Detailed Lab Solutions for weeks 1 to 9 PDF

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Case Study: The Sportz Magazine – Requirements GatheringMichael has two passions: sports and computers. After a few years working as asoftware developer for a company that he has not been even remotely passionateabout, his dream of combining the two was about to come true.He noticed a “wanted” ad in...

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Case Study: The Sportz Magazine – Requirements Gathering Michael has two passions: sports and computers. After a few years working as a software developer for a company that he has not been even remotely passionate about, his dream of combining the two was about to come true. He noticed a “wanted” ad in Sportz magazine, one of his favorite publications. The magazine was looking for a project leader to develop an information system for supporting a set of business activities: subscriptions, advertising, editorial (managing contributions), distribution, payables, receivables, etc. In the usual language of “want” ads, the requirements included the following: • Must have project management and team coordination skills. • Must be able to communicate equally well with both the “business” and the development team members • Must have excellent analytical skills in translating business needs to clear guidelines for the developers • Must be able to create clear and “actionable” documents. • Must have a bachelor’s degree in information systems, or equivalent experience. Despite his youth, Michael was not lacking in self-confidence. He knew not only that he wanted the job, but that he could do it as well. He sent his resume, along with a cover letter that emphasized his strong interest in both sports and sports. This got him an interview with the chief information officer (CIO) of the magazine, and the interview convinced the CIO to give Michael a chance. He decided that his intelligence, communication abilities, eagerness, and analytical mind far outweighed his limited experience. Shortly after settling into his new job, he participated in the “kick-off” meeting for the project. To provide the upcoming team members with a snapshot of the business and the mission of the project, Michael put together a short “report” by taking notes and asking questions in the meeting. The essence of his report is as follows. Sportz magazine is published quarterly. Each issue has a summary of the sports news for the preceding quarter, commentaries by well-known and respected sports writers, interviews with athletes, health and nutrition information provided by sports physicians, and reviews of the latest athletic products from wardrobes to equipment. The magazine is known for its in-depth coverage, but it also prides itself on its “high production values”: glossy paper and stunning photos. Indeed, Sportz is often proudly displayed on the coffee tables of many of its readers. Like some other “elite” (and high-priced) publications, Sportz magazine is sold mainly through subscriptions and, up to now, it has not been interested in anything

other than one-year subscription: long enough to convince advertisers but short enough to increase the subscription price at year-end to compensate for the ever-increasing cost of pater, ink and print. Recently, however, competition from the Web has taken a bite of the magazine’s circulation. Sportz has a website but its popularity has been lackluster. The publisher is seriously thinking about revamping the website, but believes that the “core business” must come first. Subscribers to Sportz include both individuals and corporate customers. The individual subscriptions are based on single-copy orders and are delivered to the individual’s address directly. The corporate orders are usually multiple copies, for which they receive a 5 to 10 percent discount and are delivered to designated unit heads. The publisher wants to take promotional measures to stimulate circulation: a money-back guarantee for first-time subscribes who want to cancel, and a free, six-month extension to anybody who pays for three full years. The renewal system works very simply: Two months before the subscription expires, the subscriber receives a notice for renewal. No more than three notices are sent to each subscriber, be it an individual or corporation. Subscribers can pay by check or credit card. Contributors receive a complimentary one-year subscription to the magazine. But all are not treated the same. The sports physician receives the subscription for one article per year. Athletic stars are not paid for their interviews, but receive a one-year subscription for one interview per year. Each extra interview per year means a one-year additional subscription (The magazine’s preference is not to interview the same person more than twice a year). A sports writer receivers a one-year complimentary subscription for two contributions a year. The new system must enable subscribers to use the magazine’s website for renewals. Needless to say, it must be both secure and easy to use. For contributors, the system must provide the following (among other things): 

Maintain the name, the address, and the contact detail for each contributor.

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Maintain the details for each contribution, including the type of the contribution, the dates, the payments, and the complimentary subscription type.

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Record which staff is working with which contributor.

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Track the status of each contribution.

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ISD WORKSHOP 1 ACTIVITIES SOLUTIONS INFORMATION SYSTEMS & DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES

Activity 1. Discussion questions about Information Systems Identify data, process, and information in the following: "When a bank customer deposits some money in the bank, the amount is credited to the customer's account and the balances of both the customer's account and the overall bank's debts and assets are adjusted accordingly."

1.

Answer: "Amount" is data, "bank's debts and assets are adjusted accordingly" is process, and"customer's account" is information. Diff: 3

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What are the major components of any information system? Give a brief explanation for each. Give examples of information systems that you know.

2.

