Require activity 1-4 as part 1
Require activity 5-9 as part 2
You are required to read the provided Case Study document and complete each of the activities and questions.
The answers to all activities and questions are to be collected in one “Systems Requirements
Report” with a title page, page numbers, table of contents, headings and all other report formatting.
The Initial Investigation part of this report will include:
Business Information
System Vision document
Project Management Chart
Simplified risk and cost-benefit analysis
Initial feasibility analysis (to decide whether to go further)
You will be required to include other sections and models in the full Systems Requirements Report (see Part B). For example:
Fact Finding documents
Use cases
ERD or Domain Model class diagrams
System Sequence Diagrams
Conclusions and recommendations.
Report submission requirements
You are advised to use this outline as a starting point for your Table of Contents. The final
submission is to be formatted as a report document with page numbering, section headings, and all other appropriate report formatting
requirements, including executive summary and appendices.
Use appropriate computer software packages to produce output for many of
the above techniques. This approach should assist you with the inevitable changes that an analyst will need to make, gives a better
quality and hence more readable result. Hand-drawn diagrams are not suitable for this task.
Example receipt data only
Receipt # Date Name Membership Year Amount paid
10423 7/6/2012 Lucas Morse 2012 $100.00
10424 7/8/2012 Rebekah Riley 2012 $20.00
10425 7/8/2012 Jenny Myles 2012 $25.00
10426 7/18/2012 Tony Ratcliffe 2012 $10.00
10427 8/9/2012 Benjamin Yang 2012 $100.00
10428 8/14/2012 Dane Potter 2012 $100.00
10429 8/15/2012 Rebekah Riley 2012 $20.00
10430 8/20/2012 Tony Ratcliffe 2012 $50.00
10431 9/20/2012 Rebekah Riley 2012 $10.00
10432 9/25/2012 Jenny Myles 2012 $40.00
10433 10/6/2012 Rebekah Riley 2012 $10.00
10434 11/17/2012 Kiona Sykes 2012 $100.00
10435 11/18/2012 Rebekah Riley 2012 $30.00
10436 12/10/2012 Lucas Morse 2013 $100.00
10437 12/10/2012 Hannah Roy 2012 $100.00
10438 12/19/2012 Jenny Myles 2012 $10.00
10439 1/2/2013 Ella Cook 2013 $100.00
10440 2/7/2013 Rebekah Riley 2013 $100.00
10441 2/20/2013 Jenny Myles 2013 $40.00
10442 3/19/2013 Tony Ratcliffe 2013 $100.00
10443 3/24/2013 Zorita Kim 2013 $100.00
10444 4/19/2013 Collette Dudley 2012 $20.00
10445 4/19/2013 Kiona Sykes 2013 $100.00
10446 5/2/2013 Jenny Myles 2013 $50.00
10447 5/17/2013 India Woods 2013 $10.00
10448 6/8/2013 India Woods 2013 $5.00
10449 6/22/2013 Benjamin Yang 2013 $100.00
10450 7/5/2013 Dane Potter 2013 $100.00
10451 9/16/2013 India Woods 2013 $5.00
10452 10/9/2013 Hu Thompson 2013 $100.00
10453 10/19/2013 Hannah Roy 2013 $100.00
10454 11/1/2013 Collette Dudley 2013 $50.00
10455 11/2/2013 Kimberley Kerr 2013 $100.00
10456 11/24/2013 Jenny Myles 2013 $10.00
10457 12/5/2013 Lucas Morse 2014 $100.00
10458 1/17/2014 Collette Dudley 2013 $25.00
10459 1/19/2014 Jenny Myles 2014 $100.00
10460 2/2/2014 Hu Thompson 2014 $20.00
10461 2/14/2014 Rebekah Riley 2013 $10.00
10462 2/22/2014 Kiona Sykes 2014 $100.00
10463 2/26/2014 Rebekah Riley 2014 $20.00
10464 2/28/2014 Tony Ratcliffe 2014 $20.00
10465 3/1/2014 Benjamin Yang 2014 $100.00
10466 3/15/2014 Collette Dudley 2014 $100.00
10467 3/20/2014 Rebekah Riley 2014 $30.00
10468 3/22/2014 Tony Ratcliffe 2014 $25.00
10469 4/4/2014 Tony Ratcliffe 2014 $10.00
10470 4/4/2014 Zorita Kim 2014 $100.00
2018
ISY91015 Case StudyCASE STUDY PART 1
INTRODUCTION
Dragon Boating is a sport where teams of paddlers compete against each other in races. In
each boat there is 10 seats with 2 paddlers side by side (total 20 paddlers), and an additional
drummer at the front to keep the beat, and a sweep (person steering) at the back. Race
distances are usually 200m, 500m, 1000m and 2000m.
