Information systems, analysis, model and design help needed

University of Maryland University College

ITEC 630

Spring 2016

Homework #1

This homework is due by midnight Sunday March 06, 2016.

Guidelines:

· Put your name in the homework.

· You should submit your exam to your assignment folder in LEO in a Word or PDF. Please scan your file against viruses before submitting.

· Be as clear and objective as you can in all questions and be sure you are answering what is asked.

· Justify all your numerical answers and answer all the questions using your own words. Show all your work, including how you found your answer (this is very important and essential to have your answer graded appropriately!).

_______________________________________________________________________

(Your name)

There are 5 questions:

#1 (Chapter 2) [20 points]

Figure 2.8 shows seven (7) examples of E-R diagrams representing seven (7) different types of relationships. Please draw another seven (7) E-R diagrams for seven (7) different types of relationships using the layout format of Figure 2.8.

#2 (Chapter 4 and Chapter 5) [20 points]

Part A [10 points]

As part of your systems analysis project to update the automated accounting functions for Xanadu Corporation, a maker of digital cameras, you will interview Leo Blum, the chief accountant.

a) Write six (6) interview objectives covering his use of information sources, information formats, decision-making frequency, desired qualities of information, and decision-making style.

b) In a paragraph, write down how you will approach Leo to set up an interview.

c) State which structure you will choose for this interview. Why?

Part B [10 points]

Cheryl Stake is concerned that too many forms are being filled out incorrectly. She feels that about 9 percent of all the forms have an error.

a) How large a sample size should Ms. Stake use to be 98-percent certain she will be within 0.03?

b) Suppose Ms. Stake will accept a confidence level of 80 percent that she will be within 0.04. What will the sample size of forms be now?

c) Suppose Ms. Stake will accept a confidence level of 97 percent that she will be within 0.05. What will the sample size of forms be now?

#3 (Chapter 7) [20 points] Refer to problems 6 & 7 in Kendall & Kendall pp. 206 [with some modifications])

a. Draw a context-level data flow diagram for Perfect Pizza (Problem 5).

b. Explode the context-level diagram in Problem 6 showing all the major processes. Call this Diagram 0. It should be a logical data flow diagram.

#4 (Chapter 5) [20 points]

“I don’t want any power here,” demurs Dr. Drew Charles, medical director of the regional blood center where your systems group has just begun a project. “I’m up to my neck in work just keeping the regional physicians informed so they follow good blood-banking practices,” he says, as he shields his eyes from the bright sunlight streaming into his office. He clicks off the display connected to his PC and turns his attention to you and the interview.

Dr. Charles is dressed in a conservative, dark wool suit and is wearing a red-striped silk necktie. He continues, “In fact, I don’t make decisions. I’m here purely in a positive support role.” He pulls out the organizational chart shown in Figure 1 below to illustrate his point. “It is as clear as a fracture. The chief administrator is the expert on all administrative matters. I am the medical consultant only.”

Dr. Charles’s office is stacked high not only with medical journals such as Tranfusion but also with yellowed copies of old BYTE magazines and the latest issues of Business Week. Each Business Week is opened to a different page, as if the doctor were in the process of devouring each morsel of information. The overflow journals, however, are not stored meticulously on metal bookshelves as expected. In sharp contrast to the gleaming new equipment you saw being used in the donor rooms, the journals are piled a foot high on an old blood-donating bed that has been long retired from its intended use.

Next, you decide to interview the chief administrator, Craig Bunker, to whom Dr. Charles has alluded. Fifteen minutes after the scheduled start of your appointment, Bunker’s secretary, Dawn Upshaw, finally allows you to enter his office. Bunker, who has just finished a phone call, is dressed in a light-blue sport coat, checkered slacks, light-blue shirt, and a necktie. “How are you doing? I’ve just been checking around to see how everything’s perking along,” Bunker says by way of introduction. He is outgoing and very friendly.

As you glance around the room, you notice that there are no filing cabinets, nor is there a PC such as the one Dr. Charles was using. There are lots of photos of Craig Bunker’s family, but the only item resembling a book or magazine is the center’s newsletter, Bloodline. As the interview begins in earnest, Bunker cheerfully launches into stories about the Pennsylvania Blood Center, where he held the position of assistant administrator six years ago.

Finally, you descend the stairs to the damp basement level of the Health Lambert Mansion. The bloodmobiles have just returned, and processed blood has been shipped to area hospitals. You decide to talk with Sang Kim, a bloodmobile driver; Jenny McLaughlin, the distribution manager; and Roberta Martin, a lab technician who works the night shift.

Roberta begins, “I don’t know what we’d do without the doctor.” In the same vein, though, Sang feeds the conversation by remarking, “Yeah, he helped us by thinking up a better driving schedule last week.”

Jenny adds, “Dr. Charles is invaluable in setting the inventory levels for each hospital, and if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have our new software, let alone our new network.”

As one of the systems analysis team members assigned to the blood center project, develop an anecdotal checklist using STROBE to help you systematically interpret the observations you made about the offices of Dr. Charles and Craig Bunker. Consider any disparities between a decision maker’s clothing, what a decision maker states, and what is said by others; between office location and what is stated; and between office equipment and policies stated. In addition, in a paragraph, suggest possible follow-up interviews and observations to help settle any unresolved questions.

Figure 1. The organizational chart of the regional blood center

#5 (Microsoft Project) Work on project files in Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 of Microsoft Project 2013 Step-by-Step and submit the following completed project files: [20 points]

a. Simple Tasks.mpp b. Simple Resources.mpp c. Simple Assignments.mpp d. Simple Formatting.mpp e. Simple Tracking.mpp

There are additional files (Guided Tour.mpp, Simple Plan.mpp, etc.) that students may have to create along the way but these files are not required for submission.