Interview with th UO

Last Tuesday, March 9,2010, me and my groupmates for the SAD project and two classmate had a personal interview with the developer of the first social networking site of the university, the UsepObrero. We receive a text message from our interviewee a day before that we will meet on that day at eight in the evening in Mcdonalds Bajada. The developer was also a student of the university that we are in and a former student of the institute of computing since he has taken up Bachelor of Science in Information Technology on his first year in college. I have discovered that he develop the system in fulfillment for the request of the OCSC but since the OCSC never gave any content for the site, he decided to put his own content.Unfortunately, UsepObrero no longer exist since the developer didn't renew the domain that they bought for $12 per year. 

The interview lasted for several minutes and it goes well. Though I never visited UsepObrero, through the interview and with the ideas from classmates who have visited the site, totally, the system is great. Knowing that he, alone, work for it and self-thought. Probably, he just found his interest on it. When we asked him what can he advice for us,a simple "Good Luck!" and no other words:-) . Yah! his right. good luck for the three of us. It will not be easy and an extensive study and research is needed. I hope we can make it! I know we can.

SAD 1 : Assignment 12

As I was searching on the internet for possible answer for this assignment, I happened to chat with a good Indian friend. A software engineering graduate and he happen to ask what I am doing. I told him am making my assignment. And luckily, he told me that their company develops an ERP which they call EPOS. It’s great to have good friends outside the country and who are willing to help without waiting for something in return.

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
- is principally an integration of business management practices and modern technology. Consequently, it is an amalgamation of three most important components; Business Management Practices, Information Technology and Specific Business objectives. ERP is a massive software architecture that supports the streaming and distribution of geographically scattered enterprise wide information across all the functional units of a business house. It provides the business management executives with a comprehensive overview of the complete business execution which in turn influences their decisions in a productive way.

Company:


Company Background:
Infodrive was setup with one principal n mind that is to put the customer first. That has allowed us to expand as we have retained 98% of clients since it was formed. Their focus is to help their clients develop their IT system to maximize their efficiency and effectiveness in the workplace.

As what my friend told me, in their company they have EPOS which is according to him, “By definition, EPOS is an electronic point of sale. An EPOS solution uses computers or specialized terminals that can be combined with other hardware, such as barcode readers, cash draws etc for accurately and instantly capturing the sale / transaction. This can be a little misleading as most POS (point of sale or purchase) solutions are electronic in this day and age. The difference between the two is typically the recording and updating of stock within the business. For example a POS system could be a standalone electronic till. This records the point of purchase, but does not automatically update the stock level for that product; this is done in a manual process. With an EPOS solution, the stock data is automatically updated, saving great time and increasing efficiency.”

What you get from EPOS software:
• Cost effective solution to EPoS system
• Consultancy to understand your business and system requirements
• Years of expertise and experience in designing and developing bespoke systems
• Understanding of business needs and changes
• Comprehensive installation and training of the system
• Total support as long as you have the system
• Bespoke reporting functions that accommodates your business
• Remote access

EPOS system:
• Single terminal to multiples
• Single site to multiple
• Remote access to all terminals and reporting
• Management reporting system


When I asked him about its over-all project plan, he sends me through email the ERD of their project. He told me that it’s a sample that will be helpful for my assignment. He can’t send me the documentation of their EPOS project since it is still ongoing and I respect it.

SDLC (System Development Life Cycle)
- The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a conceptual model used in project management that describes the stages involved in an information system development project from an initial feasibility study through maintenance of the completed application. Various SDLC methodologies have been developed to guide the processes involved including the waterfall model (the original SDLC method), rapid application development (RAD), joint application development (JAD), the fountain model and the spiral model. Mostly, several models are combined into some sort of hybrid methodology. Documentation is crucial regardless of the type of model chosen or devised for any application, and is usually done in parallel with the development process. Some methods work better for specific types of projects, but in the final analysis, the most important factor for the success of a project may be how closely particular plan was followed. It has five important phases which includes feasibility, requirements analysis and design, implementation, testing, and maintenance.

I may not be able to have the overall project plan of the company but based on the definition given, SDLC put ERP as a point of view. And the implementation of ERP can be the actual and informative framework for SDLC. In other words, they used SDLC as a framework in evaluating the result of the implementation of ERP, either success or failure.

