COIT20249 Supplementary Assessment Details

Supplementary Assessment Report

Due date: 11:55 pm AEST, Friday, 14 April 2017 ASSESSMEN
T
Weighting: 30%

Length: 2500 words +/- 250 words (Note: Failure to submit within
this range will result in a penalty of 5 marks) 3
Objectives
This is the supplementary assessment for the COIT20249 students who have become eligible for such an
assessment at the end of Term 3, 2016.
Please refer to the unit profile to see how this assessment item relates to the unit learning outcomes.
This assignment is designed to stimulate critical thinking outside of the classroom by requiring students to write
a formal academic report. You will need to follow the ARE process described in chapters 2 and 3 of Your
Business Degree 2 (prescribed textbook for COIT20249) to analyse the assessment task, research relevant
information and evaluate the information you find. This information should be used to write an academic report
in which you present your findings or outcomes and make recommendations for future practice Professional
writing and writing reports are described in chapters 4 and 5 of Your Business Degree 2. This assessment task
will assess your skills in critical thinking, researching information, forming an opinion, academic writing, logical
ordering of ideas and your ability to support your arguments with quotes from literature. These objectives will be
measured by the closeness of fit to meeting the assessment task, assessment requirements and assessment
criteria listed below.
Please note that there is a wealth of material available on the Moodle unit website that you should use to
help you through the process of searching for and gathering relevant information, evaluating that
information and writing your report.

General Assessment Criteria

Assessments provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to achieve the
required standard. To do this, assessment responses need to be both clear and easy to understand. If not, the
University cannot determine that students have demonstrated their knowledge and skills. Assessments will,
therefore, be marked accordingly including the potential for 0 (zero) marks where relevant.

The report must focus on the case study scenario given in the Assessment Task section. Any assessment items
that do not address the case study scenario will be awarded 0 (zero) marks and no further feedback.

If you use Track Changes when writing your report you must ensure that the submitted document is the final
and correct version of the document. That is, if your submitted report contains Track Changes or Comments or
any other editing marks it may be awarded 0 (zero) marks. It is your responsibility to submit the final and
correct version of your report.

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The length of the report must be within the recommended range. If the report exceeds the maximum word count
the marker will stop marking after 3500 words.
Files that are auto-submitted will not be reverted to draft status except in extenuating circumstances. It is your
responsibility not to leave draft assessments in Moodle at the time of the original deadline if the files are not
ready to be submitted for marking.

