allocation of marks to various
components of the project are as given below.
Deliverable
Mark Due date 1. Video Pitch 5 marks 9 Sept 2022, 5:00pm 2. Written Report 20 marks 28 Oct 2022, 5:00pm
Total 25 marks
The University of Sydney Business School
Discipline of Business Information Systems
INFS1000: Digital Business Innovation Group Project
Page 3 / 8
Part 1: Video Pitch
Due date: 9 Sept 2022, 1700hrs
Deliverable: Your submission will take the form of a recorded video submitted electronically via Canvas.
Submission
procedure: IMPORTANT: Only one group member should make the submission
Before submitting your video, please ensure it contains the following:
•
Group information (MUST appear at the end of your video pitch): You
must include your GROUP CODE, then list the SID and full names of all
group members. This information MUST be included, otherwise we will not
know who to award the marks to (IMPORTANT!).
• File name - your
file name should be your GROUP CODE (which will be assigned to you over
the semester. For instance, the file name should be S1A2.mp4)
o Make sure that you use the correct GROUP CODE (IMPORTANT!)
•
You may only submit one video for your project. If multiple submissions
are made by different group members, you have to email your TBL tutor
to let them know which submission to assess. If you submit another file
before the assignment due date, your first submission will be
overwritten.
• The format for the assignment submission is a
video that may include a PowerPoint presentation in the AVI, MOV
or MP4 video formats.
• Your video must NOT be password protected
Penalties
for late submissions: 5% per 24-hour period will be deducted if your
video is submitted late (including weekend days).
Time Limit and requirements:
• The length of the video should be at most 3-minutes (including displaying a reference list and group information)
•
A 10% penalty will be applied if the video exceeds 3
minutes, with further penalties in increments of 10% for every 1
minute over the stipulated limit thereafter (e.g., if you submit a
5-minute video, you incur a 20% penalty).
• Every member of the group must present in the video
Marking criteria: As specified by the Video Pitch Marking Guide (uploaded to Canvas).
Specific Instructions
Learning objectives: In the video pitch, you are required to demonstrate your ability to:
The University of Sydney Business School
Discipline of Business Information Systems
INFS1000: Digital Business Innovation Group Project
Page 4 / 8
-
Pitch in a concise manner and accessible language your business idea to
a business audience. - Describe the key opportunities and threats in
your selected industry
o To do so you will need to apply the models
for strategic analysis covered in this course. However, you only need
to provide a summary of the results of your strategic analysis, not a
full account (e.g., not a full Porter’s 5-forces analysis). - Provide a
brief account of the strategic market positioning, competitive strategy,
and value proposition of your business (i.e., how your business intends
to compete in the marketplace, and add value for customers) - Describe
your source of income
Business requirements: In order to compete
in the marketplace, it will not be enough to just list services and
wait for potential customers to approach you. You will need to
create a business solution that will target and add value for your
customers in unique ways.
Proper referencing: It will be
important that you reference any literature, websites, or other
materials you used in developing your ideas in a Reference List at the
end of your video. Use double quotation marks to indicate text that
you cite from someone else’s work (website, journal literature, or
other). All references should adhere to the guidelines laid out in the
APA Referencing Guide:
http://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/c.php?g=508212&p=3476096
http://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/ld.php?content_id=22193083
The University of Sydney Business School
Discipline of Business Information Systems
INFS1000: Digital Business Innovation Group Project
Page 5 / 8
Part 2: Written Report
Due date: 28 Oct 2022, 1700hrs
Deliverables:
Your submission will include the following THREE components: 1. An
electronic copy of your written report submitted electronically via
Turnitin (no paper-based submissions will be accepted!). 2. Completed
and signed Group Peer Review - one per group member (to be
submitted during the final lab session) 3. A copy of the group’s
Work Log, clearly describing individual contributions (tasks, not
percentages!) – one form per group (to be submitted during the final lab
session)
Submission procedure: IMPORTANT: Only one group member
submits the report! Before submitting your report, please ensure it
contains the following:
• Header information (MUST appear on each
page of the document): begin with your GROUP CODE, then list the
SID of all group members, each separated by comma. Do not
include any student names. The header MUST be inserted otherwise
we cannot identify who to award the marks to (IMPORTANT!).
• File
name - your file name should be your GROUP CODE (which will be assigned
to you over the semester. For instance, the file name should be
S1A2.docx
o Make sure that you use the correct GROUP CODE (IMPORTANT!)
•
You may only submit one file per assignment. For group assignments, one
person per group should submit for the entire group. If you submit
another file before the assignment due date, your first submission will
be overwritten.
• Ensure all quoted material is enclosed in "DOUBLE quotation" marks.
o This is important: whenever you cite and quote someone else’s work word-by-word, use double quotation marks.
• Zip files will not be accepted. (Note: files with embedded tables, images etc. are permitted).
o You must submit a text file, such as .doc, .docx, or .pdf
• Your file must NOT be password protected
Penalties
for late submissions: 5% per 24-hour period will be deducted
for the late submission of your report (including weekend days).
Word Limit: 3000 (+-10%) words (including references, excluding
appendices). A 10% penalty will be applied if the report exceeds 3300
words, with further penalties in increments of 10% for every 300 words
over the stipulated limit thereafter (e.g. if you submit a project with
3601 words, you incur a 20% penalty).
