Create a business analysis for the client company’s leadership in which you analyze the competitive landscape for a business and discuss the role of IT/IS in helping that company achieve a competitive advantage.

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You are an IT analyst at XYZ Corporation, and the company has recently taken on a new client that wishes to understand how the organization can leverage its IT and IS functions as a form of competitive advantage. The company is small and would like to see some real-world evidence of this in order to arm themselves with information as they seek investors to grow their business. You have been asked by your manager, Farah Ahmad, to create a business analysis for the client company’s leadership in which you analyze the competitive landscape for a business and discuss the role of IT/IS in helping that company achieve a competitive advantage.

 

First, you should select a company, research two of its competitors, and create a report to present to the client in which you analyze the business’s current competitive standing within its industry using at least two competitive analysis models/tools with a focus on the role IT plays in determining its current competitive posture; one of the models used in the analysis must be Porter’s Five Forces. It is recommended that you search the Internet to identify industries/companies for which a Porter’s Five Forces analysis have been completed prior to selecting the company on which you will focus your response. Part 2 of your business analysis should be 11–16 paragraphs in length and include at least five references from scholarly academic sources.

  • Illustrate the company’s use of information systems as part of its competitive business strategies. (150–225 words, or 2–3 paragraphs)
  • Analyze the company and its two competitors through the lens of Porter’s Five Forces. (225–300 words, or 3–4 paragraphs)
  • Analyze the company and its two competitors through the lens of one additional competitive analysis model or tool. (225–300 words, or 3–4 paragraphs)
  • Compare the three companies in light of your two completed analyses, including a discussion of which tool you feel was more useful in helping you to determine the competitive position for your selected company. (150–225 words, or 2–3 paragraphs)
  • Finally, present your analysis of the current competitive posture of your selected company. (75–150 words, or 1–2 paragraphs)

Imagine you are the CEO of a large technology company whose primary products include microprocessors and operating systems. Describe which of these plans would you (as the CEO) approve and why? Be sure to justify your selection with technical details.

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Imagine you are the CEO of a large technology company whose primary products include microprocessors and operating systems. You have three engineering departments. Each is headed by a passionate technologist in the role of chief engineer.

Here are their proposals for introducing the next “killer” product:

The chief of microprocessor engineering wants to introduce the next generation of the instruction set architecture (ISA). She wants to offer a new ISA that revolutionizes the instructions set the way RISC did to CISC.
The chief of motherboard engineering wants to make radical changes to the peripheral component interconnect (PCI) interface for hardware that will double PCI transfer speeds of the company’s motherboards without negatively impacting compatibility with the existing PCI standard.
The chief of portability engineering wants to make the company’s portable operating system interface (POSIX) interface for system calls more compliant so that millions of Linux and Windows developers will have the same operating system interface.
In your initial post, describe which of these plans would you (as the CEO) approve and why? Be sure to justify your selection with technical details.

On the second page, support the position of the original post or constructively offer a counterpoint that identifies some of the engineering tradeoffs that could result from the decision.

List the information that was stolen or compromised in the breach. How did it affect the security of Target? How did it affect the security of Target’s customers? Identify and list the specific controls that could have prevented the breach. Why do you think hackers target the retail sector?

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The Target Corporation, also referred to as Target, is the second-largest discount store retailer in the United States. In December 2013, over 40 million credit cards were stolen from nearly 2000 Target stores by hackers accessing data on point of sale (POS) systems. A POS is a place in the retail store where customers make payment for goods bought and in return get an invoice or receipt. The POS system is the system or device that is used for completing the transaction. It could be hardware or software or both that manages a transaction like credit card processing. In this activity, you need to do a thorough study of the Target data breach and answer the following questions:

List the information that was stolen or compromised in the breach. How did it affect the security of Target? How did it affect the security of Target’s customers?
Identify and list the specific controls that could have prevented the breach.
Why do you think hackers target the retail sector?

Identify a company that has used IT to gain competitive advantage over its competitors. In addition, identify two of the company’s competitors. Briefly describe the selected company and two of its competitors. Explain the nature of the competitive advantage and how IT has enabled that specific advantage.

