George Moses

CIS 260
Prof. Rosemary Canellis
Homework 4
October 25, 2021

Chapter 4 Assignments

1 Colonial Movers
You are the IT manager at a regional moving company that recently merged with a major
competitor. The company president asked you to prepare requirements for a new information
system to support the combined company.

Tasks
1. Should employees be involved in developing the new system? If so, what should be their
role?

Employees should be involved in the development of the new system since the information
system is handled by employees from different departments. Employees possess valuable
information about the existing system and can provide insight into the requirements needed for
the new system. Role of employees for developing a new system:

• Employees are needed to collect information such as what details should be included in
customer module like customer name, address of moving, date of moving.

• Employees are needed to provide management requirements such as date and time of moving
things, number of items, type of things, things needed to take special care of.

• Employees in the billing section are needed to inform additional requirements needed in billing
software and hardware requirements along with the existing one.

2. What types of system requirements will you focus on? Explain each one in detail.

The following types of system requirements will be focused on:

- Customer software requirements: Details of customers such as their name, contact

number, present address, and address of their new home.

- Billing software requirements: Billing information such as cost of moving based on

distance, domestic or international transport, date of moving goods, address details.

- Additional facilities in moving goods: The merged company may have already provided
additional facilities for the new system such as hardware like a camera for security,
 phone, and laptop. The new system may also include scheduling, and date and time
software features to inform customers of the availability of a specific date for moving
goods.

3. You decide to conduct a series of JAD sessions. Prepare a memo to participants, and include a
detailed plan.

• Memo to branch manager:

To: Branch manager

From: IT manager
Date: 10/25/2021
Subject: Purchase of hardware and software for new information system

Dear Sir,

To support the newly combined company, several hardware and software requirements will be
needed such as personal computers, billing software, programmers, and trainers. Due to the
merger, it is necessary to maintain the details of all databases on one server, which requires
additional software. Warehouse and storage services also need to be extended.

Regards,

IT manager

• Memo to audit manager:

To: Audit manager

From: IT manager
Date: 10/25/2021
Subject: Consolidation of bills of both companies to audit the account

Dear Sir,

To support the newly combined company, new billing software has been made. Bills from both
firms must be consolidated and deposited into the same account. The new account is needed to
be audited in the upcoming year.

Regards,

IT manager

• Memo to administrative manager:

To: Administrative manager
From: IT manager
Date: 10/25/2021
Subject: Guide several departments like customer support.

Dear Sir,

To support the combined company, customer records from both companies must be integrated
into a separate database, enhancing the ease of moving and organizing items in the relocated
location, and taking care of specific goods necessitates a more facilitated vehicle for transferring
such goods. It is also necessary to give air terminal management facilities.

Regards,

IT manager

4. What fact-finding methods could you use to collect information from employees at Colonial
Movers? Suggest at least three methods, and explain the pros and cons of each.

Fact-finding methods that can be used to collect information from employees at Colonial Movers
include:

Method 1: Questionnaire

Pros:

- Can be distributed to a large number of employees, both originally from Colonial Movers
and the newly merged competitor.
- Can be completed at the employee's convenience.
- Flexible formatting to better target important and relevant information.
- Can display gathered information more easily.

Cons:

- It can be difficult to ensure the questions target the correct information.

- The phrasing of the questions must be carefully chosen to ensure different participants
will be able to interpret the questions correctly.
- May create difficulty in interpreting the data from a large number of participants based
only on their chosen answers, without hearing the answers in their own words.
- May limit the data returned from participants, who may have contributed more in with a
less rigidly formatted data collection method.

Method 2: Interviews

Pros:
 - Allows a more open dialogue, and the potential for issues or ideas to be discussed which
were not the target data.
- Can provide a more extensive overview of the target data.
- The people involved will likely be more motivated to provide greater assistance given the
personal nature of an interview.

Cons:

- Costly, in terms of both time and money.

- Typically constrains the number of people who can participate, and therefore limits the
potential for more data.
- Complicated and time-consuming to turn gathered data into usable information.

Method 3: Observation

Pros:

- Provides an overview of the system at work.

- Allows for more clinical attention to details of the current system, devoid of any bias that
might be expressed by employees if asked directly.
- Can help to create a very practical understanding of the functionality of the old system.
- Allows the observer to view the system at work and how it interacts with the employees.

Cons:

- Can be difficult to fully understand what is going on while observing an unfamiliar

system.
- Attempting to document fully an experience of observation is difficult to do, particularly
whilst observing, and if done afterward is unlikely to be fully accurate.
- Should be planned in advance, and may create delays if there are complications.
- Employees may behave differently while being observed, which may obscure potential
issues or details.

2 Zevo Chemical Company

Zevo is currently reaching the end of the requirements modeling phase of a new inventory
control system for their global company. As a systems analyst, you are asked to support this
ongoing project.

Tasks
1. How would you explain scalability? How would you ensure that scalability has been
considered in Zevo’s requirements model?
 Scalability refers to a system’s ability to handle increased business volume and transactions
in the future. Because it will have a longer useful life, a scalable system offers a better return
on the initial investment. To ensure that the inventory system will meet future requirements, you
need information about current volume, future volume, and growth for all outputs, inputs, and
processes. To ensure that Zevo’s requirements model has considered scalability, questions that
must be asked and answered include:
- What’s the approximate number of items in inventory
- Will the system be able to manage a large increase in inventory?
- How many users will concurrently access the system?
- When are the periods of peak online activity?
- What are the number and types of data items required for each transaction?
- What is the method of accessing and updating inventory information?
- How much human power is needed to maintain, operate, and keep the system functional?

2. How would you define total cost of ownership (TCO)? What costs should be included in
a TCO estimate?

Total Cost of Ownership is a financial estimate intended to help buyers and owners
determine the direct and indirect cost of a product or system. Some things that could be included
in a TCO statement: cost of software (license versus server costs, client-side costs, integration,
purchasing process, migration), Operating costs (training, insurance, IT staff, management time,
electricity, floor space, cost of an outage, back-up and recovery costs), Annual cost
(maintenance), Server cost if need to purchase and maintain a new machine, Other products that
are required (databases, web-servers) even if you have them, you may need more, or to keep or
support them longer.

3. Explain why documentation is essential for Zevo’s new system, and how documentation
can be used during systems development.

Documentation is essential for Zevo’s new system to analyze the existing system and to
collect facts from existing documents. A good document review will help you understand how
the current system is supposed to work. During the documentation stage, you should ask
questions that provoke thought, observe the current system in its environment, and ask: Will a
new system help, or make my operation less productive? Are my employees burned out? How is
the current workload? What changes can I make before I purchase an entirely new system?
Documentation helps in the development of the new system and gathers information related
to financial statements which helps in inventory purposes. The price of each chemical can be
documented for determining what price to assign the final inventory. Also, the quantities of
different types of chemicals available and the quantity needed to be purchased in each type can
be recorded in the documentation.

3 Westwood College
The school is considering a new system to speed up the registration process. As a member of
Westwood’s IT team, you will interview stakeholders affected by the registration process.
Tasks
1. List all the registration system stakeholders. How is each group affected?

A stakeholder is a person who is affected by an organization or project. The person can be at

junior or senior level in an organization.

Stakeholders involved in the registration system may be the registrar, student, and instructor.

How students are affected:

- Students need to come to campus and register for their respective courses.
- For new students, it is difficult to register by using the manual system because there is no
information about the courses offered in the registration form.

How the registrar is affected:

- The registrar needs to complete the registration process in a short period for all students.
- Registration must be done only during office hours.

