Assignment Brief Part A
Heelz is a boutique shoe retailer based in England, owned by Sally. The business started with a single shop, which Sally has grown into a chain of eight. The first four shops were opened from scratch but in July 2012 Sally bought ‘Zapatos' a group of four outlets, which she intends to operate under the Heelz brand. The recent acquisition is a significant expansion in the operation of the business, not least because two of the new outlets are in Spain. Sally is hoping that this will help her to gain a foothold in the European market. As a result of the expansion Sally has identified a need to open a new warehouse in the South of England, and she has decided that this would be an excellent opportunity to launch an ecommerce arm to the business, capitalising on the success of the Heelz brand, but with a relatively small additional overhead.
You are a consultant with OIM Consultants, who specialise in Strategic Systems Integration Planning (SSIP). OIM Consultants have been employed by Sally to advise on how to address the technology needs of the growing business. Heelz and Zapatos have different IT systems, and in addition to integrating the two parts of the business there is the need to add ‘b2c' ecommerce functionality. Sally would like this to be fully integrated with the retail stores, allowing customers to collect and return stock via the stores, as well as via courier. She has asked whether the use of open-source software is appropriate for the business, as Heelz uses packaged software from commercial vendors, which is proving increasingly expensive.
Your Brief:
Based on the case study outline above, you should prepare a report advising Sally of the key issues and how they might be addressed. Your report should focus on the information systems needs of the business. As space is limited you should select a key issue from the module which will form the focus of your report. Examples of issues include (but are not limited to), integrating ecommerce, use of packaged software (e.g. CRM, ERP), aligning with business processes, legacy systems, open source software, globalisation, organisational issues. You should research and discuss themes with other students, using the RKC Forum thread (Unit 6: Final Assessment).
You should also ensure that the report explains the overall process that OIM will use to manage the project so that Sally has a clear understanding of how this will fit with the strategy and needs of the business.
Your report should include an introduction and conclusion, as well as the main body of the report where you present your argument based on the evidence you have researched relevant to the report topic. If you wish you may attach appendices illustrating elements of your analysis (such as models created). These will not be marked but may be referred to from the report. Your report should be structured to include the following:
Part B
Whilst working on the assignment, you are required to engage in research into, and make contributions to the RKC Forum thread (Unit 6: Final Assessment) on issues that you identify for the assignment.
You should submit a 250 word reflective summary (in the same document as Part A), accompanied by your own self-assessment of your contribution to the online discussion above and/or the general discussions in Units 4, 5 and 6 on open source software. In doing so you should make reference to the table labelled Online Discussion Self Assessment below. The reflective report should include your detailed reflection, supported with evidence from the online discussion.
GENERAL ADVICE
One of the clear academic objectives of a Master's level programme is to show in the paper that you have read, understood and "absorbed as your own" the many concepts associated with Operations Management. That is not the same as providing a summary of which author said what; good assignments discuss the literature in terms of themes or concepts. Try to structure your paragraphs so that the first sentence introduces the theme or concept discussed in the paragraph, and the paragraphs themselves should be grouped in such a way that your "story" flows in a structured, balanced and comprehensible way.
Some "do's" and "don't" about style:
Do not "copy and paste" from books or other sources. If used, direct quotes should be few, short and in italics;
Be very sparing of using simply expressions such as 'in my opinion'; instead, put forward
your argument as to why one approach may have more advantages than another. You might compare and contrast what different authors have to say about a given concept. We are looking for evidence of an analytical approach;