As part of the formal assessment for the HNC/D programme you are required to submit an assignment for each module. Please refer to your Student
Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.
After completing the module you should be able to:
LO1. Understand different systems life cycles
LO2. Understand the importance of a feasibility study.
LO3. Perform a system investigation
SCENARIO
You are part of an IT company specialising in the design and development of computerised business systems. Your consultancy has won a contract
from a client. They are looking to replace the old manual system they have had for the last 5 years with a new computerised system.
You have been provided with a description of the client company below.
Client Information
Bulbus Electrical is an electrical wholesaler based in Manchester. It supplies electrical goods which include such products as: cables, plugs
and sockets, light bulbs, fire alarms, security alarms and CCTV equipment to retailers. These goods are produced by many different
manufacturers, and often Bulbus will have different manufacturers’ versions of the same item. Details of the stock held by the wholesaler are
kept in a stock book.
To purchase electrical items, a retailer must first register with Bulbus Electrical. Registered retailers order electrical goods by post or
telephone each day and the Bulbus staff try to fulfill orders from the stock on hand. Each order is verified by checking the customer file to
establish credit worthiness. The Bulbus catalogue is used to check the description and availability of electrical items. If credit is exhausted
or the order is incorrect, an order reject letter is prepared for the amount. If the order is satisfactory, the availability of stock is
determined from the stock book. If an order can be fulfilled, the stock book is adjusted and a dispatch note is prepared and sent to the
retailer with the electrical goods. A copy of the dispatch note is kept in the dispatch history ring binder. If an order cannot be fulfilled, it
is placed in the pending orders tray.
At the end of each week, the Purchasing Department buys new stock by working through the order pending tray and raising purchase orders which
are dispatched to the appropriate manufacturers. Purchasing staff use proforma worksheets in preparing the purchase order for the electrical
goods manufacturers. There is a proforma for each showing all the products available. The purchasing team work through the pending orders tray,
writing quantities of electrical goods to be ordered on the appropriate worksheets. Using manufacturers’ catalogues, they then add purchasing
details to the worksheets, e.g. product reference, price etc. From the completed worksheets, they type purchase orders and place a copy in the
ring binder together with the worksheets.
If the electrical goods quantity total on the worksheet is less than the quantity that can be purchased from the manufacturer, the Purchasing
Department either purchases the minimum purchase amount or waits for more orders for the item to arrive. In the latter case, a note is made in a
pending purchases book of the item and quantity outstanding and the item is marked as pending on the original order. The pending purchases are
taken into account when preparing the worksheets.
Page 2 of 8
When items cannot be supplied immediately by the manufacturer, the Purchasing Department is informed. The purchase order copy is marked as
unavailable and the customer is written to accordingly using details from the original order.
When electrical goods are received from manufacturers, the Goods Inward Department checks the consignment and marks the purchase order copy as
received.
Pending orders that can be fulfilled are now removed from the order pending tray and processed in the normal way. The new stock, after allowing
for pending orders, is entered in the stock book.
Sometimes customers enquire about orders and this involves looking at the dispatch history or pending orders to respond.
Note: This business is fictitious but is representative of similar businesses throughout the world. On theInternet there are links to many
websites that you can use as information sources, but not implementation, sources.
Please DO NOT try to contact any businesses directly about this assignment. They are much more interested in operating their business than
student assignments.
Assignment Task
Using the details given in the scenario, you are required to address the following individual assignment tasks so that you can prepare a single
final report for the client.
Task 1 – (equivalent to approx. 1500 words)
FORMATIVE FEEDBACK OPPORTUNITY: In order to receive formative feedback on your work you are strongly recommended to submit a draft of your
answer to this task by email to your module tutor
a) Discuss the importance of following a procedural/staged lifecycle in a systems investigation.
b) Briefly evaluate the system lifecycle models that could be used in this project. Decide on one of these system lifecycle models that
would be suitable to follow for this project and provide a brief justification for your choice. Remember to relate your reasons to the actual
problem. Name and briefly outline each of the main steps that this lifecycle uses to solve a problem.
c) To undertake a systems investigation to meet a business need you need to identify the business needs for the proposed system. To do this
you will need to create a set of survey questions that you can give to the relevant stakeholders (users) – this will be used as evidence, that
this is a worthwhile problem worth solving.
i) Write six (6) open type questions.
ii) Write six (6) closed type questions.
(This task allows you to demonstrate Learning Outcome 1.1, 1.2 and 3.1)
Task 2 – (equivalent to approx. 1000 words)
a) The main feasibility criteria for a new proposed system need to include the following types:
• Technical Feasibility.
Page 3 of 8
• Organisational Feasibility.
• Schedule Feasibility.
• Economic Feasibility.
Discuss why each of these components is important in the development of a new system.
b) Using a spreadsheet program and the sample spreadsheet shown, create a Profit/Loss spreadsheet. You should include the revenue (income
generated) and also costs. In subsequent columns enter the Years (i.e. Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3). You should have at least 6 tangible costs.