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Identify a company that has used IT to gain competitive advantage over its competitors. In addition, identify two of the company’s competitors.

Explanation of how a company has used IT to gain competitive advantage over Its competitors. In your explanation, do the following:

  • Briefly describe the selected company and two of its competitors.
  • Explain the nature of the competitive advantage and how IT has enabled that specific advantage.
  • To support your response, be sure to reference at least one properly cited scholarly source.

Identify key business and technical challenges of FlashMobz acquisition of PhonesRUs and transition to eCommerce. Build an inclusive and persuasive argument that can be presented to Asif.

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FlashMobz is a mobile phone and accessories retailer based in England, owned by Asif. The business started with a single shop, which Asif has grown into a chain of eleven. The first four shops were opened from scratch but in July 2014 Asif bought ‘PhonesRUs’ a group of three outlets, which he intends to operate under the FlashMobz brand. The recent acquisition is a significant expansion in the operation of the business, not least because two of the new outlets are in Belgium. Asif is hoping that this will help him to gain a foothold in the European market. As a result of the expansion Asif has identified a need to open a new warehouse in the East of England, and he has decided that this would be an excellent opportunity to launch an eCommerce arm to the business, capitalising on the success of the FlashMobz brand, but with a relatively small additional overhead.

FlashMobz and PhonesRUs have different IT systems, and in addition to integrating the two parts of the business there is the need to add ‘b2c’ eCommerce functionality. Asif 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.

You are a member of the SBS Consultant Team employed by FlashMobz. You are required to write a professional report which deals with the issues outlined above and presents your analysis and recommendations.

▪ Identify key business and technical challenges of FlashMobz acquisition of PhonesRUs and transition to eCommerce.
▪ Consider barriers to implementation and how these might be overcome.
▪ Build an inclusive and persuasive argument that can be presented to Asif.

The word count for the report is 2400.

Structure your assignment as a report – include:Abstract- Title Page – Contents – Introduction a Main Section – Conclusions and Recommendations a References.

The case study requires you to work with incomplete information, an important skill. You are free to make assumptions about aspects of Asif’s situation or operation where these are relevant to your work – ensure that any assumptions made are clearly stated in your report.

You must reference your report with a range of practitioner and academic publications (Include at least 10 references. References will not be included in the word count).

The report should be be 2400 words in length (not including the references)

Using the Online Collaborative Technologies.

The online module site has been set up with discussion forums. You should use these to
▪ Discuss the topics presented.
▪ Consider the implications of these for IS professionals and organisations.
▪ Share papers and articles that you have found on relevant topics (remember to include links / reference / pdfs if you do this!)
▪ Discuss key concepts of relevance for the assignments.

The purpose of this element is to give you direct practical experience of using collaborative technologies, and for you to consider how they could be incorporated into your future practice as IS professionals.

Evaluate a fictitious organization and develop a set of operating system requirements and a comprehensive recommendation for that organization.

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Evaluate a fictitious organization and develop a set of operating system requirements and a comprehensive recommendation for that organization. The goal is to leverage the cumulative knowledge you acquire in each module of this course to map operating system components to organizational challenges. Each module will have a conceptual base. You will then complete a hands-on lab by leveraging the workstation you are using to take this course. Later, you can apply the knowledge of the specific operating system commands in those labs to write about how the commands would be applied in a real-world analysis of an operating system’s capabilities. Review the Top Secret, Inc. scenario below carefully to understand the nature of the problem. They make a fine product, yet they cannot use it effectively to run their own operation. Consider the differences between a simple single-purpose operating system and a general-purpose operating system and how the concepts you are learning in this course can help Top Secret, Inc. find a solution.
Scenario: Top Secret, Inc. (TSI) is a successful operating system company whose customers include Fortune 500 companies, governments throughout the world, and major U.S. contractors. TSI makes embedded operating systems for secure terminals that control ingress/egress control systems for Wall Street firms, camera systems for drone aircraft for government contractors, and alarm systems for top-secret government installations. TSI operating systems are worldrenowned for their quick response to sensor input, highly reliable operation, limited memory utilization, small size on disk, and low power consumption.
The TSI Operating System (TSI OS) works exceptionally well on the devices owned by TSI customers, but it does not work well in the TSI back office. Like many startup companies, TSI had to cut costs when it launched a few years ago. To save money, the company decided not to use enterprise-class operating systems for its own workstations and servers. Instead, it chose to use a single-purpose TSI OS, reasoning that TSI OS was good enough for TSI customers, so it should be good enough for TSI. Unfortunately, TSI OS lacks many features of a modern operating system and does not take advantage of the architectural optimizations present in the latest hardware.

