300585 - Systems Analysis & Design

Workshop 4
Workshops will run to cover the practical aspects of the topic each week via workshop case study
(that runs across the whole semester) and other examples via 2 parts

• Workshop Quiz
o Students to visit app.gosoapbox.com, click Join and use access code ‘wsquiz’ to
attempt the workshop quiz. Pls note this quiz is not assessable. Students must
attempt this quiz in the time allocated by the workshop facilitator/tutor, followed
by discussions on the student attempt and the topics
• Workshop questions
o This document contains 2 parts
o Part A contains Classwork case study and questions that are done in workshop
with the tutor in Groups of students. Task 1 would always refer to Workshop Case
study and some additional case studies in rest of the tasks and is NOT to be
submitted on vuws for marking.
o Part B contains questions and tasks related to case studies that individual
students need to answer in their own time and submit under link for Submission
for Workshop 4 answer, this will form part of as Portfolio exercises as per the
information given in Assessment 1 in the Learning guide.

Part A: Workshop work to be done during the workshop

Task 1

Case Study Willow Brook School

Willow Brook School is a small private school that has retained your services as a systems analyst
to assist in the acquiring of the new information system for the school’s administrative needs.

Background

Based on your earlier recommendations, Willow Brook decided to continue the systems
development process for the new information system that is user friendly, would improve
operations, reduce costs and some of the administrative workload. The school has identified that
this new system should be operational in 3 months so that the staff are able to use it and are
familiar with it completely before the start of the next session.

Considering the requirements identified and timeline, it is important to identify the various
alternatives available to acquire this new information system. Options are in-house development,
a commercial off the shelf package, customization or Software as a Service.

Now, we are in the systems analysis phase and before system requirements are captured it is
important to analyze system development strategies and give a presentation with the
recommended option to the Willow Brook School’s management and board of directors. Many of
the proposed system’s advantages were described during the fact-finding process.
You must examine tangible costs and benefits to determine the economic feasibility of multiple
alternatives. The finance and fund-raising committees will need to examine the costs and benefits
to determine if the development process will go ahead. If Willow Brook School decides to go ahead
with development, the system can either be developed in-house or purchased as a vertical package
and configured to meet the needs of the school.

Based on your research, you originally estimated that by working 35 hours per week an in-house
development project can be completed in about 8 weeks. Your consulting rate as agreed by Willow
Brook, is $35 per hour. One of the options is to design the new system as a database application,
which can be acquired at approximately $1,500 for a networked commercial package. One of the
parents at Willow Brook has extensive experience with this package as a Database Administrator
at a local company, and has committed to voluntarily providing 10 hours per week working with
you to develop the project. After the system is operational and the staff is trained, Willow Brook
staff and volunteers have agreed to handle all routine maintenance tasks. If they continue to
require your assistance, a contract rate can be negotiated later depending on the nature of the
problem.

As an alternative to in-house development is a SAAS software package called “School-Admin”,

available for about $8,500. The software package has been used in schools within the country and
is known for providing a quality solution to school administrative needs whilst the support is
expensive. The system is proven for years to be quite robust and scalable and is supported by
testimonials, indicating an overall tilt towards using their software.

The vendor offers “School-Admin” as a lease-purchase package of $2,000 down payment, followed
by two annual installments of $3,250 each. If Willow Brook buys the package, it would take you
about three weeks of full time work to install, configure, and test. The vendor provides free support
during the first year of operation, further-on Willow Brook must sign a technical support agreement
at an annual cost of $750 for the duration of years. The package contains not all but many of the
features that Willow Brook requires however most of the reports are pre-designed and layouts
difficult to modify. The requirements of the integrated information system required by Willow
Brook are unique.

You have agreed to provide five hours per week of training and support for the first two months of
operation. After the new system is operational, it will need routine maintenance, backups, and
updating. These tasks will require about four hours per week and will be performed by school staff
or parent volunteers at an average hourly rate of $12.50.

For both the in-house development and the SaaS software package, the necessary hardware will
cost about $3,500. Hardware and network installation will be done by three parent volunteers.

Tasks

In order to recommend a development strategy to Willow Brook management, there is need to

analyze whether to go for In-house development or SaaS software package.

1. To conduct this analysis, perform a total cost analysis of both the options and make
recommendation as to which option should be chosen.
2. Justify the reasons behind your recommendation
Task 2

Sandy Shores Time Shares

Sandy Shores Time Shares is one of the largest time-sharing and rental brokers for vacation
cottages along the North Carolina coast. After 10 successful years of matching up owners and
renters, Sandy Shores decided to acquire a computerized reservation and booking system. Tim
Burns, the owner of Sandy Shores, read an article about software packages, and he asked you, as
an IT consultant, for your advice.

Q1. Would the new reservation and booking system be a horizontal or a vertical application?
Explain your answer.

Q2. What software development and acquisition strategies should Sandy Shores consider?

