Software engineering - user stories and create a requirements documents
Rutwik
NewDirectionsCaseStudy16.docxCIS 4655/CIS 5755
Case study information
New Directions is a counseling practice established in 1995. The practice has grown over the years and currently has a staff of 15 counselors offering individual, family, marriage counseling and group therapy. New Directions director, Jane Pembrooke, is looking into expanding the practice services to include a new area, continuing education. Licensed professional in various counseling fields (counselors, marriage and family therapists, social workers, drug and alcohol abuse counselors, etc.) need to take continuing education courses (referred to as continuing education units or CEUs) in order the maintain their license. New Directions would like to take advantage of the demand for some of these courses, such as ethics in counselling professions or use of telehealth technologies. Some of the counselors of New Directions have extended expertise in these areas that can be used to develop such courses.
New Directions had just been approved by the state board to offer CEUs and was getting ready to offer the first CE course in person, when the COVID-19 pandemic began and these plans had to be put on hold.
As New Directions is trying to deal with this new reality, Jane and some of the counselors she has talked to, see a new window of opportunity. They have decided to invest in technology that would enable New Directions to offer these courses online instead. Counseling professionals still need to continue taking their CEUs, but health concerns and capacity restrictions are preventing them from doing so. They also see this as a delivery format that could be successful even after things get back to normal.
Jane has reached out to your IT group to discuss her ideas and she would like to hire your team to develop the web-based system for the online CE courses.
From an initial phone conversation with Jane, you have learned the following about the features of this online CE system:
· New Directions would like to provide three options for counseling professionals to take these courses: self-paced courses, live courses and hybrid. The hybrid courses would include some self-paced components, followed by a live session for discussions.
· Jane would like to introduce the self-paced courses first. This would require the least commitment from her counselors as they are testing this new business offering.
· New Direction counselors or staff should be able to set up these training themselves, and easily modify/update them as needed.
· The self-paced courses will include presentations, embedded videos, quizzes etc. These materials are typically presented sequentially, meaning the user has to complete a module, pass a short test and then move on to the next module. After all modules are completed, the system should automatically generate a certificate of completion.
· Professionals taking CE courses from New Directions should be able to register online and pay for these courses online. This would apply to all types of course formats, not just the self-paced ones. New Directions wants to be able to offer discounts for participants. For example, a 10% discount if there are more than 10 participants from the same company, registering to take a specific course.
· Jane would also like to incorporate a feature that would send a follow-up survey. This would be a quality-assurance survey as well as a way to understand what the respondents future training needs are. The system should identify the individuals that have completed the course successfully and send them an email with the invitation to complete the survey and the survey link.
Currently the New Directions has a web site that provides mostly information about the practice.
Using this information from Jane, you have your first meeting with your team and decide to write a set of user stories and a preliminary requirements document. These would be shared with Jane and discussed during the first Zoom meeting that your team, Jane and a group of counselors have planned to refine the requirements. The team also asks Olivia, one of the interns assigned to work with your team, to do some research by visiting web sites of providers of CEUs. Olivia should share her findings with the team before meeting with the New Directions group.
