BABM3001 Digital Transformation and Innovation in Business Assignment 1 Brief 2026/27 | DMU

Assignment

Title

This assessment is an individual task.

It requires you to develop a digital transformation business plan.

Digital Transformation Business Plan: Key guidelines

Select an existing organisation of your choice. Introduce what it aims to offer customers by stating its current value proposition and briefly outline its existing business model. Define a longterm vision for the company that will enable it to thrive for years ahead. Next, propose how your selected company could leverage technology to survive and thrive in a world of constant change. In doing so, identify opportunities and threats posed by existing and developing technologies and describe a step-by-step strategy that your organisation can follow so as to gain or maintain a competitive advantage and maintain or create value for customers. 

To do well, your digital transformation plan needs to outline how the organisation’s vision, value proposition, priorities, innovation-favouring experimentation, governance and capabilities will be defined and managed in line with the marking criteria below. In other words, you will need to outline not only a strategy for the company you selected, but also the organisational changes required to enable it to succeed by taking advantage of digital technologies. You will also need to consider the ethical and legal aspects of digital transformation covered throughout the module.

Your business plan should demonstrate extensive research and the application of relevant concepts, theories, and frameworks, and it must be informed by the key factors from the successful digital transformation case studies analysed throughout the module.

Digital Business Plan Structure

Your digital transformation plan should follow the generally accepted structure of a digital business plan:

• Title page
• Contents page
• Introduction (including the objective of your digital transformation)
• Situational analysis: Discuss the value proposition of your chosen company, provide a brief overview of its current business model, its goals and priorities for the future, and the area of your business that needs to be digitally transformed. Justify why this area needs to be transformed in line with those goals, priorities and value proposition, and assess how it fares in its current environment, including a comparison with its competition. If your digital transformation will change the existing value proposition, explain why this is called for and how it aligns with long-term goals and priorities.
• Problem solving: Including what digital technology you plan to adopt, what resources are required, what the benefits, costs and risks are associated with this digital transformation.
• Implementation plan: Including a project timeline, who is responsible for doing what, and setting measurable targets (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of your digital plan.
• Legal and Ethical Assessment: Discuss key legal and ethical challenges this digital transformation might involve and how you will address them.
• Conclusion
• References
• Appendix (maximum of 3 pages)

The criteria for marking are as follows:

Your digital transformation business plan will be assessed against 5 marking criteria, each worth 20% of your final grade:

1. Value Proposition and Vision: How well does the plan introduce the organisation to be transformed? Does it clearly state its current value proposition and vision for the future? Does it provide a clear summary/outline of its current business plan and priorities for the near and long term, in light of past success, the existing competitive landscape, and the organisation's core goals?
2. Opportunities and Threats analysis: How well does the plan propose to take on opportunities and threats posed by existing and developing digital technologies? Is the analysis proposed justified in light of the existing competitive environment (situational analysis)? Does it consider dimensions of digital transformation studied throughout this course such as the relationship between DX (Digital Transformation) and data and people?
   
   
3. Feasibility: How practical is the proposed plan? Does it include clear steps that cover aspects of at least 3 of governance/leadership, experimentation/innovation (e.g., MVP), and capabilities/HR?

4.    Ethical and Legal analysis: Does the plan consider Ethical and Legal aspects of its proposed strategy (10%)? How well does it offer to address them (10%)? 

5. Clarity and Coherence: How clearly are the explanations given and how coherent is the overall plan and its structure? Are proposals developed in sufficient depth?

Please have a look at the marking rubric for more detailed information (separate document)

Further information on the University mark descriptors can be found here.  

This assignment is designed to assess the following learning outcomes:  

1. Identify and explore the challenges, opportunities and impact of the digital economy. Evaluate the concepts and applications underpinning the exploitation of digital technologies by businesses and other organisations.
2. Assess the strengths, benefits and weaknesses of conducting business electronically. Demonstrate a critical understanding of how digital technologies can be used to inform business decision-making for organisational improvement and development.
   
   
3. Describe the ICTs underpinning an e-business infrastructure and apply selective technologies to given scenarios.
   
   
4. Categorise and analyse a variety of e-business models, appraise modern digital tools for business and make recommendations for their efficient application.

How to Submit your Assignment:

The assignment must be submitted by Friday, 20/11/2026, 12:00 (Noon). No paper copies are required. You can access the submission link through the module pages on Learning Zone.

• Your coursework will be given a zero mark if you do not submit a copy through Turnitin. Please ensure that you have fully submitted your work.
• Please ensure that you have submitted your work using the correct file format; unreadable files will receive a mark of zero. The Faculty accepts Microsoft Office and PDF documents, unless otherwise advised by the module leader.
• All work submitted after the submission deadline without a valid and approved reason will be subject to the University regulations on late submissions.

• If an assessment is submitted up to 24 hours late, the mark for the work will be capped at the pass mark of 40 per cent for undergraduate modules or 50 per cent for postgraduate modules
• If an assessment is submitted beyond 24 hours late, the work will receive a mark of zero.

•  The above applies to a student’s first attempt at the assessment. If work submitted as a reassessment of a previously failed assessment task is submitted later than the deadline, the work will immediately be given a mark of zero.

• If an assessment which is marked as pass/fail rather than given a percentage mark is submitted later than the deadline, the work will immediately be marked as a fail.

• The University wants you to do your best. However, we know that sometimes events happen which mean that you can’t submit your coursework by the deadline – these events should be beyond your control and not easy to predict.  If this happens, you can apply for an extension to your deadline for up to five working days, or if you need longer, you can apply for a deferral, which takes you to the next assessment period (for example, to the re-sit period following the main Assessment Boards).
  
  
• You must apply before the deadline for your assessment. You will find information about applying for extensions and deferrals here.
  
  
• Students MUST keep a copy and/or an electronic file of their assignment.  This must be the version that they submitted.
  
  
• Checks will be made on your work using anti-plagiarism software and approved plagiarism checking websites.

Any use of generative AI must be appropriately acknowledged. Use the standard DMU AI Declaration, available in the module shell under Assessment Information and at the end of this document. You should accurately reference any direct use of AI-generated outputs.

Examples of a student acknowledgement statement are shown below:

Statement of acknowledgement 1 - generative AI used

I have used (list all AI system(s) used and links, e.g., Google’s Bard, https://bard.google.com) to (provide details of how you have used generative artificial intelligence, e.g., to break down some of the concepts taught on the module). The prompt(s) I used are (include the prompt(s), e.g., you are an enthusiastic tutor who is also an experienced economist; help me understand the concept of game theory with explanations and examples). What was generated from these prompts was used to (explain how they were used in your submission, e.g., develop a section on game theory exemplars).

Statement of acknowledgement 2 – generative AI not used

This assessment has not used any generative AI.