Assessment task
Students are required to write an academic report as per the format outlined in chapter 5 of the textbook. The
report must follow the APA referencing style. Please note that the prescribed textbook uses APA referencing
guidelines. See also the Referencing Style subsection below.
The report is to be based on the following case study scenario about the Business Process Re-engineering
proposal in a part of your organisation to prevent current financial losses.
You are the ICT Manager of a boutique hotel chain with its Head Office in Sydney. This is a medium sized
organisation that operates around 20 boutique hotels in all Australian State and Territory capital cities and in
regional cities known for tourism. The hotel guests come from Australia as well as from all over the world.
(See - http://luxurytravel.about.com/od/hotelandresorts/tp/What-Are-Boutique-Hotels.htm).
The hotel chain has around 1000 staff, directly and indirectly employed by the company. Some are directly
on the organisations payroll while others are contracted via third party service providers. Primary functions
of the hotel chain include providing food and accommodation for guests, room servicing, business facilities,
transport, organising tours and excursions etc. Staffing roles (both direct employees and contracted staff) at
the lower levels include room attendants, kitchen staff, drivers, tour guides, clerical and front counter staff.
Their salaries and other overheads amount to over 2 million dollars annually.
In the last few investor meetings, the shareholders found out that the business has been losing profits over
the last two years. Low profits have been linked to high level of expenses, especially in relation to staffing
costs. Shareholders are concerned about low dividends and there is a possibility of some of them selling
their shares. This could have negative outcomes for the business. Therefore, the Board of Directors wants to
see a reduction of expenses and increased profits. At the recent meeting of Board of Directors, the CEO of
the organisation was given six months to mitigate the financial losses and to achieve a positive turnaround
in profits. The CEO and his executive management team have held several meetings to identify potential
cost saving areas in each functional department. Room-servicing, and Excursion & Touring departments
have been identified as two of the high spending departments that rely extensively on human resources. The
Room servicing staff are directly employed by the hotel chain while many of the staff in the Excursion and
Touring department are working for the hotel on a contracted basis. Many of these contractors are self-
employed or work through locally based small businesses. In addition, there is a possibility that the kitchen
department could also be assessed for some cost savings.
One of the potential cost saving suggestions is to reduce some staff (both employees and contractors) and
introduce automated self-help services based on information technology to the guests of the hotel. The
supporting argument is that this will enable hotel guests to seamlessly obtain the same services or even
more, without having to rely on human support. The executive management wants to know how
information technology could be used in other primary functional areas as well to replace some of the
functions currently carried out by staff. While the business will have to invest the initial capital, the strategy
should start saving thousands of dollars within six to twelve months from the reduced staff savings. Initial
figures show that the hotel will start to show increased profits after twelve months.
While this plan is viewed by some of the executive managers as the perfect solution for the current problem
to minimise financial losses and increase profits, other members of the executive team are concerned about
the potential negative impacts as well. The supporters of the strategy view increased use of information
technology will cater to the niche market in boutique hotel industry. But some others see that the
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implementation of this strategy will cause job losses and associated issues for the staff, and has the potential
to create hidden costs of replacing human services with information technology. Apart from that there is a
risk that some guests may not appreciate losing contact with human staff to obtain services and information
they require.
As a result of these concerns the executive management team has asked the CEO for more information
about what services could be altered to replace humans with ICT, what would be the specific ICT
technologies to be introduced, how these technologies could be implemented, and their advantages and
disadvantages including costs and benefits (financial, technology, legal, social and ethical) before making a
final decision. You (General Manager, ICT) report to the Chief Operating Officer of the organisation. He
and the CEO have requested you to undertake further research into this proposal for Business Process Re-
engineering (BPR). You have been given 3 weeks to undertake research and submit a report to the CEO and
the Chief Operating Officer that will be submitted to the Executive Management meeting for consideration.

The report should address the following tasks:

