Diagrams

BLOG WEEK 7 – DIAGRAMS

Task1 – Problems caused by Written Communication

Working in a computer environment entails using a variety of methods for communicating with designers and the end users.  Written word is used more often when trying to communicate information to others but in the instance of a system analysis where they need to communicate complex analysis and design details to designers and end users it may be better suited or appropriate to use diagrams. By presenting the analysis using diagrams the designers and end users can follow the information clearly and concisely without any confusion that written text may present. If the system analysis decided to use written communication in place of diagrams then they must be careful with what they write and how they write it as talking face to face with some one you can tell by their body language and tone if they are pleased or angry about the progress of the project. The correct phrasing and choice of words are important in order not to mislead the user/groups designing the project as this could lead to the project to be slowed down or temperately stopped until a meeting is arranged to clear up any confusion that has occurred.

Task 2

The two diagrams I will used to illustrate where they have been used instead of written word are entity-relationship diagrams (ERD) and flow chart diagrams. I will then list the advantages of these diagrams and assess the usefulness of these diagrams.

Entity-Relationship Diagrams

An entity relationship diagram is used when beginning the design of a database to visualise a relational database. After the system specifications have been gathered the entity relationship diagram would be drawn showing the design of the database. The purpose of this diagram is to show the type of information that is to be stored and how these entities will be associated with each other. The ER diagrams are very easy to understand and therefore can be presented in a meeting where everyone can follow. Some of the advantages of ER diagrams are;

• They are simple to use – even the inexperience users can understand the diagram with ease.
• They can provide a unified view of data – This allows everyone to see the kind of information that will be entered in the database.
• Better to communicate to designers/end users – because of its simple design it can be easily explained without any confusion.
• Being able to visualise the outcome of the database – with this approach you can see how the database will function and all the relevant information.

 

Conclusion

I believe entity relationship diagrams are a brilliant way for system analysis to communicate to designers and end users as the purpose of an ER diagram is for displaying clear and concise information.

Flow Chart Diagram

A flow chart uses symbolic representation of a process and each step is represented by a different symbol and contains a short description of the process step. The flow chart symbols are linked together using arrows the show the process flow direction. This diagram would be used by a system analysis to present an algorithm. I have listed some of the symbols that are used in a flow chart below

• Terminator: An oval flow chart shape indicating the start or end of the process.
• Process: A rectangular flow chart shape indicating a normal process flow step.
• Decision: A diamond flow chart shape indication a branch in the process flow.
• Connector: A small, labeled, circular flow chart shape used to indicate a jump in the process flow.
• Data: A parallelogram that indicates data input or output (I/O) for a process.
• Document: used to indicate a document or report

The advantages of using a flow chart diagram are as follows;

• Are easy to understand.
• They provide a graphical representation of actions to be taken.
• It is a better way of communicating the logic of a system to everyone concerned.
• The flow chart helps in the debugging process.

 

 Conclusion

I believe flow charts like entity relationship diagrams are a brilliant way for system analysis to communicate to designers and end users as the diagram provides clear and concise information.

Meetings

Task 1

In this task I have been asked for an estimate for the percentage of the working time spent in meetings by

• Programmers

• Systems analysts

A programmer’s week typical consists of at last a 40hour a week plus overtime that are spend on writing complex programs and dealing with technical problems. Programmers often work together in teams communicating to each other and if a team reports a problem then a meeting is scheduled and the meeting won’t end until the problem is discussed and ideas are fixed and agreed on. These meetings can be 4 to 5 hours a week and are scheduled daily to track the progress of programmers. Percentage of time spent in meetings = 10% -12.5%.                                                                                                                                                                         The following link describes briefly the average day for a programmer; http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/8gzvs/what_is_your_average_day_like_as_a_programmer/

Like a programmer a system analyst also works a 40hour week and meetings are an important roll to their job as they are required to these meetings to offer suggestions for program updates that could help facilitate new projects or help to find a solution to problems that may have occurred in current projects. These meetings would be scheduled daily also as the system analyst needs to communicate with the department, clients, designers and programmers so he/she can be sure the project is running on schedule. System analyst would spend approximately 2 to 3 hours in meetings a day keeping all concerned a consistent update of the project. Percentage of time spent in meetings = 25% – 37.5%                                                                                                        “About half my days are spent in meetings with co-workers and representatives from all around Telstra and from other companies working with Telstra (eg. IBM).” – http://www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=797&languageId=1&contentId=-1 

The Purpose of a Post Implementation Review Meeting The purpose of a post implementation review meeting is carried out with the team concerned with creating or developing the system to review the success of the project. These reviews are effective and should take place daily during the project. This enables the team to determine what results the project should be outputting, whether the project is achieving the results doing they planned for, discover any issues concerning the project and to enable the team and future teams to learn from the experience thus the project will be of a higher standard.

What happens before, during and after a Structured Walkthrough?

Before a structured walkthrough the presenter gets specifications, documentations and diagrams to prepare for the walkthrough then the coordinator is notified. Then the coordinator will schedule a meeting and notify the teams and supply the material that is needed. The coordinator will also ask for the teams to bring forward suggestions to the table so that the team will actually read the material supplied.

During the walkthrough the reviewers will hand out list of errors in the documentation that don’t need explanation. Once everyone had made their contribution the teams have a vote on whether to accept it, accept it but go change things, or go back and fix things and schedule another walkthrough but it is important not to have anymore that two as people will lose interest.

After the walkthrough the coordinator writes up a summary from the secretary’s notes and is given to the teams whom attended the walkthrough. The summary must be understood by the producer so he/she is prepared to explain why they did fix and didn’t fix certain things.

The roles of ‘chicken’ and ‘pig’ in a Scrum meeting?

 The chicken and the pig are the two main roles in a scrum meeting. The pigs are the ones committed to the project and the chickens are the consultants. The pigs are really the ones who own the project, scrum master and the team involved. The pigs are responsible for the project and are accountable for the outcome. The Chickens are the users who are going to be using the program. Chickens don’t speak at the scrum, they are just informed of its progress. For a chicken only a contribution is required as a chicken can resume normal activities.

P.I.G.” where P stands for Persistence, I for Integrity, and G stands for Guts.

COM172 ABC Bakeries

Second Blog Entry in WordPress.com

ABC Bakeries

 

Name of Client: ABC Bakeries 

To:  Mr Seamus O’Kane

RE: Economic Feasibility of ABC Bakeries. 

From: Christopher McBride

Date: 16/10/09

I have reviewed the scenario and background of ABC Bakeries based in Carrickfergus and it is very obvious that the problems in each of the departments will contribute to the business to lose money, lose business, possibly lose staff and may even find it difficult to break into new markets therefore I will carry out a Economic Feasibility study on the proposed new system of Ecommerce. I have made up a number of questions to help me in this task. The following questions are;

      I.        What is the current size of the bakery distribution company’s Market share and how far would the company like its market share to expand to?

 

    II.        How efficient/reliable is the bakeries service that the company provides and how can it be improved?

 

   III.        Can the business maintain a confident and satisfactory distribution service with its current factor floor/warehouse and staff to distribute larger sales? If not then how much would it cost to expand for both staff and warehouses?

 

  IV.        Is there any procedure already in place to track the bakeries products and their different stages of delivery? How much would this procedure cost to implement and would it be effective to the company?

 

   V.        Is there a need for more supervisors to deal with the employees and to make sure that all company procedures are followed? What are the current disciplinary procedures in place and how effective are they?

 

  VI.        Is there a need for extra vans or suitable vehicles due to breakdowns and how much would this cost?

 

 VII.        Is there a real demand to expand the warehouse or is there a possibility of opening up a new warehouse to expand productivity? Can the current size of the workforce cope with this demand at festive periods during the year or will more staff need to be recruited?

 

With the management of ABC reluctant to opening more shops and employing more shop staff due to the occurrence of more problems then I believe that the option of developing an internet based business selling the speciality products online to consumers is the way forward for many reasons. There are many potential benefits selling their products online but just not for the bakery but also their customers.

Selling online will allow ABC customers to take advantage of the following;

-More convenient shopping.

With the help of e-commerce, retail companies have the option of offering the customer the convenience of shopping right in the comfort of their own home or office.

– Lesser errors in the order-taking process.

There is less human intervention. For example, if you will go to the -Shopping Cart- portion of a retail shopping site and you decide that there are items that you do not actually want to buy, you can easily go back and delete or uncheck the products that you do not need. As a buyer, you will process the order yourself and the rest of the transaction is automated so there is lesser room for errors.

– Bigger discounts.

Allow the order-taking process to be fully automated. As a result, the company where you are buying the products from can afford to offer bigger discounts because less manpower is needed.

The advantages For ABC Bakeries selling online;

First, once the system has been set up, there is no need to hire individuals who will manually process the orders so lesser operational costs are required. The same thing applies to:

– Document preparation

– Error detection for the order-taking process

– Error correction for the order-taking process

– Data entry

– Expenses for supervision

– Marketing tasks

– Sending product information to customers through mailers.

-Delivery can be very rapid, companies can keep huge stock in places where land is cheap because they do not need an expensive high street shops.

