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Onthespot

The document discusses requirements for developing a system for On the Spot Courier Services. Stakeholders include the owner, customers, delivery persons, and warehouse staff. To determine requirements, the assistant would interview stakeholders to understand services offered, customers, scheduling, payments, routes, and warehouse functions. The system would need a central server, warehouse scanners, and mobile devices for delivery trucks with scanning, printing, and internet capabilities. Primary functional requirements include adding/updating customers, requesting pickups, tracking packages, sorting routes, updating routes, billing, and accepting payments.

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40 views2 pages

Onthespot

The document discusses requirements for developing a system for On the Spot Courier Services. Stakeholders include the owner, customers, delivery persons, and warehouse staff. To determine requirements, the assistant would interview stakeholders to understand services offered, customers, scheduling, payments, routes, and warehouse functions. The system would need a central server, warehouse scanners, and mobile devices for delivery trucks with scanning, printing, and internet capabilities. Primary functional requirements include adding/updating customers, requesting pickups, tracking packages, sorting routes, updating routes, billing, and accepting payments.

Uploaded by

19nh92
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World, seventh edition 2-2

On the Spot Courier Services

1. Who are the stakeholders for On the Spot? How involved should On the Spot’s customers be in
system definition? As the business grows, who else might be potential stakeholders and interested
in system functions?
Stakeholders include:
— Bill Wiley – owner
— Customers, usually businesses
— Delivery persons
— Warehouse staff

Since Bill was the visionary for the business and the system, he will understand the needs of the
system. However, since he is letting business customers use the system to schedule packages, it
would be a good idea to form a focus group of users who would be willing to help in
requirements definition.
Both the delivery persons and the warehouse staff will have suggestions on how to make their
jobs easier. They should be involved in requirements definition.

Bill's accountant should be involved to ensure that the system has sufficient financial
information and controls.

2. If you were commissioned to build a system for Bill, how would you determine the
requirements? Be specific in your answer. Make a list of the questions you need answered.
Since this is a small start-up company, the work procedures are very probably not efficient and
probably are not scaleable. Therefore, care should be taken not to build the system to only
support these small scale work procedures.
Either of two approaches can be taken. If Bill has a good vision of how he wants his business to
function as it expands and grows, then interviewing Bill is a good starting place. However, if
Bill is still focusing on the current procedures, it may be a good idea to start by research
commercial solutions from vendors. The courier business is well established with many players
and several commercial systems available. Researching commercial solutions can expand the
vision and view of how On The Spot can provide expanded services. After researching
commercial solutions, Bill should be interviewed to discuss the exact requirements for On The
Spot.
Other stakeholders, as identified in Answer 1, should also be interviewed.
Kinds of questions that need answers.
— Services offered by On The Spot: Same-day delivery, Overnight delivery, Package
pickup, sizes and rates
— Customers: Cash only customers, account customers, new customers, billing
— Scheduling of pickup: What is allowed, phone, web page, fax
— Payment: Cash only, on web page, monthly account
— Routes: How to organize, pickup and delivery, standard routes, ad hoc routes, multiple
Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World, seventh edition 2-3

per day
— Warehouse: Windows of processing, equipment required, what information is tracked
— Package delivery: routes, tracking of packages,

3. What technology and communication requirements do you see?What are the hardware
requirements, and what kind of equipment will provide viable options to the system? What would
you recommend to Bill?
There appear to be four locations that will require interaction with the system.
1. Customer Web pages where customers can list packages for pickup and also make
payment. Regular customers may also print out their own labels.
2. A work station where a clerk can handle phone requests for pickup.
3. The warehouse where sorting occurs and tracking information is entered.
4. The delivery trucks where pickups are noted, payments are accepted, labels are printed,
deliveries are noted. These delivery trucks are mobile, and should have real time
interaction with the home server.
Equipment to support these functions might be:
— A central server for the Web pages and for clerk entered pickup requests
— Warehouse equipment, such as scanners, to note tracking information.
— Mobile devices for the trucks. Probably tablet computers Internet access and with
scanning wand. Also a mobile printer in the truck. (If rates are by size, then they can be
measured. If rates are by weight, then set of scales is also needed.) The mobile devices
will need Internet access to communicate with the home office. This can be provided
either with cell phone technology and support, or with wide-area Wi-fi that is available
in some cities. Cell phone access to the Internet is more widespread.

4. What are the primary functional requirements for the system as described so far in the case?
Functional requirements can be listed as use cases.
— Add/update a customer
— Request a pickup
— Pickup a package
— Deliver a package
— Enter package tracking information
— Track a package
— Sort packages by route
— Display a route (print, view) (list of pickups/deliveries)
— Update a route (add pickups or deliveries real time)
— Print monthly bills (print, electronic)
— Accept payment

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