Digital Transformation Assignment Brief 2026 | Griffith College Dublin

Digital Transformation Assignment Brief

Assignment 1 Group Project

Digital Transformation Outcomes, Audit and Strategic Response

Background:

Digital transformation is not a linear journey from low to high capability. Even digitally capable organisations experience failed, stalled, or underperforming transformation initiatives.

This assignment asks you to understand why digital transformation initiatives succeed or fail, how organisational context shapes those outcomes, and how that understanding can inform realistic future digital transformation planning.

This task assesses your understanding of digital transformation principles, your ability to critically analyse comparative business cases, your capacity to apply data-driven, strategic thinking, and your ability to work in a group to deliver digital transformation recommendations.

In addition to the group report, you will submit an individual reflection that critically evaluates your personal contribution, your learning during the project and how you can apply digital transformation concepts in professional contexts.

Overview:

This assignment requires you to engage with digital transformation as an organisational process rather than a series of isolated initiatives.

You will begin by developing an informed understanding of how a single organisation approaches digital transformation, using evidence from both successful and unsuccessful initiatives. From this analysis, you will identify recurring drivers of success and failure and use these insights to propose a realistic and context-aware digital transformation plan.

The individual reflection provides an opportunity to critically evaluate how your own judgement, assumptions, and decision-making developed during the project, and how this learning may inform your future professional practice.

The assessment is designed to be approached as an integrated whole. Strong submissions demonstrate coherence across analysis, insight, and planning, rather than treating each component as a standalone task.

Digital Transformation Assignment Part 1: Group Report (~3,500 words, 50%)

Assignment brief

Organisation Selection

Groups must choose one organisation from the list below. The list includes a mix of Irish and international organisations, each representing a different organisational context and exhibiting both successful and unsuccessful digital transformation initiatives.

 Report Expectations

The report must present a single, coherent analytical narrative.

Marks are awarded for analysis that connects evidence, interpretation, and conclusions across the report, rather than for descriptive sections or the isolated use of frameworks.

1. Digital Transformation Audit

Conduct an audit of the organisation by examining its digital transformation initiatives. The audit should:

• establish how the organisation approaches digital change
• identify recurring organisational behaviours, priorities, and constraints
• surface patterns that help explain why some transformation initiatives succeed while others fail or underperform

Patterns identified in the audit should be examined using evidence from specific digital initiatives, rather than being stated as assumptions or general observations.

At least one recognised analytical or strategic framework should be used appropriately to support the audit and subsequent analysis.

Where relevant, the audit should consider ethical, risk, and governance implications arising from the organisation’s digital transformation initiatives.

Digital transformation initiatives are used as evidence to understand organisational behaviour.

Appendix Requirement (Audit Evidence)

You must include a Digital Transformation Activity Overview Table in the appendix.

The table is not graded separately, but the quality of your analysis will be assessed with reference to the evidence it provides.

The table must include the following columns:

• Digital Transformation Project
• Primary Objective
• Scope of Transformation
• Outcome
• Key Issues Observed
• Relevance to Subsequent Analysis

2. Key Drivers of Success and Failure

Identify and evaluate recurring success and failure factors across the organisation’s digital transformation initiatives.

This section should:

• synthesise insights across initiatives
• prioritise factors based on organisational relevance
• distinguish between execution issues and strategic misalignment
• These drivers should directly inform the priorities and design choices in the proposed digital transformation plan.

3. Strategic Digital Transformation Plan

Propose a future digital transformation plan for the organisation.

The plan must:

• respond directly to insights from the audit and key drivers identified
• mitigate identified failure points
• build on factors associated with successful outcomes
• align with the organisation’s business model and strategic priorities
• account explicitly for organisational constraints and trade-offs

The plan should include:

• clear objectives aligned to business goals
• a phased approach (short, medium, long term)
• governance and decision-making structures
• change management considerations
• defined KPIs
• key risks and mitigation strategies
• Proposed plans should reflect the organisation’s business model, priorities, and constraints, rather than relying on generic or aspirational “best-practice” recommendations.

Submission Guidelines:

Group Report (~3,500 words): Every group member must submit a copy of the same final group report on Moodle by the stated deadline. Late submissions are processed in accordance with GBS policy. The submission must include a completed GBS assignment cover sheet, Contribution table and AI declaration.

AI Declaration: Whether you use AI or not, a formal AI Declaration form must be used. If AI tools are used in the Group report, they must be declared. Complete screenshots of AI chats must be appended to the Group report in a clear and organised manner. Undeclared AI use will be treated as academic misconduct.

Sources: Use a range of academic and industry sources, correctly cited and referenced in Harvard style.

Presentation: Reports must be typed, professionally presented, and clearly structured with headings. Visual tools, charts, and tables are encouraged where they aid clarity. As this is a Masters-level submission, all group reports are expected to demonstrate critical analysis, academic depth, use of evidence, and professional presentation. Weak writing, poor structure, or superficial treatment will reduce marks within each criterion.

Assignment 2 Individual Reflection

Digital Transformation Assignment 2: Individual Reflection (~1,500 words, 50%)

Assignment brief:

Each student will complete their individual reflection in class during the final teaching session (Thursday April 30^th 2026). The reflection will be handwritten and will take approximately one hour. Reflections must be legible and clearly structured, directly addressing the questions which will be provided in class on the day.

The reflection requires you to examine how your reasoning, assumptions and decisions developed during the project, rather than to recount or summarise the work produced by the group.

Under no circumstances is the use of AI permitted for the in-class Reflections work.

You should aim for roughly equal coverage of each of the following 5 themes:

• Judgement and Assumptions
• Decision-Making Under Uncertainty
• Understanding Success and Failure
• Frameworks and Tools (including AI)
• Professional Learning and Future Practice

Grading Criteria

Group Report

 Individual Reflection