Reference no: EM132647473

HS2011 Systems Analysis and Design - Holmes Institute

Learning Outcome 1: Explain and apply systems analysis and design concepts, principles, methodologies and tools to analyse, design and implement business solutions.

Learning Outcome 2: Explain and apply process modelling, logical and data modelling tools in the development of information systems

Learning Outcome 3: Explain and evaluate system implementation and post implementation systems requirements

Learning Outcome 4: Analyse business scenarios to generate requirement specifications and design possible solutions to satisfy business requirements.

Learning Outcome 5: Apply problem solving and object-oriented design skills to build a simple systems prototype

Learning Outcome 6: Review and describe the major legal and ethical issues with respect to systems analysis and design

Question 1: Two of the main phases in System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) are Systems Planning and Systems Analysis.

a. Provide a brief description of each of these two phases.

b. Susan has been tasked with developing a new Information Systems for a small company. Susan however decided to skip system planning and system analysis phases altogether and proceed with the development and implementation phases. Briefly explain why Susan's approach is wrong.

Question 2:

DFR diagrams could become highly complex. In your own words, where does the complexity of DFD stem from? Also, provide strategies to minimise the complexity of DFD diagrams?

Question 3:

Consider the following case study: Vehicle-Heaven

Vehicle-Heaven is a supplier of auto-parts with several branches across Metropolitan Melbourne. The business is based on the idea of discount prices for auto parts that are always in stock or can be delivered within hours. The owners have decided to computerize their operations to allow them to better track their business and manage their inventories for just in time deliveries for sales. Data to be gathered for each customer sale includes invoice number, date, parts number, cost, retail price. Customer data is collected that includes basic contact information and vehicles owned, which includes vehicle make and model. For parts that have to be delivered to the store to fulfill a customer purchase, a transfer request is created. Data associated with these transfers include tracking number, invoice number, date, parts number, origination location (store or warehouse) number, destination store number.

Answer the following question:

Draw an Entity Relationship Diagram for Vehicle-Heaven business. Your diagram must indicate the types of relationships between the different entities.

Question 4:

Holmes Stars is a secondary school located in Melbourne, Victoria. Holmes Institute has decided to hire students in its Systems Design and Analysis course to assist with the development of a new IS system for the school. There is a small number of staff in the school which consists of the following: Alex the director, David the principal, Catherine the vice-principal, Clare the administrative assistant and teachers. Some parents also assist with teaching and data entry.

Assume that system design has been completed. As part of the development team, you are now embarking into the implementation stage of System Development Lifecycle. This stage includes application development, setup and testing. A Database Administrator has been hired by Holmes Institute to assist your team with project development and testing. A new server, computers and networking equipment have already been installed and connected to the network.

Answer the following questions:

a. Select an application development method for the new system. Please discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of the different development methodologies (i.e. structured, OO and agile).
b. Explain the type of testing to be implemented. Also, explain what test data shall be used.
c. There are different stakeholders in the school. What specific groups of people must be trained on the new system? What type of training should be delivered for each group? Also, provide a list of topics to be covered in training for each group.

Question 5:

Consider the following case study: Clean Planet

Clean Planet is a private business based in Victoria specialising in commercial cleaning supplies and business support products for organisational clients. Only a few computerized operations are in the business. In an effort to become more efficient and profitable, the vice president, Julia Thompson, has hired a systems analyst, Robert Hanover.

Julia and Robert have made progress in the development of a strategic plan for Clean Planet. Robert is anxious to define the requirements for the new system. He has gathered more information and has created the following organization chart for Clean Planet.

Robert: Julia, it's time to start moving on the system investigation. The mission statement is finalized and strategic planning is well underway. I can see that the directors are beginning to think about how their departments can benefit from better information management.

Julia: You're right! Andrew McClean found out that we lost a big order the other day because the customer was able to get the estimate much more quickly from another company because of their online presence. He's wondering just how many sales we are losing because of timeliness issues. I had Anna's group gather numbers for the directors about how many times our profit margin has been reduced because of human error somewhere along the order process. We are profitable, but could be more so by reducing error and becoming more competitive with timely information to our potential customers.

