Coit11226 | Systems Analysis | Assessment Answers

Project Case Study

Business Name: Rocky Sports Club

Overview

Rocky Sports is a multisport club which has several thousand members who take part in a diverse range of sporting activities, such as football, cricket, athletics and even darts and table tennis.

The club publishes a newsletter, The Sports Report, under the supervision of the club president every week. The newsletter incorporates 10 articles written by club members featuring the highlights of the week in their particular field of sport and 5 small paid advertisements from outside businesses. The income helps to meet the cost of publication. For each newsletter, the president selects a club member to act as editor of the newsletter and it is the editor’s responsibility to obtain the articles from other members for inclusion and to obtain the advertisements from advertisers.

Newsletters are published on the Wednesday of each week and cover activities for the previous Monday to Sunday.

The majority of members have email addresses and have agreed to receive the newsletter in an electronic format. Those members who for some reasons cannot receive the electronic form may have a paper copy posted to their mailing addresses.

Currently the president uses word processor and spreadsheet programs but is experiencing some difficulty in keeping track of details such as which members have submitted articles, what advertisements have been published and who to schedule as editor for upcoming editions. The president has asked you, a business systems analyst with DreamSpark Information Services, to carry out analysis and develop the planning specifications for a new automated information system, Rocky Sports Club Information System (RSCIS).

More information on their operations is provided below.

Problems Associated with the Current System

With the present number of members and limited software options, recently some newsletters have been published late. This is causing a degree of dissatisfaction in the members. In addition, the president is having difficulty accessing information efficiently. For example, the president would like to generate reports of members who have not yet edited a newsletter. While this can be done with a spread sheet it involves filtering content which is complicated and time-consuming.

Proposed New System

Information that needs to be stored includes:

For members:

• their full names, addresses, contact phone numbers, email address and the sport(s) they play.

For newsletters:

• published weekly so the date of intended publication is shown – this could also act as an identifier (perhaps something like 2018AUG23 which would indicate a newsletter to be published on 23rd August 2018)
• titles of articles accepted for inclusion
• titles (file names) of articles are given by the member submitting and could be something like “TennisReport5thAug.docx” or “ResultsCricketChampionship.docx”.
• details of advertisements such as the identifier as supplied by the advertiser and the subject of the advertisement.
• which member has been selected to act as editor For advertisers:
• name, address, person to contact and their contact details.
• Some of these requirements may be simple attributes, others will need to be modelled as relationships between entities.

Desired Enhancements for the Proposed New Systems

The system is required to generate a number of reports. The following reports are essential:

• a list of all members and sports played
• a list of articles to be published in upcoming newsletters
• a list of advertisements to be published in upcoming newsletters
• a list of all members and the newsletters they have edited
• a list of all members with email addresses
• a list of all members without email addresses

Constraints for the Delivery of the Proposed New System

1. Limited new facilities and resources will be provided within a budget of $25,000.00.
2. An 8% discount factor is used to calculate Net Present Value (NPV).
3. All Rocky Sports Club employees must remain and no additional staff should be employed due to your proposed use of the new computer application system; and
4. 2 additional computers for your development team’s use have been approved for this project.

The Tasks

You are assumed to have been appointed as a systems analyst right after you completed your study. For the purpose of assessment 1, you recently commence a system development project. Your role is to analyse the Project Case Study supplied to you, identify critical elements, undertake the tasks and develop a report about systems development and planning. For your tasks, you are expected to document the tasks within the project in a report.

Task 1. Problem(s) Identification and Project Initiation

Identify and discuss the problems of the current/existing system and discuss the activities required to initiate the project assuming that you have got the approval for the project.

What to include in your report for this task?

1. Identification and discussion of the problems of the current /existing system
2. Discussion on the activities required to initiate the project

Task 2. System Development Methodology

Provide a short description of each of the following system development methodologies, and then select one of those two methodologies towards system development. Justify your selected methodology by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of one methodology versus the other.

• Traditional Waterfall Model
• Agile Methodologies

What to include in your report for this task?

1. Description of both methodologies
2. Comparison of the methodologies to justify the selected one

Task 3. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

In this task, you need to divide the entire Rocky Sports Club Information System (RSCIS) project into manageable tasks and then logically order/sequence them to ensure a smooth evolution between tasks. This process is termed as Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

The WBS must be created as a table, either directly in your Microsoft Word report, or using other software (e.g. Excel, Project) and then copied/imported into your report. If you use other software, then you do not need to submit the original file. The WBS must contain only the following columns:

• Task ID
• Task description
• Estimated duration/effort (in days)
• Predecessor Task ID(s)

What to include in your report for this task?

1. The Work Breakdown Structure (a table as in ‘Sample WBS.pdf’ uploaded in the Assessments’ Details section of the Moodle unit website).

Task 4. Project Gantt Chart

For the Rocky Sports Club Information System (RSCIS) project, create a Gantt chart. Also provide an explanation of the Gantt chart, including any assumptions that were made in preparing it.

What to include in your report for this task?

1. A screenshot or copy-and-paste of the full Gantt chart. You MUST also submit the original Microsoft Project file
2. Explanation of Gantt chart and any assumptions

Task 5. Economic Feasibility (Cost/Benefit) Analysis

Conduct a 5- year cost/benefit analysis by completing all the following items:

Introduction:

The information system is the collection of technical elements and human resources. The Rocky Sports Club wants to implement an information system. The organization believes that IS can store and process their operational data.

1. Problem(s) Identification and Project Initiation:

The organization is currently having issues with monitoring the activities of the members such as how much and which articles they have submitted. The organization is having problem with tracking which member will edit next newsletter.

2. System Development Methodology:

Waterfall Methodology: The waterfall model is the conventional way of exciting a software project. The waterfall model is executed stage by stage. The method states that a stage can be imitated only if the previous stage is completed.

Agile Methodology: The agile methodology is considered as the iterative approach for software development. The methodology concentrates on developing the software in various iterations, based on requirements of the system. The agile methodology allows the project manager to include requirements in any stage of the project.

Comparison: The Rocky Sports Club needs a SDLC method that can support its simple and short project. The differences between the waterfall and agile methodology are as following.

1. The waterfall model is suitable for small and simple project. The agile is best suited for complex and big projects. If the number of requirements and subsystems of the project, then agile methodology is suggested over waterfall and vice versa.
2. The waterfall model does not support addition of requirements after requirement and analysis phase. The agile model supports the new requirements at any time of the project.

3. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):

4. Gantt Chart:

Figure 1: Gantt Chart

(Source: Created by Author)

5. Economic Feasibility (Cost/Benefit) Analysis:

Conclusion:

The report includes the description of the project for implementing information system in Rocky Sports Club. Selection of the waterfall method for the project implementation is perfect. The system can be extremely beneficial for the organization. The automation of the back processes can improve the operation of the organization.

Bibliography:

Baptista, A., Santos, F., Páscoa, J. and Sändig, N., 2016. Project management methodologies as main tool for current challenges in global economy driving historical changes. Journal of Advanced Management Science, 4(2).

Binder, J., 2016. Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. Routledge.

Hornstein, H.A., 2015. The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), pp.291-298.

Misopoulos, F., Michaelides, R., Salehuddin, M.A., Manthou, V. and Michaelides, Z., 2018. Addressing Organisational Pressures as Drivers towards Sustainability in Manufacturing Projects and Project Management Methodologies. Sustainability, 10(6), p.2098.