MGMT7020 Case Study Analysis
ASSESSMENT BRIEF
Course Task: Case Study Analysis
Semester: 1, 2024
Size Limit/Due Date:
Part A: Presentation 7 – 10 minutes duration Due: 30/05/2024
Part B: Report 1000 words (Nothing over 1000 will be read or marked) Due: 30/05/2024
Note that the word limit excludes tables, graphics, citations, references, and appendices.
Submission: Via Turnitin on Wattle Collaboration: None - Individual
Purpose: This task requires you to come to an understanding of a complex case study and apply
course concepts, readings, tools, and techniques to describe an Information
Technology Strategy and Tactical Plan to enable significant transformation.
Description: Analyse a given case study, develop a Presentation and Report that explains how your
team will enable significant organisational transformation.
Return of feedback: With release of end of semester grades.
Requirements:
Read this brief carefully to ensure you understand the assignment expectations and refer to the case
description, to ensure that you are focusing on the most important organisational needs. Remember that
the audience for this assignment is a group of senior managers who will either approve or reject your
strategy and tactical plan.
You will complete the assigned Case Study Analysis in two parts. The first part is a presentation. The second
part is a written report. Note that the two parts are equally important, and grading will be based on the
combined submission.
Remember that you are developing an information systems strategy and tactical plan. The actual
implementation work has not yet begun.
Graphics, created by you, should be used as a way of describing the information systems strategy and the
tactical plan. Inclusion of accurate and insightful graphics helps you demonstrate analysis and a depth of
understanding. The graphics must be correctly formatted and discussed in the text. Do not include third
party graphics as a substitute for your own work.
This brief contains information about the industry, technology, and organisation. I’m providing you with
some flexibility to embellish and add detail if you feel that it adds demonstrable value to your analysis and
fills in a perceived gap. You should use this flexibility sparingly and you are still expected to meet all the
assignment expectations. Although, this is not a literature-based assignment, some research will help you
complete your analysis and prepare your presentation and report.
Good luck !!
MGMT7020 Case Study Analysis
Case Study Analysis:
The case study analysis requires you to develop a Presentation and Report that addresses the following
requirements for the organisation described in the case:
1. Long term Information Technology strategic plan
2. Tactical Plan
The Information Technology Strategy and Tactical Plan must leverage course concepts, frameworks and
techniques from seminars, readings, etc.
Your analysis must also provide key recommendations and/or decisions that need to be made to successfully
implement the tactical and strategic plan. The duration of the strategic and tactical plans is something that
you must decide and make clear.
The following structure must be followed in your Presentation and Report and your response must be
specific to the details of the case. Generic content will not do well. The questions in each section are broad
topics that are intended to guide your response only. They are not sub sections and are not presented in any
specific order.
GRADE % BY
SECTION COVERAGE
SECTION*
1. Introduction • What is the purpose of the IT Strategy and Tactical Plan? 10%
• Why is it relevant to the intended audience?
2. Analysis • Describe how technology supports the current and future state organisation. 60%
• How should the organisation manage its technology?
• How will you manage organisational change?
• Are there any ethical issues that need to be considered?
• Describe the program of projects that drives the IT Strategy and Tactical Plan.
• Describe your recommended governance structure to support implementation.
• What business outcomes will be delivered by the IT Strategy and Tactical Plan?
• Include any other information that you feel is relevant.
3. Recommendations • Include any recommendations that you feel are relevant. 10%
4. References • A reference list of all materials cited is required. N/A**
5. Appendices • Appendix A: Program and Project descriptions 20%**
o Provide an overview of the program(s) and related project(s) that support
the IT Strategy and Tactical Plan.
o Describe the scope of each program/project.
o What are the major project deliverables that will be produced?
o Describe, at a high level, the program(s) schedule that will drive the
implementation.
o What program risks need to be addressed?
• Other appendices as needed
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MGMT7020 Case Study Analysis
* The “Grade % by section” of the items of coverage gives you guidance on their relative importance for
assessment, and therefore how to focus your effort. You can use this to help plan your work by using the
weightings to allocate your time and the approximate number of words to each item.
