Assignment - Current System Analysis and Modelling
Assignment overview - This assignment aims to produce a requirements document that captures the functional requirements for an information system that supports the current needs of the Printing Incorporated eBook Publishing and Sales management system as described later in the Case Study Description.
Case Description - Printing Incorporated Book Publishing is an independent book publisher located in Melbourne, Australia. It has established itself in the niche market of feminist publications. Though small in size at 50 employees, it is a leader in the growing online publishing industry in Australia. The company sees itself as somewhat of a pacesetter in the field of Internet publishing and e-books, and in 1995 become only the third Australian publisher to have its entire catalogue placed online.
Currently, the pubishing house facing some issues/problems. The top management team decided to hire BAs to help analysing and transfering their business. Your job in the first stage is to understand their business and current system, such as what they are facing, what the issues/problems of their current system, what are some of the challenges.
Your tasks - Read the case carefully, and if students need more detail either about the business or the assignment, they should talk to the lecturer or tutors, preferably before starting the task during the tutorial classes or go to the scheduled consultation time or email to make an appointment if necessary.
Task Part A: The Report Components
Create a word-processed business report with:
Cover page -
- Document Title
- Author(s) information
- List of contents
Executive Summary -
- What this assignment is about and what you want to achieve.
Introduction -
- Why conduct system analysis and design for a business?
- The purpose of your work.
- The structure of your report
- Where did you collect data and information for completing the report?
Company/Organization Background -
- What is the business and what does this business do? (a brief description of their current business operation, products and services.)
- What are some of the problems/issues the business (internal and external) currently facing and how they impact on overall business future development?
- What are the business current system problems you consider essential to address? You should list them and then pick up two which you consider are the most important for the business and explain why they are important. What are some of the opportunities when these problems are solved? How would the organisation be better off by solving this problem or taking up this opportunity?
- Clearly explain the current system's objectives and constraints. Please note: you need to read the case description to understand what the current system does.
Scope (Current system) -
- A written statement of functional/non-functional requirements (you are required to list them all with a brief explanation for each of them).
- Discuss the techniques of identifying the use cases.
Documentation -
Data dictionary
- Complete at least THREE (3) key data flow descriptions (Logical data dictionaries)
- Data element descriptions (Physical data dictionaries, at least 1 of the key data entities)
Process Descriptions
- A brief description for each of the key processes (top level processes in level 0 DFD) written in plain English
- Write at least ONE lower level process description in structured English.
Appendices -
You can include appendices:
- DFD fragments, event table etc.
- The appendix should also contain any other documents that might be useful for reference or too detailed or lengthy to put into the main part of the document.
Reference list -
- List all references used in the report. You have to follow the newest Harvard referencing system. Please check the Swinburne website for details.
This is a business report and should be written accordingly, i.e. directed to the customer who is "Printing Incorporated Book Publisher". It should reflect your understanding of the tasks required.
Task Part B: Modelling for the current system
Provide a structured analysis of the functional requirements of the system presented as a set of logical data flow diagrams and prepare a data model represented as an entity-relationship diagram for the current system.
The set of data flow diagrams should include:
Identify key events and complete an event table and DFD Fragments
Context Diagram: This must be for the whole Printing Incorporated ebook Publishing and Sales Management System. You need to show relevant external agents together with data flows between the system and the external agents.
A set of levelled data flow diagrams which includes:
1) Level 0 DFD which includes all top-level processes,
2) At least 1 top level process from this Level 0 DFD decomposed to level 1 DFD.
You will be assessed on your application of data flow diagrams according to the following criteria:
- DFD syntax
- DFD data conservation (also commonly known as "balancing" or data consistency in some textbooks)
- Quality of names
- Logical, not physical
- Quality of modelling is more important than quantity
Consistency - not only should each view (data flow, process, data store) be accurate and readable, but also the views must be consistent with each other, so the whole analysis makes sense.
An Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD): It should be a high-level data model (many to many relationship is acceptable in this unit).
Diagrams should preferably be generated by using Visio Pro, but students may use the drawing capabilities of other drawing packages subject to the approval of tutors.
Attachment:- Assignment Files.rar