Week 6 – Final Paper

Final Paper

The final paper will demonstrate the students’ ability to assimilate, synthesize, and apply the concepts of management information systems; specifically systems analysis, system design, system development, and systems maintenance. The video case is a factual presentation of McGraw-Hill/Irwin’s PRIMIS Information System.

Focus of the Final Paper

You will need to review the case questions prior to watching McGraw-Hill MIS Video Case: Primis. You may need to install QuickTime or another media player to watch the videos.

You must use critical thinking skills to assimilate and synthesize course concepts that apply to the case questions below. Specific concepts and vocabulary from the course must be integrated into your responses, demonstrating a clear understanding of management information systems vernacular as it applies to each case question.

Final Paper Structure

Analysis Describe the kinds of questions McGraw-Hill might have asked as part of determining the feasibility of the Primis idea. Be sure to address the needs of the organization, end users (sales representatives, faculty, and students), IT specialists, and the groups involved in producing the finished custom books.  Assess the likelihood of implementing the system given the information the team had at the time. Justify why, or why not.

Design Process engineering is the design of business processes to achieve competitive advantage in cost, quality, speed, and service. Evaluate which advantages were driving the development of the Primis system for McGraw-Hill.  Business customers must perceive that products/services are solutions to their problems. Describe how the Primis system design kept this objective in mind.

System Development Assess whether the prototyping would have helped the Primis team. Justify why or why not.  Conclude why it was important to consider the relationship of Primis to back-end systems at McGraw-Hill.  If you were the project manager for Primis, explain and defend what would you have done differently.

Maintenance Part of system maintenance is managing the growing volume of content in the Primis database. Explain the criteria you might use for determining content to add to the database. Since many print textbooks are revised every few years, describe how this process would affect contents in the Primis database.

Writing the Final Paper

The Final Paper: Must be 10- to- 12 double-spaced pages in length (not including the title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Must include a title page with the following: Title of paper Student’s name Course name and number Instructor’s name Date submitted Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement. Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought. Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis. Must use at least three scholarly sources, including a minimum of one from the Ashford University Library, in addition to the text. Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Must include a separate reference page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Primus Case Study Videos (please scroll all the way down if you are having any problems with the videos).

If you cannot view the videos, please try downloading this media player converter:   www.videolan.org/vlc/  

You may also try downloading the following links and playing them on your own media player:
  System Design  
  Maintenance  
  System Analysis  
  System Development  
 

Transcripts for videos:

System Design  
Maintenance  
System Analysis  
System Development