Reference no: EM132998613

CASE STUDY PART 1 INTRODUCTION

Henry's Organics produces organically certified vegetables, fruit and nuts, honey and eggs that are grown with permaculture principles and biodynamic soils. It initially started in Henry Cropper's backyard. He and his friends started a community garden, and due to increasing demand for locally grown organic food, it has grown into a commercial venture.

ACTIVITY 1
1. Use the background information to create a short summary (one short paragraph) about the "Henry's Organics".
2. Create an organisation chart for the business.
3. Use the information above to identify the area of the organisation under study (i.e. the business functions that will be handled by the new information system).
4. Add the background information, organisation chart, and business functions to your Report document in Part A: Initial Investigation.

CASE STUDY PART 2
At your initial meeting, you and Betty discussed some initial steps in planning an information system for the farm. The next morning, you worked together on a business profile, and talked together about various types of information systems that could provide the best support for handling their customers' needs, and mindful that there was a need to also track certification documentation to demonstrate the fully ‘organically produced' nature of the farm produce. You also discussed the longer term plan to expand the operations of the farm to include farms that supplied fruit, which would also have to be demonstrated to be fully ‘organically produced'.
You start by creating a System Vision Document for "Henry's Organics", so that Betty can use this to define a vision for the new system and present this to Henry.

ACTIVITY 2
1. Brainstorm all the functions that the "Henry's Organics" Information System might fulfil. Keep it at a very high level. E.g. a Functional Chart and/or ideas from Lecture 1.
2. Prepare a draft System Vision Document for the Farm Information System. This System Vision Document will be revised when you find out more about the requirements for the system. An example System Vision Document can be seen in Figure 1.8 of the textbook or Lecture 1 slides.
3. Add your System Vision Document to your Report document in Part A: Initial Investigation.

CASE STUDY PART 3
Henry has agreed that Betty's argument for an information system has merit. Your System Vision Document helped to demonstrate some of the potential benefits.
Betty wants you to get ready for the next set of systems development tasks, which will be requirements modelling for the new system. Yesterday Betty called you into her office out at the farm to discuss the specific tasks she wants you to perform. After meeting with Betty, you sit down and review your notes. She wants you to treat the set of tasks as a project, and to use project management skills to plan the tasks.
Betty is fully supportive of your involvement and excited that you carry so much practical knowledge in computer systems and that you are quickly learning about farming issues. Betty is also excited that she too can become involved with her previous knowledge and skills in technology.
Betty has authorised you to have full access to people and documents as required and enabled you to use your time as you determine.
Betty has suggested some tasks for you as a part of your work breakdown structure, including the duration she estimated for each task:
• First, you need to meet with all farm staff that support all aspects of the business including a horticulturist who is a likely first inclusion in the production of fruit (2 days);
• You can then conduct a series of staff interviews (5 days);
• When the interviews are complete, you can review farm records of produce, season, customer purchases, costs and profits, (2 days) while observing business operations (2 days);
• You have been tasked with also interviewing some of the customers, if possible (1 day);
• When you have reviewed the records and observed business operations, you can
o analyse the accounting processes currently used (2 days),
o study a sample of orders and payment transactions (2 days), and
o undertake some field work regarding the intended home delivery service (2 days)
• After completing your study, prepare a report for Betty and Henry (1 day).

ACTIVITY 3
1. Create a table, listing all tasks separately, with their duration;
2. Identify all dependencies, and indicate what predecessor tasks are required;
3. Construct a Gantt chart using project management software (see the suggested resources);
4. Using PERT or CPM identify the critical path;
5. Determine the overall duration of the project;
6. Take clear screenshots of the Gantt chart and PERT/CPM chart and paste into your Report document in Part A: Initial Investigation under Project Management.
7. Include the overall duration and critical path in your report.

CASE STUDY PART 4
As a system analyst working on the development of a new system, it is your role to ensure that the project is feasible. Some of the reasons that projects fail are: incomplete requirements, lack of executive support, lack of technical support, poor project planning and lack of required resources. At this stage, you decide to do an initial project feasibility analysis, to see whether "Henry's Organics" should continue with its plan for the new information system.

ACTIVITY 4
1. What are the risks associated with this project? Create a list 10 risks and their likelihood of happening (see Study Guide topic 4, activity 4.6 for an example of how this should be set out, along with the information from the lecture on how to complete the analysis).
2. Define the anticipated benefits of the new system. This should include both tangible and intangible benefits. Wherever possible, translate the intangible benefits into anticipated tangible benefits.
3. Define the expected costs of the new system. Look at the examples given in the workshop activities for some examples of expense categories. It is OK to give estimates at this point.
4. Use two or more cost-benefit analysis techniques to decide whether to proceed with the project.
5. Identify any assumptions and interpretations that you are making with respect to the information that you have been given, that you are estimating, and that you are projecting (into the future).
6. Create a new section in Part A of your report: Risk and Cost Benefit Analysis. Insert your work from above, and give a clear indication as to whether it is feasible to continue with the project.
7. Does the proposed system present a strong business case? Why or why not? Include a recommendation as to whether the system should proceed as the final part of your preliminary report. The Preliminary Investigation part of your Report can now be submitted.