Answer: • Applications, which perform specific tasks; • Information technology, which consists of processing and control units, communication and data management systems; • People who use the system or provide it with services; and • Procedures that decide how the information system is operated and by whom. Processes are related activities that produce a specific service defined by the procedure. Using LA Trobe University’s student management as an example: • Application: student management for la Trobe University • Information technology: Internet based computer system to support the Subject database system, Student database systems, Learning management systems. Internet, intranet, network and wireless used as the communication tool to support IS. Control system is the window operating system. •

People: Administration staff, Academic staff. IT staff and students etc.

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Procedure: students must pay tuition fee s, university must follow state and federal regulations for admission. The curriculums and degrees must be provides by universities. There are academic schools and departments, and they have academic functions such as registration and management. Universities are usually organized along a functional hierarchy much like traditional business organizations, with vertical reporting relationships and interdisciplinary committees and task forces for horizontal coordination as control units. Its Processes: inputs include high school transcripts for new applications. Input students’ records, results to enrolled students. Outputs include diplomas, transcripts, billing statements, and inventions etc. More examples of IS include: Banks, accounting systems, hospitals and any other organization that consists of 5 elements that work together to achieve an identifiable goal. Our university consists of elements; students, professors, facilities, curriculums, and etc., to achieve a goal of educating students. Explain how a computer-based information system designed to process payroll is a specific example of a system. Be sure to account for all nine 9 characteristics of any system in your explanation – (Hint: What is the input? The output? The boundary? The components? Their interrelationships? The purpose? The interfaces? The environment and constraints?) Answer: A payroll system can be thought of as a system because it is composed of interrelated subsystems that work together to accomplish a purpose. A payroll system has many components, including components that generate paychecks, make direct deposits, generate various internal reports, process time cards, and process various forms and tax returns. Many of these subsystems or components are related. For instance, the reporting component interacts with the tax, paycheck, and direct deposit components. A direct deposit made to an employee’s bank account is an example of an interface. The payroll system’s boundary encompasses all of the payroll system’s activities. Employees, banks, and the local, state, and federal governments are part of the payroll system’s environment. Hours worked, number of dependents, and number of sick days are examples of input to the payroll system. The various reports, paychecks, and tax forms are types of output. Federal and state tax regulations are examples of system constraints.

4.

Discuss Enterprise of Software Development: • What general guidelines must be applied to Enterprise of Software Development? a. What are requirements of products? b. What features a finished product must have? • Why Information systems are considered as products. What common characteristics they share?

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Answer:

Software is the same as product and its development must follow the discipline of product development. Products are not developed in the exact same manner, but certain general guidelines apply to all. The first is to identify requirements. Requirements describe the objectives of the product. But they are not the same as product specifications. A finished product has two sets of features: one set satisfies business requirements, while the second set make the first set possible. A bicycle must have two wheels and be light (requirements), but the wheels must be sturdy enough not to bend. By using spokes (a solution feature) the requirements are met, but spokes are not part of requirements. Product development must follow a methodology, a set of practices, procedures, rules and techniques. Methodology results from abstracting and organizing experience within a theoretical framework. In simpler times, when demands on software were modest, methodology did not play a role. The ever-increasing complexity of information systems, however, makes methodology indispensable. The development of any product by a team under time and financial constraints is in need of project management: planning, monitoring and controlling the course of the development process and the resources used by that process. Project management has general principles, practices and guidelines, but must be adapted to the goal of the project, to the resources available to a specific project, and to the methodology used to achieve the goal. To achieve the maximum possible quality in a product, quality control must be built into the process of its production.

5.

Why is it important to use systems analysis and design methodologies when building a system? Why not just build the system in whatever way seems to be “quick and easy”? What value is provided by using an “engineering” approach?

Answer: •

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Methodologies, techniques, and tools help ensure the quality and appropriateness of the system being built. Following a systems methodology, applying techniques, and using appropriate tools provides structure to the systems development process, since they have been tested and perfected by others. The quick and easy approach to building systems may be easier, cheaper, and quicker in the short run, but it almost always results in a poorly developed system, meaning that the system will be less than optimal and require extra work to maintain. In the long run, a poorly developed system requires more time and money to make right. Following an engineering-type approach ensures that systems analysis and design is rigorous, structured, and systematic.

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What skills should a system analyst have?

Four types of skills: analytical: Enable you to understand the organization and its functions to identify opportunities and problems, and to analyze and solve problems: important analytical skills you can develop is systems thinking or the ability to see organizations and information systems –relationship and the environment technical: understand the potential and the limitations of information technology. Envision an information system that can help users solve problems and guide the system design and development. Can work with programming languages such as C++ and Java, know different platform systems (window, Mac, unix etc), managerial: manage projects resources, risk and change. Interpersonal: Work with end users as well as with other analysts and programmers -- play a major role as a liaison among users, programmers, and other systems professional. Good written and oral communication skills 7.

