Case2-2ProblemAnalysis

1、SADM 5/ed - CASE STUDY 2 TCS - Milestone 2: Problem AnalysisP age: 2-5Prep ared by Lonnie D. Bentley forSystems Analysis & Design Methods 5edby J. L. Whitten, L. D. Bentley, & K. C. DittmanCop yright Irwin/McGraw-Hill 2001MILESTONE 2 - P ROBLEM ANALYSISSynop sisThere ' s an old say ing t

2、hat suggests,“ Don't try to fix it uni ess you un dersta nd it.”of wisdom, the n ext milest one of our p roject is to study and an alyze the exist ing system. There is always an existi ng bus in ess system, regardless of whether it curre ntly uses a compu ter. The p roblem an alysis p hase pro v

3、ides the p roject team with a more thorough un dersta nding of the p roblems, opportun ities, an d/or directives that triggered the p roject .In deed, the an alyst freque ntly un covers new p roblems and opportun ities. The p roblem an alysis p hase may an swer the questi ons,p roblems worth sol vin

4、 g?'' and“Is a new system worth build in g?''The purp ose of the p roblem an alysis p hase is threefold. First and foremost, the p roject team must gain an approp riate un dersta nding of the bus in ess p roblem doma in. Second, we n eed to an swer the questi on,“ Are these p roblems

5、 (opportun ities, and directives) worth sol ving” ? Fin allydeterm ine if the system is worth devel oping. The p roblem an alysis p hase p rovides the systems an alyst and p roject team with a more thorough un dersta nding of the p roblems, opportun ities, an d/or directives that triggered the p roj

6、ect. In the p rocess, they freque ntly un cover new p roblems and opportun ities.In this milest one you will p erform Cause-Effect An alysiso n the Tool Crib System (TCS) and docume nt your findings using theProblems, Opportun ities, Objectives, and Con stra ints Matrix The P lECES framework, orig i

7、n ally devel oped by James Wetherbe and the n ada pted by the authors, can serve as a useful tool to classify the various p roblems, opportun ities, and directives ide ntified in Milesto ne 1.Objectives's problems.After compi eti ng this milest one, you should be able to= P erform Cause-Effect A

8、n alysisto be able to thoroughly un dersta nd a system opportun ities, an d/or directives that triggered the p roject.= Use and un dersta nd the P lECES framework for classify ing p roblems, opportun ities, and directives.= Comp lete the P roblems, Opportun ities, Objectives, and Con strai nts Matri

9、xP rerequisitesThe p roblem an alysis p hase- Chap ters 3 and 5. P roblem an alysis tech niq ue Chap ter 6.P lECES framework Cha pters 3 and 5. Milest one 1 soluti on.Before starti ng this milest one the followi ng top ics should be covered:1.2.3.4.Assig nmentNow that we have comp leted the p relimi

10、 nary inv estigati on of the system and gained appro val to p roceed, we can atte mpt to gain a better un dersta nding of the curre nt system .In this assig nment we will use our results of Milest one 1, plus the Case backgro und in formati on and the user in terview, in order to p erform cause-effe

11、ct an alysis. The results of this activity will p rovide us a better un dersta nding of the p roblems, opportun ities, and con stra ints of the curre nt system.Activities1. To compi ete the Problems, Opportun ities, Objectives, and Con strai nts Matrix use the in terview or facts p rese nted in this

12、 milest one. Use the P lECES framework as a model to classify the p roblems, opportun ities, and directives.Your in structor will sp ecify deliverable format and software to be used. Deliverables should beneatly packaged in a binder, separated with a tab divider labeled“ Milestone 2,” andacco mpanie

13、d with a Milest one Evaluati on Sheet.References:Milestone 1 SolutionP rovided by your in structor.Case BackgroundCase Study In troducti onTranscri pts of Interviews with Tool Crib staffExhibit 1.1Exhibit 2.1Tem platesSee the on li ne lear ning cen ter website for the textbook.Deliverables:Problems,

14、 Oppo rtunities, Objectives, and Constraints Matrix: Due: _ Time:ADVANCED OP TIONSWrite a detailed study rep ort for the p hase. This deliverable was not discussed in t narrative because students need to be expo sed to modeling (data, p rocess, and interface) this report can be com pleted. For those

