INF60010 - Requirement Analysis and Modelling Assignment - VCI Case Study - Management Assessment Answers

Management case study Assignment Help

Introduction The aim is that your team (3-4 members) should produce a requirements document that captures the functional requirements for the creation of an information system based on the VCI case study provided within this document.

OR

Create your own case study Find your own business system (or sub system) as a case study. The system can be of interest to you (i.e. your team) or to someone else who is willing to be your client. Be aware that you must be able to gather sufficient information so that you can that satisfy all aspects of the assignment. You must obtain approval for your proposed case study from your tutor. Your tutor will need to be satisfied that the case study is suitable and of appropriate scope. Provide a brief overview of your proposed case study and of its suitability for your tutor.

Project requirements Group Component (25%)

Your group’s task is to provide the following models:

• A context diagram: This must be for the whole System. You need to show relevant external agents together with data flows between the system and the external agents.
• A set of levelled Dataflow diagrams: By this we mean a Level 0 diagram, and for some processes may mean further decomposed to their primitive level (Level 1 and 2) diagrams.
• Use Case diagrams, use case descriptions
• A high level data model as an ER diagram (many to many relationships are acceptable).
• CRUD analysis and sample screen shots. Sample screenshots will help necessary stakeholders to visualize the capabilities of the system.

You are to make recommendations for the new system which will form the basis of further discussion with the client so that an informed decision can be made. You should research and present possible solutions which will address the requirements and the potential advantages and disadvantages of each recommendation. Your recommendations can include further functionality you believe would benefit the client. Your proposal should be comprehensible to management and to users who are computer literate

Individual Component (5%):

Compare and contrast the structured analysis and design approach with other modelling techniques (e.g., the object-oriented approach), and clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Your justification should be supported by appropriate references.

Suggested Report Outline Cover page Document Title Team members List of contents

Introduction

• What is the organisation and what does this organisation do?
• What is the business problem we are trying to solve OR what is the opportunity that we can make use of?

Expected benefits How would the organisation be better off by solving this problem or taking up this opportunity

Written statement of functional/non-functional requirements

Dataflow diagrams

• Context Diagram
• Diagram 0
• Lower Level Data flow diagrams as required
• ERD Diagram of the high level data model Data dictionary
• Data flow description
• Data element descriptions
• Data stores/Entities in the ERD diagram

Process Descriptions in the Structured English

CRUD Analysis

User Stories and acceptance criteria

Use Case description

• Use case diagram
• Intermediate level use case description for each function

Sample screen shots

Recommendations You are to make recommendations for the new system which will form the basis of further discussion with the client so that an informed decision can be made.

• Discuss possible solutions which will address the requirements and the potential advantages and disadvantages of each recommendation. Each solution may contain a CRUD analysis and sample screen shots to help in understanding.
• Your recommendations can include further functionality you believe would benefit the client.

Your proposal should be comprehensible to management and to users who are computer literate

References List

Appendices

• DFD fragments, event list etc.
• This contains any other documents that might be useful for reference or too detailed or lengthy to put into the main part of the document.

*Ensure your pages are numbered for easy reference

VCI Case Study Description1

Welcome to Virtual Child International (VCI). Our mission is to keep after-school children connected, and productive through an Internet connection while VCI makes a profit.

VCI a virtual world for children at home after school. We call it VCI Park. The VCI employees who support the park behind the scenes and provide guidance to the members are called Park Rangers. Guardians are customers 21 years of age or older who enrol their children, nieces or nephews, grandchildren, etc. to VCI Park System.

VCI has outsourced a Credit Agency to perform credit checks on prospective guardians. Obviously, VCI will not perform credit checks on VCI employees that are also signing up as guardians. VCI will contact this credit agency once they have collected the Guardian’s general information and payment information and the member’s information. Upon receiving the credit report from the agency, the Park Ranger will update the guardian and member’s VCI Park status from pending to active.

