Diploma in Information Technology

ITS D003 Communications and Networks

January 2025, Term 2506

CA003 Group Assignment (40%)

(Written Report 30%,Group Presentation 10%)

Overview of the Assignment:

The objective of this assignment is to allow student groups to apply the concepts taught in class and further their knowledge on IT and networking. When doing research beyond lesson materials, students are encouraged to check the validity of the sources before using it in the assignment.

Rationale of Group Assignment

The rationale of the group assignment is to enable collaborative learning with your peers and learning to work as a team, which is common in workplace environment. Students  learn  to  apply  theories  taught  in  class  and  in  textbooks,  to  real  world situations. In line with this objective, students are not allowed to reuse old assignments or submit projects from previous semesters or copy largely from sources, particularly from the internet.

Forming Group

Students are to form. groups of 4-5 members per group. As this is a group assignment, each member is expected to put in his/her fair share of effort into the assignment. It is essential that groups manage their group effectively to complete this assignment.

Students should try to resolve group dynamics issues within the group, and may seek the mediation through the lecturer as early as possible. Last minute mediation will not be  entertained.  Students  may  request  for  peer  evaluation  as  a  final  resort  if  all mediation fails.

Finally, the lecturer reserves the right to assign a mark to an individual student different from the rest of the group if that student is deemed not to have put in his/her fair share of effort into the assignment.

This assignment will make use of what you have learnt in:

Read the following articles on Singapore’s digital push to adapt and drive digital transformation within the Retail Industry sector:

Herbs & Harvest Supermarket Pte Ltd (HHS), founded in 1995, is one of the largest chain of supermarkets in Singapore. From its humble beginnings starting as a small fresh produce shop, HHS has grown to become one of Singapore’s top retailers, with over 50 stores island-wide today.

HHS’s retail stores are designed to provide their customers with both “wet and dry” shopping options. These include a wide variety of live, fresh and chilled produce, in addition to processed, packaged and preserved food products as well as general  household products. In 2020, HHS started an online shopping platform for groceries. With this, HHS embarked on a omni- channel retail to become not only a preferred brick-and-mortar supermarket, but also one of the best online supermarkets.

To prepare for the future, HHS intends to grow digitally and use digital solutions to improve operations and generate new revenue by participating in SMEs Go Digital Programme initiated by IMDA Singapore. HHS is looking to hire Project Management Consultant to acquire and setup necessary digital infrastructure at one of their new supermarkets, appropriately named “ Herbs & Harvest digital”.

To qualify for this role, your team must demonstrate how you would go about setting up  a  robust,  secure  and  efficient  IT  infrastructure  to  support  various  operations including point-of-sale (POS) systems, inventory management, customer Wi-Fi, and staff communication.

Your task is to write a report that explains IT and networking concepts and a brief proposal to meet their current and future needs.

Task Instructions

1.  Make sure your report is related to HHS and Articles (1), (2) and (3).

2.  Please make use of definitions and concepts taught in ITS D003. You are allowed to  use  external  sources  to  further  support  the  concepts  but  not  replace  the definitions.

3.  You are advised to read and follow the Report Instructions in Annex A. Failure to do so will result in deduction of up to 20% of the total marks.

4.  The marking rubric for the assignment is provided in Annex B.

PART A (30%)

(i)     Write a summary, in at least 500 words, for Articles (1), (2) and (3). In your summary, describe, with examples, Retail ITM 2025, Retail Industry Digital Plan, its importance, and impact, and how the Small and Medium-sized Retail Businesses (SMBs) in Singapore can strategize to see further growth and transformation.

(ii)     List, describe and discuss, in at least 500 words, what are the essential digital solutions which the retail SMBs should consider at different stages of the Digital Solutions Roadmap and how each of the solutions will benefit the supermarkets in digital transformation.

PART B (40%)

Herbs & Harvest Supermarket (“HHS”) prides itself in providing services beyond the highest level of excellence to all its customers. It highly values all its customers and to ensure that they get the best yet economical services, it depends on its executive leadership  team  including  Mr.  Heng,  and  thirty  (30)  staff  in  administrative  and customer service roles at EACH supermarket.

Figure 1 below shows the floor plan of the new “ Herbs & Harvest digital” premises. Mr. Heng has decided to setup all the IT systems and Network infrastructure appropriate to fully implement the Digital Roadmap as discussed in PART A , and reduce the manpower needs to only twenty (20) staff to fully exploit the benefits of digitalization.

Your team’s task as their Project Management Consultant would be to propose, design and deploy the IT systems and the network infrastructure for their new supermarket located in one of the Singapore’s heartlands.

Figure 1: Floor Plan of Herbs & Harvest digital

Propose and justify, in at least 1500 words, the appropriate set of IT systems and network infrastructure that will support HHS to streamline its operations to improve productivity and maximize value to its customers.

Your proposal should include, with justification:

I.     an  itemized  list  of  computing  hardware  such  as  the  servers  for  various applications, desktops / laptops, smartphones / tablets, and printers based on the staff working at the digital supermarket,

II.     an   itemized   list  of  media  and  security  devices/systems  such  as  smart televisions and security cameras,

III.     an itemized list of network interconnection devices such as routers, switches, hubs, access points, nodes etc.), and

IV.     a simple network topology diagram that shows:

a.  the type of internet source (e.g. fibre broadband),

b.  how the devices listed above are linked together through interconnection devices, and

c.  the wired / wireless media selected to provide network access to the

devices above, and the advantages / disadvantages of each media.

References:

1.  What is a network topology diagram:

(What Is a Network Diagram? Definition, Types, and Examples (figma.com)) 2 . Draw Network Diagram using draw.io or PowerPoint icons from this link:

(https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/about/ac50/ac47/icon-library-production- oct2016.zip)

PART C (20%)

While discussing and evaluating your team’s project proposal as prepared in PART B, Mr. Heng referred you to sections 5 and 6 of Retail IDP which describes the “AI for Retail” and “Cybersecurity and Data Protection roadmap” to support the digitalization journey for Herbs & Harvest.

To ensure that HHS is well prepared to reap the benefits of digital transformation, Mr. Heng  requested your team to  propose an “AI for  Retail” solution to  help elevate customer experience, operational efficiency & business growth, and a roadmap for “Cybersecurity and Data protection” .

In this proposal:

(i)   List and justify, in at least 500 words, AI solutions for Retail which can be used by HHS, and the benefits of these solutions.

(ii)  List  and  justify,   in  at   least  500  words,  Cybersecurity   measures  and   Data protection   practices  that   HHS  should   put   in   place  to   achieve   necessary cybersecurity certification and compliance with PDPA.

Report Instructions

Format

1.   The report should have a cover page, content page, introduction, write-up on the task, conclusion, references, and appendices (if any).

2.   The cover page should include:

i.      Institution name and institution logo of this programme

ii.      Module name, term, and year

iii.      Date of submission

iv.      Each team members name and student ID number

3.   Start each section on a separate page. Task write-up must be in paragraph form. Bulleted points and tables may only be used to support the answer.

4.   The references and citations should be presented in Harvard style. Reference list should include at least FIVE (5) references.

Report Word Limit

4000 words including introduction, conclusions, and references.

Report Font and Spacing

Font: Calibri, Black

Font size: 12 with 1½ or double spacing

Penalty Marks for Late Submission

Late by one day: 20% of the total marks will be deducted.

Late by more than one day: submission will NOT be graded.