Robert: Andrew's area of sales is a logical place to start the investigation. I need to interview sales and customer service representatives to get an idea of the requirements for the new information system. What kind of information will we include? What do we want to get out? What processes need to be managed? What are our business needs?

Julia: This will take some time, and a lot of information needs to be gathered. You should make sure you spend some time with the accounting clerks too, because they fill in for customer service representatives.

Robert: I'm ready to get started!

Answer the following questions:

a. Develop a fact-finding plan including interviews, documentation review, observation, questionnaires, sampling, and research.
b. Review the organizational model above and list the individuals you would like to interview. Prepare a list of objectives for each of the interviews you will conduct.
c. Prepare a list of specific questions for each individual you will interview.

Question 6:

1. Consider the following case study: Darwin College

Darwin College is a liberal arts college located in Northern Territory. You are the systems analyst assigned from the college IT department to conduct the systems analysis phase of the development of a new listing system for the school's housing office.

Based on your earlier recommendations, the housing office decided to continue the systems development process for a new listing system.

Now, at the end of the systems analysis phase, you are ready to prepare a system requirements document and give a presentation to the housing office.

You must examine tangible costs and benefits to determine the economic feasibility of several alternatives. If the housing office decides to go ahead with the development process, the system can either be developed in-house or purchased as a vertical package and configured to meet the needs of the office.

Currently, housing listings are created by an employee at the housing office. While the demands on her time vary throughout the year, based on previous work logs kept by employees in the office you determine that the time spent maintaining the manual system (creating listing sheets for the various binders, copying, and filing listings in binders) by this employee works out to an average of 30 hours of overtime per month. The overtime cost of this employee is $25 per hour, including overhead.

Housing listings are pulled throughout the month, and all listings are reviewed once a month to delete those more than two months old. Currently, the once a month reviews are done by a student worker who spends 25 hours a month going through the 15 binders at the housing office, and pulling all old listings for review by a housing office staff member. This student is paid $12.50 per hour, including overhead. A new system would conduct this review automatically, and generate a list for review.

Your estimates indicate that the housing office can expect to have staff spend 4 hours a week performing maintenance, file backups, and updating of the new system, at $25 per hour.

The university has lost revenue on some of its rental properties, having them lie idle for a month because of listings pulled either erroneously by staff, or deliberately by people using the housing listing service. Estimates put the amount of lost revenue due to listing problems such as these at two percent of anticipated yearly rental receipts. In the current year, the anticipated rental receipts total $680,000. Annual increases of rent vary from year to year depending on market rates but the average increase is three percent per year.

Based on your research, you originally estimated that an in-house development project could be completed in about three weeks. This time estimate is based on 55 hours a week split between you and another analyst from the IT department. The IT department uses a charge- back rate of $40 per hour for work for other university departments. Three training sessions of four hours each will be required to train all staff in the new system. The charge-back cost of a training specialist from the IT department is $25 per hour. Training and technical support for the first year for the vertical software package is included in the initial price.

As an alternative to in-house development, a vertical software package is available for about $6,000, including an on-site day of training and technical support for the first year. If the department buys the package, it would take you about two weeks to install, configure, and test it, working full-time. The vendor provides free support during the first year of operation, but then the housing office must sign a technical support agreement at an annual cost of $750.

For both the in-house development and the vertical software package, the necessary hardware will cost about $3,500. Network upgrading, necessary for either option, has been estimated at $4,000 by the network operations team.

In your view, the useful life of the system will be about five years, including the year in which the system becomes operational.

Answer the following questions:

You scheduled a presentation to the housing office next week and you must submit a system requirements document during the presentation. Prepare both the written documentation and the presentation. Your oral and written presentation must include the following tasks:

a. What options for a development strategy does Darwin College have for developing a new system? Provide a brief explanation of specific alternatives that should be considered if development continues including in-house development and other strategies that would be a good fit. Justify your suggestions by analysing the advantages and disadvantages of the chosen methods.

b. You have been asked to prepare a system requirements document and deliver a presentation to the housing office management. What should be the main elements of the system requirements document?

c. What financial analysis tools are available to calculate total cost of ownership for the system? What are the advantages (and possible disadvantages) of each tool?

Attachment:- Systems Analysis and Design Assignment.rar