OBJECTIVES On completion of this paper candidates should be able to: • identify the information requirements of different levels of management and understand how information is used to s
Trang 1This paper aims to ensure that students
can exercise judgement and technique in
identifying, implementing and managing
information systems as part of the strategic
management of the organisation
OBJECTIVES
On completion of this paper candidates
should be able to:
• identify the information requirements of
different levels of management and
understand how information is used to
support the objectives of the organisation
• apply a coherent approach to business
analysis including the identification of the
current business situation and the gap
between that and the required business
objectives
• identify and implement desirable and
feasible changes resulting from business
analysis
• prepare a detailed business case to
support system changes and use the
appropriate tools to support business
analysis
• identify opportunities to use information
systems to improve the competitive
position of an organisation
• identify the impact of the development
of information systems on the
organisation and its environment
POSITION OF THE PAPER IN THE OVERALL SYLLABUS
This paper assumes the knowledge and understanding of the underpinning principles
of Paper 2.1 Information Systems
SYLLABUS CONTENT
1 Organisational information
(a) From a business perspective an information system is an organisational and management solution, based on information technology, to any challenge posed
by the environment
(b) Levels of management and types of information/system required
(c) The tasks of the manager The requirements for effective information management
(d) Types of information system (i) strategic information systems (ii) management information systems (iii) transaction processing systems
(iv) automation and support systems (v) batch processing
2 Knowledge management and information systems
(a) Data workers and knowledge workers (i) distribute knowledge: office automation systems (ii) share knowledge: group collaboration systems (iii) create knowledge: knowledge work systems
(iv) capture and codify knowledge: artificial intelligence systems (b) Data management
(i) principles of database management systems (ii) principles of datamining and data warehousing
3 IS and the strategic planning process
(a) The organisation and information management
(i) the business context 3.4 Business Information Management
2.1 Information Systems
Trang 2(ii) new organisational structures and
information
(iii) information and organisational
strategy
(b) PEST analysis
(c) Strategic information systems
(i) alignment
(ii) using IS to create focus, support
linkages and develop information
leadership
(d) Porter's value chain
4 Business systems, systems thinking
and systems analysis
(a) Hard systems approach
(i) structured systems life-cycle
(ii) deliverables from each stage
(b) Soft systems approach
(i) Checklands soft systems
methodology
(c) Business process engineering
(i) business processes are analysed,
simplified and redesigned A
radical business strategy
5 Gap analysis and business case
development
(a) General framework:
(i) where we are W2R
(ii) where we want to be W32B
(iii) going to get there (GT)2
(b) Business case development
(i) reasons, estimating costs and
timescales
(ii) estimating benefits
(iii) benefit realisation dependencies
(v) justification
(c) Applications portfolio / IT investment decisions:
(i) portfolio analysis; risks and benefits An analysis of the portfolio of potential applications within a firm to determine the risks and benefits and select among alternatives for IS Scoring model (ii) determining the best fit with the current system
6 IS and competitive position
(a) SWOT analysis (i) identify drivers for change (ii) agree fundamental guiding principles governing design of change
(b) IS/IT management partnership – internal/outsourcing (in all its forms), facilities management
(c) Links between business strategy and information systems strategy
7 Electronic commerce, internet as a strategic business tool
(a) Globalisation (i) the virtual company (ii) the internet, intranet and extranet (iii) security issues
(b) The internet (i) the changing world of the internet (ii) good practise requirements, infrastructure required, change of business functions/strategy (iii) the internet as a system,
8 Implementing change
(a) Implementing new systems (i) strategies for implementation (ii) managing risk at implementation (b) Structuring the information systems function
(i) managing the IT function (ii) management of change (c) Project management
(d) Commitment, coordination and communication in change management
9 Impact of IT on work practices
(a) Using IT to manage individuals' information requirements (i) design of Critical success factors (ii) identification of sources of data capture
(iii) measurement of performance (b) Impact of IS/IT on employee/ employer relations
(i) shorter chain of command, flatter structures
(ii) wider span of control (iii) de-skilling of operatives (iv)socio-technical design
(c) Ethical issues in Information Management
EXCLUDED TOPICS
The following topics are specifically excluded from the syllabus:
• program design, flowcharting, object oriented design
• specific hardware platforms
Business Information Management (Continued)
Trang 3KEY AREAS OF THE SYLLABUS
The key topic areas are as follows:
• information resource management
• business analysis
• information systems and competitive
position
• information systems and the
organisation
APPROACH TO EXAMINING THE
SYLLABUS
The examination is a three hour written
paper in two sections
Section A is based on a case study This
section will have three compulsory
questions from across the syllabus, which
relate to the scenario Each question will
be worth between 10 to 25 marks giving a
total of 60 for this section
Section B contains three independent
questions, drawn from across the syllabus
Each question is worth 20 marks The
candidate must answer two questions
giving a total of 40 marks for this section
Number
of marks Section A: 3 compulsory scenario
based questions (no single 60
question will exceed 25 marks)
Section B: Choice of 2 from 3
questions (20 marks each) 40
100
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The examination will assume the use of specific and general modelling and analysis tools and techniques: PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, Porters value chain, Checklands soft systems methodology;
conceptual models, rich pictures and CATWOE Other models which are assessable are identified in the study guide
Some answers may draw on candidates' own experience or an interpretation of a topic, within the context of their own organisation or an organisation that they are familiar with
The Study Guide provides more detailed guidance on the syllabus
RELEVANT TEXTS
There are a number of sources from which you can obtain a series of materials written for the ACCA examinations These are listed below:
Foulks Lynch – ACCA's official publisher
Contact number: +44 (0)20 8831 9990
Website: www.foulkslynch.com
Accountancy Tuition Centre (ATC) International
Contact number: +44 (0)141 880 6469
Website: www.ptc-global.com
BPP
Contact number: +44 (0)20 8740 2211 Website: www.bpp.com
The Financial Training Company
Contact number: +44 (0)174 785 4302 Website: www.financial-training.com
Candidates may also find the following texts useful:
Kenneth Laudon and Jane Laudon
Management Information Systems
(6th Edition) Prentice Hall ISBN 0130156825
James O’Brien Introduction to Information Systems (9th Edition)
McGraw-Hill ISBN 0071169733
Kenneth Laudon and Jane Laudon
Essentials of Management Information Systems
(3rd Edition) Prentice Hall ISBN 0130115061
Wider reading is also desirable, especially regular study of relevant articles in ACCA's
student accountant.