Most dragonboat racing is completed in the sporting club setting. Clubs take turns at
organising regattas, where all clubs are welcomed to race. Each club is affiliated with an
Association, which organises the rules and regulations for the clubs, arranges insurance for
paddlers and sets the racing calendar for the year. In the Northern NSW area this Association
is the North Coast DragonBoating Association, which organises clubs from Port Macquarie in
the south to Tweed Heads in the north.
BACKGROUND
Currently all clubs operate as they see fit, within some rules and guidelines from the
Association. For example, each club decides how it will keep records of its members, their
club payments and organises their regattas; and whether they will use software or use paperbased records. They do, however, need to follow
the rules for Association membership – each
club cannot be formed without a President, Secretary and Treasurer; the members need to
pay a set fee (currently $100 per year) to their club, which then pays the Association, and
Note:
This (fictional) case study is to be used throughout this Study Period, to answer questions in set
activities, which will be compiled into a report. Part A of this report, an “Initial Investigation” is to
be submitted as Assignment 2. The final report (including your Part A adjusted after marker
feedback) is to be submitted as Assignment 4.
You should use all relevant parts of the case study to inform your answers for the report.each club needs to provide someone to organise
the yearly regatta for the club, and ensure
that the rules for the regatta are followed.
The Association also has a President – Rose Chen; a Secretary – Luke Parsons; a Treasurer –
Penny Harris; and a Members Officer – Peter Lee. The Association currently uses a
combination of Microsoft Office products Excel and Word to keep track of all the data needed
to run the organisation. Rose believes that while this system was suitable when the
Association was small, with just a handful of clubs, now that the sport has grown in popularity,
there are more clubs. With the need to report for insurance purposes, the Association is going
to need a new information system.
She decided to hire NextProj, an IT consulting firm, to help the Association to develop this
information system. The firm assigned Julie Diamond, an experienced consultant, to work
with the Association members and executive to help the clubs function better and satisfy the
external requirements reporting for insurance.
Julie’s first task was to learn more about the current systems and setups within the clubs and
Association, so she requested a meeting with Peter, the Members Officer. After introducing
themselves, there was a discussion about the new information system. The transcript of their
meeting is on the next page.Julie: Tell me about the problems you are experiencing with the clubs and organisation. I’m
especially interested in what kind of information management you think you’ll need.
Peter: Rose thinks that we need a system that all the clubs can use, that will link them together
with the Association. I’m not sure how the Clubs will take that – they all have their own
system now.
Julie: Maybe we should start by looking at the similarities – and the differences – between what
the clubs currently do and what the Association wants them to do.
Peter: OK, let’s do that. First of all, all the clubs offer the same membership. That includes the
member being covered by the Association’s insurance, and the fee for actually being part
of the club and association. Some clubs also sell club shirts and other merchandise, and one
offers child care, but the Association doesn’t get involved with that. We – the Association
– offer Coach certification, and also Sweep certification at various levels, and we also run
drumming workshops. All of those cost the members a fee but it’s paid to the Association
through their club. Oh yeah, and the coaches need to get a police check for working with
children and a Workplace Health and Safety Certificate, so the clubs look after that, and let
us know that they are ok.
Oh yes, and there is the regattas … each of the larger clubs run their own regatta each year,
and they charge members for each race but some of them just write the details down on
paper forms and some give receipts to members and some don’t. Some just put the fees
for a race into a jar – it’s all a bit haphazard. Some of the clubs let their members pay off
their membership every month over the year, or part payments, and some want it all at
once, and some do a mix. Our main problem in the Association is that we can’t be sure we
are getting the right information from the clubs, so Rose is really worried that someone
won’t be insured and will be hurt at a regatta. Our Treasurer, Penny, is also really worried
about that!
Julie: So with all this going on, wouldn’t an overall system make your job easier?
Peter: Yes, but I don’t know where to start.
Julie: Peter, that’s why I’m here. I’ll work with you and the rest of the team to come up with a
solution that supports your business.
Peter: Sounds good to me. When can we start?