What is the difference between an information system and information technology?

Answer: While information systems process data into information, the know-how, methods, tools, and material used to support information systems constitute information technology. What is collectively called information technology is actually composed of one or more processing units and three systems: communication, data management, and control. 8.

How does a data management system differ from a communication system?

Answer: A data management system is a set of rules, procedures, material, and tools that stores, organizes, protects, and retrieves data needed by the information system. A communication system transmits data to the information system and brings information to its users. A communication system consists of communication devices and protocols, and the connections between those devices.

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Activity 2. Discussion questions about IS Development Methodologies 1.

Describe the difference between methodology and method.

Answer: Methodology means a body of methods, rules, techniques and tools, plus their theoretical underpinnings. In other words, "method" defines a tactic, whereas "methodology" defines the strategy. 2.

What are the challenges of methodology?

Answer: Methodology is needed not only in creating the solution but also in understanding the problem, organizing the production, ensuring quality, and the managing the consequences of the solution. In addition to what is needed, we must also decide how to build the solution. As creators, we have to confront three elements: the problem, the solution as method or methodology ("how"), and the solution as answer ("what"). 3.

In using an ad hoc approach, do we apply project management principles to software development? Elaborate on your answer.

Answer: An ad hoc approach is development without an overall theoretical framework. Hence, project management principles are irrelevant when using an ad hoc approach to software development. 4.

Prototyping may seem to be an ideal way to overcome the shortcomings of "traditional" SDLC methods, but it may create its own serious problems. Briefly describe the possible problems.

Answer: Unbalanced Architecture - Since the main thrust of prototyping is toward the user interface, developers tend to include more and more functionality in the outer layers of the information system, creating a distorted architecture. The Illusion of Completeness - The real power of an application is "under the hood" (even if the application is a picture editor). For most users, however, the interface is what the application is all about. As a result, the clients might not understand why the developers insist that a lot more is to be done, especially if the prototype is of the throwaway variety. Diminishing Changeability - Since prototyping can leave little trace of how the development evolved, modifying the application can resemble an archeological undertaking to piece together a lost civilization. If the Waterfall Model relies too much on documentation, prototyping can result in too little documentation or, more importantly, too little modeling.

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Compare and contrast problem domain and solution domain.

Answer: The problem that is to be solved does not exist in a vacuum, but in a context called the "problem domain." Medicine provides a ready example. To a patient, a headache is a problem, but the doctor must treat it as a symptom of the real problem. The doctor would be very negligent to prescribe aspirin for every headache, regardless of whether the root cause is listening to loud music or something less benign or even life-threatening. In building a solution, we also create a new and distinct context called the "solution domain". This context contains elements that can be unrelated to the problem but are needed to support the purpose and the functionality of the solution: most cars have fans to cool down the engine, even though the heat produced by the engine has no connection to the transportation for which the car is built. (Similarly, the fans in computers are not related to "computing".) Activity 3. Research and discussion: structured vs OO development In groups of 2 or 3 students, conduct online research to compare the structured and object-

oriented approaches for IS development (modeling). As a guideline, consider the following questions: •

What is the historical background of both approaches?

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Under what circumstances is each approach appropriate?

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Do some IS professionals/academics consider one approach to be superior? Why?

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What trends and changes have led to one approach being more popular?

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Under what circumstances is each approach appropriate?

Each group may present their findings to the rest of the class.

Answer: Student responses will vary. See the following academic references: Dilemma between the structured and object-oriented approaches to systems analysis and design, Rob, Mohammad A. Journal of Computer Information Systems, March 2006, Vol.46(3), pp.32-42 ISSUES OF STRUCTURED VS. OBJECT-ORIENTED METHODOLOGY OF SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN, Mohammad Rob, Issues in Information Systems, 01 January 2004, Vol.5, pp.275-280

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Workshop 2 - solution PROJECT MANAGEMENT References: textbook Chapter 3 & Lecture Notes

Activity 1. Project Management Concepts: 1.

What is a project? Answer:

A project is a collection of related tasks that must be completed in a particular order and within a certain timeframe to achieve a specific goal. 2.

What is project management? Answer Project management is planning, monitoring and controlling the course of the development process and the resources used by that process.

3. Focus of Project Management Answer: To assure that information system projects meet customer expectations – Delivered in a timely manner and cost effective – Meet constraints and requirements 4. Define project tasks and activity threads Answer: lecture notes: 3-14. Book • A task is the basic building block of a project plan or schedule. Each task has following features: – Name – Start & finish dates and duration (days) – Resources (budget, people: analyst, programmers) – Dependencies ( relationship: predecessor ..) • An activity thread is also called a...