Task description: To complete this assessment, students are required to: 1. Select a real business from one of the following categories: •  Banking and Financial Services      Examples: Commonwealth Bank (CBA), ANZ, Westpac, NAB

ITB100 Information Technology in Business ( Individual Report )

Semester 1, 2026

Assessment 1 : Individual Report – Business IT Applications Analysis

Open Assessment

Total Assessment weighting – 20%

Report Submission Deadline: Sunday, 5 April 2026, 23:59 pm (Week 5)

Purpose of this assessment

This task is designed to help the student:

• Understand the relationship between IT systems and organisational performance.
• Analyse how businesses utilise IT to support strategies, processes, and collaboration.
• Explore social, ethical, security, and global issues associated with IT usage in business contexts.
• Apply theoretical knowledge from the lectures to real-world organisational examples.

 

Demonstrate achievement of this learning outcome:

ULO 1. Explain the relationship between information technology systems and business performance.

ULO 2. Discuss the social impact of information technology, both locally and globally and the need for related security, privacy and ethical consideration in information technology usage in businesses.

 

Task description:

To complete this assessment, students are required to:

1. Select a real business from one of the following categories:

•  Banking and Financial Services

     Examples: Commonwealth Bank (CBA), ANZ, Westpac, NAB

•  Retail and E-commerce

     Examples: Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, JB Hi-Fi

•  Transport or Logistics

     Examples: Qantas, Virgin Australia, Toll Group, Australia Post

•  Hospitality and Tourism

     Examples: Accor Hotels, Flight Centre, Crown Resorts

•  Healthcare

     Examples: St Vincent’s Health, Ramsay Health Care, Bupa

•  Telecommunications

     Examples: Telstra, Optus, Vodafone

•  Media and Entertainment

     Examples: Netflix, Foxtel, ABC

•  Education

     Examples: TAFE NSW, Monash University, Open Universities Australia

Students who wish to choose an organisation outside these examples must ensure it clearly uses IT systems in its operations.

2. Write an analytical report that:

•  Explains how the organisation uses information technology systems to support operations, decision-making, and overall business performance.

•  Discusses how IT systems enable efficiency, competitiveness, collaboration, and strategic advantage.

•  References relevant theories, frameworks, and models covered in the lectures.

•  Examines the social impact of information technology on the organisation and its external environment.

•  Explains both local and global implications of its IT use (e.g., impacts on employees, customers, communities, supply chains).

•  Discusses security, privacy, and ethical considerations related to the organisation’s IT practices.

Word count for the report

Length: 2000 words (excluding reference list) (plus/minus 10%)

 

Required sections in your report

SCI Cover Page (Provided by the lecturer)
Executive summary	(Approx 150 words)
Table of contents
Introduction Brief overview of the selected business. Purpose and scope of the report.	(Approx 200 words)
IT Systems and Business Performance Description of key information systems used by the organisation. Analysis of how IT supports operations, decision-making, collaboration, and strategy.	(Approx 900 words)
Social, Ethical, and Global Implications of IT Use Impacts on internal and external stakeholders. Discussion of security, privacy, and ethical issues. Local and global consequences of IT usage.	(Approx 600 words)
Conclusion Summary of key insights and implications for the organisation.	(Approx 150 words)
Acknowledgement If you use any AI-based tools (such as Grammarly, ChatGPT, Gemini, or similar) to help with structuring your report, editing your writing, or formatting your references in APA 7 style, you must include a brief statement of acknowledgement at the end of your report.
References Minimum of 10 academic or credible sources (APA 7th edition recommended).

 

Citation and referencing (APA 7th edition)

The assignment should show evidence of research, with references from relevant academic journals. You should have at least ten different peer-reviewed academic articles and use them as the foundation for each part of your report. Do not use Wikipedia as a reference source. Unless it is a generic theory/model, cited publications must be within the past 10 years.

All citations and references must adhere to APA 7th edition referencing style.

