TOPIC 9

“A critical evaluation of the planning and implementation of an information system in an organization”

The Topic and its Significance:

This Topic focus on two key issues:

1. Critical evaluation of planning of an information system in an organization.
2. Critical evaluation of implementation of an information system in an organization.

Information systems (IS) are the study of complementary networks of hardware and software that people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create, and distribute data. It aims to support operations, management and decision making.

Examples of information systems are:

Transaction processing systems
Management information systems
Decision support systems
Executive information systems etc.

In this topic, you will be critically evaluating planning and implementation through use of models and frameworks you have studied in ACCA papers especially P3 but knowledge from other sources and guidance provided by THE MENTORS NETWORK – TMN will also be used. This topic requires high level of evaluation skills because examiner expects you to critically evaluate planning and implementation of information system in organization. Critical evaluation means you should demonstrate skill of spotting fallacy in academic argument, and accordingly one of the principal ingredients of “graduations”. Information system is very important for large organizations and in current corporate environment, companies cannot operate effectively without having a good information system.

Should I choose this Topic?

Decision of selection will be based on three things:

1. Topic itself

2. Organization

3. Availability of Information

Topic:

Topic itself is suitable for a student who have strong grip on ACCA Paper P3 and posses excellent knowledge of information system being implemented in the company and general knowledge related to planning and implementation of an effective information system in an organization. Topic is very technical and organization’s system specific. This topic should be selected on the basis of your interest as well.

Organization:

Selected organization should be the one in which an information system is recently implemented or is in the process of implementation and implementation will be finalized before you finalize your RAP for submission. On site research will be required for Topic 9 for primary information. Organization should be selected if and only if, internal information about entity is available. Hence, it is recommended choose the organization who is your employer or from which there are no issues regarding information accessibility.

Information availability:

Information availability is the biggest challenge for this topic because the topic is very different and is specific to organization, so you will need much primary information. If your company is listed, you may get bunch of information online through their annual reports and news on media. However, required information will depend on your approach to this topic i.e. the model(s) and framework(s) you will be applying and whether you can access organization’s internal information sources. As you have to write 7,500 words on this topic, large amount of data will be required for its conversion into information for your RAP.

The topic can be summarized as:

“Choose if you are confident about your knowledge and you can get enough information through both primary and secondary research.”

Regards,
Hammad Ahmed Qureshi – OBU Registered Mentor.