Replace this Line with the Title of Your Essay
Start your introductory paragraph(s) here (i.e., delete all of my paragraphs of instruction after reading through them, and replace them with your own paragraphs for your essay). Leave the font for your essay on Arial 10, double-spaced (except for the reference page, which is single spaced). Leave the margins at 1 inch. Leave page numbering set to automatically number each page of the body of your essay in the upper-right corner of the page (the title page and reference page should not be numbered). The body of your essay should be 3-4 pages long (minimum of 1500 words), not including your title page and reference page.
Write free flowing text (allow your writing to automatically wrap around to the next line as you type – do not hit Enter at the end of each line within a paragraph). Organize your essay into paragraphs within each section, but make sure all writing is in prose paragraphs (full sentences and complete paragraphs). Do not use lists in your essay and do not write in bullet statements. The only indentations you should have in your essay is one tab at the start of each paragraph, just like I have modeled for you in the way I have written these instructions. Do not put blank lines between paragraphs and do not put blank lines before or after section headings and sub-headings. You may include images or tables in your essay, if you deem them appropriate, but they do not count toward the 3-4 pages of body text that you are required to write, so adjust the length of your essay accordingly to compensate for space taken up by the images and/or tables.
You should customize the title page by replacing the first two lines of text with your essay’s title and your name, respectively. You should also replace the heading at the top of this page with your essay’s title. However, do not modify or remove the section sub-headings that appear below, throughout the rest of your essay (i.e., “Server-Side Hardware Requirements,” “Server-Side Software Requirements,” “Client-Side Hardware Requirements,” “Client-Side Software Requirements,” “Analysis of Competitive Advantage,” “Recommendations for Improvement,” “Conclusion,” and “References”) and do not add additional sub-headings. Leave all of the section sub-headings in your document to keep it organized. Everyone is required to write the same sections in their essay. You will analyze your own unique approved information system, filling in each section of this template appropriately.
Write in your own words and remember that your similarity rating must be 5% or less. Try to paraphrase and explain information you learn from your sources in your own words, rather than quoting from your sources. Your reference page does not count towards your 5% allowable similarity. To check this, after your TurnItIn report is generated, there should be a filter you can click on in the report that will bring up the option to “Exclude Bibliography.” After selecting this option, your adjusted similarity rating needs to be 5% or less. I will select “Exclude Bibliography” on all essays before grading them, to adjust the actual similarity rating in your essay and confirm it is no more than 5%.
Your introductory paragraph(s) should provide an overview of your information system, in light of the topics you will be analyzing in this essay. Make sure you do not re-use the same introduction you used in your first essay, but that you write a new introduction appropriate for this essay. Also, try not to be overly redundant in your introduction with what you have written (or will write) in the main sections in the body of this essay. Rather, give the reader an overview and whet their appetite to learn more about the aspects of your information system that you will be covering in this essay.
Server-Side Hardware Requirements
In this section, briefly describe the server-side hardware requirements of the information system. If you do not have access to specific information about the server-side hardware, you may make educated assumptions for this section and describe a typical server-side hardware configuration that you believe would be required to support your information system. What types of hardware servers do you think the system requires? File servers? Web servers? Is the system large enough that a server farm is required? What types of hardware back-up devices might be used at the server end of the system? Is there any other type of hardware that might be required at the server end to support the information system?
Server-Side Software Requirements
In this section, briefly describe the server-side software requirements of the information system. If you do not have access to specific information about the server-side software, you may make educated assumptions for this section and describe typical server-side software that you believe would be required to support your information system. Be sure to identify any operating system software, application software, cloud computing software and/or open source software that your information system is likely to be using at the server end of the system. Does the system require custom software running on the server to manage the system? What type of database software might be used at the server end to store the data input into the system? Is there any other type of software that might be required at the server end to support the information system?
Client-Side Hardware Requirements
In this section, briefly describe the client-side hardware requirements of the information system. What types of hardware devices can be used to access the information system? Be sure to consider desktop computers, laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, and other handheld computing devices. Are there any other special types of hardware that a user needs? If it is a military system, is a CAC reader required to access the system?
Client-Side Software Requirements
In this section, briefly describe the client-side software requirements of the information system. Be sure to identify any operating system software, application software, cloud computing software and/or open source software that your information system is likely to be using at the client end of the system. Is there special client-side software that needs to be installed on the user’s computer? If it is a web-based information system, is what type(s) of Web browsers can be used to access the system? Is any other special software required to use the system?
Competitive Analysis of the System
Note that this section of your essay is worth 20% of your grade on this essay. Together, the “Competitive Analysis of the System” and the “Recommendations for Improving the System” sections of your essay comprise half of your grade on this essay. So make sure these two sections of your essay are thorough and well-developed. These two sections together should be the main focus of this essay.
In this section, you will analyze how the information system gives a competitive advantage either to the users of the system or to the company that created and maintains the system. Generally, if you are using a work-related information system, the company using the system is doing so in order to gain a competitive analysis over their rivals. However, if you are using a personal web-based information system, you may instead consider how the information system gives the company that created and maintains the system a competitive advantage. For example, Best Buy has a comprehensive web-based information system that customers can use for shopping online as well as for managing their Best Buy rewards account and/or Best Buy credit card account. If you were analyzing this information system, you would analyze competitive advantage from the viewpoint of Best Buy as a company. You would analyze the ways in which their web-based system gives them a competitive advantage over other electronics stores. With some web-based information systems, you may be able to analyze competitive advantage from the perspective of the company that created and maintains the system, as well as from the perspective of some of the users of the system. For example, the creator of Facebook has managed to maintain a competitive advantage over similar rivals such as MySpace and Google+ through the use of network effects, as well as through advertising revenues, etc. However, Facebook can also provide a competitive advantage to organizations and business who use Facebook to advertise their products and services and to communicate with their clients and customers.
Realize that all organizations (even non-profits, government, and military organiz