A child whose guardian enrols them in VCI is called a member and receives an entrance pass (user id and password) upon credit approval of the guardian. The entrance pass is validated every time the member enters the VCI premises through VCI’s web page. Once inside the premises, the member can visit any or all park services for which their guardian has signed them up.

The following is a complete list of park services within VCI Park:

Theme park contains games.

Librarian function assists the member in searching the internet for school research.

Tutorial function provides the member with practice drills and homework assistance.

University function provides the member with a distance learning classes and receive certificates or credits.

1 https://www.kpiusa.com/brbook/VCIcasestudy.htm was the original source of this case study but it is no longer active. I haven’t been able to find any other source in order to give the author credit.

Guardian Services

There are several online services for the guardian such as:

View their current charges for each member - provides the up to date total time spent in each park service during the current month, credit time the member received for each park (if applicable for this guardian) and total dollar amount invoiced to date.

View member activities - describes on a daily basis the answers to the guardian’s questions and the order of park services the member has entered during the current month.

View communications between the member and park rangers – documents all online “conversations” that were held during the month.

Enter new or change existing criteria for member admittance to VCI Park or individual park services.

Since VCI is a new company, we are planning to expand their park services within one to two years depending upon guardian membership. The VCI Marketing staff is also planning to have special park deals throughout the year. These special deals include special park service pricing for a specific period of time.

Introduction

VCI is the abbreviated form for “Virtual Children International”. It is an IT based virtual theme park that is designed to keep children, aged between 10 – 15 years creatively engaged after school by leveraging the power of the internet. The internet based virtual theme park has a number of service offerings or “”park services” which keep the members happily occupied. These park services include games and “functions”.

Functions are specialized services which help the members accomplish some specific tasks. The functions currently offered at VCI are as below:

1. The librarian function helps members search the internet for their school research.
2. The tutorial function helps the members with their homework and also provides practice drills.
3. The university function provides distance learning classes to the members and also helps them to get credits and certificates for the same.

The opportunities

This virtual theme park throws up a number of commercial opportunities while, at the same time solving some important problems for the members and theirs guardians.

For the guardians, it provides them with peace of mind with information of where their children are and what they are currently engaged in after school hours. This is a blessing for the guardians, especially for those who work extended hours and cannot spend more time with their children after school.

For the members (i.e. the children), it keeps them positively and proactively engaged after school hours. They have options to choose from – it could be a game or something more serious, like researching for their school project or homework or learning something by distance education and getting certified for it.

This “edu-infotainment” platform can be used to provide a number of additional services which can be powered by contract based as well as pay-as-you-go payment models. More topics / subjects can be added to augment the librarian, tutorial and university functions that can actually prepare children to better meet any of life’s challenges in the future. Life skills, languages, science and math can actually become more fun when learned in a group of friends because an informal and relaxed setting can remove the fear associated with certain subjects. This can also become an interesting platform to sell merchandise that is targeted at that particular age-group (10 – 15years).

Security and constant monitoring is an absolute requirement for this platform. More than adequate care should be taken to protect children of this age group from getting exposed to the vices of the internet. While allowing interaction between members can promote a culture of healthy discussion and group interaction while at the same time maintaining zero tolerance for use of inappropriate language and access to inappropriate websites through this platform should be banned through use of IT best practices. This platform can also be adequately monetized by use of contextual or pay-per-click ads. As we can see, this platform offers limitless opportunities for commercialization. Adding a “”brain-gym” function would also be an interesting topic to explore.

Expected benefits of VCI

The VCI platform can provide a number of benefits for all, some of which are listed below.

The VCI theme park

• Teaches children to be more independent and manage their time productively.
• Reduces of children on their parents and/or guardians.
• Allows them to explore and realize their true interests and calling.
• Encourages research and discovery based learning.
• It is one worry less for the parents/guardians as they understand that their children are engaged in productive and safe activities under the watchful monitoring of the Park Rangers.
• Every service provided to members of this platform can be a great money-spinner for the owners of VCI.