Develop a research paper on a health care technology that has become essential to sharing information via electronic communication mediums (e.g., EMR, Telehealth, HMR, and so on). Explain each of the key components.

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Health Care Information Systems are important in dispensing information throughout the organization.

Develop a research paper on a health care technology that has become essential to sharing information via electronic communication mediums (e.g., EMR, Telehealth, HMR, and so on).
Explain each of the key components.
Explain each of the contributing factors.
Provide examples of ways to measure each part.
Present your findings as a 4-pages Word document formatted in APA style.

Research the types of insurance coverage that apply to data breaches. Pay attention to the security measures required by the insurance companies before they will grant coverage and provisions for technical support from the insurer in the event of a breach.

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Padgett-Beale Inc.’s (PBI) insurance company, CyberOne Business and Casualty Insurance Ltd, sent an audit team to review the company’s security policies, processes, and plans. The auditors found that the majority of PBI’s operating units did not have specific plans in place to address data breaches and, in general, the company was deemed “not ready” to effectively prevent and/or respond to a major data breach. The insurance company has indicated that it will not renew PBI’s cyber insurance policy if PBI does not address this deficiency by putting an effective data breach response policy and plan in place.  PBI’s executive leadership team has established an internal task force to address these problems and close the gaps because they know that the company cannot afford to have its cyber insurance policy cancelled.

Unfortunately, due to the sensitivity of the issues, no management interns will be allowed to shadow the task force members as they work on this high priority initiative. The Chief of Staff (CoS), however, is not one to let a good learning opportunity go to waste … especially for the management interns. Your assignment from the CoS is to review a set of news articles, legal opinions, and court documents for multiple data breaches that affected a competitor, Marriott International (Starwood Hotels division). After you have done so, the CoS has asked that you write a research report that can be shared with middle managers and senior staff to help them understand the problems and issues arising from legal actions taken against Marriott International in response to this data breach in one of its subsidiaries (Starwood Hotels).

  1. Read / Review the readings for Weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Research the types of insurance coverage that apply to data breaches. Pay attention to the security measures required by the insurance companies before they will grant coverage (“underwriting requirements”) and provisions for technical support from the insurer in the event of a breach.

As a staff member supporting the CISO, you have been asked to research this issue (auditing IT security policy compliance) and then prepare an “approval draft” for a compliance policy. You must also research and draft two separate audit plans; employee compliance and policy system audit.

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Red Clay Renovations is an internationally recognized, awarding winning firm that specializes in the renovation and rehabilitation of residential buildings and dwellings. The company specializes in updating homes using “smart home” and “Internet of Things” technologies while maintaining period correct architectural characteristics. Please refer to the company profile (for additional background information and information about the company’s operating environment.

The corporate board was recently briefed by the Chief Information Officer concerning the company’s IT Security Program and how this program contributes to the company’s risk management strategy. During the briefing, the CIO presented assessment reports and audit findings from IT security audits. These audits focused upon the technical infrastructure and the effectiveness and efficiency of the company’s implementation of security controls. During the discussion period, members of the corporate board asked about audits of policy compliance and assessments as to the degree that employees were (a) aware of IT security policies and (b) complying with these policies. The Chief Information Officer was tasked with providing the following items to the board before its next quarterly meeting:

  • Issue Specific Policy requiring an annual compliance audit for IT security policies as documented in the company’s Policy System
  • Audit Plan for assessing employee awareness of and compliance with IT security policies
    1. Are employees aware of the IT security policies in the Employee Handbook?
    2. Do employees know their responsibilities under those policies?
  • Audit Plan for assessing the IT security policy system
    1. Do required policies exist?
    2. Have they been updated within the past year?
    3. Are the policies being reviewed and approved by the appropriate oversight authorities (managers, IT governance board, etc.)?