Q3. As a systems analyst, what would your role be in helping Sandy Shores develop a new
system? Would the acquisition strategy affect your role? Why or why not?

Task 3:

Sandia Medical Devices (SMD) – Running Case study

Q1. From the information given in the case study in the past weeks, determine what type of
development strategy would be most suitable to acquire Real-Time Glucose Monitoring (RTGM)
for Sandia medical Devices? Justify your determined strategy by listing the benefits.

Q2. Are there any indications in the case study where the Real-Time Glucose Monitoring
(RTGM) could potentially be sold as a commercial off the shelf package in the future?

Q3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of buying a commercial off the shelf package
or SaaS?

Part B: Answers to these questions to be submitted on vUWS – will form part of

Portfolio

Task 1

Case Study WSU Transport Management Information System

UWS has retained your services as a systems analyst to assist in the development of a new
information system.

Background

WSU is experiencing a high number of student intakes and the immediate concern is the lack of
adequate transportation facilities from major stations such as Parramatta. Further to this is the
added complication of non-availability of free parking. The university has come up with solutions
such as a dedicated bus route from University to Major bus interchange/station, mono rail link to
Rydalmere station. The university is also looking to integrate the Opal ticketing system with their
student database to track the number of students using public transport or the mono rail and offer
travel concession to students on their travel costs when using the OPAL card wherein a tap on tap
off at the University bus stop or monorail is recorded in the system and every student gets a travel
concession up to 40 dollars per month. The following is the process flow/description for the WSU
transport management information system. Firstly, the OPAL ticketing system is integrated with
the University student database and they form an information system of student details, OPAL card
details, Record the number of trips made by students to and from the university. The database is
an Oracle based data base system supported by 2 high capacity servers of the university. When a
student taps on or off at the university bus stop, the trip details is recorded in the information
system and the OPAL card number is searched and matched with a student record in the database.
Subject to student records being matched, the university IT admin staff generates a monthly report
on the student information software which contains the total number of trips made by students
and their relevant costs. This report is later sent to the data analytics team to segregate the number
of students who have spent more than 40 dollars a week on transport to the university and process
the concession for the students onto the accounting system. The accounting software then credits
back the amount into the student’s bank account on a monthly basis.

You are part of the Agile Scrum team with the responsibility of the Systems Analyst for this system
project. Based on your research, it is estimated that an in-house development project could be
completed in about four weeks. This time estimate is based on 70 hours a week split equally
between your team and another team from the vendor solutions department. Your consultancy
rate is 35$ per hour. The vendor solutions department uses a charge-back rate of $40 per hour for
work for other university departments. Three training sessions of five hours each will be required
to train all staff in the new system. The charge-back cost of a training specialist from the vendor
solutions department is $25 per hour. Training and technical support for the first year for the
vertical software package is included in the initial price.

The estimates indicate that the housing office can expect to have staff spend 12 hours a week
performing maintenance, file backups, and updating of the new system, at $22.50 per hour.

As an alternative to in-house development, a vertical software package is available for about

$12,000, including an on-site day of training and technical support for the first year. If the
department buys the package, it would take you about 3 weeks to install, configure, and test it,
working full-time for 40 hours. The vendor provides free support during the first year of operation,
but then the housing office must sign a technical support agreement at an annual cost of $10750.
During your analysis of the vertical software package, you noticed that they do not have a sales and
support center in your city and that customer reviews indicate that it often takes 3-4 days to
respond back to queries and resolve issues. However, the company does conduct regular visits to
their clients and inspects for any issues thereby having a system of preventive maintenance as well.

For both the in-house development and the vertical software package, the necessary hardware will
cost about $3,500. Network upgrading, necessary for either option, has been estimated at $4,000
by the network operations team.

Before that you will now analyze whether to go for Development in house or an Outsourced
software package.
 1. Perform a total cost analysis of both the options and provide your recommendation as to
which option should be chosen. (please paste the cost analysis table in your word
document)
2. Justify the reasons behind your recommendation

Task 2

Visit MindTap site Module 7/Visualize and watch videos under Managing Director of Technology,
SEI.

Question. List 3 advises you would take from John’s job at SEI, experience at Temple University,
loves and challenges in his job at SEI.

Task 3

Through previous weeks Online learning activities, you would have familiarized yourself with the
Appliance Warehouse Case and its company website on Mindtap. Visit MindTap site Module 7/
Appliance Warehouse Case. Go through the navigation reading all information to the webmail
client,

Q1 read message dated 25 March and perform the task of identifying the off the shelf packages
and calculate their cost verses the cost of in-house development for this solution.

Q2 read message dated 27 March and perform the task. Compare the two options. Give 3
reasons for your recommendation.

Hint: You should research service-based business applications that allow for appointment setting
and service provider scheduling. You will also use multiple files in the Resource Library to complete
these activities such as interview and survey results, as well as the pre-packaged software
features.