Explain how Tesco benefits from using information systems?

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LEVEL 5 ASSESSMENT SPECIFICATION

TASK DESCRIPTION

Task 1 - Individual written report in response to a given case (Tesco). The word cap for the report is 3500 +/- 10%. You must attempt all the questions using appropriate theories/concepts you learned [75 Marks]

Tesco, found by Jack Cohen by using his demob money after leaving the Royal Flying Corp at the end of the Great War, began to sell groceries from a stall in the East End of London in 1919. Today, Tesco is a leading retailer, serving millions of customers every week, in stores and online, with a group sale of £56.5 billion and an operating profit before exceptional and other items of £2,959 million (Tesco, 2020). Although Tesco operates in banking, telecom, fuel, tech support and club cards, the retail markets are significant. Tesco Express, Tesco Superstores, Tesco Extra, Tesco Metro are different types of stores that serve a wide range of customer segments across the United Kingdom. Tesco identifies that a market strategy that focusses on meeting customer wants and needs with its best value of products and services by using the cost leadership-orientation and introducing non-food products and services to its existing food retail is key to success. Concurrently, Tesco further identifies the significance of using appropriate knowledge and information management systems that provide past, present and future material to make effective managerial decisions.

Tesco (2020). Serving shoppers, a little better every day. Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020. Tesco PLC, Welwyn Garden City.

By conducting individual secondary research, answer the following questions.

1. Explain how Tesco benefits from using information systems?
2. Choose one of the information systems implemented by Tesco and describe the input, processing, and output of such a system?
3. In what ways does the IS/IT systems used by TESCO helps them to achieve a competitive advantage? Discuss using Porter’s generic competitive strategy framework.
4. Explain what the challenges are for TESCO in implementing a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. How can they overcome these challenges. Use examples and evidence to support your answer.
5. Prepare a plan including the steps TESCO should take to implement a new ERP system. Your plan should clearly identify the steps they should take with appropriate timelines.

Additional information for writing the formal report (Task 1)

It is important to present a formal report in as clear and concise a way as possible. Your reader needs to grasp the main points quickly and easily, and so you should consider how well your report’s structure and format helps to communicate this information.

Writing style

• Brevity is desirable, provided the necessary information is properly communicated. Some suggestions: Avoid reproducing standard information and avoid appendices unless there is a specific reason for them. Consider each sentence; does it meaningfully contribute to the report?
• Only the title page, executive summary, contents, list of tables, list of figures, abbreviations, and the references should start on a separate page (you may not have all the sections, e.g., abbreviations), the other sections should not. However, a heading needs to indicate the beginning of each section. Sub-headings within sections can be an excellent way to further organise the report. The title page, executive summary, contents, list of tables, list of figures, abbreviations, and the references are NOT included in the word count.
• A table or figure should never be inserted into the report without first referring to that table or figure in the text. Reference to a figure should include a brief description of what it contains and what it contributes to the point under consideration. Figures and tables should be merged into the text or placed on a separate page immediately following the first page on which they are mentioned; they should NOT be collected at the end of the report.
• References: Harvard citation approach must be adhered.
• A suitable font is Arial, 12 pt.
• A uniform verb tense should be used throughout the report, preferably present tense. You should limit the use of the past tense to (a) describe specific experimental methods and observations, and (b) citing results published in the past.
• Since the report is formal, the first person (singular "I" or plural "We") should NOT be used.
• Sentences should not start with "It" unless the object that "It" refers to is absolutely clear from the context.
• All text should be 1.5-line spaced.
• All pages, including table/figure pages, should be numbered consecutively.
• Overly long sentences should be avoided. Two or more short sentences should be used instead.
• An excellent way to improve style and grammar is to have others proofread the report.
• Needlessly fancy presentation (bold, italic, or underlined fonts; colour in text or figures) should be avoided unless it truly enhances the clarity of the report.
• If you choose to keep supporting material such as summaries of data, maps, notes or survey results as appended, they can be placed in an appendix at the end of the report. They would be headed as Appendix A, Appendix B, and so on (Appendix is NOT included in the word count).
• Tables and Figures. Explain how Tesco benefits from using information systems?

Tables and figures are numbered independently in the sequence in which they are referred to in the text and start with Table 1 and Figure 1. Note: it is NOT acceptable to abbreviate the word “Figure” as “Fig.” The word “Table” is not abbreviated. Further, the number and name of the Table should appear at the top of the respective table, while the number and name of the figure should appear at the bottom of a figure.

Task 2 - Individual academic presentation (5 to 10 minutes) [25 Marks]

During your academic presentation, you are expected to explain the key points you have uncovered in your written report, demonstration strong evidence of knowledge on the key areas mentioned in the report. You can use appropriate aids/tools (e.g., PowerPoint slides) to make your presentation more appealing. The academic presentation tests knowledge and understanding skills and transferable skills for life and professional practice. The academic presentation provides an opportunity to present and discuss the key findings and conclusions of the work, and challenges and limitations that would hinder the recommendations suggested for the case-in-point. Although students are allowed to have notes for reference, knowledge should not be excessively dependent upon prepared notes.

If you are using PowerPoint slides, the first slide should indicate programme name, module name, module number, student name and number as they appear on your student identity card and lecturer name. Further, the slides should highlight the key points, should be short and to the point (include only keywords and phrases for visual reinforcement), use the same background on each slide, if you are using graphics and charts, make sure they are not difficult to read, keep the bullet point to 2 lines, 3 at the most, limit the number of bullets in a screen to 6, limit animation (too much animation can be distracting), and a slide indicating the reference/s (if any). Explain how Tesco benefits from using information systems?

Task 1 and Task 2:

Make sure you use academic and professional language throughout. All sources you consult, including class notes and websites, must be explicitly referenced.

GUIDANCE FOR STUDENTS IN THE COMPLETION OF TASKS

NOTE: The guidance offered below is linked to the five generic assessment criteria overleaf.

1. Engagement with Literature Skills

Your work must be informed and supported by scholarly material that is relevant to and focused on the task(s) set. You should provide evidence that you have accessed an appropriate range of sources, which may be academic, governmental and industrial; these sources may include academic journal articles, textbooks, current news articles, organisational documents, and websites. You should consider the credibility of your sources; academic journals are normally highly credible sources while websites require careful consideration/selection and should be used sparingly. Any sources you use should be current and up-to-date, mostly published within the last five years or so, though seminal/important works in the field may be older. You must provide evidence of your research/own reading throughout your work, using a suitable referencing system, including in-text citations in the main body of your work and a reference list at the end of your work.

Guidance specific to this assessment: There should be at least 10 references to support your work from valid and reliable sources. A reference list should be provided using Harvard referencing convention.

2. Knowledge and Understanding Skills

At level 5, you should be able to demonstrate: sound knowledge and critical understanding of the well- established concepts and principles of the subject area and the way in which those principles have developed; knowledge of the main methods of enquiry in the discipline. Knowledge relates to the facts, information and skills you have acquired through your learning. You demonstrate your understanding by interpreting the meaning of the facts and information (knowledge). This means that you need to select and include in your work the concepts, techniques, models, theories, etc. appropriate to the task(s) set. You should be able to explain the theories, concepts, etc. meaningfully to show your understanding. Your mark/grade will also depend upon the extent to which you demonstrate your knowledge and understanding.

Guidance specific to this assessment: You should demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of relevant theories/concepts associated with knowledge and information management.

3. Cognitive and Intellectual Skills

You should be able to critically analyse information, and propose solutions to problems arising from that analysis, including the critical evaluation of the appropriateness of different approaches to solving problems. Your work must contain evidence of logical, analytical thinking, evaluation and synthesis. For example, to examine and break information down into parts, make inferences, compile, compare and contrast information. This means not just describing what! But also justifying: Why? How? When? Who? Where? At what cost? At all times, you must provide justification/evidence for your arguments and judgements. Evidence that you have reflected upon the ideas of others within the subject area is crucial to you providing a reasoned and informed debate within your work. Furthermore, you should provide evidence that you are able to make sound judgements and convincing arguments using data and concepts, with an understanding of the limits of knowledge, and how this influences analyses and interpretations. Sound, valid conclusions are necessary and must be derived from the content of your work. Where relevant, alternative solutions and recommendations may be proposed.

Guidance specific to this assessment: You should be able to demonstrate your understanding of the process of converting data into knowledge and critically evaluate the concepts and theories.  

4. Practical Skills

At level 5, you should be able to use/deploy a range of established techniques within the discipline, and apply underlying concepts and principles outside the context in which they were first studied, including, where appropriate, the application of those principles in an employment context. You should be able to demonstrate how the subject-related concepts and ideas relate to real world situations and/or a particular context. How do they work in practice? You will deploy models, methods, techniques, and/or theories, in that context, to assess current situations, perhaps to formulate plans or solutions to solve problems, or to create artefacts, some of which may be creative. This is likely to involve, for instance, the use of real world artefacts, examples and cases, the application of a model within an organisation and/or benchmarking one theory or organisation against others based on stated criteria. You should show awareness of the limitations of concepts and theories when applied in particular contexts.

Guidance specific to this assessment: Give relevant examples to demonstrate your understanding of the differences between data, information and knowledge, and/or various concepts introduced; and explain how that understanding can impact organisational success.

5. Transferable Skills for Life and Professional Practice

Your work must provide evidence of the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring the exercise of personal responsibility and decision-making. This includes demonstrating: professional development to advance existing skills and acquire new competences that will enable you to assume significant responsibility within organisations; that you can initiate and complete tasks and procedures, whether individually and/or collaboratively; that you can use appropriate media to effectively communicate information, arguments and analysis in a variety of forms to specialist and non-specialist audiences; fluency of expression; clarity and effectiveness in presentation and organisation. Work should be coherent and well- structured in presentation and organisation. Explain how Tesco benefits from using information systems?

Guidance specific to this assessment: Your final work should be presented in a clear and coherent format.

STUDENT FEEDBACK FORM

This section details the extent to which the assessment criteria are demonstrated by you, which in turn determines your mark. The marks available for each category of skill are shown. Lecturers will use the space provided to comment on the achievement of the task(s), including those areas in which you have performed well and areas that would benefit from development/improvement.