Training Needs

If the workspace is to be kept up to date with the new technology and developments in the industry, they will require training.  Training is essential to ensure employees learn new skills, improve those they already have and to achieve the full potential of the new system and software.  This can have a number of benefits for both the employee and the business:

 

• Trained workers are able to produce more which makes them more profitable to employ.
• They can improve efficiency in a number of ways.  They become more confident dealing with customers as they know that there are doing.
• Workers trained to do several tasks are described as ‘multi-skilled’.  This makes them more flexible as they can do a number of jobs within a business.

 

Despite the above advantages training brings, it is expensive therefore training must be effective.  By the end of any training session workers should be better educated and more skilled and enable them to work quicker with fewer errors, therefore making them more productive.

 

All employees must be trained in the correct use of all aspects of their work station equipment and know how to avoid possible health problems, e.g. through the user of non-reflective VDU screens or adjustable chairs.

 

People will need to be trained

• The Personnel officer
• The Three members of the personnel clerical team
• The accountant and his future team

• The sales manager
• The sales clerical team of four
• Anyone who uses the design department

 

There are two main types of training

1. Induction
2. Teaching Job Specific Skills – On the job training/Off the job training

 

Induction

The aim of this type of training is to introduce new employees to their workplace.  It is often about the way in which the business works rather than about the job the new employee may have been hired to do.  It is not about giving them the skills to do a particular job.  It is likely to provide information about a number of topics.

1. The history and management structure of the firm
2. The layout of the workspace
3. Workspace systems e.g. who is responsible for what etc
4. Health and safely policies and procedures etc

 

A good induction scheme is important, as employees will learn what is expected of them.  They will hopefully make fewer mistakes and in term increase the efficiently of the business.  Employees will also hopefully be more confident.

 

On the job Training

This type of training involves workers being trained as they continue to so their jobs.  There are several ways in which this form if training takes place.

 

‘At their Elbow’

This is the most common form of on-the-job training, and is where new employee works with or next to an experienced worker and learns the job ‘at their elbow’.  While this method of training is relatively inexpensive and less likely to disrupt the productive flow of work, new employees can often-learn bad habits or develop poor work practices from the established employee.

 

‘Mentoring’

Many office and professional workers use a scheme of mentoring.  This system enable a new employee to work on their own initiative whilst being paired with a more experienced member of staff who is able to off them advice and help.

Off the Job Training

This training occurs where employees receive their training away from their workstations or place of work.  As with on – the – job training, it can take several forms, raging from companies’ organisation their own training to courses being run by local colleges or nation training organisations.

Task 2

The management team required to analyse, design and implement the new ecommerce site for ABC bakeries are as follows;

Project manager – I believe that there should be two project managers as this is a very important role to be carried out by just one person. The main role of the project managers will be to ensure everything is running with minimum errors or problems to do with both the new system and staff. The project managers will also take on the role of ensuring all targets are met at all stages of the project and making sure the new system will be delivered on time.

Systems Analysts – The system analysis will be responsible to carry out the task of analysing the current system and the feasibility study of the new system. Making sure that the new computer based system would be beneficial to the bakery.

Web Designer – The role of the web designer is to design and implement the system to make sure it’s in working and will carry out the tasks requested by the system analysis.

Emma’s Café – COM172 – Week5 Blog

Emma’s Café

Task 1

The first part of this assignment I have been asked to design a questionnaire for Emma’s café and give a brief explanation of the proposed questions I have created. By doing this it will provide Emma with an idea of what her potential customers may think about a vegetarian café and a more informative idea on how successful/unsuccessful her business would be if she was to go ahead and open her café within the University of Ulster Jordanstown.

Below I have provided the link to the questionnaire:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=dk9e5TI_2b_2bL8wweXqIfTn7g_3d_3d

This questionnaire will target not only the students and staff but visitors and people who pass through the university each day. The main aim is to discover how many people within the university are vegetarians and how many people like to eat healthy therefore would the thought of a café that serves vegetarians dishes be welcomed and would it be a success with in the university.

The questionnaire I have created contains a series of questions which I believe will give Emma an idea of the costumers her café would attract. The first few questions I created asked the potential costumer who is filling out the questionnaire if they are perhaps male or female, what age category they would fall under and if they are a vegetarian. As there is a local high school near by to the university there are always high school children passing through the university and using the facilities such as the canteens and shops so with this in mind the age category being provided in the questionnaire will give Emma an idea the type of customer she’s attracting as it is essential that Emma’s products are priced accordingly so that if the majority of the questionnaires came back with the costumer clientele aged either < 15 or 15 – 25 years old then Emma will know  that when pricing her products they have to be affordable to both the school children and student within the university.