Marking criteria: As specified by the Group Project Marking Guide (see Canvas).
The University of Sydney Business School
Discipline of Business Information Systems
INFS1000: Digital Business Innovation Group Project
Page 6 / 8
Specific Instructions
Learning
objectives: In the project report, you are required to demonstrate
your ability to: - Describe in a concise manner and accessible
language your business idea to a business audience. - Provide a
brief account of the strategic market positioning, competitive strategy
and value proposition of your business. - Identify the information needs
to facilitate the described business idea by way of conceptual modeling
(ERD design). - Identify the primary business activities and describe
ONE key business process to execute your business in one of the primary
business activities. - Identify, analyse and resolve ONE issue related
to BIS ethics. - Critically assess your own business idea for
future developments as well as possible extensions outside the scope
of this project.
Business requirements: In order to compete in
the marketplace described in the given businesss scenario, you need to
develop an idea for a new business that will be effectively supported by
an information system. Beyond describing your business solution in
depth, the market segment that you will target, and how your business
will add value for your customers in unique ways, you will also have to
create the database to support your core business functions, and
describe in detail one key business process needed to operate your
business using the database.
Proper referencing: It will be
important that you reference any literature, web sites, or other
materials you used in developing your ideas in a Reference List at the
end of your report. Use double quotation marks to indicate text that you
cite from someone else’s work (web site, journal literature, or other).
All references should adhere to the guidelines laid out in the APA
Referencing Guide:
http://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/c.php?g=508212&p=3476096
http://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/ld.php?content_id=22193083
The written report should consist of the following parts*:
* Recommended word limits for the individual sections below are
suggestions, not hard rules. You will not incur a penalty for exceeding
the recommended word limit for an individual section as long as your
report falls within 3000 (+/- 10%) words (including references,
excluding appendices). The recommended word limits accounts for
the references you include in each section as well (i.e., 900
words is recommended for Task 2, but make sure you include the
citations in your References section in this word count).
The University of Sydney Business School
Discipline of Business Information Systems
INFS1000: Digital Business Innovation Group Project
Page 7 / 8
Task
1: Executive Summary (approx. 200 words) This is a concise description
of the proposed business idea. This should be a high-level summary,
written for business managers. Elaborate on the core value proposition
and how your business is going to make a profit (where does the money
come from?). This summary should be compelling enough so that it can be
used to convince people to invest in your business.
Task 2:
Strategy & Value Proposition (approx. 900 words) Describe the key
opportunities and threats in your selected industry, your
competitive strategy, and the value proposition of your business
(i.e., how your business intends to compete in the marketplace, add
value for customers, and what its source of income are). To do so you
will need to apply the models for strategic analysis covered in this
course. However, you only need to provide a summary of the
results
of your strategic analysis, not a full account, here in Task 2
(e.g., not a full Porter’s 5-forces analysis). Please include a full
5-forces analysis in an appendix to the report (this will not be
included in the word count).
Task 3: Information design (approx.
550 words) Analyse the information needs of your business.
Specifically, design a conceptual model (ER Diagram) that will serve
as the basis for developing your database solution in part 2 of this
assignment. The model should capture the relevant information
needed to support the core business functions and the services
offered by your business (in terms of entities and their properties).
Your ERD should have a minimum of 7 entities (preferably no more than
15) including at least one associative entity. You are required
to use Chen’s notation, as demonstrated in the TBL sessions.
The ERD will be assessed on the basis of its correctness and
completeness in supporting your business idea. Your ERD should be
supported by a concise narrative describing the information needs
of your business (i.e. a literal description of your diagram). As it
may not be possible to express all aspects of your business idea in the
form of an ERD, you need to clearly state any assumptions and/or
limitations. They will be taken into account when marking your ERD.
Task
4: Business execution (approx. 550 words) In this task you need to
first identify the primary activities of your business’ value chain by
providing a table that describes them. Second, you need to choose and
model
ONE key business process corresponding to one of
these primary activities. The selected process should concentrate on
what you regard as the most important part of your business operations.
You cannot describe all the operations of your business in a single
diagram! You are required to describe the selected business process
with a concise narrative and then visualise the process using a process
model diagram. Your process model needs to be modelled using BPMN, and
feature the database interaction layout as outlined in the TBL sessions.
It should include a minimum of 10 activities (preferably
The University of Sydney Business School
Discipline of Business Information Systems
INFS1000: Digital Business Innovation Group Project
Page 8 / 8
no
more than 20) and represent the flow of information to and from your
database solution, as represented in your ERD. As it may not be
possible to express all aspects of your business idea within
the process model, it is important to clearly state the role of the
selected process and any assumptions and/or limitations. If correct,
they will be taken into account when marking your BPMN model.
Task 5: Critical reflection (approx. 800 words)
a)
BIS ethical issue Use the relevant frameworks and models covered in
this course, to identify, analyse and resolve ONE possible BIS ethical
issue that could arise from dealing with data in your business.
IMPORTANT: Your analysis needs to be specific to your ideas; generic
solutions will not be accepted!
b) Limitations and future
developments Discuss any limitations of your project and provide
suggestions for future developments: Can your business be further
developed? Are there things that you did not address because of
complexity or time constraints? Are there new features that you could
incorporate in the future? How could both your business and Information
Systems evolve in the future?