Design an information system for a company.docx

Design an information system for a company.docx

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Designaninformationsystemforacompany

BusinessInformationSystems（INFS1001）

GroupAssignment

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