CASE STUDY PART 5
You need to interview staff of various job roles at Henry's Organics. This is part of the investigation is necessary to find out more about the requirements for the proposed system.

ACTIVITY 5
1. What fact-finding techniques, apart from interviews, do you recommend for finding out the requirements of the new system?
2. Include the recommendations for other fact-finding techniques, in your Report. Provide enough justification for using those techniques.
3. Identify at least two staff members with different primary job roles of interest to this project for interview.
4. Prepare a list of questions for an interview with each staff member. Identify the time anticipated for the interview. Review your topic on creating interview questions, and make sure you include suitable question types.
5. Include the interview agenda in the Appendices for your Report.

CASE STUDY PART 6
During requirements modelling for the new system, you met with the farm hands and owners of several farms who were in discussion with Henry's Organics and intending to join as part of an expanded company, all coordinated in a direct delivery model to customers. Things were moving very quickly, and positively. You conducted a series of interviews, reviewed planting and harvesting records, observed business operations, analysed the payment processes, and studied a sample of sales, billing and account settlement transactions. Your objective was to develop a list of system requirements for the proposed system that would unify the farms at a business level. You found the following:
• A typical farm has capacity to provide produce to 175-250 customers, with two customer types: "Regular" and "Standard". Regular customers seek a relatively "regular" mix of vegetables each week trusting the farms discretion to determine what vegetables to provide for them for the week if need be, while "standard" customers place orders most weeks, but are much more varied in what they may order for that week. If there is going to be a short fall in availability of vegetable produce, then first priority is given to meeting the orders placed by regular customers over standard customers.
• All customers are able to provide their order using the existing "phone-in" system, but there is a preference for customers to order using an online web form. The on-line form "stores" each customer previous weeks' order and so presents a "defaulted selection" with the aim of speeding up order placement for most customers, though there is capacity to change the selections through a check-box interface.
• All orders are defaulted to be delivered to home premises, though there is capacity for a customer to pick up their order from their "local" farm should they choose to do so. The home address thus needs to be known, along with any special instructions regarding hazards on premises, such as dogs being present. Each farm will thus need to establish a delivery service, and it is envisioned that there could be some overlap with respect to which farm may fulfil and deliver for customers who fall near a "boundary" between two or more farms.
• All customers have credit privileges. Credit purchases for vegetables are currently recorded on a paper credit slip, which is signed by the customer, and to be invoiced at the end of the month. The electronic form of ordering vegetables is to maintain such a credit process, though customers may choose to pay as each order is placed, or as produce is delivered.
• At the end of each day, cash/EFTPOS sales and credit charge amounts are entered into the NLA (for Henry's Organics Accounts) accounting software, which runs on a local computer at each farm. Daily cash takings are deposited in a local bank in the corporate NLA Account. The NLA program produces a daily activity report with a listing of all sales transactions.
• At the end of the month, each local farm owner uses NLA to transmit an accounts receivable summary to the head office at Henry's farm, where member statements are prepared and mailed either by email or physical mail, depending upon the customers selected preference. Members may physically mail their payments to Henry's farm, where the payment is applied to the member account, or use an on-line credit card payment system, which is being promoted by the farm as a preferred method of payments.
• The NLA program stores basic customer information but does not include information about customer vegetable preferences...although such information would, in principle, be available by reviewing a customers' purchasing history.
• Currently the NLA program produces one local report (the daily activity report) and three reports that are prepared at the head office location (Henry's farm): a monthly customer sales report, an exception report for inactive customers and late payers, and a quarterly profit-and-loss report that shows a breakdown of revenue and costs for each separate line of vegetables.
During the interviews you received several "wish list" comments from farm staff and indeed, owners of other farms, who were now becoming more interested in becoming involved commercially with Henry and Betty.
For example, many farmers want more analytical features so they can spot trends in demand, especially those tied to season, and so prepare by planting more of certain crops. Farm hands are frustrated when there is an over-yield of some crops which are thus left to rot and would prefer a means by which temporary discounts could be provided to help clear such stock, or better still, to have these used to complete short falls experienced at other farms that are to be part of the business network. The farm owners also want better information about the profitability of specific vegetables, instead of bottom-line totals.
Several farmers want to offer various social networking options, including email communications and Facebook groups, to promote/advertise (discount/sale) farm produce. Henry is also in support of this digital marketing and management is keen to have this capability in their system.
Several farmers want better ways to handle information about part-time farm hands, and several farm hands have requested flexibility in being able to work at different farms.

