Nexus Distribution is a small film distribution agency that focuses on limited release art-house films. It has been in business for a decade and has an existing information system for administering its business processes. Joy Moody started Nexus with her long-time professional contact Deane Jackson. Joy has a leadership and marketing role and Deane manages operations. Louise Taylor and Elizabeth Page are spotters who attend film festivals (eg Sundance, Cannes, Sydney, Toronto, London, etc), identifying films that align with the Nexus Distribution focus, bidding for, and often signing, those films. This team of four work closely to sign 15-20 films each year, optimising the distribution of each film so that returns for Nexus and for their clients (the film-makers and the theatres) are maximised.

The existing information system consists of three databases.

• Catalogue
• DistributionNetwork
• Travel

Louise and Elizabeth do most of their work while travelling and they communicate with Deane via email, text messaging and phone calls. Louise and Elizabeth attend only the largest film festivals together; usually they work independently of each other. When they are at a film festival, they work highly irregular hours and, in addition to the tasks outlined above, their work includes socialising with, and occasionally entertaining, potential and existing clients. Clients are entertained when the film they have made is of such high quality that more than one distribution agency is competing for its distribution rights. In these cases, Elizabeth and Louise take the clients out for dinner or to a bar in order to build robust working relationships and to create an opportunity for uninterrupted discussion of why and how the clients interests are best served by Nexus. Louise and Elizabeth are consummate networkers; they are confident, good-humoured and charming in all social circumstances, building relationships with and between people working at all levels of the international art-house film industry.

However, the communication practices between Nexus staff are not up to date and this has led to inefficiencies and wastage of Louise and Elizabeths talents and efforts. As their time at film festivals is expensive (flights, accommodation, registration fees, entertainment costs, etc) it is desirable that their time is not wasted. For example, a new film may be shown at several film festivals simultaneously; if Elizabeth has already seen it at Toronto and passed on it (or bid for it and signed it), when Louise is at the Venice film festival, she does not need to waste her time viewing that film and can focus on other films. There are many other instances in which their communication practices fail to optimise the (mostly asynchronous) day-to-day collaborations between Louise, Elizabeth and Deane.

While Louise and Elizabeth work on building Nexuss catalogue, Deane builds its distribution network (in addition to his significant administrative role). This entails signing various distribution service providers (both independent and chain) to the Nexus distribution network. A distribution service provider might be a VOD (Video on Demand) provider, a chain of theatres, an independent theatre, etc. Deane spends about half of his recruitment effort approaching providers that do not already screen art-house films. The other half is spent on providers which already adopt an art-house focus. While it is a key facet of the Nexus business model, building the distribution network does not consume anywhere near as much effort, money and time as spotting films. Deane estimates that for every dollar spent on building the distribution network, a hundred are spent on spotting films.

Deane is directly responsible for accounting, travel arrangements and reporting. Also, he is indirectly responsible for contracts, which he outsources to a legal firm specialising in contracts for this type of work.

Joys role is largely centred on vision and leadership. However, prior to starting Nexus she built a reputation in film marketing and her practical skills in this area are an essential ingredient in Nexuss success. Every time a new film is signed to Nexus, Joy, Deane, Louise, Elizabeth and the film-makers have a four hour meeting. Occasionally, these meetings are in person, but more often they are held online. These meetings can be hard to schedule because participants are very busy and in different time zones.

During these meetings, in order to design the films marketing strategy, they leverage Louise or Elizabeths observations of the film, Deanes knowledge of the Nexus distribution network, Joys marketing expertise and the clients vision. A marketing strategy includes artistic vision, media, release windows and release schedule.

Artistic vision is primarily driven by the client and Joy with input from Louise or Elizabeth. It is actioned by Deane, who reviews the artists who have worked with Nexus in the past, considers the artistic vision, and prioritises the artists according to how well their unique talent, reliability and experience match up with the marketing strategys artistic vision. After the meeting, Deane approaches the artists one by one to discuss their availability and to eventually establish a contract.

Media (film, video, television, DVD, VOD, etc) is negotiated between Joy, whose mission is to optimise returns, and the film-maker, whose mission is exposure. With input from Louise and Elizabeth, who have viewed more films than anyone else in the meeting and who therefore have the most comprehensive view of the international market, a binding consensus is reached and documented.