** References and Appendices are not included in the word count.
Proper referencing is a submission requirement and therefore has no weighting in this table, but not
meeting that requirement will impact your assessment.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS & ACADEMIC STANDARDS:
You will upload 2 items using these formats:
ITEM FILE FORMAT NAME FORMAT
(where ####### is your Team Name or Number)
Part A: Presentation Mp4* MGMT7020-#######
Part B: Report MS Word MGMT7020-Report-#######
*Please provide an appropriately compressed video file with your presentation.
Make sure you put your student ID number and on the front page
of your report.
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MGMT7020 Case Study Analysis
Please note that this organisation is fictitious. Do not contact any external organisation.
In November 2022, the CEO of a successful battery manufacturer was sitting in her Sydney office with three
of her managers. The conversation focused on the success that they’ve had over the past few years and the
need to both stabilise and grow the business. Major decisions need to be made regarding expansion, capital
investments and risk.
The CEO, Jane Harrison, is a skilled entrepreneur, engineer and has many years of experience working in the
energy storage industry. Ten years ago, she started a business developing traditional storage solutions for
commercial use but always intended to move into renewable energy technology. The business was very
successful, and she now owns two manufacturing facilities and one retail location that serve private and
government customers around New South Wales. The business sells its products within Australia but has yet
to expand overseas.
She originally named her company Battery Tech but recently changed the name to SolarFutures to reflect
her interests and focus on moving into the solar energy production and storage market. Expansion into solar
battery and panel production is fairly straight forward, given her background, and should take no more than
6 months to integrate into current manufacturing operations but she is concerned that her reputation is in
the traditional storage industry and existing/prospective customers won’t be aware of the expanded product
line. Harrison believes in vertical integration and also wants to expand into installation services in addition to
just selling a product. She realises that this will require new staff, technology, and capabilities to enable
profitable, customer focused installation services.
The company has established a recognisable brand name in Australia and the move into solar products has
begun to garner interest from other entrepreneurs in regional and major cities across Australia. She has
been approached with offers to sell products through resellers and potentially franchisees. She has used the
reseller model to expand market share and drive revenue and profit. However, she has yet to act on
franchising because she feels strongly about the value of the SolarFutures brand and protecting the quality
of the product and customer experience. She is concerned that franchising will be difficult to manage and
ensure the high standards that she wants to maintain. Nevertheless, this could be a good opportunity to be
ready for in 18- 24 months. However, in the next year, she does want to pursue overseas markets with a
particular focus on New Zealand, South East Asia and the South Pacific.
A challenge facing SolarFutures is supply chain management. Managing the supply chain to support
manufacturing and keep costs down, without sacrificing quality, is key to the success of the business. As she
expands, Jane knows that other processes that support the business such as customer management and
company functions like finance, payroll and HR need to become more robust and sustainable.
Jane is a forward thinker. She knows that she needs to embrace technology to grow the business and
strengthen the brand. She is very interested in understanding how she can use social media to her
advantage and would like to see how other companies in the energy storage market are using social media.
She has also thought about using augmented reality to help demonstrate how the products can be installed
and deliver benefits to the customers. As a part of the renewable energy industry, she is keen to support
community efforts to promote and implement solar energy solutions. Finally, she knows that to be
competitive, she needs reliable information from internal and external sources to optimise the business and
make good decisions.
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MGMT7020 Case Study Analysis
SolarFutures Information Technology
The technology that currently supports SolarFutures can accurately be described as basic. The manufacturing
line is supported by both manual and robotic processes however, different vendors and solutions have been
acquired over the years so getting everything to work together is a problem. If SolarFutures can’t streamline
this process quickly then growing the business over the next 6 – 12 months becomes very difficult. Good
news is that there are vendor solutions available that can typically be implemented in 4 – 5 months but it’s
not clear which of the major vendors will provide the best solution for SolarFutures. The two manufacturing
vendors she is considering are Energy Solutions and SolarFlare (FYI – Both fictitious companies.) They can
both provide machinery, applications and associated cloud-based infrastructure to support their products.
Each of them is expensive, and Jane is cost conscious but recognises that other criteria may be more
important. However, she will need help working out how to approach finding the right solution.
Sharing and collecting information across the organisation is difficult which makes operational performance
tracking and management reporting difficult. The communications network within the manufacturing and
retail locations is fine and internet connectivity is already pretty fast.
The retail location has a vendor, SalesGoods, who provides a good online and in-store ordering system but
its separate to the company financial systems. Jane has heard that the ordering system vendor has good POS
devices that can be used to support tracking and other work associated with solar panel and battery
installations. They even support remote, online card payment so the installers can collect payment from the
customer at the time of installation.
The SolarFutures Information Technology needs are provided by four Information Technology employees
who are very talented but overworked and complain about not having the time to focus on interesting
technology that will help Jane support the business. Working on IT crises and a lack of enterprise-wide
systems integration takes up a lot of time. Despite their limitations, the Information Technology team has
done a good job of pulling together some custom developed management reporting that is appreciated by
the management group. The management team know they need more and better information but are
generally happy with what they are getting. They will be reluctant to change unless there is demonstrable,
additional value. Similarly, employees who use the current Information Technology to support
manufacturing, sales and other functions are generally comfortable with what they have although they
admit it could be better.
Developing better relationships with suppliers and customers is key for the expansion of SolarFutures. Jane
is also aware that entering the international market means they need to be cognisant of regulatory reporting
and requirements for exports, taxes, etc. Being able to easily exchange ordering, inventory and financial
information will streamline related processes. But Jane really wants to work on strengthening customer
relationships through better management, marketing, incentives, loyalty programs and communication.
Also, she knows she needs to start expanding the customer base to strengthen the case for franchising.
However, Jane is acutely aware of the challenges of managing and protecting customer and company data.
She is very worried about data breaches and security.
SolarFutures hardware infrastructure is problematic. The applications for areas such as inventory, HR,
financials, etc are all run on a few servers located at one of the manufacturing facilities. Although backups
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MGMT7020 Case Study Analysis
are performed there has never been a real test of SolarFutures ability to recover from a catastrophic data
loss. System outages are common, and everyone agrees that the current situation is neither tenable nor
sufficiently scalable or reliable to support expansion.
The Information Technology Strategy and Tactical Plan
The SolarFutures staff are tired. It’s been a rewarding, exciting and challenging few years but now they need
a clear Information Technology vision, strategy, and plan for the company. Jane and the senior management
team believe technology will be a big part of their future and they want to get it right. Once they have the
right vision, they need a plan to support the implementation in both the short and longer term.
She does not want to be a company that develops and manages its own information systems. She wants to
be able to scale and grow the business and focus on the areas of the business that she knows very well. She
understands that there are application vendors that might have solutions that will meet their needs.
SolarFutures has access to capital and Jane doesn’t envisage issues with obtaining more as long as they have
the right information systems strategy and tactical plan. Jane knows that she doesn’t have the in-house
expertise to pull this off, so she has hired a small team of consultants to help.
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MGMT7020 Case Study Analysis
INDICATIVE INTRODUCTION ANALYSIS RECOMMENDATIONS APPENDICES
GRADE
HD Clear and concise articulation of the Thoroughly describes how technology supports the current and Provides highly insightful and actionable Includes highly detailed and relevant appendices that
IT Strategy and Tactical Plan's future state of the organization. Provides insightful options on recommendations based on the analysis. enhance the understanding of the IT Strategy and
purpose. Demonstrates a deep technology management, organizational change, and ethical Recommendations are specific, well-supported, and Tactical Plan. The Program and Project descriptions in
understanding of how the plan aligns considerations. Offers a comprehensive overview of the program directly linked to the identified issues and challenges. Appendix A are comprehensive, offering a thorough
with organizational goals and of projects and a well-structured governance structure. Clearly Demonstrates a clear understanding of potential overview of each project's scope, deliverables,
engages the audience with a articulates the expected business outcomes and includes relevant obstacles and offers innovative solutions. schedule, and identified risks. Other appendices, if
compelling rationale for its additional information. Recommendations are likely to contribute significantly present, provide valuable supplementary information,
importance. to the successful implementation of the IT Strategy and such as detailed financial projections, risk analysis, or
Tactical Plan. stakeholder communication plans.
