Software engineering

CIS 4655/CIS 5755 Fall 2020

Project Case

Description:

Midwest Consulting Services (MCS) is an IT consulting company established five years ago, serving

primarily Kansas City area businesses. The company has been growing both in term of its client base

and the services it offers. Its services include IT strategy and planning, business continuity and disaster

recovery, cloud strategy, data analytics, etc. Many client companies these days are located across the

Midwest, which means more travel for the MCS consulting team.

Last year, MCS introduced changes to its organizational structure. Before re-organization, the company

structure consisted of the support departments (accounting and human resources) and the consulting

team, organized in a few small groups based on their IT specialty. Under the new structure, the support

departments remain the same, but the consulting side is split into units. These units group consultants

for specific IT areas, such as cloud strategy unit, business continuity unit, data analytics unit and so on.

Each unit has a director.

In a recent meeting of unit directors and support departments, the accounting director raised a concern

about the paper-based system the company uses to handle consultant travel expenses. This system

worked fine when business travel was limited, but as consultants are travelling more often to their client

companies, keeping track of these expenses has become an issue for the department. Following

discussions on this issue, it was decided that MCS would assign some of the consulting staff to the

development of a web-based system to handle consultant travel requests and reimbursement of

expenses. Below is a description of the current procedures related to consultant travel.

In order to get reimbursed for their travel, a consultant’s travel plans have to be pre-approved by their

unit director. After the business travel, consultants need to complete forms that detail their travel

expenses. This paperwork has to be approved by the unit director before being sent to the accounting

department. The accounting department verifies completeness of the documentation and processes

reimbursement of related expenses.

In addition to generating a significant amount of paperwork, one issue with the current system is the

difficulty of generating reports about expenses of various consultants, units and future travel plans.

These reports could be useful for budgeting and resource allocation.

In a preliminary meeting of representatives from accounting, unit directors and IT consultants that will

develop the system, it was decided that the new system should include the following functionalities:

Before their travel, consultants should be able to go online and submit a travel request to be approved

by their unit director. Once such a request is submitted, the consultant should be able to view the status

of their request, or delete it in case there has been a change of plans.

After the travel has taken place, the consultant should be able to use the system to submit their travel

expenses reimbursement information. At any time, consultants should be able to view the status of their

request.

The system will allow unit directors to view the travel requests waiting for their approval and deny or

approve them as deemed necessary. For approved travel plans, unit directors can also review and

approve travel expenses.

Finally, accounting department should be able to access travel expenses information and process

reimbursement. Accounting department should only view the approved travel and reimbursement

requests.

The web-based system should also allow authorized users (such as unit directors or accounting staff)

to:

• Generate a list of travels for a particular consultant, including expenses.

• Generate travel reports for consultants of a specific unit, including expenses.

• Generate travel reports related to a specific client, including expenses.

• Notify unit directors when travel requests or reimbursement requests await for their approval.

Project Requirements:

1. Create a set of user stories related to the new travel expenses web-based system.

2. Create one or more use case diagrams and structured-narrative use cases for the new system. For

the structured-narrative, use the template specified in this course.

3. Create CRC cards and work through the review process discussed in class. Document any changes

you make to your class model based upon your review.

4. Create a class diagram that includes class names, list of attributes, and relationships.

5. Create prototypes of user interfaces, screens and reports, to reflect the interaction described in the

use cases. Paper and pencil is fine as long as it is neat. Note the connection between the interface

and the use case(s). Preserve traceability.

General

Provide sufficient narrative to describe deliverables, especially to support traceability.

List all assumptions that influence your documentation.

Submission format

Submit as a Word document or pdf in the link in Blackboard. I would prefer you use a tool to draw

diagrams or UI prototypes. However, inserting pictures of hand-drawn diagrams is fine as long as they

are legible. Include a cover page with the course number, year, project title, and full team member

names. Do NOT include the 700 number.

Grading rubric

Deliverable Points Grade

1. User stories

20

2. Use case diagram 20

3. Use case narratives

30

4. CRC cards

15

5. Class diagram

15

6. Prototypes

30

7. Other documentation

10

8. Formatting/ presentation

10

Total points 150