This assignment is worth 30% of your final mark for COIS20025. It will be marked out of 44 marks. It consists of two parts:
- Part A - 20 marks
Requires you to perform some data design work for the Rainforest Hideaway Tourist Accomodation System case study.
- Part B - 24 marks
Requires you to create an academic essay comparing and contrasting in-house system development with outsourcing system development.
- Presentation - 2 marks
This will be marked as per assignment 1
- If you do not use the provided template you will receive 0 out of 2.
- If you have not filled in each of the fields (author, project title, table of contents etc) you will receive 0 out of 2.
- You will lose part marks if your assignment contains grammatical or spelling errors. You may lose all 2 marks if there are numerous errors.
- ERD with cardinality notation - 7 marks
All students will start with the full 7 marks but will lose marks for
for each entity, relationship, attributes or cardinality that is wrong.
How many marks you lose will depend on the importance of the mistakes.
- ERD design assumptions - 1 mark
You will start with a full mark and will lose it if there are any
assumptions that do not fit with the case information or do not make
sense.
- 3NF table design - 8 marks
Starting with full marks you will lose marks for every mistake you make in transforming your ERD into 3NF. You will lose 2 marks if your 3NF table design is not provided using the standard notation format (SNF) used in the textbook. You also need to identify the primary keys for each table as well as any other keys (candidate keys, foreign keys and potential secondary keys). You will lose marks if you do not explain completely why they are keys, describe keys that have no connection with the case study or make other mistakes with the identification of the key fields.
- Sample data - 2 marks
You will lose marks if your example data: does not include (where appropriate) three rows, does not fit within the constraints of your 3NF table design (e.g. all the primary keys in a table should be unique), does not make sense in terms of the case (e.g. a value that does not occur in the case), is not sufficiently real world (e.g. a person's firstname of "xzcvadf") or other problems.
- Presentation - 2 marks
Similar to Part A
- If you do not use the provided template you will receive 0 out of 2.
- If you have not filled in each of the fields (author, project title, table of contents etc) you will receive 0 out of 2.
- You will lose part marks if your academic essay contains grammatical or spelling errors. You may lose all 2 marks if you there are numerous errors.
In addition, you will lose part marks if your essay uses language
or concepts that are not appropriate for the target audience.
- Introduction - 4 marks
- 1 mark - if the introduction correctly and briefly outlines the
purpose of your essay.
- 1 mark - if the introduction correctly outlines the central argument of the essay.
- 1 mark - if the introduction correctly outlines the main points covered in the essay.
- 1 mark - if the introduction correctly defines important terms used in the essay.
You may lose part marks if you do not fulfil these criteria or make other minor mistakes.
- Body of the essay - 12 marks
This section will be evaluated based on how well it discusses the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing system development as opposed to system development in-house. Your essay should briefly and appropriately discuss some issues (at least three) which would need to be considered before making the decision on which way to proceed. Some examples would be helpful. Markers will be looking for well thought out arguments.
You will lose marks if your arguments are not backed up by references to the literature. In particular the markers will be looking for your application and use of textbooks, refereed journal articles and/or reputable websites.
- Conclusion - 4 marks
For this section you are expected to write a summary of the main points/arguments developed in the body of the essay and discuss the consequences and implications of your arguments with respect to outsourcing as opposed to in-house system development.
- 1.0 mark - for the restatement of the central argument of your essay.
- 1.0 mark - for the summary of your main points.
- 2.0 marks - for the consequences and implications.
- References and Citations - 2 marks
Students must use Harvard referencing standards for citations and the reference list.