The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the capabilities of business intelligence software as it being used in the business world today. The project is to select a software package such as SAS or Oracle on which to conduct an analysis. The analysis should be conducted as you are making a buying recommendation to your organization for the best BI software package to purchase. Cost is not a factor. Cite the reasons why you selected your preferred package and justify that decision with sound reasoning.
The research paper should be 5-7 pages in length 1.5 times spacing and 1" borders. Content should be in business report format.
Remember, BI is a complex socio-technical innovation, so thinking about the question in socio-technical terms is likely to be of some value to you.
?	Begin this paper by stating your position on this question clearly and concisely -- what are the "lessons learned"?
?	Citing appropriate sources, present the reasons why you draw these conclusions. Be sure to make the most effective case you can.
?	Then establish what counterarguments can be made in response to your conclusions.
?	Finally, review your original position in light of the counterarguments, showing how they are inadequate to rebut your original statement.
By the end of your paper, you should be able to unequivocally re-affirm your original position.
?	Your ability to see what the module is all about and to structure your paper accordingly. In this case, there isn?t a single right or wrong, yes-or-no answer ? either perspective can be justified. Your task is to construct a logical, well-reasoned, and persuasive argument for your conclusions. Be sure that you take a defined position on the question, and construct your paper to support that position with suitable arguments and evidence.
?	Your focus on the question as presented, and your ability to use the language of the module convincingly. Here, this means your ability to differentiate between what constitutes the "technical system" of an organization and what constitutes its "social system", to define possible changes that could be made to either system and their probably consequences, and to explain how a "socio-technical" perspective involving joint consideration of both systems together may be better than dealing with either system by itself.
?	Your ability to consolidate ideas from reading materials and your understanding of the materials. Select your illustrative cases to prove your point; don?t just dump a bunch of illustrations onto the page just to fill space. Use information from as many sources as you can, as long as it?s of good quality. At the least, you are expected to show evidence of having read and understood the required readings.
?	Your informed commentary and analysis -- simply repeating what your sources say does not constitute an adequate paper.
?	Some in-text references to your readings, with citations in proper academic format. For assistance with proper paper formats, reference lists, and citation procedures, please consult the TUI Course Guidelines and/or the Purdue University manual listed in the Background Material.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: In this module's case, you're going to explore some of what passes for conventional wisdom in the domain of business intelligence application, probably noting in passing that first, much of the advice may be contradictory although delivered with great passion and enthusiasm, and second, most of it manages to avoid any real confrontation with traditional management structures and decision procedures and priorities, concentrating instead on ways of manipulating information to presumably work around the organization rather than allow itself to point out shortcomings in the organizations themselves. This is not a course primarily about organizational politics -- there is plenty of time in the rest of your program to come to terms with the old reptilian sub-brains of the organization that perpetuate power differentials, reward distributions only vaguely related to organizational priorities, suboptimization of organizational resource utilization, and all of the other weirdness?s that pretty much guarantee performance and satisfaction shortfalls and failures. But, as you may have surmised, even though it's not our main focus it is the key subtext for all these issues. Unless we openly acknowledge that decisions are largely political (in either the organizational or national sense) and that information is often more useful as a cloak for political priorities than as a substitute for them, the only ones we're going to fool are ourselves.
But feel free to follow up in any other sections that you believe will help you address the case.
There's a lot more out there in the optional and supplemental readings as well as the wide wonderful world of the Internet to give you a feel for what's working and what's not in this area; the more widely you can spread your own information gathering net, the more effective your analysis is likely to be.
?Current business and technology conditions that complicate effective application of business analytics to business intelligence and knowledge management data, and the prospects for improvement?
Your paper should be between three and five pages. Take a definite stand on the issues, and develop your supporting argument carefully. Using material from the background information and any other sources you can find to support specific points in your argument is highly recommended; try to avoid making assertions for which you can find no support other than your own opinion.
Essay Instructions: In this module's case, you're going to explore some of what passes for conventional wisdom in the domain of business intelligence application, probably noting in passing that first, much of the advice may be contradictory although delivered with great passion and enthusiasm, and second, most of it manages to avoid any real confrontation with traditional management structures and decision procedures and priorities, concentrating instead on ways of manipulating information to presumably work around the organization rather than allow itself to point out shortcomings in the organizations themselves. This is not a course primarily about organizational politics -- there is plenty of time in the rest of your program to come to terms with the old reptilian sub-brains of the organization that perpetuate power differentials, reward distributions only vaguely related to organizational priorities, suboptimization of organizational resource utilization, and all of the other weirdnesses that pretty much guarantee performance and satisfaction shortfalls and failures. But, as you may have surmised, even though it's not our main focus it is the key subtext for all these issues. Unless we openly acknowledge that decisions are largely political (in either the organizational or national sense) and that information is often more useful as a cloak for political priorities than as a substitute for them, the only ones we're going to fool are ourselves.
Begin this paper by stating your position on this question clearly and concisely -- what are the "lessons learned"?
Citing appropriate sources, present the reasons why you draw these conclusions. Be sure to make the most effective case you can.
Then establish what counterarguments can be made in response to your conclusions.
Finally, review your original position in light of the counterarguments, showing how they are inadequate to rebut your original statement.
Your ability to see what the module is all about and to structure your paper accordingly. In this case, there isn?t a single right or wrong, yes-or-no answer ? several perspectives can be justified. Your task is to construct a logical, well-reasoned, and persuasive argument for your conclusions. Be sure that you take a defined position on the question, and construct your paper to support that position with suitable arguments and evidence.
Your focus on the question as presented, and your ability to use the language of the module convincingly. Here, this means your ability to understand what business intelligence and data analytics are, your understanding of the complexities of organizational change being described, your ability to "read between the lines" to identify issues not necessarily described explicitly, and your sensitivity to the internal organizatiuonal politics involved.
Your ability to consolidate ideas from reading materials and your understanding of the materials. Select your illustrative cases to prove your point; don?t just dump a bunch of illustrations onto the page just to fill space. Use information from as many sources as you can, as long as it?s of good quality. At the least, you are expected to show evidence of having read and understood the required readings.
Your informed commentary and analysis -- simply repeating what your sources say does not constitute an adequate paper.
Some in-text references to your readings, with citations in proper academic format. For assistance with proper paper formats, reference lists, and citation procedures, please consult the TUI Course Guidelines and/or the Purdue University manual listed in the Background Material.