Assignment:
INSTRUCTIONS
• You must complete both of the two tasks described below. Marks are as indicated.
• You may complete the assignment individually, but it is recommended that you work in a group of 2-4 students so that the workload can be shared.
• It is expected that students form groups based on their own contacts. There is no requirement for all group members to attend the same tutorial. The same marking criteria will apply irrespective of the size of the groups.
• You may use Microsoft Word or PowerPoint drawing tools, Microsoft Visio, BPM Academic Initiative, or any other modelling tool to develop models.
o Use of the BPM Academic Initiative tools are recommended to model Petri net.
Create a workspace and invite your group member(s) to join. See the Signavio guides on Blackboard (Learning Resources/Readings and Resources/Signavio How-to Guides) for more details.
SCENARIO: LET'S PARTY!
A group of students wants to develop an online service, called "Let's Party!", to manage the organisation of parties in Brisbane. A customer will provide a budget, the number of people attending the party, the area where the party is to be held, and other details via an online form, and the team will then find a suitable location and arrange the party.
The party may be held either indoors or outdoors. If the customer prefers an indoor location, a room of appropriate size will be found and hired. If it is to be outdoors, a suitable setting will be found, a permit (for use of public space, noise, etc.) will be applied for if required, and a party tent hired and erected on the site.
Music for the party can be either live (artist, band or DJ) or recorded. If live music is requested, but a suitable act can't be found, then the choice will revert to recorded music. Similarly, because arranging a live act can take a while, if there is insufficient time between the request and the party date, then the choice will revert to recorded music. If recorded music is to be used, then a sound system must be hired and set up.
For live music, things are more complicated. First, an appropriate act is contacted via email and asked to perform at the party. The act may respond by either agreeing to perform at the party, or not (e.g. they may have another booking on that date). If the act declines the offer for any reason, then another act is chosen, and this procedure repeats. This also happens if an act does not respond to an offer within 5 days.
If an act accepts the offer, they must first perform an audition for the "Let's Party!" team to make sure they are of an acceptable standard. The team want to build a reputation of quality, and so they are very fussy, accepting only about 30% of acts. Whenever an act fails the audition, another act is chosen, and the procedure starts over. If time runs out, that is if a suitable act can't be found via this procedure before the party date, then the choice of music reverts to recorded. Naturally, acts that have been hired before do not have to go through the audition process, but are hired immediately.
After organising the location and music, food and drinks need to be arranged. If a live act has been hired, extra food and drink will need to be arranged for them, too. When the party occurs, members of the "Let's Party!" team will drop in to ensure everything is going to plan and the customer is satisfied with the service. Finally, after the party a bill is sent to the customer.
TASK 1
Develop a Petri net system that captures all the processes in the scenario description. As this model will be used as a basis for implementing an information system to support the "Let's Party!" business, it must reflect the scenario as closely as possible. Ensure that your model is free of syntactic errors. The model must be semantically valid and complete as per the scenario description, i.e. every execution sequence of your Petri net system must reflect a valid sequence of steps from the scenario description and every sequence of steps from the scenario description must be reflected in some execution sequence of your Petri net system.
TASK 2
a) Analyse the Petri net system you developed in Task 1 and discuss possible improvements. For example, are there any bottlenecks in the process? If so, what can be done to remove them? Also, describe any subsystems identified.
b) Discuss any difficulties or limitations you may have experienced when capturing the scenario in a Petri net system. Were there any aspects of the scenario that were difficult to effectively capture? If so, explain why (in your opinion) Petri nets are not appropriate for modelling that aspect. Also, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using a Petri net diagram, such as the one modelled, as a means of defining, analysing and communicating processes within an information system.
HAND-IN REQUIREMENT
Each submission must contain a declaration, signed by the student(s), stating that it is his/her/their original work (see Appendix A).
Sample structure for Assignment 2 report is provided below:
• Cover page, including signed declaration form (see Appendix A).
• Response to Task 1, provided as a Petri net system diagram.
• Response to Task 2, provided as a brief written report (400 to 500 words).