How instructors are affected:

- The instructor needs to give details of the process in registration and things needed for
registration.
- The instructor needs to provide details about the course to students because the system
does not.
-

2. Interviews can be time-consuming and expensive. What are your specific goals, and how
would you justify a series of interviews?

Interviews can be time-consuming and expensive. In addition to the meeting itself, both
people must prepare and the interviewer has to do follow-up work. In cases where multiple
interviews are scheduled, the total cost can be exuberant. In most cases, though, it is cost-
effective to have a face-to-face interview.

Reasons that justify a series of interviews include:

- Some individuals who don't want to put their critical opinions in writing may be more
comfortable talking in person.
- When statements are made that are confusing, you can delve into them by asking more
questions.
- It enables the interviewer to notice body language
- It enables the interviewer to know whether the respondent is confident with their answer
and even if the person is telling truth.
- It enables the interviewer to examine the level of understanding a respondent has about a
specific topic.
 3. During the interviews, what types of questions will you use, and why? Develop at least
five sample questions and explain how each question will help you achieve your
objectives.

The interview will consist of three different kinds of questions: open-ended, closed-ended, and
questions with a range of responses.

Open-minded questions:

- What difficulties you are facing in the current registration process?

This question helps to understand the problems incurred in the current registration process.

- What are all requirements needed in the new registration process?

This question helps to add new facilities to the newly developing registration process.

Closed-ended question:

- Is the system easy to use?

This question helps us to understand if individuals are struggling to use the system and if
changes are needed to be made to it.

Range-of-response questions:

- Please rate how effective the user interface is on a scale of 1 (difficult) to 5 (easy).

This question gives a clear indication of how satisfied users are with the system’s interface.

- Please rate how difficult it is to learn how to use the system on a scale of 1 (difficult) to 5
(easy).

This question allows us to know how easy the system is to learn to use. Knowing this can allow
us to make changes if necessary.

4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of open-ended, closed-ended, and range-of-
response questions?

The advantages of using open-ended questions include the following:

- Appropriate when the analyst is interested in breadth and depth of reply.

- Getting answers that are unanticipated and potentially helpful in avoiding issues later in
the process.
- Developing trust and allowing for an unrestrained or spontaneous response.
 - Useful when you want to understand a larger process or draw out the interviewee’s
opinion, attitudes, or suggestions.
- Providing detail abundantly.
- Making the interviewee feel comfortable and more interesting.
- Responses can be used to expand on and clarify closed responses

The disadvantages of open-ended questions:

- Responses are difficult to analyze and develop general statements or assumptions.

- Takes more time and effort to respond to the questions.
- Responses can be difficult for respondents not familiar with expressing their views and
opinions.
- Answers may differ in the level of details or scope.
- Limited control over the length of response.
- May take too much time for the amount of useful information and can cause too much
irrelevant detail.
- Potentially seeming that the interviewer is unprepared or possibly giving the impression
that the interviewer is on a fishing expedition with no real objective for the interview.

The advantages of using closed-ended questions include the following:

- Quick and requires little time to answer.

- Suitable when you want information that is more specific or when you need to verify
facts.
- Keeping control over the interview.
- Covering a large area quickly.
- Fewer irrelevant or confusing answers to questions.
- The answers of different respondents are easier to compare

The disadvantages of using closed-ended questions include:

- Forcing interviewees to give simplistic responses to complex issues.

- Forcing people to make choices they would not make in the real world.
- Distinctions between the answers of respondents may be vague.
- Failing to build rapport between interviewer and interviewee.
- Failing to obtain rich detail because the interviewer supplies the frame of reference for
the interviewee.
- Respondents with no opinion or no knowledge have to answer anyway.

The advantages of using range of response questions include:

- Quick and requires little time to answer.

- More specific answers can be derived.
- This method makes it easier to tabulate the answers and interpret the results

The disadvantages of using range of response questions include:

- Additional information cannot be derived from answers or responses.
- Forcing interviewees to give simplistic responses to complex issues.