1. Definition/s of boutique hotels and how they operate. Compare and contrast the concept of boutique
hotels against the mainstream hotel operation concept. At least one academic source (journal article) should
be cited to support your definition/s. Use adequate references for this part. Conduct research on the
traditional and automated/computerised practices in the Australian and international boutique hotel industry.
Identify both successful and unsuccessful aspects. Your report must identify actual examples and should not
just focus on generic discussions. Consider examples that relate to the proposed changes for your
organisations (see case scenario above). Your investigation should focus on research and examples relating
to the last five years (2012 onwards). Include both academic (journal) and industry references.
2. Based on the findings from the previous section, propose how information technology could be
incorporated into your organisations operations in the future. Discuss options to introduce business process
reengineering to the functions mentioned in the case scenario above. Which functions could be changed to
introduce information technology based self-help options for the guests? What are the new processes you
have found as possible alternatives? Include both academic (journal) and industry references.
3. As the ICT Manager of your organisation, you should focus on security and technology aspects as a
priority, and propose potential solutions to overcome any disadvantages/risks identified in your analysis.
Include ethical, social and legal considerations that your organisation should consider as a part of the
proposed strategy (this has been raised by some of the executive management team), and discuss potential
solutions to overcome these issues. Include both academic (journal) and industry references.
Your analysis and proposed solutions in tasks 2 and 3 should lead to some recommendations at the end of your
report. Make sure that the specific recommendations at the end of your report have been evaluated as a part of
your report discussion.
The report should be at a strategic level. It must not consist of highly technical details as most of your
readers are not from an information technology background.
Please note that you will need to make some assumptions about the organisation in order to write this report.
These assumptions should match the information in the case study and not contradict with the objectives of
the report. They should be incorporated in the introduction of your report when you describe the organisation
and outline the problem to be solved. Relevant assumptions should be incorporated when addressing tasks 2
and 3 above. Do not make assumptions that are not relevant or will not be used in your report discussion to
avoid loss of marks.
Specifically your report should include the following (word count details are approximate guidelines only):
1 Title page: Unit code and name, assessment number/description, Report title, assessment due date, word
count, student name, student number, email address, campus lecturer/tutor, and Unit coordinator. Must be
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 formatted to a standard required for a professional/business report. Check week 6 materials for example of a
professionally formatted title page. Not included in the word count.
2 Executive summary: should include the purpose of the report, the problem including key issues considered
and how they were investigated, your findings, and overview of your recommendations. This part must not
be longer than 1 A-4 page. Not included in the word count.
1. Table of Contents (ToC): should list the report headings/subheadings using decimal notation. Needs to
include the main headings and subheadings with corresponding page numbers. Use a format that makes the
hierarchy of topics clear. Because you are including a ToC, the report pages should be numbered in the
footer as follows: title page has no page number; and main text to have Arabic numerals commencing at 1.
Create the ToC using MS Words ToC auto-generator rather than manually typing out the ToC. Instructions
can be found here https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Create-a-table-of-contents-or-update-a-table-of-
contents-eb275189-b93e-4559-8dd9-c279457bfd72#__create_a_table. Not included in the word count.
2. Introduction: provide a brief description of the organisation as given in the case scenario including any
assumptions, a concise overview of the problem you have been asked to research, the main aims/purpose of
the report, the objectives to be achieved by writing the report (include the tasks outlined in the case study)
and how you investigated the problem. Provide an outline of the sections of the report. Should be
approximately 300 words.
3. Body of the report (use appropriate headings in the body of the report.): Define key terms you will use in
your report, such as what is meant by boutique hotels. Present your ideas on the topic and discuss the
information you found in your research that was relevant to the reports objectives. Provide an analysis of
the information that you gathered. Ensure that you explore the tasks listed in the case study scenario. In your
discussion, examine the issues from a global perspective as well as from the local perspective (of the
fictional organisation that is the centre of this report).
Do NOT use generic words such as Body, Body of the Report, Tasks as section headings. Create
meaningful headings and subheadings that reflect the topic and content of your report. Should be
approximately 1600 words.
4. Conclusion: restate the purpose of the report and key issues investigated and the related findings based on
your research and analysis. Explain the significance of your findings for addressing the problem stated in the
case scenario and any limitations. State how your report has achieved its objectives and any future work to
be considered. Should be approximately 300 words.
5. Recommendations: (must be based on your findings and proposed solutions discussed in the body of the
report) what would your recommendations be to your CEO and the executive management team in this
situation? Provide some guidelines for the organisation with respect to the use of information technology
based self-help features as a future technology in your organisation. Should be approximately 300 words.
6. Reference list. Not counted in the word count.
7. Appendices if necessary. Not counted in the word count.

Note: Additional information regarding this assignment may be placed on the unit website as required.
Check the unit website at least once a week for further information relating to the report. Regular access
to the unit website is a requirement of this unit.

Assessment Requirements
Your response should be structured as a report (chapter 5 of textbook), written in accordance with standard
academic writing principles (chapter 4 of textbook). The report must be written using your own words with any
in text citations clearly marked (see Referencing Style subsection below). You may discuss the assessment task
with other students and the lecturing staff but you must WRITE the report YOURSELF in your own words.

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You will need to conduct research to support your arguments using at least ten (10) references. Note that all the
references you chose to use should have been evaluated using the Triple-R framework in the research stage of
preparing your Report. One of the references could be your set textbook (if you reference the textbook you must
include it in the reference list). You must have a minimum of ten (10) references in your reference list. At least
six (6) of these references should be from refereed academic journals and books. All sources should be current
that is, dated 2012 or later. You are encouraged to use more than the minimum requirements for a better quality
outcome to your report.
The assignment should demonstrate a logical flow of discussion, and be free from typographical, spelling and
grammatical errors. It should be prepared in MS-Word (or equivalent) using 12 point font, 1.5 line spacing and
margins of 2.54 cm.
It is highly recommended that you submit your assignment to the Academic Learning Centre AT LEAST ONE
WEEK before the due date so that it can be checked for spelling and grammatical errors.

