BA630- Systems Analysis & Design Exercise (Team Project)

Maximum Word Count: 4000 words

The purpose of this project is to pull several ideas together that we have covered throughout the
semester and to help prepare you for what may lie ahead of you in future employment. After you
graduate, your future employer may ask you to represent your department in meetings with the
Information Technology department and their systems analysts. A systems analyst serves in an
intermediary role between the business workers (accountants, financial planners, managers, sales
managers, etc.) and the programmers. Thus, a systems analyst is familiar with both the business
side/terminology and the programming side/terminology. You may have to work with them as you
represent your department's interests in the systems development and implementation process. (You
may also take on project management responsibilities or help define requirements as an end user or
help to write the business case.)

Although you will not be involved in the analysis and design process for your employer to the extent of
the systems analyst, you will be involved in every aspect to some degree. There is a lot of planning,
justification and analysis that goes on behind the scenes before a new system is developed. The goal of
this project is fourfold:

• to introduce you to writing a business case;

• to help you to understand the steps involved in the system development process
• to help your future employer align technology with the vision, mission, and goals of the
organization
• to help you, as future business managers, save your future employers significant money by
carefully analyzing the company's business needs and then buying or building the most
appropriate system rather than just jumping immediately into the programming process

This is a two-part project. The first part is a group paper and the second part is an individual database
assignment. Both parts are described below since Part 2 builds upon Part 1. Please read through the
whole assignment before getting started so that you have an idea of what the database is supposed to
look like since it is based upon the design process.

Background

The RFP project gave us ideas about the characteristics of a registration system. However, we will be
designing and building our own system. Assume that David is a member of your MBA group project
team and you are helping David design the system. In Part 1 of the project, you are developing the
underlying documentation to justify and design a service project management system that will be built
in Part 2. (Your database will be an Access database.)
Part 1: Due in Dropbox– Group Project (50 points)

The focus of this project is on the underlying process leading up to, during and after the development
and implementation of an application. As a team, you will develop one paper for the system design
portion of the project as Part 1. In Part 2, each person will separately develop his/her own database that
will be used as a prototype for the church.

Systems Analysis and Design Portion

Using the scenario described in the case linked to the assignment, create the documentation to develop
a service project management system designed to do what Mike had imagined. You are to develop the
underlying documentation and structure that will be used to create the database. Then, for Part 2, after
you have written the paper, you will then individually create a database for a portion of the design you
developed in part 1.

Your paper is a modified version of a business case. Before getting started, please read this article about
writing a business case to get a better understanding of the purpose of a business case:
https://resources.workfront.com/project-management-blog/how-to-write-a-business-case-4-steps-to-a-
perfect-business-case-template

System Analysis and Design Business Case Paper Content

1. Business Case: You have been tasked with developing the documentation to initiate a new
system project for the development of the databases. This entails creating a formal request for
the system.
o Introductory Paragraph: Brief overview of what the situation is requiring in a solution.
o Business Objective: Why does Mike want to carry out the project?
▪ Since it all starts with the mission, briefly describe what you think the organization’s
mission and IT mission statements are and how the database can be used to fulfill those
mission statements.
▪ What is the goal of the project? What is needing to be overcome?
o Benefits and Limitations: Describe the project costs, benefits (financial and nonfinancial)
and limitations.
o Scope, Impact, and Interdependencies:
▪ Scope: What is included in the project and what is not included?
▪ Impact: How will the service event be impacted by this database?
▪ Interdependencies: What interdependencies might this system have with other
systems/processes in the future? (e.g., membership, volunteer, donations, etc.)
o Risk Assessment: What risks could arise from this project for the people, data, other
systems, etc.? What opportunities may emerge?
o Assumptions: Include a paragraph stating any assumptions you have made throughout your
project. For instance, you might write “we assumed that there were only five volunteers
working at registration on the day of the event.” (You may not have any assumptions, which
is fine. However, assumptions help me to understand decisions you made that were not in
the case.)
o Do not use generic definitions. Apply the concepts to the case.
2. Develop the underlying paperwork and structure to develop the system. Use some type of
modeling software to create your diagrams such as LucidChart, Visio, or PowerPoint. (LucidChart
has a free trial version. I have created a video tutorial linked on the Video Tutorials’ page and
provided links to LucidChart tutorials.)

1. Chapter 11 describes the Scrum agile framework. Write a paragraph describing how the
scrum framework could be used to develop this system. Don’t write in generalities,
identify actors from the case who would be involved.
2. Create a Requirements Definition portion in which you will want to include the items
listed below: (Note: Do not assign this section to one person. This is too much for one
person. Consider having each person create one or two diagrams with explanations and
then having everyone edit.)
o Process Model (the way Mike envisions the steps of the processes)
▪ One swim lane diagram and explanation of the diagram for contacting,
scheduling, and registering participants in the service activity.
▪ One swim lane diagram and explanation of the diagram for registering and
assigning volunteers to service events.
o Data Flow Models (DFD) (how data will flow through the processes)
▪ One Data Flow Diagram and explanation for the flow of data in the process of
receiving service events, evaluating, and collecting information about the event
(top level)
o Database Design Model (Entity Relationship Diagram)
▪ ER-Diagram and explanation for the registration database
▪ Do NOT provide definitions.(For instance, do not explain that arrows in your
diagrams represent data flows or squares represent entities.)
▪ Do NOT describe what the diagram looks like. (For instance, referring to my
tutorial video example, do not write something like “The Course table is
connected to the Schedule table.)
Explain what the diagrams mean (e.g. For the student scheduling database
tutorial example, you might write: The process begins with a Student inquiring
about a class. The request is then checked to see if seats are available in that class.
A student can sign up for one class per semester or several…)
❖ Create the diagrams (swimlane, DFD, ERD) using LucidCharts, Visio or some other
modeling tool.
3. In the Construction portion, write for this specific system: (Do not write in generalities
and do not provide definitions.)
o A description of how the system will be tested.
o An explanation of how the data and database will be kept secure.
o Anything else that you think should be included.

Although this information comes from the PowerPoint, in your write-up, apply it to the
scenario’s specific system.
4. In the Implementation Phase portion, you will want to include:

o Implementation/ Migration models: Explain how each of the implementation models

(cutover, parallel, phased, pilot, combo) would be executed for implementing the system at
the organization. (Describe for the case. Do not use generalities.)
o What will be backed up, when will this be done, how will the backups be checked, and where
will the backups be stored; what are the recovery procedures.
o Anything else you think should be included.

Paper Format

1. Title page
2. Business Case Section
3. Underlying Design Section
• Requirements Definition
• Construction
• Implementation
4. Use headings in your document to facilitate reading and concept finding.
5. Please follow the concept order in the homework description to facilitate grading.
6. Create a data dictionary/directory (DD/D) for all of the fields for just ONE of the larger tables in
your database. (The table should contain at least five fields.)
• Introduce your DD/D and explain why it is important.
• Do not create one DD/D for each table. One table is sufficient to show that you
understand. Providing more than one table is unnecessary work on your part. (An
example of a DD/D is in the Basic Design Tools PowerPoint.)
• Include only four properties per field of your table. (Four properties show me that you
understand what a DD/D is.)
7. Please have one member of your group submit the project to the dropbox. Make sure that all
group members' names are listed on the title page of the document.
Part 2: Due in Dropbox - Individual Portion (45 points)

Database

Using the analysis and design created in the previous exercise, build your databases. Since it will take quite a
bit of time to grade the analysis and design portion, you will have to create your databases based upon the
ungraded report. When I grade the projects, I realize that you are creating the databases based upon your
initial ungraded analysis and design report. (As you start creating your database, you may find that your
database design has to change from your original planned design.)

Also, I realize that there are templates out there; however, I want you to create the database from scratch
(brand new). Do not rework the class tutorial example or submit someone else’s work.

Individually, create a small scale Access database for the system. (A list of video links that should cover all of
the database features requested can be found linked on the assignment description.) For the database:

1. Table: Each person is to create a database that should have at least six tables.
(I anticipate 1 table to be events, 1 table to be the volunteers, 1 table to be addresses, and 1 table to
be a zipcode table, thus you need at least two more tables. You do not have to have those tables I
have indicated. This is just an example.)
1. Each table should have at least 4 records. However, your transaction table(s) (the schedule
table in the Access database example) should have at least 3 records per person for a total of
at least 12 records. (The transaction table in the student database was the schedule table
which linked the students to courses offered by the University. -- Students take courses... that
is what links students to the courses --- You could think that this table is probably the purpose
of the process being turned into a database e.g., scheduling appointments.)
(FYI - I have found that 12 records in the transaction table is about the fewest records that
work with getting good query and report results.)
2. Use appropriate field names, field descriptions, field sizes, and captions.
3. Include a Lookup field in at least one table. (Indicate where this is located in your
accompanying database report.)
4. Use restricted values where possible, at least three. (e.g., in the video tutorial, we allowed
only "M" or "F" to be entered into the gender field.) (Indicate where these are located in
your accompanying database report.)
2. Relationship report: Use your ER diagram and the relationships report feature in Access to create
relationships between your tables. (Be sure to apply referential integrity.)
• View the relationship report. Design > Tools> Relationship Report.
• Once you have viewed the report, save it and close it so that the report will appear in the
Navigation window.
3. Menu form: Create a menu form or navigation form for your database.
4. Two forms: Create forms for two of your larger tables.
(Select a table in Navigation window > Create tab > Forms button.)
1. Insert a graphic at the top of your forms.
2. Use a Combo box control to select a record on each form.
3. Adjust the text controls (labels) so that they are easier to read (spell out label names, apply
formatting, insert spaces where needed and increase text control box size as needed).
4. Create at least two buttons that perform an action. (e.g., You might have one button close a
form.)
5. Macros: Create at least two macros. (e.g., you could create one to open your navigation form when
the database is opened. You may also want to create one attached to a button described in Step 4 of
Form instructions.)
6. Four Queries: You will need to create at least three join queries and one specialized query in your
database. (A join query means that the query contains multiple tables.) (Do not include duplicate
fields in a query. e.g., in the tutorial, we only included StudentID once although it was found in both
the Student table and the StudentAddress table.)
• Create a calculated field in at least two of the queries in your database.
• Create a parameter query that asks the user to provide an input. (Here are some nice
instructions from Microsoft https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Use-parameters-to-ask-
for-input-when-running-a-query-c2806d3d-d500-45a8-8507-ec6af351b6ed )
• One of your queries should be a specialized query (Choose one): CrossTabs OR Find
Duplicates OR Find Unmatched
7. Three Reports: You will need to create three valuable customized reports in your database for each
of your join queries created in the previous instructions. (One for each join query.)
a. Report expectations:
i. One report should be a cost of supplies type report. (This would be a good report for
including calculations.)
ii. One report can be an email/letter reminding the participant about their upcoming event
assignment. The content needs to come from multiple tables.
iii. You come up with a good report. (You may have a report that provides a list, such as a list
of service events and their volunteers, but the content needs to come from multiple
tables.)
b. Create at least two appropriate calculated fields in your reports.
c. Arrange fields to make the report easier to read and to fit on one page wide. (Make sure that
you spell out labels and adjust control sizes so words completely fit on the report.)
d. Assume reports will be distributed using envelopes with the plastic transparent windows.
Thus, you will gather address information together at the top of the report.
8. Short Word Document: Each person is to write a short Microsoft Word document explaining the
importance and purpose of each query/report pair. (About a 3 to 5 sentence paragraphs for each
query/report pair, enough to explain the importance and purpose of each pair.)
• Also, include the location of the lookup field, restricted values, macros, buttons, criteria, etc. as
indicated above so that I can find them to grade them.
9. When you close Access, it automatically saves your database in an .accdb file.
• If you are logging in and working on a remote university computer, be sure to copy your
database to your Onedrive.semo.edu account.
10. UPLOAD Database and Word file: Make sure your database is closed and upload your database and
Word file to the dropbox.
• DO NOT OPEN THE DATABASE IN CANVAS if you are wanting to check your database.
▪ Do not open the database from within Canvas. You may get an error message.
▪ Download your database and check it on your computer.
Instruction Reminders:
1. To Delete a Report or Page Header/Footer:
• Right click in an open area of the report and toggle off the Report & Page Header/Footer.
2. To Add a Section Header/Footer for report calculations and address information :
1) Right click in an open area of the report
2) Select Sorting and Filtering
3) Select Add Group and then select the field you wish to group on.
4) Click the More> option and make sure “With a header section” and “With a footer section”
are selected.
3. To Access the buttons for creating a label, a calculated field and a page break:
1) Select the Design tab.
2) The button highlighted in green is used to create textboxes or labels for providing instructions.
3) The button highlighted in blue is used to create calculated fields.
a. Calculations are placed in the unbound box.
b. Report calculations have a format similar to Excel: =function([fieldname])
4) The button highlighted in red is used to insert a page break at the spot where inserted.

Tutorial for Access Customized Reports: https://youtu.be/pICR6e3nBWE

Envelope example. You would want address content to be gathered to display through the window.