Functional Requirements

Membership terms and conditions

Members should be between 10 to 15 years old.

Members can only be enrolled by their parents or guardians.

Every member will have to pay a monthly fee for VCI access.

Park services have hourly fees.

Minimum timeslot that can be purchased for any park service is 15 minutes.

Discounts

Every additional member enrolled by the same parent or guardian can get a 15% discount on park services.

Volume discounts/Thresholds

Park service : 40%;

Librarian Function : 20 minutes

Tutorial Function : 15 minutes.

Employee Discount : As applicable.

Credit Check

Get credit ratings of the guardians.

Offer payment options accordingly.

Members with poor credit ratings can only use prepay option.

Members with open bills of 2 months or more can only use prepay.

Payment Options

Credit / Debit Card

Checking Account

Pay as you go (prepay)

Partial Payment

Bank Check

Money Order

Payment Reminders and Notifications

Allow guardians to set their own thresholds to trigger online payment reminders.

Payment reminder for prepay customers when access balance nears depletion.

Notification if check issued by customer is not honored by bank.

Notification if credit/debit card is declined for any reason

Update Payment Status of Members

After payment by guardian, the member’s status is changed from “Pending” to “Active”.

If a guardian makes a part payment, his status is updated to ‘’Payment Problem”.

If a guardian’s credit/debit card is declined or if his check is not honored by the bank.

Roles

Members

Can only be enrolled by their parents or guardians.

Can only be between 10 to 15 years old.

Access to VCI park services to be restricted post completion of 15 years by the member.

Guardians

Any individual, above 21 years can be a guardian.

An individual can be guardian to his/her own children, nephew niece, grandchildren etc.

The guardian sets the default amount of time a member may spend in a park.

Can view member details about time spent, services used in the VCI Park.

View communication between members and Park Rangers

View and/or change admittance criteria to VCI services.

Park Rangers

Support and guide members behind the scenes.

Member Admittance Criteria

Add or subtract time allowed in the VCI Park based on members’ answers to certain questions.

Admittance criteria can be added by guardian or by a Park Ranger on behalf of the guardian.

View and change admittance criteria

Set total number of hours that can be spent in the VCI Park by the members.

Number of bonus points to be added or deducted based on the members answers.

Member Admittance Questions

Should be supplied by the guardian.

Decide the criteria to add or reduce access time to VCI Park.

Set different admittance criteria for different days.

Examples of admittance questions

This can be changed/customized:

1. Did you complete your school assignments today?
2. Did you do your chores for today?
3. What grade did you receive in your science test?

Invoicing

Guardians are invoiced on the 1st business day of each month.

The invoice(s) is due by the 25th of the same month.

If the invoice is not paid by the 35th day, it is marked as “late payment”.

The theme park costs one dollar per hour used.

The tutorial costs fifty cents per hour used.

The librarian resource costs fifty cents per hour used.

The minimum amount of time for which a member is charged is 15 minutes.

The discount rate for additional members per guardian is 10%.

The volume discount rate is 15%.

Volume discount threshold IS 20.

The discount for pre-payment is 10%.

Start of Month is calculated from 12 AM on first day of month.

End of Month is calculated from 11:59 PM on last day of month.

Calculate the total time spent in a park for a month by adding the time spent in each session in that month, and then round down to the nearest minute.

Calculate the base fee for the month by multiplying the number of minutes spent in the park by the hourly rate for the park and dividing by 60.

Calculate the volume discounted fee by subtracting the volume discount amount from the base fee.

Calculate the park ranger discount by multiplying 10% by the volume discounted fee.

Calculate the monthly fee for each member for each park by subtracting any discounts (volume, additional child, park ranger) from the base fee.

The total monthly fee for each member is calculated by adding up the monthly fees for each park in which the member is enrolled.

The total monthly fee for a guardian is calculated by adding up the total monthly fees for each member the guardian has enrolled.