I have then went on to ask the potential costumer that if they are a vegetarian then how long have they been, I feel this question is suitable as it would provide Emma with reassurance that once becoming a vegetarian it’s not just for a short period of time but that it’s a lifestyle that people are happy with and will continue to lead with therefore providing her with custom. In question number six of the questionnaire I have asked ‘do you try to eat healthily’, as it’s not just not vegetarians who will be hopefully providing Emma with custom but people who wish to eat healthy and not just to go for the big greasy burger in one of the other canteens in the university. I have also asked that if any of the existing restaurants/cafes within the university offer alternative vegetarian menus, this feedback will then provide Emma with an understanding of competition/noncompetition she would have. In question number nine I have asked do they feel there is a big enough demand for the requirements of vegetarian menu within Jordanstown campus, I believe this is the key question for Emma and the feedback she will receive will determine if she would receive enough custom for both vegetarians and non vegetarians to make her café a success.  

I wanted to keep the questionnaire simple and not confuse people with long questions or for them to provide a details answer as it can be off putting and resulting with people leaving questions blank or not even filling out the questionnaire. The layout of the questionnaire was quite simple and I supplied a small tick box for the selected answer. The main layout choice I choose consisted of:

• Multiple choice (only one answer)

My conclusion of the questionnaire is that it is simple to use and would take a maximum of two minutes or less for someone to fill in. I have tried to attract all types of people in the questionnaire and not just students or vegetarians. I believe Emma will have a good response from the questionnaire and weather the feedback is good or bad this it will help her make a decision to open or café or not.

Task 2

In task two I will give a brief description of how I will carry out an observation exercise to establish what people actually buy and eat as opposed to what they say they do. I will cover the following observation methods;

• Timing and duration
• Method
• Possible problems or difficulties
• Any other relevant details

There are a number of canteens within the university that I can carry out my observation exercise but as I believe the student union canteen and O’Briens sandwich bar are very different and both very popular with not just the student but also the staff and visitors to the university.

Timing and Duration

I will select adequate time during peek hours over a two week period to make the observation fair with each eating place. With this in mind I will have enough feedback to present to Emma and to analyse.

Method

The method I would use to carry out my observation on the different cafes is to;

• Ask the staff who work there which is the most sold food within each cafe
• Listen to requests from students which food they would like to eat in the canteen
• To review prices in each canteen to determine weather the students go for the cheapest and fastest food supplied.

This will allow me to see first hand people’s eating habits and will also give Emma feedback about weather students go for a cheaper option of food.

Problems

There can be some problems that I might occur when I’m carrying out my observation as;

• Some people might be upset being watched.
• People may even leave the shop once discovering I’m observing there eating habits.
• Some people may even change what they eat just because they are being watched. 

Com172CWBlog

First Blog Entry in WordPress.com

Enrolment Process

 

As I am a continuing student from the integrated foundation year of computer science I was no longer required by the registry office to attend a formal enrolment session at the university. I enrolled online in August 2009 by accessing the online enrolment system on the web. This allowed me to view and amend my personal information that was being held by the university, confirm my course and module details for the 2009/2010 academic year and organise my course fee payment. The online enrolment link I used was as follows;

 

http://www.ulster.ac.uk/academicservices/student/Returning%20Students.html

 

 When I first clicked on the link it brought me to the University of Ulster Academic Registry Department for returning students website. I found this system worked very well as it was very simple to use because of its simple design. The website loaded without any difficulties as it had little or few graphics and mainly arial font text with a plain white background.

 

 I followed the online instructions on the site at which then I was instructed to proceed to online enrolment login page http://ole.ulster.ac.uk . This link then provided me with a site that clearly stated that my username and pin code was required to login. After entering these details I had the choice to amend any personal details and to confirm my course modules. Again this system worked well and I didn’t have any problems with it. The system had a well designed interface as they where none unnecessary graphics that may have made the system to run slower but only graphics that appeared on the site was that of the University of Ulster logo. The Login menu provided two text boxes so it was simple to enter my details and a neat Login button to proceed. I found that the online help provided good information for anyone that was experiencing any problems with the system as it provided telephone numbers for the particular university they where wishing to enrol with. This system is very simple to use and to progress through it therefore I believe that someone coming form a non IT background would have the same opinion as the system was kept to a simple design and had no confusing navigation buttons to distract or confuse the user from what they are being asked to complete. I feel the manual and computer based parts of the system worked well together as the modules where provided when the course was selected, my details for example my name, address and pass qualifications where also provided by the system since they had been stored the year previous and save me a lot of time trying to enrol and of course it worked great executing the final result i.e. being enrolled for the 2009/2010 academic year at the University of Ulster Jordanstown. Over all I believe that the system works fantastic the way it has been designed and the user friendly approach has made it simple for everyone to use with out any difficulties. Personally it took me less that five minutes to register online and I can’t see anyway of making the system run any better.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!