Lab 02
Topic – Problem Statement and Analysis
Objective
• How to analyze the Problem
• Comprehensive analysis using examples
• Understands the User’s need and constraints
• Discuss the problem statement
• Domain Analysis review
Current Lab Learning Outcomes (LLO)
By completion of the lab the students should be able to
1. to analyze the Problem and suggest the solution
2. understands the user’s need and constraints
3. extract new information from given case study (processes, domains, reports)
Lab Requirements
UML Tools
Lab Assessment
1. Select a suitable Software Development approach for the development of Waiter’s on Call (given case study), Customer Support System. Justify your answer by specifying two arguments for selecting the approach.
Lab Description
Some examples of writing Problem Statement:
• The records of all employees and patients of this facility are in Papers and are kept in a large store room present in the Hospital which results in frequent losses of records, especially old records are found missing or are misplaced because of the improper arrangement of these records.
• Due to the improper arrangement of these records and these records being kept in a large store room it is very hard to search a record of a Patient or an Employee. This causes loss of data and Searching becomes very time consuming.
• There is no pre-printed stationery present in the facility which causes the records to be written in an untidy manner and that makes it very difficult for the other doctors and employees to distinguish what is written in the records.
• It becomes very difficult to save the records of those patients and employees that are shifted from one department to another department of the Hospital.
• The record keeping of the products and medicine that is ordered from the respective companies are also stored in paper and at any loss of record from the manual database storage causes controversies between the two companies and prevents future plans of shipment of medicine to the Hospital.
Task 1:
A question & answer session about the project statement, with different groups, to check their understanding capability of the system, its analysis and requirements.
Task 2:
Explain the given case study- Waiter’s on Calls (WOC).
Task 3:
Deeper understanding of WOC with includes its brief history, Information System plan, Strategic issues, organization structure, existing systems, strategic plan, and architecture plan.
Task 4:
Based on Task-3, extract number of processes, domains and reports.
Extra (supplementary) Materials
Waiters on Call is a restaurant meal-delivery service
Waiters on Call is a restaurant meal-delivery service started in 2003 by Sue and Tom Bickford. The Bickfords both worked for restaurants while in college and always dreamed of opening their own restaurant. But unfortunately, the initial investment was always out of reach. The Bickfords noticed that many restaurants offer takeout food, and some restaurants—primarily pizzerias—offer home delivery service. Many people they met, however, seemed to want home delivery with a wider food selection. Sue and Tom conceived Waiters on Call as the best of both worlds: a restaurant service without the high initial investment. The Bickfords contracted with a variety of well-known restaurants in town to accept orders from customers and to deliver the complete meals. After preparing the meal to order, the restaurant charges Waiters on Call a wholesale price, and the customer pays retail plus a service charge and tip. Waiters on Call started modestly, with only two restaurants and one delivery driver working the dinner shift. Business rapidly expanded, and the Bickfords realized they needed a custom computer system to support their operations. They hired a consultant, Sam Wells, to help them define what sort of system they needed. “What sort of events happen when you are running your business that make you want to reach for a computer?” asked Sam. “Tell me about what usually goes on.” “Well,” answered Sue, “when a customer calls in wanting to order, I need to record it and get the information to the right restaurant. I need to know which driver to ask to pick up the order, so I need drivers to call in and tell me when they are free. Sometimes customers call back wanting to change their orders, so I need to get my hands on the original order and notify the restaurant to make the change.” “Okay, how do you handle the money?” queried Sam. Tom jumped in. “The drivers get a copy of the bill directly from the restaurant when they pick up the meal. The bill should agree with our calculations. The drivers collect that amount plus a service charge. When drivers report in at closing, we add up the money they have and compare it with the records we have. After all drivers report in, we need to create a deposit slip for the bank for the day’s total receipts. At the end of each week, we calculate what we owe each restaurant at the agreed-to wholesale price and send each a statement and check.” “What other information do you need to get from the system?” continued Sam. “It would be great to have some information at the end of each week about orders by restaurant and orders by area of town—things like that,” Sue said. “That would help us decide about advertising and contracts with restaurants. Then we need monthly statements for our accountant.” Sam made some notes and sketched some diagrams as Sue and Tom talked. Then after spending some time thinking about it, he summarized the situation for Waiters on Call. “It sounds to me like you need a system to use whenever these events occur:
• A customer calls in to place an order, so you need to record an order.
• A driver is finished with a delivery, so you need to record delivery completion.
• A customer calls back to change an order, so you need to update an order.
• A driver reports for work, so you need to sign in the driver.
• A driver submits the day’s receipts, so you need to reconcile driver receipts.
“Then you need the system to produce information at specific points in time—for example, when it is time to:
• Produce an end-of-day deposit slip
• Produce end-of-week restaurant payments
• Produce weekly sales reports
• Produce monthly financial reports.
“Based on the way you have described your business operations, I am assuming you will need the system to store information about these types of things, which we call data entities or domain classes:
• Restaurants • Menu items
• Customers
• Orders
• Order payments
• Drivers
“Then I suppose you will need to maintain information about restaurants and drivers. You’ll need to use the system when you add a new restaurant, a restaurant changes the menu, you hire a new driver, or a driver leaves. Am I on the right track?” Sue and Tom quickly agreed that Sam was talking about the system in a way they could understand. They were confident that they had found the right consultant for the job.