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples

 

Other requirements

• Upload an MS Word file.
• Format: 12-point Arial or Calibri or Times New Roman, 1.5 line spacing, with page numbers inserted at bottom right.

 

Assessment Submission Guidelines

Before the due date, each group is allowed three (3) submission attempts, providing an opportunity to check for unintended plagiarism using text-matching software. As a team, review the similarity report together, discuss any necessary revisions, and ensure your final submission reflects the original work. If the similarity score is 30% or higher, collaborate to revise the content before making your final submission, as high similarity may indicate academic misconduct.

Academic Integrity and Misconduct

Students must submit original work and uphold academic integrity at Southern Cross Institute (SCI). The Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure outlines the principles of academic honesty and details the consequences of misconduct, including plagiarism, recycling, fabricating information, collusion, cheating in examinations, contract cheating, artificial intelligence tools, dishonest behaviour etc. SCI utilises Turnitin to encourage proper citation practices and to detect potential academic misconduct.

Ethical Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Tools

Refer to the Quick Guide for Students created by the Learning Support Team for best practices in using GenAI tools. While GenAI can assist with idea generation, structuring, and drafting, students must carefully review, paraphrase, and properly reference any AI-generated content if used. Overreliance on AI may raise academic integrity concerns such as fabricating information.

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

As per American Psychological Association (2020), the reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

 

Note: Although here we focus on ChatGPT, they can be adapted to the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

 

Rubric for Assessment 1 – Individual Report – Business IT Applications Analysis (20%) – OPEN ASSESSMENT

 

Criteria	Fail (0 – 49%)	Pass (50 – 64%)	Credit (65-74%)	Distinction (75-84%)	High Distinction (85 – 100%)
Knowledge and Application of Unit Topics (30%)	Fails to demonstrate understanding of the topics and does not explain how ideas relate to business IT applications; no meaningful reference to required texts.	Demonstrates acceptable understanding of the topics with limited clarity on how ideas relate; makes some reference to required texts.	Displays above-average understanding and explains how topics relate to business IT applications with attempts to use required texts.	Demonstrates comprehensive understanding of topics and effectively explains how ideas relate, with consistent reference to appropriate texts.	Demonstrates excellent insight into topics and clearly explains relationships between ideas, supported by relevant and accurate use of required texts.
Analysis and Critical Evaluation (30%)	Provides descriptive or superficial discussion with no critical evaluation or independent analysis.	Demonstrates some basic analysis with limited or inconsistent critical evaluation.	Demonstrates above-average analysis with some meaningful critical evaluation and interpretation of ideas.	Demonstrates strong analysis supported by clear, well-reasoned critical evaluation to a very high standard.	Demonstrates exceptional critical evaluation with insightful, independent analysis that strengthens the overall argument.
Ethical Use of GenAI Tools in Research and Writing (20%)	Uses GenAI tools inappropriately or without acknowledgement.	Uses GenAI tools with minimal acknowledgement.	Uses GenAI tools ethically with appropriate citations.	Integrates GenAI tools with clear critical evaluation.	Demonstrates transparent and justified use of GenAI tools with high-level critical analysis.
Clarity of Communication and Referencing (10%)	Response is unclear, poorly structured, difficult to follow, and not compliant with APA referencing style.	Response is generally clear, easy to follow, and compliant with APA referencing style.	Response is clear, well organised, and referenced to an above-average standard.	Response is very clear, well structured, and referenced to a very high standard.	Response is exceptionally clear, coherent, well structured, and referenced to an outstanding academic standard.
Structure, Organisation, and Presentation (10%)	Work is disorganised, lacks logical flow, and does not follow required academic structure or presentation guidelines.	Work shows basic organisation and follows some structural requirements, though flow or sequencing may be inconsistent.	Work is well organised, follows the required structure, and demonstrates an above-average standard of sequencing and presentation.	Work is very well organised, follows the required structure consistently, and demonstrates a very high standard of logical flow and presentation.	Work is exceptionally well structured, coherent, and professionally presented, demonstrating exemplary organisation and alignment with all presentation expectations.