Julie: Let’s get together first thing tomorrow. Bring along an organisation chart and think about
how you would like the association to work with the clubs. We’ll try to build a model of the
new structure so we can identify the system capabilities and the business benefits.ACTIVITY 1
1. Use the background information to create a short summary (one short paragraph)
about the “North Coast Dragonboating Association”.
2. Use the information above to briefly describe (1/2 page max) the area of the
organisation under study (i.e. the business functions that will be handled by the new
information system).
3. Add the background information and business functions to your Report document as
part of Part A: Initial Investigation.
CASE STUDY PART 2
In this section, you are acting as a student intern at North Coast Dragonboating Association,
working on the new Information System. Julie has asked you to help her plan the new
information system project, as she knows that you have studied project management tools
and techniques.
Specifically, she wants you to get ready for the next set of systems development tasks, which
will be requirements modelling for the new system. Yesterday, Julie called you into her office
to discuss the specific tasks she wants you to perform. After meeting with Julie, 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.
Here is what she suggested to you to you as a work breakdown structure, including the
duration she estimated for each task:
• First, you need to meet with club Secretaries at other locations (4 days);
• You can then conduct a series of interviews with members and association executives
(7 days);
• When the interviews are complete, you can review club and association records (2
days) while observing operations at a large club (5 days);
• When you have reviewed the records and observed operations, you can
o analyse any software being used by the clubs you have reviewed (5 days) and
o study a sample of forms and files (2 days);
• After completing your study, prepare a report for Julie (3 days).
ACTIVITY 2
1. Create a table, listing all tasks separately, with their duration and dependencies;2. Construct a Gantt chart in Microsoft Project or
other project management software;
3. Identify the PERT/CPM chart in the software, and identify the critical path;
4. Determine the overall duration of the mini-project;
5. Take clear screenshots of the Gantt chart and PERT/CPM chart and paste into your
Report document as part of Part A: Initial Investigation under Project Management.
6. Include the overall duration and critical path in your report.
CASE STUDY PART 3
At their initial meeting, Julie and Peter discussed some initial steps in planning an information
system for the new facility. The next morning, they worked together on a business profile,
and talked together about various types of information systems that would provide the best
support for the Association’s operations.
Julie starts creating a System Vision Document for the new Dragonboat Club Management
system, so she can use this to define a vision for the new system.
ACTIVITY 3
1. Either by yourself or with another class member, brainstorm all the functions that the
Dragonboat Club Management system might fulfil. Keep it at a very high level.
2. Prepare a draft System Vision Document for the new Dragonboat Club Management
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 your textbook.
3. Add your System Vision Document to your Report document as a section of Part A:
Initial Investigation.CASE STUDY PART 4
As an analyst working on the development of the new system, it is Julie’s role to ensure that
the project is feasible. Some of the reasons that projects fail are: incomplete requirements,
lack of executive support, the lack of technical support, poor project planning and lack of
required resources. At this stage, Julie decides to do an initial project feasibility analysis, to
see whether the North Coast DragonBoating Association should continue with its plan for the
new information system.
ACTIVITY 4
1. What are the risks associated with this project? Create a list of at least 10 risks and
their likelihood of happening. Plan mitigation strategies for significant risks.
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 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. Create a new section in Part A of your report: Risk and Cost Benefit Analysis. Introduce
and then insert your work from above, and give a clear indication as to whether it is
feasible to continue with the project.
6. 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
Julie has given you a list of tasks to do, which include interviewing staff at club locations. This
is part of the investigation, where fact-finding is conducted to find out more about the
requirements for the proposed system.
ACTIVITY 5
1. What fact-finding techniques, apart from interviews, would you recommend to Julie,
to find out the requirements for the new system?
2. Identify a staff member (make up their name) and their job role at a club location.3. Develop a list of questions for an interview with
this staff member. Identify the time
anticipated for the interview. Review the section in your text on creating interview
questions, and make sure you include suitable question types.
4. Include the interview plan in the Appendices for your Report.
5. Include the recommendations for other fact-finding techniques, as part of your
Report.
CASE STUDY PART 6
During requirements modelling for the new system, Julie Diamond met with several
secretaries of dragonboating clubs at their club locations. She conducted a series of
interviews, reviewed the Association records, observed operations at the locations, analysed
the software that they used (if any), and studied a sample of membership transactions and
regatta forms. Julie’s objective was to develop a list of system requirements for the proposed
system. She found the following:
• Clubs generally have between 20 and 100 members, with two types of members –
those who like being paddlers, and those who are (or are interested in becoming)
coaches, sweeps and/or drummers as well as paddlers. Training and registration for
these roles takes place via the Association, but coaches and sweeps must keep their
registration current. This is a problem for some clubs where record keeping is not
adequate, as no-one appears to know who has coach or sweep certifications, or has
completed a drummer workshop, and members can be none, one or all of these roles.