Trang 4Business Information Management (Continued)
STUDY SESSIONS
ORGANISATIONAL INFORMATION
REQUIREMENTS
1 Levels of management
(a) Distinguish between strategic, tactical
and operational management and their
corresponding information
requirements
(b) Describe the importance of making
information accessible
(c) Discuss ways of ensuring the reliability
and accuracy of information, creating
secure information systems and
making information available at an
appropriate cost
2 Categories of information systems
(a) Discuss the seven major types of
Information Systems: Executive
Support Systems (ESS), Management
Information Systems (MIS), Decision
Support Systems (DSS), Expert
Systems, Knowledge
Work Systems (KWS), Office
Automation Systems (OAS) and
Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)
(b) Describe examples of each of the
above in terms of an organisations
strategic business position
3 & 4 Strategic role of information
systems
(a) Explain the strategic role of
information systems
(b) Identify the major management
information systems in organisations
(c) Describe the central and crucial role that information systems have within
an organisation
(d) Evaluate information systems and the strategic planning process
(e) Identify opportunities for use in forecasting, analysing competition, scenario planning, generic strategies/
business positioning, improving performance, measuring performance, opportunities for cost reduction, opportunities for service improvement, sales performance, evaluating proposals
(f) Explain Earl's IS, IT and IM Strategies
5 Ethical issues
(a) Analyse the relationship among ethical, social and political issues raised by the impact of information systems
(b) Identify the major moral dimensions
of an information society
(c) Apply an ethical analysis to scenarios
(d) Discuss the design of organisational policies for ethical conduct
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
6 & 7 Knowledge management
(a) Describe the differences between data workers and knowledge workers and the appropriate types of
(i) Distribute knowledge: Office automation systems (ii) Share knowledge: Group collaboration systems (iii) Create knowledge: Knowledge work systems
(iv) Capture and codify knowledge: Artificial intelligence systems
7 & 8 Data Management
(a) Explain the principles of Database Management Systems (DBMS) (b) Describe the major characteristics of Integrity, Independence and Integration
(c) Discuss the difference between logical and physical data requirements Describe Logical models; hierarchical and relational
(d) Explain the principles of Datamining and Data Warehousing
(e) Discuss Datamining as the ability to analyse large pools of data to find patterns and rules that can be used
by an organisation to guide decision making and predict future behaviour (f) Discuss Data warehousing as a database with reporting and query tools, that stores current and historical data extracted from various operational systems and
consolidated for management reporting and analysis
Trang 5IS AND THE STRATEGIC PLANNING
PROCESS
9 Organisational requirements
(a) Discuss the establishment of
organisational information
requirements
(b) Evaluate linking information systems
to the business plan
(c) Discuss the requirement to
understand the business value of
information systems
10 Strategic Analysis
(a) Evaluate the importance of Political,
Economic, Social and Technological
influences on organisations PEST
analysis as a tool for Information
systems strategic planning
(b) Apply PEST analysis to scenarios
(c) Explain and apply Parson's six IS
strategies
(d) Apply Porter's Five Forces Model to
scenarios
11 Strategic information systems
(a) Discuss the role of Strategic Information
Systems, as computer systems within
an organisation that enables changes
to goals, processes, products, services
or environmental relationships
(b) Discuss the alignment with business
strategy and apply Earl's 'Three Leg
Analysis'
(c) Identify ways of using IS to create
Focus, support Linkages and develop
Information Leadership
(d) Describe the design of Rockart's Critical Success Factors
(e) Identify sources of data
(f) Identify key performance indicators and how to measure performance
12 Strategic impact of information systems
(a) Evaluate Porter's value chain
(b) Apply Porter's value chain to scenarios
BUSINESS SYSTEMS, SYSTEMS THINKING AND SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
13 Business strategy
(a) Describe the stages in the development
of business systems and strategies
(b) Explain the concept of business automation
(c) Explain the concept of business rationalisation
(d) Evaluate and discuss the principles
of business process engineering
14 Hard Systems approach
(a) Evaluate the Structured systems life-cycle emphasising the deliverables from each stage, clarifying the importance of these from a management perspective
15 & 16 Soft Systems approach
(a) Evaluate the principles of Checkland’s soft systems methodology
