Download Sample Activity Diagram - Applied Systems Analysis - Exam and more Exams System Analysis and Design in PDF only on Docsity!
Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh GX_____ National University of Ireland, Galway Semester 2 Examinations, 2009/20 10 Exam Code(s) 1MIS 1MIS 1AE Exam(s) M.Sc. in Information Systems Management (Full-Time) M.Sc. in Information Systems Management (Part-Time) MBS in Electronic Commerce Module(s) MS821: Applied Systems Analysis External Examiner(s) Dr. D. Ivanov Internal Examiner(s) Dr. Tom Acton Mr. Chris Barry Instructions Answer Question 1 and any other 2 questions Duration 2 and ½ hours FOR INFORMATION OF EXAMINATIONS OFFICE ONLY Paper No. 1 of 1 Repeat Paper N/A Special Paper N/A No. of Answer Books
N/A
Requirements Handout None MCQ None Statistical Tables None Graph Paper None Log Graph Paper None Other Material None No. of Pages Department(s) Business Information Systems
Question 1 From the Mid-Western Bookstore case study background and interview transcript below, answer the following questions. State any assumptions that you make. Note that all question parts do not carry equal marks. (a) Discuss how you think Louise Mannion performed professionally in her dealings with Pat Higgins. 6 marks (b) Critically appraise how well you think Louise conducted the interview with Steve McKay. In your appraisal what comment generally on the interview. 10 marks (c) Model the existing activities of the bookshop described below. Include a Context Diagram, a Functional Decomposition Diagram, and either a System Level Diagram or Use Case Diagram(s). 2 0 marks (d) Further model the system as specified with any two of the following techniques:
- An Entity Relationship Diagram for the system
- A sample Activity Diagram
- A State Machine Diagram to model the various states of an RTL 14 marks Total: 50 marks Background The Mid-Western Bookstore is located on the campus of Mid-Western State University and serves over 30,000 students and academic staff as well as the immediate environment. The twenty-seven staff in the bookstore come from a variety of backgrounds. Pat Higgins, the manager of the bookstore has identified the requirement for a new system. The primary reason for this has been his decision to start an on-line mail order service for other schools in the state and elsewhere. He expects that this diversification will mean significant re-organization for the company as a whole and not just for the computer system. Pat has solicited Cetera Systems to produce a design for the new system. Louise Mannion has been appointed as the lead analyst consultant to liaise with Mid-Western Bookstore. Pat has met with Louise twice describing his vision for the new system and a quick overview of the existing system. In their first meeting Pat outlined what he wanted the new system to do. Louise had to work hard at getting an idea of what the existing
Steve: Well, lecturers send in Recommended Text Lists (sometimes called a Textbook Master List) to the Bookstore on which they itemize the books that are recommended to students on a particular course, or module as they call it. This usually happens twice a year in July/August and November/December in preparation for the commencement of each semester. However, they may be received at any time. Louise: Is it a manual form? Steve: Yes but if we could make it electronic that would be great. Louise: We can definitely look at that. What do you do with the Recommended Text List? Steve: The Recommended Text List or RTL is checked by the Inventory Assistant for completeness. If any pertinent information is missing the Incomplete RTL is returned to the lecturer in question with an accompanying hand-written note requesting the necessary information. This practice has had complaints from some lecturers because it holds up the ordering of other texts since there is often more than one text being ordered. The Complete or Valid RTLs are then given to the Sales Assistant for further processing. Louise: What does the Sales Assistant do with them? Steve: Complete or Valid RTLs are then processed. If the books are in stock then the lecturer is notified. Louise: How? Steve: Oh we just drop an email, nothing too official. Louise: O.K., go on. Steve: The Inventory File is checked to see if the books are in stock. A Sales Assistant will usually check if the existing stock was previously ordered by the lecturer who is requesting this text. The existing stock in the storeroom is sometimes checked. The Recommended Text List is modified by the Sales Assistant who deletes lines where all the texts required are in stock, or reduces the number to be ordered by the number of texts in stock. Louise: What happens next? Steve: Each of the texts to be ordered on the amended Recommended Text List is then checked against the International Academic Editions Website. If the text is not in print the lecturer is informed and if the edition is new or different then the lecturer is informed by email or telephone and the text is either confirmed or cancelled by the lecturer. Louise: Does it often happen that the edition might be different? Steve: It does actually, especially for high volume texts since the publishers are happy to produce new editions to promote sales, even when there are few changes to the new edition. It drives lecturers daft!