Referencing Style
References must be cited (in text) and a reference list provided in accordance with the APA referencing style.
Helpful information on referencing techniques and styles can also be found on CQUs referencing webpage:
https://www.cqu.edu.au/student-life/services-and-facilities/referencing
Marks will be deducted for poor referencing or having less than ten (10) references or going under or over
the word length.
Use quotation marks for direct quotes and you must include the author, date and page number(s) with the
quote as per the referencing standards.
ALL assignments will be checked for plagiarism (material copied from other students and/or material
copied from other sources) using TurnItIn. If you are found to have plagiarised material or if you have
used someone elses words without appropriate referencing, you will be penalised for plagiarism which
could result in zero marks for the whole assignment. In some circumstances a more severe penalty may be
imposed. Please note that if needed students may be required to explain the report preparation process.
Useful information about academic integrity (avoiding plagiarism) can be found at:
https://www.cqu.edu.au/student-life/services-and-facilities/referencing
https://www.cqu.edu.au/student-life/services-and-facilities/referencing/cquniversity-referencing-guides
Guidelines with respect to self-referencing are available on the COIT20249 Moodle website.

Submission

The report has to be submitted using the COIT20249 Moodle unit website on or before the due date. The
submission link can be accessed through the Assessment block.

Before submitting your assignment you should check it against the detailed assessment criteria in the following
table to ensure that you have satisfactorily addressed all the criteria that will be used to mark your report.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your report is submitted for grading. At the due date of the assessment
Moodle will auto-submit files that have been uploaded and left as drafts. However, any files uploaded after the
due date must be manually submitted. This means that if you have been granted an extension or are uploading
a late assessment (after the due date) you must complete the Moodle submission process. Further details on
completing the submission process are available via the Moodle Help for Students link in the Support block of
your Moodle website.

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If your report is left as a draft in Moodle after the due date it will accrue a late penalty. Late submissions attract a
penalty of 5% per day of the total available mark for the individual assessment item. See details in the
Assessment of Coursework Procedure at http://policy.cqu.edu.au/Policy/policy_file.do?policyid=1242

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Assessment criteria
This assessment is criterion referenced which means your work is assessed against the criteria in the marking rubric below.
Quality
Criteria High Distinction Distinction Credit Pass Fail
(2.75-3.0 marks) (2.25-2.5 marks) (1.75-2 marks) (1.25-1.5 marks) (0-1 marks)
Executive summary The executive summary The executive summary The executive summary The executive summary Entire sections of the
contained: contained the proper had sections which were lacked clarity and has executive summary are
sections but did not too brief or missing. Did incomplete or missing missing. There is a lack
- a brief description of
include enough detail. not include enough sections. It did not of detail and the problem
the purpose of the report
detail. clearly explain the is not well explained.
- the definition of the problem, how it was
problem, key issues investigated and your
explored, and how they recommendations.
were investigated
- a summary of what you
found and what you
concluded
- overview of your
recommendations
Table of contents Lists the report topics A few things missing Some things missing Includes the main Table of contents
using decimal notation. from the table of from the table of headings only. Pages missing. Pages not
Includes meaningful contents. Pages are contents. Pages may not may not be numbered. numbered.
main headings and numbered. be numbered.
subheadings with
corresponding page
numbers. Format makes
the hierarchy of topics
clear. Auto generated
using MS Word.
Pages are numbered.

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 Quality
Criteria High Distinction Distinction Credit Pass Fail
(2.75-3.0 marks) (2.25-2.5 marks) (1.75-2 marks) (1.25-1.5 marks) (0-1 marks)
Introduction Set the scene for the The introduction The introduction had The introduction lacked The introduction was
report; gave some contained the proper parts which were too clarity and had missing or was a repeat
background information parts but did not include brief or missing. Did not incomplete or missing of the executive
for the topic. Included a enough detail. include enough detail. parts. It did not clearly summary. It did not
brief description of the introduce the report. clearly introduce the
organisation. report.
Stated the objectives of
the investigation.
Included the problem
you are addressing and
the key issues to be
explored.
Explained the research
method used to gather
information.
Outlined the sections of
the report.
Body of report: Selected exact amount of Selected large amount of Selected adequate Selected adequate Selected too little
relevant material that relevant material. amount of material. amount of material not material or material that
Selection and sequencing
supports argument with all of it relevant. is irrelevant.
of subject material; Offered solid Some development of
no contradictions.
including evidence. development of ideas but ideas; not much original Not much development No development of ideas
Substantial, logical, & less original reasoning. reasoning. of ideas. Very little or original reasoning.
concrete development of original reasoning.
Assumptions were not Assumptions are not Offered simplistic,
ideas. Arguments were
always recognised or always recognised or Offered somewhat undeveloped, or cryptic
logical and clear.
made explicit. made explicit. obvious support that may support for the ideas.
Assumptions were made be too broad.
Contained some Contains some Inappropriate or off-topic
explicit.
appropriate details or appropriate details or Details were too general, generalisations, faulty
Key terms were defined. examples. examples. not interpreted, irrelevant assumptions, errors of
to problem, or fact.
Details were germane,
inappropriately
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 Quality
Criteria High Distinction Distinction Credit Pass Fail
(2.75-3.0 marks) (2.25-2.5 marks) (1.75-2 marks) (1.25-1.5 marks) (0-1 marks)
original, and repetitive.
convincingly interpreted.
Conclusion Problem restated clearly, The conclusion The conclusion had parts The conclusion lacked The conclusion is
main points and contained the proper which were too brief or clarity and had missing or was a repeat
supporting arguments parts but did not include missing. Did not include incomplete or missing of the executive
summarised. enough detail. enough detail. parts. It did not clearly summary. It did not
conclude the report. clearly conclude the
Stated the significance of No new material. May have included some
report.
the findings and that the new material. May have included some
objectives of the report new material. Included new material.
had been met.
No new material.
Recommendations Suggested specific Most suggested actions Suggested actions were Suggested some actions. Recommendations
actions to address the were relevant to the somewhat relevant to the Not all actions were missing or irrelevant to
problem. problem. problem. relevant to the problem. the problem and/or did
not relate to the findings.
Actions were clearly Actions were based on Not all actions were Not all actions were
based on the findings of the findings of the report. based on the findings of based on the findings of
the report. the report. the report.
Organisation: of Organisation fully Organisation supported Organisation supported Some signs of logical Unclear organisation or
ideas/main points; supported the problem the problem being the problem being organisation. organisational plan was
structure of sentences being addressed and the addressed and the addressed and the inappropriate to problem
May have had abrupt or
and paragraphs. objectives of report. objectives of report. objectives of report. being addressed.
illogical shifts and
Sequence of ideas was Sequence of ideas could Sequence of ideas did ineffective flow of ideas. Poorly worded sentences.
effective. be improved. not always flow in a No linkages between
Some awkward
logical manner. paragraphs.
Excellent sentence Good sentence structure. sentences; paragraphs
structure. Well- Linkages between Some good sentence not well linked. Showed minimal effort
constructed paragraphs; paragraphs were mostly structure. Linkages Paragraph structure not or lack of comprehension
clear linkages between appropriate. between paragraphs well integrated; of the assignment.
paragraphs. could be improved. contained extraneous
Some brief, undeveloped information.

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 Quality
Criteria High Distinction Distinction Credit Pass Fail
(2.75-3.0 marks) (2.25-2.5 marks) (1.75-2 marks) (1.25-1.5 marks) (0-1 marks)
paragraphs.