(b) Apply the major tools employed in Checkland’s soft systems methodology: Root definitions,
CATWOE, rich pictures, conceptual models
(c) Evaluate the difference between Hard Systems and Soft Systems approaches
GAP ANALYSIS AND BUSINESS CASE DEVELOPMENT
17 Business analysis
(a) Discuss the need for a general framework in the development of a business case:
Where we are W2R Where we want to be W32B Going to get there (GT)2 (b) Discuss Business Analysis vs Systems Analysis in terms of: A framework for business analysis, exploring and expressing problem situations, understanding what people do – and why they do it, modelling the current situation, Introduce the notion of Gap Analysis, modelling the required situation Apply Earl's ‘Systems Audit Grid’ and Peppard's ‘Strategic Grid’
18 Business case development
(a) Discuss the major elements of a business case development concentrating on the strategic issues of: Estimating costs and timescales, estimating benefits, benefit realisation dependencies, sensitivity analysis, and business justification
Trang 619 Gap analysis
(a) Discuss applications portfolio/IT
investment decisions
(b) Evaluate Portfolio analysis; Risks
and benefits An analysis of the
portfolio of potential applications
within a firm to determine the risks
and benefits and select among
alternatives for IS Scoring model
(c) Describe determining the best fit
with the current system
IS AND COMPETITIVE POSITION
20 Competitive position analysis
(a) Evaluate Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats (SWOT
analysis) as a technique for
identifying opportunities for
information systems development
(b) Apply SWOT analysis to scenarios
(c) Apply Mclaughlin et al's possible
SWOT responses to scenarios
(d) Relate McFarlane's model to the
BCG matrix
(e) Describe and explain Nolan's ‘Stage
Hypothesis’ and Zuboff's ‘Automate,
Informate, Transformate’ model
21 Linking business strategy and
information systems strategy
(a) Identify and discuss the links
between Business Strategy and
Information Systems Strategy using
IS/IT as an enabler: Analysis of
external (competitive) environment,
change, agree guiding principles, infrastructure standards and planning
(b) Discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of IS/IT management partnership- internal/
outsourcing (in all its forms), facilities management
(c) Evaluate advantages of package solutions versus bespoke solutions
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE, INTERNET AS
A STRATEGIC BUSINESS TOOL
22 Web based technology
(a) Discuss the business impact of the Internet
(b) Identify good practise requirements, infrastructure requirements, and changes of business functions/
strategy
(c) Understand the Internet as a system
(d) Explain how to integrate with existing systems
(e) Discuss and describe the uses of an extranet and an intranet
(f) Evaluate the problems associated with using web based technology and the issue of security
23 Electronic commerce
(a) Discuss the impact of globalisation
on business strategy
(b) Describe the implications of globalisation in terms of:
management and control in a global
markets, global work groups, and global delivery systems
(c) Explain the Virtual Supply Chain (VSC)
(d) Discuss Electronic Marketing
IMPLEMENTING CHANGE
24 Success and failure
(a) Identify major problem areas when implementing information systems (b) Apply organisational impact analysis (c) Identify the criteria needed to assess whether a system is successful (d) Describe the principle causes of information system failure and how
to overcome them
(e) Discuss problems of implementation: people-oriented theory, system oriented theory, and interaction theory (f) Describe the relationship between the implementation process and the system outcome
(g) Explain and apply Lewin's “Three Stage” change process
25 Managing change
(a) Discuss the appropriate strategies to manage the implementation process (b) Discuss formal planning control framework and tools
(c) Evaluate impact of alternative system building techniques and tools (d) Explain how to manage risk (e) Understand the importance of having
a process to manage change in an Business Information Management (Continued)
Trang 7(f) Explain the importance of
commitment, coordination and
communication in the change
process
IMPACT OF IT ON WORK PRACTICES
26 Individuals information requirements
(a) Discuss the use of IT to manage
individuals’ information
requirements
(b) Identify how information systems can
support the tasks of the manager
27 Employee/employer relations
(a) Discuss the impact of IS/IT on
employee/employer relations in
terms of: Shorter chain of command,
flatter organisational structures,
wider span of control, de-skilling of
operatives
(b) Describe the concept of
Socio-Technical design in respect to
employee/employer relations
(c) Discuss the organisational
development issues resulting from
the need to develop and implement
information systems
28 Revision