15、 ambitious individuals who are familiar with those s and wish to be challenged, use the detailed study report outline found in Chap ter 5 of the textbook as a guideline.heefore killsAnother advanced op tion is to devel op one or more fishbone diagrams for p roblems outlined in the case. To com plete

16、 this advanced op tion, you may need to make some assu about causes and effects.mp tionsStudy Report:Due: Time:Fishbone Diagrams:Due:. Time:Milestone ' s Point Value:The followi ng is a copy of the tran scri pts of an in terview betwee n Al Borla nd<your ' s staff ain ame>, a compu ter

17、 in formati on systems stude nt. This in itial in terview is con ducted with a goal of obta ining facts about the p roblems and opportun ities that have triggered the Tool Crib p roject request, p lus other gen eral in formatio n that could be used to prepare tPeoblem Stateme nt Matrix.Exhibit 2.1Se

18、e ne:You have scheduled a meeti ng to discuss the Tool Crib p roject with Alvin Borland ' s staff. You have scheduled to meet immediately after the Tool Crib closes at 5:00 pm . You are meeti ng joi ntly with Holly Dunning, Wils on Hin dma n, and J.T. Thomas.You:You:Well it looks like every one

19、is here. I know you are look ing forward to going home after a hard day ' s So let ' s go ahead and get started. assume that Mr. Borla nd has clued each of you in on the p roject that I am work ing on?(Every one ack no wledged his or her aware ness)Good. I hope I can help you get things unde

20、r control here. I ' ve been to devel op a new system, p ossiblyWils on: work.Holly:You: chargedWils on:compu ter-based, to hel p streamli ne the Tool Crib system. But clearly I can do anything un til I have a better un dersta nding of how your curre nt system op erates. Al agreed that the three

21、of you were the most kno wledgeable and that I should begin learning by talk ing with each of you. He did give me an overview of the op erati ons, but I n eed to lear n more so that I truly un dersta nd what you are tryi ng to do, the p roblems you are faced with, and opportun ities for maki ng some

22、 impro veme nts.I don ' t know about the others, but I would be willi ng to stay here all ni ghtWilson:if that is what it takes to get things straighte ned out around here. I you showed up about a half hour early Did you no tice the long line of empio yees and how busy we get?I certa inly did. I

23、 assume those empio yees were retur ning tools that they had checked out earlier in the day?Yes and no. Some were retur ning tool that they had checked out days, eve n mon ths ago. And the n some of them were actually check ing out tools that they are going to n eed for tomorrow jobs.And some were b

24、oth check ing in and check ing out tools.Accordi ng to Al it sounds like you have the same rush of empio yees duri ng the early morning.Yes. The last half hour of the day and the first half hour of the morning we get overwhelmed with empio yees wan ti ng to check in or check out tools, But you shoul

25、d un dersta nd that we do a lot more tha n just check tools in or out. And, eve n though thi ngs slow dow n after those rush p eriods, it still is discourag ing that it takes so long to p rocess a check-i n or check-out. It takes any where from 2 to 5, maybe 10 minu tes to p rocess a check-out, and

26、about 2 minu tes to p rocess a check-i n We get the feeli ng that the empio yees have come to really rese nt us and are'm gladSADM 5/ed - CASE STUDY 2 TCS - Milestone 2: Problem AnalysisP age: 2-9Prep ared by insert author name forSystems Analysis & Design Methods 5edby J. L. Whitten, L. D.

27、Bentley, & K. C. DittmanCop yright Irwin/McGraw-Hill 2001You:J.T.:unhappy with the service pro vided by the Tool Crib.I un dersta nd.You made a good point I assumed tha you did do more tha n just check ing tools in and out. I would like to lear n about your op eratio ns and sp ecifically how you

28、 go about p rocess ing a tool check-i n and a tool check-out. But first p erha ps I should get a better un dersta nding of your overall op erati ons. Could you begi n by iden tify ing all the tran sacti ons that the Tool Crib must han die? In other words, what eve nts take p lace that trigger the n

29、eed for you people to compi ete some type of tasks? I thi nk we have ide ntified the first twoa tool check-i n, and a tool check-out.I can ide ntify a few thi ngs that I do bey ond tool check-i ns and check-outs, P eriodically I receive an empio yee hiri ng no tice from a forema n.(J.T. walks over t

30、o one of several black no tebooks labeled P hysical Plant Empio yee Records and opens it up .It contains a simple one-p age form labeled Eudr up Tool Crib Empio yee Registrati on.)The no tice looks like this. It has some gen eral in formatio n about the empio yees such as their ID, n ame, skill clas