New Sales should increase by £40,000 each year: beginning with £40,000 in Year 1. You should be looking to achieve profitability after 2 Years!
i) Create, and enter into the spreadsheet, a set of fictitious values that will suggest a return on investment for the new system within
the next two years.
ii) The completed table and the line graph should be copied and pasted into your final assignment document.
iii) Assess the economic feasibility of the proposed system by discussing what the table and final result means.
Sample Spreadsheet
Profit / Loss Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Revenue
Projected Increased Sales ?? ?? ??
Total Revenue
Cumulative Revenue
Costs
Programming Cost ??
Design Cost ??
??
Support Cost ?? ?? ??
Total Costs
Cumulative Cost
Net Return
(This task allows you to demonstrate Learning Outcomes 2.1 and 2.2)
Task 3 – (equivalent to approx. 1500 words)
a) Use the various systems analysis techniques, as explained in Unit 3 of the online materials, to create the following set of diagrams
that describe the specified system:
i) A Context Level Diagram and a Level 1 Dataflow diagram.
ii) An Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD).
iii) An Entity Life History Diagram (ELH) (for this part only, map the part of the case study that deals with “Retailers”).
b) Evaluate your final design discussing how the user and systems requirements have been addressed. You should make mention of any
extensions that may be needed in future.
(This sub-task allows you to demonstrate Learning Outcomes 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4)
Page 4 of 8
Student Guidelines
1. You should write this assignment in report style, although a formal report structure will not be required. The report should contain
your solutions to each of the three tasks specified above. You should write each task of this assignment as detailed above, in coherent and
appropriate English.
2. You must ensure that the submitted assignment is all your own work and that all sources used are correctly attributed. Penalties apply
to assignments which show evidence of academic unfair practice. (See the Student Handbook which is in the Induction Area). Please also refer to
the ‘Guide to UnfairPractice in Assessment’ on the module page on ilearn.
3. You MUST underpin your analysis and evaluation of the key issues with appropriate and wide ranging academic research and ensure this is
referenced using the Bournemouth University (BU) Harvard system.
The ‘My Study Skills’ area contains the following useful resources; Study Skills Guide (containing a BU
Harvard Referencing section) and a BU Harvard Referencing Interactive Tutorial. You must use the BU Harvard Referencing method in your
assignment.
4. You should use diagrams and tables of figures where appropriate ensuring to reference their source using the BU Harvard Referencing
method.
5. You are required to write your assignment within 4,000 words in order for your research and summarising skills to be developed, and for
effective time management. You are required to ensure that the assignment addresses all of the assessment tasks. In the interests of good
academic practice, an assignmentsubmitted with excessive word counts (i.e. more than 10% in excess of the limit) will be returned to you. You
will be given a maximum of 48 hours to edit the work to reduce the word count to the permittedmaximum. In the event that the submission is still
regarded as excessively long then, in line withadvice received from Pearson, we will be unable to accept it for marking and you will receive a
Refer grade for Non-Submission.
The word count excludes the title page, reference list and appendices. Where assessment questions have been reprinted from the assessment brief
these will also be excluded from the word count. ALLother printed words ARE included in the word count. Printed words include those contained
within charts and tables.
6. Your assignment should be submitted as a single document. For more information please see the “Guideto Submitting an Assignment”
document available on the module page on iLearn.
7. As well as submitting a draft of task 1 early in the module for feedback, you are also advised to submit a full draft of the complete
assignment to the tutor via e-mail (with your full name, student id and the module name) for comments and feedback prior to submission. This
full draft should be sent at least a week before the submission deadline so that you have time to make any suggested changes.
Any drafts received (i.e. time stamped in the tutor’s in box) after 09:00 BST on 09/05/16 will not be reviewed as you will not have time to take
action.
Page 5 of 8
Recommended Additional Resources
Textbooks
Dennis, A., Haley Wixom, B. & Roth, R., 2012. Systems Analysis and Design. 5th edition. John Wiley. Kendall, K.E. & Kendall, J.E., 2013. Systems
Analysis and Design, 9th edition. Pearson.
Whitten, J.L. & Bentley, L.D., 2006. Systems Analysis and Design Methods. 7th edition. McGraw-Hill. Yeates, D. & Wakefield, T., 2003. Systems
Analysis and Design, 2nd edition. Pearson.
EBSCO Business Source Complete – Online ‘library’ resource available via ilearn
Magazines, journals and newspapers
Academic publications from credible sources such as:
• The British Computer Society, http://www1.bcs.org.uk/
• The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), http://www.iee.org.uk
• The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society, http://www.computer.org
• The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), http://www.acm.org
Websites
Internet based sources and search engines.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR PROMOTIONAL DISCOUNT DISPLAYED ON THE WEBSITE AND GET A DISCOUNT FOR YOUR PAPER NOW!