D Clearly states the purpose of the IT Describes how technology supports the current and future state of Offers clear and actionable recommendations based Includes detailed and relevant appendices that provide
Strategy and Tactical Plan. the organization. Offers reasonable options on technology on the analysis. Recommendations are well-supported a good understanding of the IT Strategy and Tactical
Demonstrates an understanding of management, organizational change, and ethical considerations. and directly linked to identified issues and challenges. Plan. Appendix A, specifically, offers a comprehensive
the alignment between the plan and Provides a detailed overview of the program of projects and a Demonstrates an understanding of potential obstacles overview of each project's scope, deliverables,
organizational goals, providing a structured governance proposal. Articulates expected business and provides reasonable solutions. Recommendations schedule, and identified risks. Other appendices, if
satisfactory rationale for its relevance outcomes with clarity and includes relevant additional information. contribute to the successful implementation of the IT present, contribute useful supplementary information,
to the audience. Strategy and Tactical Plan. such as financial projections, risk analysis, or
stakeholder communication plans.
C States the purpose of the IT Strategy Describes technology's role in the current and future state of the Presents recommendations that are somewhat generic Includes appendices that offer a basic understanding
and Tactical Plan but lacks clarity. organization, though lacking in depth. Offers basic options on or lack specificity. Links recommendations to identified of the IT Strategy and Tactical Plan. Appendix A
Shows some awareness of the technology management, organizational change, and ethical issues and challenges, but with limited depth. provides an overview of each project but lacks depth in
alignment between the plan and considerations. Presents a basic overview of the program of Demonstrates a basic understanding of potential describing scope, deliverables, schedule, and identified
organizational goals and provides a projects and a loosely structured governance proposal. States obstacles and provides generic solutions. risks. Other appendices, if present, contribute some
basic rationale for its relevance to the expected business outcomes with some clarity and includes some Recommendations contribute to the implementation of supplementary information but may lack detail.
audience. relevant additional information. the IT Strategy and Tactical Plan to a certain extent.
P States the purpose of the IT Strategy Provides a vague or unclear description of how technology Provides recommendations that lack clarity or Provides appendices that are somewhat vague or lack
and Tactical Plan but lacks clarity and supports the organization. Offers limited options on technology specificity. Shows a limited understanding of how specific details. Appendix A may lack clarity in
specificity. Demonstrates a limited management, organizational change, and ethical considerations. recommendations directly address identified issues describing project details such as scope, deliverables,
understanding of the alignment Presents a limited overview of the program of projects and a and challenges. Offers generic or insufficient solutions schedule, and identified risks. Other appendices, if
between the plan and organizational poorly structured governance proposal. States expected business to potential obstacles. Recommendations have limited present, offer limited supplementary information and
goals. Offers a weak rationale for its outcomes vaguely and includes limited relevant additional impact on the successful implementation of the IT lack depth.
relevance to the audience. information. Strategy and Tactical Plan.
F Fails to clearly state the purpose of Fails to describe adequately how technology supports the current Fails to provide meaningful recommendations. Fails to provide meaningful or relevant appendices.
the IT Strategy and Tactical Plan. and future state of the organization. Lacks options on technology Recommendations are unclear, generic, or not linked Appendix A, if present, lacks clarity and detail in
Shows a lack of understanding of the management, organizational change, and ethical considerations. to identified issues and challenges. Demonstrates a describing project details. Other appendices, if
alignment between the plan and Provides insufficient information on the program of projects and lack of understanding of potential obstacles and present, do not contribute substantially to enhancing
organizational goals. Does not governance structure. Fails to articulate expected business provides insufficient or irrelevant solutions. the understanding of the IT Strategy and Tactical Plan.
provide a rationale for its relevance to outcomes and includes minimal relevant additional information. Recommendations do not contribute significantly to the
the audience. successful implementation of the IT Strategy and
Tactical Plan.
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