Design an information system for a companyWord格式.docx
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Deadline:
Wednesday15thOctober2014
Weighting:
15%ofoverallassessment
WordCount:
2615
GroupMembers:
AustinHarvey-u5352594
JasonDoubleday-u5181021
StevenBlazevski-u5564481
Wei(Andy)Ma-u5135633
SectionOne:
ExecutiveSummary
Informationsystemsprovideorganisationswithausefulwaytodesignadatabase,andprovideanindepthknowledgeofhardware,softwareandtelecommunications.Hence,theTeachingandLearningAssociationhaverequestedtheinstallationofaninformationsystemwithintheirorganisation.
Theprojectdescriptionisfairlyspecific,howeveritcanstillbeinterpretedindifferentways.Ourteamhasdecidedthatamulti-userDBMSsetupisthebest,mostcost-efficientwaytofulfiltheprojectrequirements.Furthermore,additionallytosettingupamethodoforderingandorganisingdata,ourteamhasproposedtheimplementationofaninformationtechnologybasedattendancetrackingsystem.Thisispreferredtothemanualenteringofinformationintothedatabase.Moreover,allmemberswillbeissuedamembershipcardforscanninguponattendingaworkshop.Bysimplyscanningthecard,informationaboutthemember(i.e.CustomerNumber,Name,MembershipExpirationDate)willbeautomaticallyenteredintothesystem,reducinghumanerror.TheDBMSneedstobeaccessiblefrombothcentressotheimplementationofthewebserver,Oracle,isvital.Additionally,intheinterestofprivacy,aVirtualPrivateNetwork(VPN)willalsobeutilisedtoconnectthroughtothedatabase.
Tosuccessfullyimplementthisinformationsystem,thepurchaseofseveralpiecesofequipmentisrequired.Thislistofequipmentincludescomputers,barcodescanners,andIDcardprinters.Thetotalcosttofinishthisprojectis$18,724assumingcostsremainthesameuntiltheproductsarepurchased.ThistotaldoesnotincludeongoingcostsforCustomerRelationshipManagement(CRM)softwareandothermaintenancecosts.
SectionTwo:
DefinetheProjectScope
ThefollowingprojectscopedefinitiondetailstheapproachthatourITconsultancyfirmwillundertakewithregardtofeaturesandfunctionsofinformationsystems,theusergroupsforinformationsystems,whysomefeatureswillnotbeutilised,andthedurationoftheproject.
Features/FunctionsofInformationSystems
TheTeachingandLearningAssociation’sinformationsystemshouldbedesignedbasedonathoroughunderstandingofthefourmajorsupportactivitiesinthevaluechain.Thesesupportactivitiesincludefirminfrastructure,humanresources,technologydevelopment,andprocurement.Hence,thedatabasedesignanduserinterfacesystemsneedtologicallyshowandreflectthebasicstructureofthisassociation.Thesystemneedstocontainalltheusers’information,suchasthegeneralstaffortheinstructorsoftheworkshops.Sincethisorganisationhasalargecustomerbase,theinformationsystemshouldalsoincludedataheadingslikecustomerinformation,coursedetails,etc.Thedatabaseofthisinformationsystemwillbeupdatedregularlybecauseofthehighemployeeturnoverrate.Therefore,aquickresponseratetoanydatabasechangesisrequiredtoimmediatelyminimiseinputerrors.Itisalsoimportanttonotethattheassociatedindustrydeliversvaluableservice,meaningtherecordingofprocurementinformationisparamountwithinthesystem.
TheDBMSthathasbeensetupisanelectronicmembershipandattendancetrackingsystemlinkedtothedatabase.Thisismainlyduetothetimeconsumingnatureofenteringinformationbyhand.Customerattendanceatworkshopscanalsobeeasilyrecordedviausingmembershipcardswithbarcodes,andbarcodescanners(whicharerelativelycheapataround$100each).Sincethismethodhasdirectconnectiontothedatabasebecauseofmembershipvalidation,italsocannotifystaffofmembershipexpirationdates.Thiscanhelpwithavoidinganyproblemsforcustomers,especiallyregardingacceptanceintoaworkshopasamember.Thereareseveralotheroptionsforrecordingattendancethatusemembershipcardsandinputdevicessuchasmagneticstripecard,andchip-and-pincards(eachrequiringarelevantinputdevice).However,incomparison,theadvantagesofabarcodesystemareitisveryquick,accurate,hashigh-leveldataintegrity,andiseasytoimplement.Furthermore,barcodesystemscreatevaluenotonlybysavingtime,butalsobypreventingcostlyerrors.
Thereareplentyofoptionstohavecustom-mademembershipcardswithbarcodesprinted.Theycanbeorderedonlineatlowcostsofaround$5each,ortheassociationcaninvestinacardprinteroftheirown.Thisisrecommendedgiventhatthecostisroughly$700.Inadditiontoacardprinter,aregularprinterisalsousefulforprovidingreceiptstocustomersuponmembershippurchasesandrenewals.Eachcentrewouldberequiredtohaveaprinter,abarcodescannerandacardprinter,bringingthecosttoimplementthismethodto$1130.
