INFS6024 Managing Data at Scale

Individual Assignment

Assessment Details

The purpose of this assignment is to enable students:

• Analyse, identify, and define organisational data management challenges based on the- oretical foundations and best practices

•  Propose and justify data management strategies for real-world organisational scenarios

Tasks

Read the case study: John Deere: Revolutionizing Farming With Big Data. Conduct inde- pendent research to understand business processes involved in the use of analytics, precision agriculture, and equipment management in the agricultural industry.  Then, answer the ques- tions.

John Deere utilises big data analytics to drive precision agriculture, enhance farmer decision- making, and optimise equipment performance.  All aspects of the data cycle need to be ad- dressed to ensure improvements in farming efficiency, sustainability, and farmer relationships.

You have been hired as a consultant to help John Deere enhance its data management with the goal of uncovering insights through predictive analyses to further improve their offerings and farmer outcomes.  John Deere has identified the following three subject areas for you to focus on:

•  Precision Agriculture Optimization: The process where farmers and agronomists use data collected from fields, equipment, and external sources to make informed decisions about planting, fertilizing, harvesting, and other farming practices.

•  Farmer Decision Support:  The strategies and methods utilized by John  Deere to em- power farmers with data-driven insights, tools, and platforms to improve their overall farm management and business operations.

•  Equipment Performance Management:  The use of advanced telematics, sensor data, and analytics to monitor equipment health, performance, and predict maintenance needs, minimizing downtime and maximizing efficiency.

Answer the following questions:

1.  Make a clear case for the need for data management focusing specifically on the three subject areas. Discuss the problems that will impact the three subject areas due to poor data management and why data management at scale will make a difference to John Deere and its farmer customers.

2.  Draw a detailed data flow diagram for “Precision Agriculture Optimization” AND “Equip- ment Performance Management”. Provide a short explanation of each (in total, two data flow diagrams and related explanations).  Highlight areas that may be common across these and how John Deere can optimise the effort or solutions in these areas through data reuse.

3.  Draw a logical data model for “Farmer Decision Support”.  Clearly mark all data entities, attributes, relationships, and cardinality.  Describe the logical model and justification of design choices including business rules (e.g., a farmer can manage multiple farms, but the platform interaction is primarily at the farm level), and assumptions (e.g., farmers will access the platform. via web and mobile interfaces) (in total, one logical data model and explanation).  Explain how you would confirm that the business rules are the right ones for the subject area. Explain how you would verify the accuracy of the logical data model.

4.  Draw a data management architecture for the management of data specific to the John Deere case study.  The architecture should support all three subject areas.  Justify the choice and reasoning behind each component of the architecture.

5.  Describe two use cases that would be enabled by analytics (one for “Precision Agriculture Optimization” and one for “Farmer Decision Support”).  Explain how your data manage- ment architecture would support the two use cases. Be specific.

Submission Requirements

•  1500 word  limit (everything is included in the word limit:  references, appendices, figures, tables, etc.).

•  Submission document requirements:

– Include question numbers with the answers (1.1., 1.2.,…,2.1.1,…, 2.2.1,2.2.2,…)

– Questions that you do not answer will receive zero marks.

– Format: Double line spacing, 2.5cm margins, and font size of no less than 12pt.

– Student Identification (SID) must appear in the header on the top right-hand side of each page of the document. Do not include your name.

– Page number should be on the bottom right-hand side of each page.

– File name should be of the format: SID-Stream-Year-Semester

* Example: 1234567-CC2-2025-S1.docx

– Assignments should be print-friendly and should not contain a cover sheet.

– Assignment can be submitted as Microsoft Word document or as pdf.

– Word Length: Where the student exceeds the word length, the student will lose 10% of the total marks when the submission is 10% above the word length and 10% for each 10% over-length thereafter.

• Submit an electronic copy via Canvas by the due date.

– Use the submission link provided on Canvas in the Assignments Tab (located on the left-hand menu bar).

– Should submission problems occur, please contact the unit administrator as soon as possible.

– Late assignments will be penalised in accordance with Business School Policy as set out in the UOS outline

• Avoid using foreign languages in the assignment and submission documents.

•  References

– All references are included in the overall word count.

– Make sure appropriate referencing and referencing style is used (e.g., APA). See Canvas for more information.

Other Instructions

1.  Make sure that you have reviewed the weekly materials in detail, including the slides, weekly readings, discussion board postings, weekly activities, and other external re- sources.

2.  Incorporate the theoretical and methodological foundations from the lectures to assist with your arguments.

3.  Conduct independent research and use external references to support your responses. Building upon the lecture content by including new and additional references can lead to a higher mark.

4.  Draw informed conclusions. Build upon your knowledge and understanding of the weekly materials,  learning activities, and research.   All  materials presented in your answers should be synthesised, summarised, integrated, and reviewed with a critical eye.

5.  Submission summary table below: