Course Outline

1
Business Information Systems Research Project in Information Systems (IS4401)
2008 / 2009
2
This week

• Outline objectives of this module
• Introduce supervisors
• Answer your questions

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Course objective

• Undertake a research or development project on a
  topic in information systems
• or
• to get involved in a substantial development
  project in a commercial environment

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2 types of project

• Full System Implementation
• Prototype / Proof of Concept

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Full System Implementation

• Installed in the organisation with a full set of
  working data
• Students must also address implementation issues
  occurring in the first month of operation

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Prototype / Proof of Concept

• This is an experimental project that aims to
  demonstrate a novel approach to applying
  technology

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Weekly project group meetings

• Supervisor will be allocated to you
• Time / venue of weekly meeting to be decided with
  supervisor
• Dual purpose of meetings
• Project management (progress with deliverables)
• Communication (problems, issues, questions)
• Group is your sounding board
• Meetings are mandatory

8

• Deliverable Mark Date
• Preliminary Proposal 16th October 2008
• Project Plan 10 30th October 2008
• Interim Report Prototype 10 11th December
  2008
• Final Report 20 2nd March 2009
• Communication Diary Poster 10 2nd March 2009
• System 40 2nd March 2009
• System demonstration 4th / 5th March 2009
• Innovative Systems Exhibition 10 12th March 2009

9
FYP 2004 segmentation
Community e-services
Public e-services
Consumer e-services
Games site
Schools
Fitness programme
Lotto
Mortgages
Garda
Voting
Transport services
Holidays
Government
Community interest
Clubs
DVD / Books
County Council
IS tools
Hotel / restaurants
Company e-services
Code review
SMe-Commerce
Project Mgt
Invoicing
Pricing
Audit
Process mapping
Stock mgt
HR
Web tools
Licence mgt
Call logging
Document mgt
CRM
TE
Documentation
Sales / Finance reporting
Test scripts
Training / KM
10
FYP 2005 segmentation
e-Community services
e-Lifestyle services
Consumer e-services
Schools
Nutrition
Garage
County Council
Sports
Virtual Change
Transport information
Clubs
Healthcare
Music
Books
Leisure
Flight tracking
Productivity tools
Company e-services
Accommodation
SMe-Commerce
Project Mgt
Invoicing
Pricing
Audit
Task Scheduling
RFID Inventory Tracking
Skills inventory
XBRL reporting
Call logging
Training / KM
Reporting
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FYP 2006 segmentation
Education
Health
Consumer
Classrooms on-line
Pharmacy on-line
On-line banking
Support groups
Registration Payment
Virtual Cash
On-line shopping
School web-site
Patient monitoring
School Mgt
Helpline support
Gift Card
Family Mgt
IS productivity tools
Business management
Lifestyle
Sales Order
Accommodation
Software depot
Property Mgt
Contracts register
Stock control
Clubs
Festivals
USB encryption
Sports
Procurement
Project Mgt
Betting
Accounts
Music
Web banners
Roster Timesheet
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FYP 2007 segmentation
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FYP 2007 segmentation
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FYP 2008 segmentation
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What are we aiming at?

• Underlying the expectation of performance
  increases is the belief that information can be
  captured and disseminated throughout the
  organisation more quickly to help individuals do
  their jobs better by making better decisions
• Arnold, V. (2006), Behavioural research
  opportunities Understanding the impact of
  enterprise systems, International Journal of
  Accounting Information Systems, draft accepted
  Feb 2006

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Ideas from where?

• Where information volume is an issue
• Where speed of transacting / communicating is an
  issue
• Where automation of a process is an issue
• Where information security is an issue
• Where duplication of information is an issue

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Ideas from where?

• Delivery technologies (broadband, GSM, )
• Content technologies (XBRL, GIS, )
• Applications (mobility, productivity, )
• Listening to people in business
• Customers
• Products
• Suppliers
• Inventory
• Production capacity

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Tips on project ideas

• Ideas from placement?
• Something youre interested in
• Real business requirements
• Think of benefits
• What is the Unique Selling Point (USP)?
• Can it be done in the timescale?

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Ideas from where?
http//bis.ucc.ie/Business/Student_Projects/index.
html
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Coaching sessions

• Thursday 2nd Ocotober (Don OLeary, Google)
• Importance of customer requirements
• System specification
• Innovation
• Thursday 9th October
• Picking a database
• Development environments
• Thursday 16th October
• Web-site hosting and implementation
• Other technologies

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Next week

• Meet here again same time
• Have draft proposal ready
• Allocation of supervisors to students
• Establish schedule for weekly project group
  meetings
• Initial feedback from supervisors

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Proposal guideline

• Objective aim of the project
• Project client, name of company if relevant
• Requirements describe problem domain / business
  need
• Scope of project proposed what it does /
  doesnt cover
• Benefits for users speed, efficiency, control,
  quality, ...
• Technical specification
• Data requirements (eg. Customers, products, ...)
• Interface requirements (does system need to talk
  to other systems)
• Technologies used (hardware, software)
• Proposed timeframe

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FYP proposal guideline

• Scope of project proposed eg. inventory control
  for car repairs business
• Objective eg. automate sales order processing
  and purchase orders so that spare parts inventory
  is always up to date
• Project client or sponsor (eg. Dunmanway Motors
  Ltd.)
• Requirements eg. ability to record and transmit
  sales and purchase orders accurately and with
  minimal errors, real-time view of inventory
  levels
• Benefits for users eg. single source of data
  entry, better control of spare parts in stock,
  reports (for sales, purchasing and inventory)
• Technical specification
• Data requirements (eg. customers, products, ...)
• Interface requirements (does system need to talk
  to other systems)
• Technologies used (eg. ASP.net for development,
  MySQL for database)
• Proposed timeframe (Analysis Design,
  Development, Test, Implementation)

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Frequently asked questions

• Are there more marks for an innovative project?
• How do I get the best marks?
• Can the project be for a placement company?
• Does project have to be for a real-life company?
• Can I use non-standard technologies?
• Can the project be done as part of a larger
  system?

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When doing a project for a company

• Make sure the requirements are clear
• Set-up a reliable communication channel
• Client feedback on system is vital
• Ensure that the final handover is clean
• You must be able to demo the system here!

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Web Site Development Context
Dataaccess/ update
WebServer
Web page request/response
DatabaseServer
Internet
Create Database
Create Web Pages
Web page request/response
Web sitedeveloper
Web siteuser/client
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Web Site DevelopmentBIS Context

• Server software
• Web page rendering/display technologies
• Development tools languages

Dataaccess/ update
BIS
corvusIISASP.NETPHP
Web page request/response
orabisOracle 10g
Internet
indusSQL2000
Web page request/response
Web siteuser/clientIE/FireFox/Opera
Web site developerC, Java, VS2005,Dreamweaver,S
QL Query analyser, etc.
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Web Site ImplementationHosting Example

• Server software
• Web page rendering/display technologies
• Development tools languages

Dataaccess/ update
Webosts.ieIISASP.NET
Web page request/response
(Dbserver)MySQl 5.0
Internet
Hosting Service
Web site updates
Web page request/response
Web pages and databases published over internet.
Web siteuser/clientIE/FireFox/Opera
Web site developerC, VS2005,Dreamweaver,MySQL
client, etc.
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Technologies non-standard s/w

• Requirement should first be cleared with
  supervisor (use standard s/w or laptop)
• Software must be licensed written approval from
  technical staff first!
• Any machine compromise is resolved by cloning!
• Machines in Lab 1.12 are shared, therefore
  installing specific software doesnt make it your
  machine