Joy and Deane, who aim to maximise the size of the audience, are largely responsible for determining release windows and schedule, however the clients needs are taken into consideration. This is achieved by application of market intelligence and expertise. In most cases, a film is screened in theatres on a schedule that will maximise the audience (eg avoidance of major cultural events, avoidance of similar films, knowledge of forthcoming films, etc). Also, films are screened in theatres (primary distribution service providers) prior to being released via secondary distribution service providers (eg VOD service providers, DVD runs, etc). The duration for which the film is screened in theatres depends upon various factors (audience, the films performance in other markets, the agreement between Nexus and the film-makers, the agreement between Nexus and the theatres, etc). For most films, the theatrical release date is preceded by four weeks of postering and trailers, wherever possible working with the film-makers in order to leverage the social profiles of those who worked on the film (eg the actors and crew). For highly anticipated films, these four weeks may extend to six or eight and may require Deane to schedule interviews for the film-makers or actors with local media.

Although the existing IS meets Nexuss administrative needs, the ongoing daily communication problems and the difficulties of scheduling and running online meetings need to be addressed. Deane thinks Nexus needs its own app so that database updates can be done by anyone at any time and he has contacted your workplace, IT Foundry, to enquire further. You have been allocated the task of systems planning for the development of an app for Nexus.

Also, although they are very talented, experienced and respected in their fields, the entire Nexus team are inexperienced in systems analysis and design. They are confident you will come up with relevant ideas, they anticipate your suggestions and they expect you to catalyse and drive all technical aspects of the project. These clients are very much open to suggestion.

As you have never worked in this field before, you begin by reading about film distribution on Wikipedia. Then, you move forward with systems planning.

Ethical analysis

Reflect on your experiences as a student or in your career. Identify an ethical issue that you encountered at some time in your past.[1]

12. Describe the ethical issue.

Put your answer here.

Consider the ethical decision-making process from Reynolds (2015) and the ethical decision-making process from OBoyle (2002). These readings can be located on the course web site. In responding to the questions below, refer to the ACS Code of Ethics and the ACS Code of Professional Conduct.

13. To analyse the ethical issue you described in question 12, which is better: the ethical decision-making process from OBoyle (2002) or the one from Reynolds (2015)?

Put your answer here.

14. What are your reasons for rejecting the other approach?

Put your answer here.

15. Apply your chosen approach to the ethical problem you described in question 12.

Put your answer here.

16. Reflect upon the processes in Reynolds (2015) and OBoyle (2002).
    1. Would an analysis be more robust if it had included some aspects of both approaches? For example, if you were to apply OBoyles approach (2002), would your analysis be more robust if it included some aspects from Reynolds (2015)?

Put your answer here.

2. Explain. In your explanation, clearly describe which features of OBoyles approach and which parts of Reynoldss approach are preferable.

Put your answer here.

Conceptual development and risk identification

So far, this assignment has supported the development of skills required in professional practice, including ethics. Now, it supports the development of professional expertise.

17. What is the overall purpose of the systems design phase of a project and how does it differ from the systems analysis and systems planning phases?

Put your answer here.

Consider the case study above and the design you have prepared. You may have completed the tasks with a lot of care. If so, your design is likely to be effective in supporting future project activities.

Consider a situation in which the design is careless.

18. With respect to the systems design tasks you completed in the case study section of this assignment, identify risks for each of the following stakeholders. Your answer should have eight unique risks (two per stakeholder).
    1. Nexus

Put your answer here.

2. Nexuss customers or the wider community

Put your answer here.

3. The IS/IT profession

Put your answer here.

4. Your own future work tasks (systems implementation tasks).

Put your answer here.

Recall that the systems planning assignment asked you to draw some conclusions about the importance of attention to detail in the early planning activities; recall that the systems analysis assignment asked you to draw some conclusions about the importance of attention to detail in the systems analysis activities. In this assignment, you are thinking about and demonstrating systems design.

19. With reference to three of the risks you identify above, what are your conclusions about the importance of attention to detail in the systems design activities?

Put your answer here.