Louise: I can imagine! And costly for students too. Is the RTL finished with then? Steve: Pretty much, the Recommended Text List is now formally 'approved' and it is placed in the Recommended Text List tray that the Accounts Clerk uses to process the placing of orders. Louise: Do you have any other interactions from lecturers? Steve: Occasionally a lecturer will make an inquiry about a text, and the Sales Assistant will check the International Academic Editions Website or the Inventory File to get information on the text availability, price and edition. The number of texts in stock on the inventory file is sometimes out of synch with the actual number in stock. Louise: O.K. I’ll just jot this down. Can we move on to student requests? Steve: Sure – we get requests from students for specific texts, sometimes for texts ordered by lecturers but not received, and sometimes not. When the text is not in stock students complete a Book Request Form. Louise: If they have several requests what do you do? Steve: Sure I see what you mean - one Book Request Form is completed for each text a student wishes to order. These can be left in a collection box inside the door of the store. Effectively this form acts as a reservation on a text when it comes in. Their email address is taken and they are usually contacted. Obviously other students will ask if a text has come in and will buy it directly without completing a Book Request Form. Louise: Do you put the reserved texts aside? Steve: Normally but life’s imperfect! This sometimes creates a problem if we haven’t done so. It is difficult to make sure that as orders come in we set aside all book requests. When we do we insert the Book Request Form inside the cover of the text. Louise: You could get the new system to print off the reservations as soon as the new stock is recorded in the system? Steve: I can tell you that staff would award you a medal for that; it has been a pain running the reservations. In fact we have been considering getting rid of it for lecturer recommended texts. Louise: Are you done with the requests from students then? Steve: I suppose finally, when a student purchase is made they receive a Cash Register Sales Receipt. Louise: Great! Can you describe how you deal with returns? Steve: Sure. The Inventory staff are generally responsible for identifying books to be returned. There are normally three reasons. If old editions of a text are in stock these are automatically boxed for return when a new edition is received. Second, sometimes books are not selling. A general rule of thumb is if a book has not been sold for three months or if fewer than 10% have been sold in the past three months. Thirdly,
Louise: All right our hour is pretty much up so what I might do is document my understanding of the way the system works in practice and get your feedback when we meet to identify your needs for the new system. Can we meet on Friday around 10am if that suits? Steve: That’s good by me. Louise: Excellent! See you then. Question 2 Answer either (a) or (b) (a) Describe the emergence of the profession of systems analysis, its role today and the challenges it faces. 25 marks or (b) Discuss the use of systems theory and systems thinking for problem solving in information systems development. In your discussions highlight key systems ideas and how systems thinking techniques might, or might not, prove useful. 25 marks Question 3 (a) Decision tables have long been used as a technique in IS development. They are used in the determination of requirements that are wholly structured and deterministic. In recent years decision tables have been resurrected because they have proved useful for modelling certain real-time systems behaviour and rule-based decision engines. Discuss the usefulness of decision tables and how completeness and consistency is achieved. 10 marks (b) What, if anything, is wrong with the following simplified decision table? In your answer demonstrate how you have checked the table for completeness and consistency. Outline why problems in the decision table might lead to disastrous consequences. Briefly illustrate how any problems might be resolved.
User Rules Condition 1 2 3 4 5 6 C1 Y N - Y Y N C2 - N N N Y Y C3 Y Y N - N Y C4 - - - Y - - Action A1 X X A2 X X X A3 X 15 marks Total: 25 marks Question 4 Answer either (a) or (b) (a) John Duffy, Manager of Information Service at Sintax Ltd has proposed two alternative business intelligence systems (A and B) to the IS Steering Committee. System A anticipates significant changes in the installed system in the third year. Thus there will be two development phases - one immediately costing € 128 , and one in year three costing € 58 ,000. If System B is chosen all development costs are incurred at the beginning. Using estimated costs and benefits detailed below, advise the committee on the relative merits of each alternative using Payback Analysis, Return on Investment, Net Present Value and your own judgement (express all costs and benefits in present value terms, assuming a discount factor of 10%.). SYSTEM A Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Costs: Development Costs 128,000 0 0 58,000 0 0 Operation & Maintenance 0 12,000 15,000 19,000 25,000 30, Benefits: Operational Benefits 0 63,000 78,000 60,000 100,000 115, SYSTEM B Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Costs: Development Costs 240,000 0 0 0 0 0 Operation & Maintenance 0 25,000 30,000 33,000 35,000 42, Benefits: Operational Benefits 0 100,000 120,000 125,000 125,000 115, Discount Factors for 10% (^) 1.000 0.909 0.826 0.751 0.683 0. 25 marks
