Data_lab project management
Budget: £20 – £250 GBP
programme to thoroughly researched essay examining the market, industry or sector you wish to enter in terms of its direction and opportunities, your specialised skillset and its place in relation to opportunities. The following summary will aid your understanding of the assessment requirements.
Portfolio: ‘The term portfolio is used as a catch-all that covers a wide range of methods for collating
learning material and assessed work’ (McMillan and Weyers, 2008, p.38). For the purposes of this
assessment, your professional portfolio will include the research and analysis you completed in the
research essay on an industry or sector of your choice to position yourself as a professional in your
preferred industry/sector that enable you to reflect on your development in productive ways.
Portfolio Tasks
Task 1: (A formative submission of this task should be made by the end of session 4)
Choose a company and focus on one of its business processes*. Based on what you have learnt
during the sessions 1-4
1.1 Illustrate the selected business process in a process map or a flow chart, to identify its main
activities and the sequence of them.
1.2 Identify the main decisions being made in this process and discuss the required inputs and
outputs of each decision.
1.3 Discuss how the selected process, or some part of it, can be digitised and may benefit from
digital transformation.
* Note: The chosen company can be private or public; service or manufacturing; small or large; local
or international. You are strongly advised to choose a company, which you can observe its business
processes or can easily collect information about it. The selected business process should not be
necessarily very complex or technologically advanced. Some diverse examples of business process
may include “receiving orders and serving food in a takeaway restaurant”, “making customised
premium furniture for designer brands”, or “picking, washing, sorting and packing fresh fruits and vegetables in a farm”.
Task 2: (A formative submission of this task should be made by the (end) of session 6)
2.1 Identify how information/data management systems can help running the business process that
you have analysed in task 1. Specifically focus on two information systems (e.g., sales and
human resource) and explain the main purposes and functions of them.
2.2 Identify what databases are needed to be attached to (and support) the information systems that
you identified in 2.1. Explain what data (e.g., product records, production plan, and consumer
information) are required to be stored by them.
2.3 Discuss what big data may mean for your selected business process and its information
systems. Accordingly, investigate the application of big data analytics tools in the context of the
selected business process.
Task 3: (A formative submission of this task should be made by the end of session 10)
Based on what you have learnt during sessions 7-10:
3.1 Explore the opportunities for intelligent tools and systems to be employed for your selected
business process. Explain what exactly can be expected from an intelligent tool to do for that
specific business process.
3.2 Discuss how the suggested intelligent tool(s) in 3.1 can support the business, its
competitiveness, its consumers, or its other stakeholders.
3.3 Discuss and reflect on the implications of the suggested intelligent tool(s) to a wider areas or
aspect of the business – limit your discussions to two of the following areas: security issues,
social impacts of the business, ethical considerations, environmental impacts of the business,
employment/unemployment consequences, and new innovative ideas for the business.
Assessment Criteria
Portfolio: ‘The term portfolio is used as a catch-all that covers a wide range of methods for collating
learning material and assessed work’ (McMillan and Weyers, 2008, p.38). For the purposes of this
assessment, your professional portfolio will include the research and analysis you completed in the
research essay on an industry or sector of your choice to position yourself as a professional in your
preferred industry/sector that enable you to reflect on your development in productive ways.
Portfolio Tasks
Task 1: (A formative submission of this task should be made by the end of session 4)
Choose a company and focus on one of its business processes*. Based on what you have learnt
during the sessions 1-4
1.1 Illustrate the selected business process in a process map or a flow chart, to identify its main
activities and the sequence of them.
1.2 Identify the main decisions being made in this process and discuss the required inputs and
outputs of each decision.
1.3 Discuss how the selected process, or some part of it, can be digitised and may benefit from
digital transformation.
* Note: The chosen company can be private or public; service or manufacturing; small or large; local
or international. You are strongly advised to choose a company, which you can observe its business
processes or can easily collect information about it. The selected business process should not be
necessarily very complex or technologically advanced. Some diverse examples of business process
may include “receiving orders and serving food in a takeaway restaurant”, “making customised
premium furniture for designer brands”, or “picking, washing, sorting and packing fresh fruits and vegetables in a farm”.
Task 2: (A formative submission of this task should be made by the (end) of session 6)
2.1 Identify how information/data management systems can help running the business process that
you have analysed in task 1. Specifically focus on two information systems (e.g., sales and
human resource) and explain the main purposes and functions of them.
2.2 Identify what databases are needed to be attached to (and support) the information systems that
you identified in 2.1. Explain what data (e.g., product records, production plan, and consumer
information) are required to be stored by them.
2.3 Discuss what big data may mean for your selected business process and its information
systems. Accordingly, investigate the application of big data analytics tools in the context of the
selected business process.
Task 3: (A formative submission of this task should be made by the end of session 10)
Based on what you have learnt during sessions 7-10:
3.1 Explore the opportunities for intelligent tools and systems to be employed for your selected
business process. Explain what exactly can be expected from an intelligent tool to do for that
specific business process.
3.2 Discuss how the suggested intelligent tool(s) in 3.1 can support the business, its
competitiveness, its consumers, or its other stakeholders.
3.3 Discuss and reflect on the implications of the suggested intelligent tool(s) to a wider areas or
aspect of the business – limit your discussions to two of the following areas: security issues,
social impacts of the business, ethical considerations, environmental impacts of the business,
employment/unemployment consequences, and new innovative ideas for the business.
Assessment Criteria