The total invoice amount for a guardian is calculated by adding any adjustments (late fees, bounced check charges, credits/debits for billing errors) to the monthly fee.

The total amount due for a guardian is calculated by subtracting the guardian’s current account balance from the total invoice amount

Calculate the time allowed in a park in session by starting with the default time provided by the guardian, and then adding any bonus time and subtracting any time as results from the questions asked upon entrance

The total bonus time allowed in the park on a given day is the total of bonus time allowed for all questions asked on entrance

The total amount of time deducted from the time allowed in a park on a given day is the total of all time deducted based upon all questions asked

Late Payment Charges/Penalties

A guardian is charged $15 if a payment is late.

A guardian is charged $20 if a check bounces.

Denial of access rules

Member park enrolment end date is less than current date, then member park enrolment current = no.

If a members enrolment end date is less than current date then, member enrolment current = no.

If a member’s age is greater than 15 then deny access.

If an invoice is unpaid for 2 months or later, deny access to the member/guardian.

Additional Rules

1. When a Park Usage row is created, if there is not yet a matching Invoice Item row (for that month for that member for that park) one is created and the first four attributes shown are copied to the new Invoice Item row.
2. Also when a Park Usage row is created, the FinalFee on that row is added to the TotalFee on the matching Invoice Item row.
3. When an Invoice Item row is created, if there is not yet a matching Member Summary row (for that month for that member) one is created and the first three attributes shown are copied to the new Member Summary row.
4. Also when an Invoice Item row is created, the TotalFee on that row is added to the TotalFee on the matching Member Summary row.
5. When a Member Summary row is created, if there is not yet a matching Invoice row (for that month for that guardian) one is created and the first two attributes shown are copied to the new Invoice row.
6. Also when a Member Summary row is created, the TotalFee on that row is added to the TotalFee on the matching Invoice row. When an Invoice row is created, if there is not yet a matching Invoice Cycle row (for that month) one is created and the VisitMonth is copied to the new Invoice row. (Note: this data object is a system object used to maintain the cycle status and force a data change to the cycle status in the Invoice data object in order to fire the rule to create the invoice when needed.)
7. When it is time for the Invoice to be created, the CycleStatus in the Invoice Cycle row is updated, which ripples a change to the Parent Replicate attribute in the Invoice Object. In response to this status change, the invoice is activated.
8. When the Invoice is activated and an InvoiceId is established, its value is propagated to the related Member Summary rows via the Parent Replicate rule.

Non-functional Requirements

UI/UX

UI & UX stand for “user-interface” and “user experience” respectively. The VCI platform should offer a user-friendly graphical interface and a positive user-experience. The application itself should be built keeping in mind that it will be used by children in the age group of 10 to 15 years.

System Stability

The VCI platform should be stable and should not crash/freeze.

Lightweight Design

The VCI application should not be “too heavy” on the hardware it runs. It should be lightweight and capable of running on even lower-end hardware.

Error Management

Errors messages should be simple and clear so that it can be easily captured by the users and conveyed back to the Park Rangers for necessary action.

Support

Park Rangers maintain details of all communications each of the members.

Guardians can communicate with the Park Rangers for any assistance/support.

Currently no option for members to communicate between themselves on the VCI platform.

Context Diagram

Level 0 Data Flow Diagram:

VCI – Costs Discounts & Invoicing

Use Case

Recommendations

VCI is a great way for parents and guardians to keep their children positively engaged after school hours. While this may act as a welcome break from the monotony of school activities, sufficient care should be taken to avoid letting the children become overly dependent on a virtual set up in order to relax as it will then turn counterproductive to the very objective the VCI park was created for.

An efficient virtual theme park combined with some great support from the Park Rangers can actually educate the members (children) about the other features – like the librarian, tutorial and university functions which can help them to upgrade themselves from playing games to learning and using the virtual theme park to research for their homework and / or acquiring new skills and certifications online.