Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines
Trimester T2 2020
Unit Code HS2011
Unit Title Systems Analysis & Design
Assessment Type Individual Assignment
Assessment Title Current System Analysis and Modelling
Purpose of the
Assessment (with
ULO Mapping) The aim of this assignment is to produce a requirements document that captures the functional requirements for an information system that supports the current needs of Sunshine Motors as defined later in the Case Study Description.
This is a business report and should be written accordingly i.e. directed to the customer who is “Sunshine Motors”. It should reflect your understanding of the tasks required.
Students will be able to:
2) Evaluate system implementation and post implementation systems requirements.
3) Identify, critically analyse and investigate the process of exploring problem areas in a given context
4) Apply analysis and modelling techniques in the context of practical problems, discuss alternative models and solutions
5) Apply problem solving and object oriented design skills to build a simple systems prototype
6) Understand the ICT profession in systems analysis and design
8)
Review and describe the major legal and ethical issues with respect to systems analysis and design
Weight 15% of the total assessments
Total Marks 15
Word Limit 1500-2000 words
Due Date Week 8
Submission
Guidelines • All work must be submitted on Blackboard by the due date along with a completed Assignment Cover Page.
• The assignment must be in MS Word format, 1.5 spacing, 11-pt Calibri (Body) font and 2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate section headings.
• Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report, and listed appropriately at the end in a reference list using Harvard or IEEE referencing style.
Your tasks
Read the case carefully and if students need more detail either about the business or the assignment, they should talk to the lecturer or tutors, preferably before starting the task during the tutorial classes or go to the scheduled consultation time or email to make an appointment if necessary.
This assignment will require you to complete Milestone 1 - problem analysis, which includes understanding business in general, their challenges, current system issues/problems, essential functional/non-functional requirements and limitations. Milestone 2 – Data Modelling which uses some of the models of a Structured Approach, such as Event table, Data fragments, a context diagram, DFDs, ERD and DFD documentation to illustrate the current system.
Milestone 1: The Report Components
Create a business report with:
Cover Page
• Document Title
• Author(s) information
Table of Contents
• You have to use Microsoft Word build-in function when creating a Table of Contents.
Executive Summary
• What this assignment is about and what you want to achieve (the Executive Summary is different to Introduction and must be about 100 words in length).
Introduction
• Why conduct system analysis and design for a business?
• BA role, the business and IS analysts need to have a “big picture” view of any business and their information systems. You are required to list the major responsibilities which you should take on to help the business. What is your basic plan, where you start, what you do and what you want to achieve? • The purpose of your work
• The structure of your report
• Where did you collect data and information for completing the report?
Company/Business Background
• What is the business, and what does this business do? (A brief description of their current business operation, products and services. Please notes that you should read the case description, understand it
and provide a summary. You shouldn’t copy the case description which we provide directly to your report. Max, 100 words.)
• What are some of the challenges the business (internal and external) currently facing and how they impact on overall business future development?
• In your opinion, what are the three major problems which you consider are the most important for the business and explain why they are important. What are some of the opportunities when these problems are solved? How would the organisation be better off by solving this problem or taking up this opportunity? You are welcome to add on problems/issues which not currently listed, but which you consider are essential to address. You should provide reasoning.
• Clearly explain the current system’s objectives and constraints. Please note: you need to read the case description to understand what the current system does.
Scope (Current System)
• A written statement of functional/non-functional requirements (you are required to list them all with a brief explanation for each of them).
• Discuss the techniques of identifying the use cases.
Documentation
• Data dictionary o Complete TWO (2) key Data flow descriptions (Logical data dictionaries) o Data element descriptions (Physical data dictionaries, at least 1 of the key data entities)
• Process Descriptions
o A brief description for each of the key processes (top level processes in level 0 DFD) written in plain English
o Write at least ONE lower level process description in structured English Appendices (Ensure your pages are numbered for easy reference)
You should include the following information in appendices:
• Events table, DFD fragments, context diagram, levels 0 & 1 DFDs and ERD (Please see below modelling requirements for the current system).
• The appendices should also contain any other documents that might be useful for reference or too detailed or lengthy to put into the main part of the document.
Milestone 2: Modelling requirements for the current system
Provide a structured analysis of the functional requirements of the system presented as a set of logical data flow diagrams and prepare a data model represented as an entity-relationship diagram for the current system.
The set of data flow diagrams should include:
• Identify 5 to 6 key events, please notes that: o for each key function, you must have at least one event link to it;
o ‘cancellation’ or ‘updating’ related events shouldn’t be included in your list of events; o You should have at least one state, and one temporal event is included in your list of events.
• You should create an event table to list all these identified events, and each event should be matched with a DFD Fragment.
• A Context Diagram: This must be for the entire Sunshine Motors. You need to show relevant external agents together with data flows between the system and the external agents.
• A set of levelled data flow diagrams which includes: o Level 0 DFD which includes all top-level processes, key data stores, key data flows and key external entities.
o At least 1 top-level process from this Level 0 DFD is decomposed to level 1 DFD.
• An Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD): It should be a high-level data model (many to many relationships is acceptable in this unit).
You will be assessed on your application of data flow diagrams according to the following criteria: o DFD syntax o DFD data conservation (also commonly known as “balancing” or data consistency in some textbooks)
o Quality of names o Logical, not physical
o Quality of modelling is more important than quantity
Consistency - not only should each view (data flow, process, data store) be accurate and readable, but also the views must be consistent with each other, so the whole analysis makes sense.
Preferably, diagrams should be generated by using Visio Pro or other virtual tools but students may use the drawing capabilities of other packages.
Notes on Formatting and Structure
It is expected that all work submitted will have been edited for spelling, grammar and clarity. Your report needs to follow our standard format. Pages need to be numbered and your name must also appear on each page, not just the cover page. Evidence of attention to layout and structure needs to be present.
Bonus Points (up to 5 marks)
All individuals have a chance to gain bonus points if you have covered one or more the following points:
• Provide an excellent report or models;
• Complete additional tasks to fulfil the assignment, such as a very detailed problem analysis, functional or non-functional requirement, etc.
• Demonstrate a sound research effort via high quality of references.
Please note that you should complete the required tasks first before you attempt any extra tasks. If you achieve all basic tasks but are of low quality, you will not receive Bonus Points for any extra tasks you attempt. All the above will be discussed and decided by the teaching panel. We will mark on quality, not just quantity.
Any evidence of plagiarism will result in a Fail. Collaborative discussion with other members in the unit around concepts and additional examples is highly recommended, but do not copy.
We have adopted Self Check facility for assessment submission. This facility provides a matching service which will compare Draft and/or Final submissions with a significant database of web published resources, including online databases and journals. In the case of a Final submission, this will also be compared with other Holmes items submitted previously. By making use of the draft option and receiving reports back from Self Check it is expected students will be able to self-assess and correct submissions.
In the case of a Final Assignment Submission, no such report will be made available to students. It is the student's responsibility however, to familiarise themselves with how to avoid plagiarism please ask if you are not sure.
Don’t forget to keep back up. If your assignment goes astray, whether your fault or ours, you will be required to re-produce it. Lack of back-up will not be taken as an excuse for lost materials.
Late assignments may result in a lower grade for the assignment in terms of Holmes assessments guidelines.
How you will be assessed?
Please refer to the marking guide on blackboard