AnapplicationcouldalsobedevelopedfortheTeachingandLearningAssociation.Thiswillassistuserswithacquiringthelatestmembershiporworkshopoffers,bookingtheworkshops,andprovidinginformationaboutthecourses.Thiswillalsobroadenthepossibletargetaudienceoftheservicewithagreaterreachability.Anapplicationisanexampleofthemobilecommercemodel,whichallowscustomerstocompleteacommercialtransactionusingamobiledevice(i.e.rechargetomaintaintheirmembership).Inthiscase,theuseofmobilecommercewilldefinitelyimprovecustomerserviceascustomershaveaccesstoinformationreadilyviaamobileorwirelessdevice.Thisreducesthecostsinthelongterm,whilstimprovingthespeedoftheflowofinformation.
UserGroupsforInformationSystems
AnimportantaspectofthisDBMSisthatitisvisibleandeditablefrommorethanoneplace.Thisrequiresamultipleuserversionwebservertoenablestaffineithercentretoaccessthedataatthesametime.ThiscanbeaccomplishedusingawebserversuchasOracle,MicrosoftSQLserver,orMySQL.Throughtheseservers,thisDBMSbecomesvisibleonlineandcanthenbeconnectedtofrombothcentresatonce.
Currently,thestaffmembersatthecentresarenotutilisingtheavailabletechnology.Foradatabase,thisneedstochangetoallowthemtoaccessandmodifyentries.Thereforetwocomputersshouldbeinstalledateachcentreatthereceptiondesk.Fortheoperatingsystemofthecomputers,wesuggesttheuseofWindows7or8ratherthanLinuxorOSX.Windows8isoneofthemostpopularoperatingsystemsintheworldduetoitswidespreadandeasytousenature.Incontrast,fewerpeopleuseLinuxbecauseitrequiresarelativelyhighlevelofcomputingskillsandtargetsprogrammers.However,theadvantageofLinuxisthatitisanopensourceoperatingsystem,whichisfreetodownloadandtoinstall.OSX,Apple’soperatingsystem,canonlybeinstalledtoMaccomputers.ThesecomputersaregenerallymoreexpensivethanregularPCcomputersusingWindowsoperatingsystems.Sinceusabilityandcostarekeydeterminantswhendecidingwhichoperatingsystemtouse,itisconclusivethatWindows8isagoodchoiceforthisproject.
ThelastthingtoconsideristosetupawebsitefortheTeachingandLearningAssociation.Thiswillprovidememberswithanalternativewaytoreachallinformationregardingtheassociation.ThebasicE-commercebusinessmodelinthiscase,isBusinesstoConsumer(B2C),wherecustomerscandealdirectlywiththeassociationfromhome.Thisisveryconvenientformostcustomers.Thewebsiteshouldhaveseveralfunctions:
introductionandinformationabouttheassociation,workshoppackageinformation,course/workshopresources(onlyavailabletomembers),theabilityformemberstochoosethecoursepackageandmakefurtherpaymentsbythemselves,etc.Hence,asafeelectronicpaymentsystemisrequired.Itcouldbeeitheracreditcardpaymentsystem,achargecardpaymentsystem,adebitcardpaymentsystem,orasmartcardpaymentsystem.Agoodchoicewouldbetouseatrustedthird-partyorganization(i.e.PayPal)thatissuesdigitalcertificatesandcanaccepteitherdebitcardorcreditcard.Theacceptanceofchargecardandsmartcardisdeclinedinthiscasebecausesmartcardisnotwidelyusedandchargecardisnoteconomicallysound,especiallyiffundsareoverdue.
WhySomeFeaturesWillNotBeUtilised
Asintroduced,bothcentrescurrentlydonothaveanycomputers.Thisrequiresstafftohandwriteallthedetailsaboutcustomers,leadingtopotentialerrors(i.e.thecustomershavethesamename,orthehandwritingofastaffmemberisillegible).Solutionwise,informationsystemsforthisproblemincludetheuseofaMicrosoftExcelspreadsheetoraDatabaseManagementSystem(DBMS).ComparedwithExcel,aDBMSsuchasMicrosoftAccesshaslotsofadvantages,suchasbettersecurity,datavalidation,datasearchandretrievalanddatachecking.Moreover,insettinguptheinformationsystemforthisassociation,thereisdatathatwillbestoredinonetablebutwillneedtoconnecttoinformationinanothertable.ThisiswhatDBMS’sarebuiltforbecausetheyenablerelationstooccurbetweentables.Hence,theassociationshoulduseaDBMS,asitprovidesahugeadvantageoverExcelinthisregard.Additionally,aDBMSmakesgeneratingad-hocreportsandregularreportsextremelysimple.
Toconnecteachofthecentrestogether,twooptionswereconsidered;
avideoface-to-facecommunicationsystem(videoconferencing)oraVirtualPrivateNetwork(VPN).Avideoconferencingsystemhelpstoreducetravelcostforanorganisation.Managersandemployeescaneffectivelyworkingroupseventhoug