ACTIVITY 6
1. Write down a list of the main functions needed to be handled by the new system.
2. What are the roles that will be interacting with the system?
3. Write down a list of additional features which in principle could be included in the new system but are more likely to be held back for now and considered in the future if and when the resulting information system is subject to later review and enhancement(s). Include the list with appropriate descriptions in your report.
4. Using all the information that you know about the business so far, create a use-case diagram (with all actors/users and use cases) for the new system and include it in your report. You need to provide enough explanation about the use case diagram.
5. Select four use-cases and write a brief use-case description for them.
6. Pick one of these use-cases and write a full use-case description for it. Draw and use an activity diagram in the full description.
7. You need to have the following in your report:
• use case list and descriptions
• the use-case diagram and its explanation
• brief use-case descriptions for 4 use-cases
• a full use-case description
• an activity diagram

CASE STUDY PART 7
You have been preparing the System Requirement report for Betty and Henry. From your investigation so far, you are leaning towards a recommendation for either in-house development or outsourcing options for the new system. You do not feel that a commercial software package would meet the needs of the farm, but you will investigate this option further.
Based on your research you feel that it would be premature to select a development strategy at this time. Instead, you recommended to Betty that an in-house team should develop a design prototype, using a relational database as a model. You argue that the prototype would have two main objectives:
• it would represent a user-approved model of the new system, and
• it would identify all system entities and the relationships between them.
You explained that it would be better to design the basic system first, and then address other issues, including Web enhancements and implementation options. You proposed a three-step plan composed of a) data design, b) user interface design, and c) application architecture.
You explained that systems analysts refer to this as the system design phase of a development project. Betty agreed with your recommendation and has asked you to go forward with the plan.

ACTIVITY 7
1. Review the NLA fact-finding summary and all other information you have about the required system and critically analyse this for duplications and inconsistencies.
2. Draw an ERD diagram with crows-foot cardinality as well as a domain model class diagram with notation. Assume that system entities include farms, customers, status as Regular or Variable, orders, vegetables with associated price per unit, and delivery person (at minimum), as well as organic certified.
3. Design tables - making sure each table only refers to one "thing". As you create the database design, identify primary and foreign keys by underlining primary keys, and making foreign keys italic.
4. If you add primary keys which use codes - for example a code for the farmID, then identify the format of these codes.
5. Create suitable sample data to populate the fields for at least three records in each table.
6. Include the following in your report:
• The ERD or domain model class diagram you have completed;
• The database design (schemas);
• Formats of codes used;
• Sample data for each table.

CASE STUDY 8
You are now making sure that you have sufficient models to understand the new system. In reviewing the models (use-cases diagrams and activity diagrams) you realise that you have not included a system sequence diagram for any of the use cases.
After creating this, you are now ready to review the options for a new system and make a recommendation to Betty and Henry.
ACTIVITY 8
1. Create a system sequence diagram for one of the use cases identified in Activity 6. Add this system sequence diagram to your report in the appropriate area.
2. Search online for potential commercial software packages for Henry's Organics. Identify two packages, and compare their features, and their suitability to be used as the new system.
3. Present at least three options for the new system in your report. One of these must be in-house development, and two of the others may be the commercial packages as identified in (2) above.
4. Review your feasibility analysis for the new system. Taking all options into consideration, make a recommendation for the new system, in your "Conclusion and Recommendations" section.

FINALISE YOUR REPORT
You have completed the contents of your report, and now need to make sure that the report is presented professionally, as it will be shown to Henry, Betty and owners of farms intending to work with Henry's Organics, as well as any potential investors in the new system, and the expanding prospects for Henry's Organics.

ACTIVITY 9
Ensure your report is professionally presented. This means your report should include:
• a title page, with the name of the Report, and the analyst's name (your name);
• an executive summary;
• a table of contents, with page numbers;
• page numbers on all pages except the title page;
• Headings, sub-headings, dot-points and numbering where necessary. Headings should be numbered or the structure should otherwise be easily identified;
• Appendices where necessary;
• Formatting and whitespace (space where there is no text or pictures) used appropriately; (Be willing to start each new section on a new page);
• Page orientation used appropriately. For example, if you have an ERD that will show better in landscape orientation than portrait orientation , set a Section break (Page Layout > Breaks) before this page, set the page to landscape and then set another Section break to start the new page in portrait again.

Attachment:- Case Study For Assignment.rar