To make things even more complex, a couple of club secretaries admitted that they
had been charging half memberships for member’s partners – something that is not
currently in the Association rules. The information that Julie originally received from
Peter appears to be correct – some clubs have credit facilities for their memberships
(pay-off over the year) and others don’t, or have a mix of part-payments and full
payments. Membership payments and merchandise purchases are usually recorded
in a receipt book by most clubs, and the member is given a copy.
• For those clubs who use some sort of software, paper receipts are periodically entered
into an Excel spreadsheet running on a computer at each location. Any cash from
regattas is deposited into the club’s own account, but membership amounts are
deposited directly into the Association’s bank account. None of the clubs had EFTPOS
facilities.
• At the end of each month, the treasurer for each club rings the Association office and
gives all information on memberships and other matters to the Association.
• Depending on whether the particular club is using software, spreadsheets and/or
paper records are used to keep membership information, both at initial registrationand when members pay annual memberships. Each member
can only belong to one
club. The records do not contain any information about past activities and history.
• The Association would like to be able to access a monthly report for each club, and
other reports such as outstanding membership renewals, and membership lists for the
clubs, as well as regatta reports. There have been complaints from members to the
Association about lost records of payment of fees, and the Association would like to
get on top of this situation as soon as possible.
Several treasurers want to offer online renewal of membership, and registration for
Association courses for coaches and sweeps, as well as drumming workshops. One secretary
suggested regular email communication with members, club blogs, and Facebook and Twitter
posts. Club members want better ways to handle information about the regattas and
training/practice times.
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. Using all the information that you know about the Personal Trainer business so far,
create a use-case diagram for the new system.
4. Select four use-cases and write a brief use-case description for them.
5. Pick one of these use-cases and write a full use-case description for it. Use an activity
diagram in the full description.
6. Include the following in your report:
• the use-case diagram;
• the brief use-case descriptions;
• the full use-case description, including your activity diagram.
CASE STUDY PART 7
Julie has been preparing the System Requirement report for Rose Chen, North Coast
DragonBoating Association’s President. From her investigation so far, Julie is leaning towards
a recommendation for either in-house development or outsourcing options for the new
system. She does not feel that a commercial software package would meet the Association’s
needs.
Based on her research, Julie felt that it would be premature to select a development strategy
at this time. Instead, she recommended to Rose that an in-house team should develop a
design prototype, using a relational database as a model. Julie said that the prototype would
have two main objectives:
The documents Julie collected are available• it would represent a user-approved model of the new system, and
• it would identify all system entities and the relationships between them.
Julie explained that it would be better to design the basic system first, and then address other
issues, including Web enhancements and implementation options. She proposed a three-step
plan:
1. data design
2. user interface design, and
3. application architecture.
She explained that systems analysts refer to this as the system design phase of a development
project. Rose agreed with Julie’s recommendation, and asked her to go forward with the plan.
ACTIVITY 7
1. Review the fact-finding summary and all other information you have about the
required system.
2. Draw an ERD with crows-foot cardinality notation. Assume that system entities include
members, clubs, memberFee, boats, and regattas (at minimum).
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 instructorID,
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 you have completed;
• The database design (schemas);
• Formats of codes used;
• Sample data for each table.
CASE STUDY 8
Julie is now making sure that she has sufficient models to understand the new system. In
reviewing the models she has (use-cases diagrams, including activity diagrams) she realised
that she had not included a system sequence diagram for any of the use cases.
After creating this, she is ready to review the options for a new system, and make a
recommendation to Rose Chen.ACTIVITY 8
1. Create a system sequence diagram for one of the use cases identified in Activity 6.
2. Add this system sequence diagram to your report in the appropriate area.
3. Search online for potential commercial software packages for the Association. Identify
two packages, and compare their features, and their suitability to be used as the new
system.
4. Present four options for the new system in your report. One of these must be “inhouse development”, and two of the others may be the
commercial packages in (3)
above.
5. 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.
FINAL STEPS
Julie has completed the content of her report, and now needs to make sure that the report is
presented professionally, as it will be shown to the Association and the Presidents of all the
clubs.
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;
• 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.