As a staff member supporting the CISO, you have been asked to research this issue (auditing IT security policy compliance) and then prepare an “approval draft” for a compliance policy. You must also research and draft two separate audit plans (a) employee compliance and (b) policy system audit. The audit policy should not exceed two typed pages in length so you will need to be concise in your writing and only include the most important elements for the policy. Make sure that you include a requirement for an assessment report to be provided to company management and the corporate board of directors.

  • For the employee compliance assessment, you must use an interview strategy which includes 10 or more multiple choice questions that can be used to construct a web-based survey of all employees. The questions should be split between (a) awareness of key policies and (b) awareness of personal responsibilities in regards to compliance.
  • For the policy system audit, you should use a documentation assessment strategy which reviews the contents of the individual policies to determine when the policy was last updated, who “owns” the policy, who reviewed the policy, and who approved the policy for implementation.

How might the specific coding conventions of the healthcare nomenclature vary, and how might this impact the accuracy of medical coding? Are there levels of subjectivity in the coding process?

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You are the health information manager at Lower Mountain Hospital. An auditor recently visited the hospital and found multiple errors in your ICD-10 and CPT coding. Below are some examples of the errors the auditors identified:

  • In many instances, the “code first,” “use additional code,” and “code also” conventions for ICD-10 were not applied.
  • The level of detail in ICD-10 coding was not sufficient.
  • The CPT modifiers were used inappropriately, and procedures were unbundled unnecessarily.
  • The codes for the principal diagnoses (ICD-10) must directly relate to the treatment procedures (CPT) performed, and mistakes in alignment between the two were found.

As a result of the auditor’s findings, the board has asked that you evaluate Lower Mountain Hospital’s current coding processes and recommend approaches to improve coding accuracy. You will present your evaluation and plan to the board.

Directions.

As the health information manager at Lower Mountain Hospital, you will create a coding process improvement report to present to the board, in which you evaluate current processes.

  • Current Processes: Review medical coding practices to determine some common coding errors that may have contributed to the inaccuracies at Lower Mountain Hospital, provide reasons why these errors occur, and identify key regulations and coding conventions that must be followed to ensure accurate medical coding in healthcare organizations.
    • Describe some common coding errors that may have contributed to the inaccuracies at Lower Mountain Hospital, as well as the reasons for these inaccuracies. Consider the following:
      • How might the specific coding conventions of the healthcare nomenclature vary, and how might this impact the accuracy of medical coding?
      • Are there levels of subjectivity in the coding process?
      • How might organizational policies and resources, or the lack thereof, impact the coding process?
      • How might human error impact the accuracy of medical coding?
    • Describe key regulations that healthcare organizations must adhere to in order to ensure accurate medical coding, and describe the impact of these regulations on the coding process.
  • Recommendations: Now that you have determined some common coding errors that may be impacting the coding at Lower Mountain Hospital, as well as regulations that the organization must adhere to, you will now provide the board with some process improvement recommendations.
    • Recommend processes and practices Lower Mountain Hospital should follow to ensure accurate medical coding. Consider the following:
      • How might the organization use technology to enhance the accuracy of its coding?
      • How might the organization ensure that its coding team is using the most current coding conventions and all share the same understanding?
      • What organizational policies might you recommend to ensure accurate coding and support continuity of care, as well as adhere to relevant guidelines and regulations?
      • How can the organization ensure that it is prepared to address current and future trends related to reimbursement practices, quality-of-care initiatives, and data governance?
    • Explain the importance of improving processes and ensuring accurate medical coding, as well as the repercussions of coding inaccuracies.

What to Submit

Every project has a deliverable or deliverables, which are the files that must be submitted before your project can be assessed. For this project, you must submit the following:

Coding Process Improvement Report
Evaluate Lower Mountain Hospital’s coding processes, and recommend approaches for improving coding accuracy. Your report must be 500 to 1,000 words in length and cite any references.