COLLEGE OF LAW AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & GOVERNANCE

DISCIPLINE OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGY
TEST 1: 6 MAY 2014

COURSE AND CODE: ADVANCED SYSTEMS DESIGN (ISTN 31D)

INFORMATION & INSTRUCTIONS:

DURATION: ONE (1) HOUR TOTAL MARKS: 50

EXAMINER(S): Dr. Prabhakar Rontala (PMB & Westville)

NB:
STUDENTS ARE REQUESTED IN THEIR OWN INTERESTS TO WRITE LEGIBLY
AND IN INK.

1. There are 3 numbered pages including this cover sheet, containing 3 questions altogether.
Ensure that you have all pages.
2. Answer all questions.
3. Please write your STUDENT NUMBER and NAME on the cover of the answer booklet.
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UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL
COLLEGE OF LAW AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & GOVERNANCE
TEST 1: 6 MAY 2014
MODULE AND CODE: ADVANCED SYSTEMS DESIGN (ISTN 31D)

Question 1: Answer All Questions (21 Marks)

1.1 Explain about any THREE (3) quality criteria for good design.
(6 marks)
1.2 What is the difference between layering and partitioning? List any two of the layered
architectures.
(3 marks)
1.3 Define the term software architecture.
(3 marks)
1.4 Differentiate between architectural view and architectural description.
(3 marks)
1.5 Explain the terms Class Scope Attribute and Class Scope Operation.
(3 marks)
1.6 Draw the symbols used to represent the following pseudostates in the context of State
Machines.
1.6.1 Junction Pseudostate
1.6.2 Choice Pseudostate
1.6.3 History Pseudostate
(3 marks)

Suggested Solution:

1.1 Any three of the following:

1.1.1 Functional—system will perform the functions that it is required to
1.1.2 Efficient—the system performs those functions efficiently in terms of time and
resources
1.1.3 Economical—running costs of system will not be unnecessarily high
1.1.4 Reliable—not prone to hardware or software failure, will deliver the
functionality when the users want it
1.1.5 Secure—protected against errors, attacks and loss of valuable data
1.1.6 Flexible—capable of being adapted to new uses, to run in different countries
or to be moved to a different platform
1.1.7 General—general-purpose and portable (mainly applies to utility programs)
1.1.8 Buildable—Design is not too complex for the developers to be able to
implement it
1.1.9 Manageable—easy to estimate work involved and to check of progress
1.1.10 Maintainable—design makes it possible for the maintenance programmer to
understand the designer’s intention
1.1.11 Usable—provides users with a satisfying experience (not a source of
dissatisfaction)
1.1.12 Reusable—elements of the system can be reused in other systems
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UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL
COLLEGE OF LAW AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & GOVERNANCE
TEST 1: 6 MAY 2014
MODULE AND CODE: ADVANCED SYSTEMS DESIGN (ISTN 31D)

1.2 Layering is so called because the different subsystems usually represent different
levels of abstraction.

And partitioning, which usually means that each subsystem focuses on different aspect
of the functionality of the system as a whole.

Open layered and closed layered architectures are the two layered architectures.

1.3 Software architecture is the organisation of a system in terms of its software

components, including subsystems and the relationships and interactions among them,
and the principle that guide the design of that software system.

1.4 Architectural view is a representation of a particular system or part of a system from a

particular perspective.

Architectural description is a set of products that document the architecture.

1.5 Class scope attribute occurs only once and is attached to the class, not to any
individual object.

Class scope operation, operates on class scope attributes.

1.6 The following symbols are used:

1.6.1 Junction Pseudostate

1.6.2 Choice Pseudostate

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UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL
COLLEGE OF LAW AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & GOVERNANCE
TEST 1: 6 MAY 2014
MODULE AND CODE: ADVANCED SYSTEMS DESIGN (ISTN 31D)

1.6.3 History Pseudostate

Question 2: Designing Association (14 Marks)

Customer Support System for Cell Phone Service Providers

VadoCell, a cell phone service provider has decided to automate the customer support
activity. You are one of the team members involved in analyzing the system. The
following requirements were elicited from the client:

VadoCell has thousands of customers. A customer submits his/her application to the

service provider for a service. The customer details are captured into the system and the
requested service is provided when all the details are verified. Each customer in the
database may own several SIM cards. Every SIM card can be used in any of the many
plans offered by the service provider. Each plan is taken for one SIM card at a given time.
However the same SIM card can be used in several plans over a period of time.

Based on the above scenario, a class diagram with all required classes containing all
attributes and operations is given below. Design associations between the classes based
on the multiplicity. Redraw the class diagram by including all necessary class(es),
attribute(s) and operation(s). Show all the associations between classes clearly with
multiplicity.
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UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL
COLLEGE OF LAW AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & GOVERNANCE
TEST 1: 6 MAY 2014
MODULE AND CODE: ADVANCED SYSTEMS DESIGN (ISTN 31D)

Suggested Solution:
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UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL
COLLEGE OF LAW AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & GOVERNANCE
TEST 1: 6 MAY 2014
MODULE AND CODE: ADVANCED SYSTEMS DESIGN (ISTN 31D)

Question 3: State Machine (15 Marks)

The Economist is a financial firm involved in lending money as loans to their clients. A
client submits his application through online for a loan and waits for the loan to be
sanctioned after careful assessment of his application. On the assessment process the
loan application may be in any of the several states as explained in the scenario below.

A client fills in the online application with all required details and submits the application
form to the firm. A manager responsible to scrutinise the application checks whether the
submitted application meets the minimum requirements. If the application meets the
minimum requirements, the manager requests for the verification process (to verify the
validity of the information presented in the application). If the application does not meet
the minimum requirements, the manager rejects the application giving another chance for
the client to resubmit the application.

The outcome of the verification process may lead to any one of the three states further. If
the outcome of the verification process has no problem then the application is approved.
If the outcome of the verification process has minor problem then the application is
rejected giving another chance for the client to resubmit the application. If the outcome of
the verification process has major problem then the application is blacklisted in which
case the client do not have another chance to resubmit the application.

Make transitions from appropriate states to the final state with appropriate labels.

Draw a State Machine indicating all possible states of the loan application with all actions
(labels) responsible for the state transitions. Use appropriate notations for all states,
pseudostates and labels you have used in your state machine.
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UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL
COLLEGE OF LAW AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & GOVERNANCE
TEST 1: 6 MAY 2014
MODULE AND CODE: ADVANCED SYSTEMS DESIGN (ISTN 31D)

Suggested Solution: