Appendix A
Case Study (An Example of All
Project Documents)
AMALGAMATEDCOURSES SOFTWARE
AND HARDWARE PROJECT
INTRODUCTION
[This project startedthe followingAll items in square brackets are
comments by the Author.]
AmalgamatedLtd. givestypes of weaving
courses.have classes in 10 major cities in North America, each one
presented at leastthreeStudents come from all over the country,
but can register by phoning headquaters (collect) in
MEMO
FROM:John Strawman, President
TO:Larry Loom, Technical Department
SUBJECT: Need for Automation
Larry, we have to doabout our registration and information system.
a student phones to register for one of our courses, Joan takes the
information on a piece of paper, then transfers it to a course filepiece
of paper), which eventually gets collated (on paper).
Last month alone we lost 3 registrations, told2 students to go to wrong course,
did not have enough material for 2 courses (twice as manyshowed up as
wc anticipated, and we had no way ofwho was officially registered) and
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256Appendix A
we forgot to tell the instructor about one course. I also suspect we arebilling
everyone--our revenues are down but the number of students seems to be up.
I also suspect we should givein Montreal, and that we are giving the
wrong courses for the time of the year.
Can a system be implemented to solve this?
P.S. If we do not have our act together in six months we will be out of business.
P.P.S. We have $200,000 left in our bank account.
Requirements Documents
REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Amalgamated Basketweaving Courses Ltd.
14 Weaver Rd., Rattan, On.,1L5
Contact: Mr. Case Basket
Controller,
This document is prepared to provide vendors with information to quote a price on providing and installing software and hardware for the information system requiredfor ABC. All bids must be received by date X. Terms and conditions for selection are outlined in Section 16 of this document.
INTRODUCTION:
ABC gives different types of weaving courses. They have classes in the following major cities in North America [list here].
Each course is presented at least 4 times per year per city. Students come from
over the country, but can register by phoning (collect) our main office in
Rattan. We have no computer expertise. All expenditures must be approved by our fearless leader and CEO, Mr. Barry Strawman.
Major problem: General confusion in registration and course administration. Presently, when a student phones to register for one of our courses, the secretary writes the information on a piece of paper, then transfers it to a course file (another piece of paper), which eventually gets collated (on paper).
Lastregistrations,t old 2 students tothe wrong course,
did not have enough material for 2 courses (twice as many people showed up as
we anticipated, and we had no way of telling who was officially registered) and
we forgot to tell the instructor about one course. We also suspect we are not
billing everyone--our revenues are down but the number of students seems to
be up.
We also suspect thatgive coursescities, and thatgiving
the courses at the wrong times of the year.
2. PROJECT GOALS:
Replace existing manual registration system atwith:
Registration that is fast (on phone), no losses, with timely notification to student, instructor and ABC of appropriate information.
Financial system to accurately produce billing, accounting, and course material information when needed.
Reporting to management, for better decisions about where and when to hold
appropriate courses, available immediately on a terminal or to be printed on
request.
Project should be done within 6 months of initiation, for under $200,000.
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Appendix A
3. MAJOR FUNCTIONS:
Registration on-line by a phone operator, with information on all courses such as enrollments (list of students), cost, location visible. Automatic confirmation
to student, and summary of enrollments to Two weeks before a course,
enrollments go to instructor, ABC, and course material warehouse.
Course Administration on line. courses from a schedule. Change
pricing on a course. Close a course (tell system that a course ran and who attended.)
Financial system that invoices student within two weeks after attending course,
keeps Accounts Receivables, of revenues by course type, time period and
geography monthly. Warning about students who owe us but want to enroll.
Warehouse system notifies warehouse clerk two weeks before course, of items
required for the course, where the course is, location of items in warehouse.
materials required for a course. Automatic inventory decrement and re-ordering as well.
Management Information Reporting system: Weekly report to CEO, or on
request, of number of registrations, courses, revenues. On request, reports
detailing courses, enrollments, and revenues by course type, geography, time of
year.
Although not needed at this time, we are also thinking of producing mailing lists, instructor schedules, and location schedules in the future.
4. GENERAL OUTPUTS:
On line: if a student phones, answer questions such as:
When are the next 3 XYZ courses, where, what price?"
"I am John Smith. Where am I registered? How many others are registered? "What is the maximum enrollment?"
"Please register me for XYZ course."
"Please cancel me from course XYZ."
Confirmation: Printout of student confirmation mailed to student. (What course he enrolled in, when, payment information.)
Weekly print-out: all enrollments for thecourse and location, revenues
associated with courses that ran.
Monthly print out: course sales for the month by type, location, time (for management). Accounts Receivables report with items invoiced and outstand-
ing and paid to Accounting.
Two weeks before a course: print out of enrollments, location, course material (for instructor and warehouse). Revenue summary (for management). List of materials required and location of the course (to warehouse).
One day after a course: invoice (to student), a diploma (to student), update Accounts Receivables.
Reports on request: on-line reports of registrations, attendance,reve-
nues by course, by geography, by time of year.
5. GENERAL INFORMATION INPUTS REQUIRED:
[Theproject ream, after further interviews with the user, fills in the following:]
Requirements Documents259
Registration: Student name, address, course to register on, payment information, etc.
Financial: course cost, billing status by student, material cost, etc.
Warehouse: material required by course, minimum inventory, information on vendor of material, reorder quantity, etc.
And so forth.
6. PERFORMANCE:
Registration or general enquiry phone calls are expected approximately 2 per minute (maximum registrations one per 20 minutes maximum 1 0 reports
may be requested at most one per 1 0 minutes. Other reports and requests weekly, monthly or driven by occurrance of courses as detailed above.
There are at most 15 courses per month.
7. GROWTH:
ABC expects a general 30% growth per year. This system must perform for the next three years.
8. OPERATION AND ENVIRONMENT:
The computer will reside in room 105 at our Rattan office. Terminals must be
available to our two registrars, one each in the offices of Mr. Case, Mr.
man, and Ms. Administrator, and 2 in the warehouse. Printout capability is
required in the office area and in the warehouse. The warehouse is full of paper
dust.
9. COMPATIBILITY, INTERFACES:
We are considering opening a branch office on the West coast. There we would do only local registration functions, with all other functions to be done in Rattan. We have a Brand X word processor presently. We wish all documents accessible or converted to the new system.
10. RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY:
[Quote Mean Time Between FailuresMean Time to Repair
(MTTR) and percentage up time required. All manufacturers publish these
figures forhardware, except that they are never overso do not request
anything greater than that.]
We wish the computer to be up 99% of the workday period, and we cannot lose any information.
11. HUMAN INTERFACE:
ABC has no computer experience. Mr. Strawman's son has this computer that has a 'mouse'. He wishes our new system to have menus driven by 'mouses' (meeces?). We wish detailed help at the push of a button.
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Appendix A
12. ORGANIZATIONAL IMPACT:
[This paragraph will be filled in by theThe user may state items such as,
" Due to a strong union in our shop, we cannot reduce the number of people on
our staff." ]
13. MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT:
The vendor must fix any problems with the system for 6 months after delivery, within 24 hours of being notified.
14. DOCUMENTATION AND TRAINING:
Vendor must provide documents and training for all of the users. The documen-
tation and the training will explain in detail each person's job on the computer. The vendor must also provide training for one computer operator.
15. ADVANTAGES [RFP ONLY]:
Vendors must supply: Names and phone numbers of 3 locations where they
implemented successful sytems. A description of the project management
method they use, including size and relevant experience of their project teams.
16. TERMS AND CONDITIONSC'S) [RFP ONLY]:
ABC company has the right to select among vendors based on their own criteria.
Any submitted documents will become the property of The winner will be
announced no later than date X. ABC has the right to acceptreject any
of the proposed systems. Pricing for such will be renegotiated with the vendor.
ABC will own all softwares implemented, including the right to resell it. The
vendor must the delivery of the software and hardware 6 months after
signing a contract, or there will be apenalty of 10% of the project price per month of late delivery.