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A joined-up approach to IT case studies

Posted on 23 March 2004

University of York students are bridging the gap between theory and practice as part of their Management, IT and Languages degree in the Department of Management Studies.

Dr Antony Powell, a lecturer in the Department, wanted to provide a realistic case study for students to work on, and so approached York's largest IT company, Agilisys.

Dr Powell and Agilisys staff developed the Business Software Project case study with a challenging and realistic scenario. Using e-government objectives as background, students are required to specify an end-to-end e-payments solution for local authorities and their citizens.

Students work in teams of six and act as consultants, pitching their e-payments solution to their 'client' Agilisys. The consultancy teams resolve for themselves how to organise the workings of the team, and agree such issues as decisions making, equality of workload, handling of conflict, and so on.

The teams are required to produce a series of reports outlining the Information Technology, Finance and HR elements of the case study, then deliver a team presentation, and finally an individual report. Specific learning objectives for the project include the development of technical, management and people skills: all key ingredients for successful careers. Students apply key methods and techniques from the Management and IT modules, define and articulate customer and user requirements and specify a business solution. They are working together as a co-ordinated team and present ideas effectively, both verbally and in writing. They also benefit from the experience of managing a complex business software project.

At the end of the project each team will receive industrial feedback from Agilisys on the executive reports and presentation, and a winning team will be announced. The students will be assessed both on the quality of the solution produced and on how effectively they have worked as a team. Tim Downie, Head of Partnerships and Delivery at Agilisys, and himself a York graduate, is heavily involved in the project. "So far, we have been very impressed by the level of analysis, thought and preparation displayed by the teams. It is particularly interesting to see the different angles of enquiry displayed by the groups."

Professor Steven Toms, Head of the Department of Management said: "This course aims to produce graduates with a firm grasp of management principles and an expertise in the use of IT to solve business problems, an objective that is clearly achieved by the Agilisys collaboration."