Presentation: Title page contained all Title page contained all Title page contained all Some necessary Title page missing or
necessary information: necessary information. necessary information. information was missing missing necessary
Title page
unit code, assessment from the title page. information.
A few errors in grammar Some distracting
Grammar, number, report title,
(wrong verb tense, grammatical errors Some major grammatical Numerous grammatical
punctuation and assessment due date,
subject-verb agreement, (wrong verb tense, or proofreading errors errors which seriously
spelling. word count, student
pronoun agreement, subject-verb agreement, (wrong verb tense, detracted from
Formatting name, student number,
apostrophe errors, pronoun agreement, subject-verb agreement, understanding the
email address, campus
singular/plural errors, apostrophe errors, pronoun agreement, writing.
lecturer/tutor, and unit
article use, preposition singular/plural errors, apostrophe errors,
coordinator. Frequent major errors in
use, split infinitives, article use, preposition singular/plural errors,
grammar, punctuation,
Written expression was etc.). Made occasional use, split infinitives, article use, preposition
and spelling.
clear and correct; problematic word etc.). Little evidence of use, split infinitives,
evidence of thorough choices or syntax errors. proof-reading. sentence fragments, Evidence of poor
proof-reading. word form errors, etc.). planning and/or no
Grammar strong despite Grammar could be serious revision of
Language frequently
Grammar excellent; occasional lapses; a few improved; errors in writing.
weakened by inexact
correct use of spelling or punctuation punctuation and spelling.
word choices.
punctuation; minimal or errors. Did not meet
Needed to observe
no spelling errors. Frequent errors in professional conventions
Observed professional professional conventions
grammar, punctuation, of written English and
Observed professional conventions of written of written English and
and spelling. report format.
conventions of written English and report report format; made
English and report format; made a few numerous errors. Needed to observe Formatted incorrectly.
format. minor or technical errors. professional conventions
Some minor formatting
of written English and
Formatted using 12 point Formatted correctly. errors.
report format; made
font, 1.5 line spacing and
repeated errors.
margins of 2.54 cm.
Major errors in
formatting.

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 Quality
Criteria High Distinction Distinction Credit Pass Fail
(2.75-3.0 marks) (2.25-2.5 marks) (1.75-2 marks) (1.25-1.5 marks) (0-1 marks)

References (1): Thorough research Research was generally Some evidence of Basic research; Little or no evidence of
Evidence of research and indicated; clear well- thorough; analysis was research; basic analysis; weaknesses evident in research and analysis of
analysis of the references thought out analysis generally well done; some integration into analysis. information.
based on the ARE clearly integrated into integrated into discussion.
Little evidence of Neglected important
framework. discussion. discussion.
Analysed and evaluated analysis and evaluation references.
Selection and use of Analysed and evaluated Analysed and evaluated information in of information;
Simplistic or
references based on the information in great information in reasonable depth, some recounted and described.
undeveloped support for
Triple R framework. depth. considerable depth. description. Details were too general,
the ideas.
not interpreted, irrelevant
Used references to Used references to Used references to
to topic, or Inappropriate or off-topic
support, extend, and support, but not support, but not
inappropriately generalisations, faulty
inform, but not substitute substitute writers own substitute writers own
repetitive. assumptions, errors of
writers own development of ideas. development of ideas.
fact.
development of ideas. Used relevant references
Combined material from Combined material from
but lacked in variety of Overused quotations or
Combined material from a variety of sources. a few sources.
references and/or the paraphrasing to
a variety of sources.
Did not overuse quotes. Did not overuse quotes. skilful combination of substitute writers own
Did not overuse quotes. references. ideas.

Combined material from Possibly used source

a few sources. material without
acknowledgement.
Quotations and
paraphrases may be too
long or not well
integrated into the text.
References (2): More than ten current More than ten current At least ten current At least ten current Less than ten references.
references including references including references including at references.
In-text citations and Inconsistent with APA
more than six academic more than six academic least six academic
reference list. Errors with APA referencing style.
references; all references references. sources.

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Criteria High Distinction
(2.75-3.0 marks)
conformed to the Triple
R framework.
Thorough referencing.
Citations and reference
list accurate and
consistent with APA
referencing style.
Length Correct length (2250-2750
words)
If the content of the report is unable to be read and understood by the marker the report will be given 0 out of 30.
Comprehension
Distinction
(2.25-2.5 marks)
A few inaccuracies with
APA referencing style
for citations and/or
reference list.
All citations/references
listed.
Correct length (2250-2750
words)
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Quality
Credit
(1.75-2 marks)
Some errors in APA
referencing style for
citations and/or reference
list. Some citations
and/or references
missing.
Correct length (2250-2750
words)
Pass Fail
(1.25-1.5 marks) (0-1 marks)
referencing style. Problems with citations
and references.
Incomplete reference list.
References not cited
properly in text.
Correct length (2250-2750 Too long (>2750 words) or
words) too short (<2250 words).
Penalty of 5 marks.
Words in excess of 3000
will NOT be marked.