31、sificatio n, zone they are assig ned to, forema n, and other details. We must have one of these records before an empio yee is authorized to check out a tool. I would estimate there are more tha n 2,000 empio yee registratio ns that we maintain. The forema n usually brings this no tice to us and in

32、troduces the new empio yee. This is a sim pie task. IHolly:J.T.:You:Holly:You:Holly:merely alp habetically in sert the form into the no tebook.The forema n may also send us a skill classificati on up date no tice, which requires me to up date an empio yee registrati on form.And of course, the forema

33、 n will p rovide us with empio yee term in ati on no tices. In fact, I received two this morning. These are difficult to process. If I ' m lucky, I can proc one in about 10 minutes. It' sto do. We must go through and exam ine the tool check-i n and out records for that empio yee to decide wh

34、at tools the empio yee has in his or her p ossessi on and com muni cate that to the forema n. Empio yees who are quitti ng usually check in their tools on their last day. But if they are fired, we rely upon the forema n to obta in those tools and check them in to us. They tend to not be very prompt

35、and reliable in doing that.Now J.T., let ' s not do any fin ger poin ti ng.Sorry, but it is true.Thanks J.T. That was some good in formati on. What else do you folks p rocess?When empioyees aren ' t here turnir tools, I am freque ntly busy with orderi ng new tools.What triggers or in itiates

36、 the n eed to order a new tool?ess difficultg inUsually it is the foreme n. They may have a job that requires a sp ecial tool. If they or the empio yee tries to check out the n eeded tool and we don that tool, the forema n must submit a new tool request. I will the n gen erate a Pu rchase Order that

37、 I send to the It carryweJ.T.:Holly:Wils on:You:cannot match the owner. Going through our check-i n and check-out forms is to match them with the empio yee is too tedious.Sometimes I can make an educated guess though. I can locate any submitted rep orts of lost tools and see if that tool app eared o

38、n the rep ort. But I freque ntly find that there are mult iple empio yees that rep orted a similar tool miss ing, such as a hammer, screwdriver, drill, and the like.Oh yes, I also spend much of my time follow ing up on damaged tool retu rns. Some can be rep aired. I have to see t it that the tool is

39、 sent out for rep air an( then make sure we get it back.Thanks every one. That was some goc in formati on. I will n eed to talk with each of you to lear n the details about how each of you p rocesses those tran sact ion s. I will try to focus my learning efforts on those p rocesses that you feel are

40、 p roblem area but it sounds like that in cludes most all of them. Let ' s move on to some othe' items. I would now like to gain a little better un dersta nding of the records or files that you maintain. Can you tell me a little about them? I saw the empio yee no tebooks and the ven dor cata

41、logs. Are there others you can tell me about?I guess I could have men tio ned that I also kee p records of on our foreme n, not just their empio yees. I kee p those records in a Rolodex file.I can' t think of anything that wasn already men ti on ed.Me either.Okay then. Let' s talk about repo

42、ryou gen erate any reports?s. Doven dor (supp lier) and Acco unts P ayable. Acco unts P ayable will pay the ven dor whe never I let them know that we ' ve received the shipment.You:Okay. That sounds simple eno ugh.Holly:Oh, no way is it sim pie! It is very time consuming and difficult sometimes

43、to ide ntify where we can order the tool. And it is almost imp ossible for me to determ ine from which ven dor we can get the tool at the chea pest p rice. Look at these ven dor catalogsHolly points to an en tire bookshelf of ven dor catalogs). There are times that I spenc a half day trying to order

44、 a sp ecific tool. If I am lucky, I can find and order most tools in about 10 minu tes. But there again, I' m never satisfied 'have made the best pu rchas ing decisi on. Everythi ng is just tak ing too long anym ore. We have outgrow n ourselves. Too many empio yees, too many tools, and too m

45、any ven dors!You:Okay. I will make a point to focus on the pu rchas ing op erati ons as well.Wils on: Well I guess I should offer my two cen ts. First of all, let me point out that we all share the work around here. Any one of us can do any job that needs to be done. It ' s justeOdb tend to assume an in formal res pon sibility for see ing to it that certa in jobs get done.I spend a lot of my time trying to do the seem in gly impo ssible. When an empio yee rep orts a lost tool or