Reference
http://www.matthewlefevre.com/wiki/article.php/Companies_that_use_SAP_ERP_Software
http://www.topbits.com/erp.html - Definition ERP
http://www.infodrive.co.uk/index.html - Company website
http://www.startvbdotnet.com/sdlc/sdlc.aspx - SDLC definition

ERD given:

http://www.4shared.com/file/238418082/2e1697f/0A_ERD.html

Picture Evidence for the online conversation:

SAD 1 : Assignment 11

Let me begin by defining deployment environment. As I have my research, I found out that deployment environment or application deployment environment comprises the computer hardware (specifically computer platforms), operating systems, system software, and networks that will hold up the application program. Those new application systems may have to meet the required special designs to fit and agree with the restrictions of the chosen operating system and other equipments that is why an application deployment environment must determine the constraints that are necessary on the system development alternatives. It is important in the development approach. Why? It is because development environment includes the programming languages, computer-assisted software engineering tools, and other software that are usually used to develop application software. And typically, the application deployment environment limits the choices that are offered for the development environment.

In evaluating the enrolment system of our university, here are some characteristics that I must examine as an analyst when choosing or defining deployment environment:
- Analysts consider the configuration of computer equipments, operating systems, and networks that that will be used when deployment on the new application system is done.
- There are certain languages used in the development of the enrolment system, and as an analyst I should be familiar with the features of these languages.
- The analyst is responsible in determining what environment or it can have multiple choices of environment that will match the application requirements and the firm’s strategic application and technology architecture plans.
- An analyst must consider both application deployment and development environments in defining and estimating how will they perform with a particular application.
- Once an analyst define systems, it is necessary that the analyst specifies information about the deployment environment such as databases, match engines, and standardization engine vendors.
- The systems analyst documents the results of the analysis phase for a knowledgeable decision can be made with regards to the direction, cost, feasibility, and approaches, then present it in a logical way that is focused toward the top management who makes the decision.
- Since the application is the enrolment system, it is preferable that the analyst must be knowledgeable with the enrolment process of the university and maintain the confidentiality of the data.
- As an analyst, I should oversee the development, deployment, and direction of complex programs and processes as part of the tactical execution.
- Good communication skill is also required. Analyst must communicate clearly and concisely both on verbal and written.
References:
http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=-ot62DeCKO4C&pg=PA309&lpg=PA309&dq=characteristics+that+an+anlayst+examines+when+choosing+or+defining+deployment+environment&source=bl&ots=V0x_RrJEXy&sig=ps0TRNmjo8XOHg7SB59vcqAN7Ng&hl=tl&ei=VTSOS9S2O4SQtgPk4qnZCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=&f=false
http://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&ved=0CA0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhercules.gcsu.edu%2F~adahanay%2Fcbis3210%2FChapter%25208-reviewQ.doc&rct=j&q=characteristics+that+an+anlayst+examines+when+choosing+or+defining+deployment+environment.&ei=7FaOS7mdBorsswOTm7HbCA&usg=AFQjCNEjAujz6gbFma0-N7KpwUDhwRvsbw

SAD 1 : Assignment 10

With reference to assignments 8 and 9, what characteristics does an analyst (you) examine when evaluating DFD quality? (1500 words)

Both assignment eight and nine are based on making UML or Unified Modeling Language. In assignment 8, it is about constructing an activity diagram of the pre-enrolment system in continuation of the previous assignment. As what I have defined activity diagram in my previous post, Activity Diagrams are typically used for business process modeling, for modeling the logic captured by a single use case or usage scenario, or for modeling the detailed logic of a business rule. Creating activity diagrams are very useful in describing the flow control of the target system. It is also helpful in determining the use cases and the business processes of a firm. According to IBM, Activity diagrams are useful in modeling a system in a simple and intuitive illustrations or figures of what happens on the workflow and the activities can be done in parallel or multiple way and it illustrates to verify whether there are alternative paths through the workflow. The next assignment is an exercise o developing a Data Flow Diagram (DFD) of the pre-enrolment system. The data flow diagram, from the word itself, shows the flow of data from external entities into the system, how the data moved from one process to another and as well as its logical storage (Scott W. Ambler). It is a graphical illustration of the movement of data between the external entities and the different processes and data stores within a system. As an analyst, data flow diagram is a great help because it enable us to understand deeply the system. Base on the slide presentation of Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Joey F. George and Joseph S. Valacich entitled Structure System Requirements: process modeling, there are two defined data flow diagrams, includes context diagram and level-O diagrams. To differentiate, context diagram is a data flow diagram (DFD) of the scope of an organizational system that shows the system boundaries external entities that interact with the system and the major information flows between the entities and the system. On the other hand, level-O diagram is a data flow diagram (DFD) that simply represents a system’s major processes, data flows and data stores at a high level detail.

If we will try to compare the two, they are almost similar. Both diagrams are designed to illustrate a process modeling. The only difference that I have observed is that activity diagram is used for process modeling through describing the flow of the target system while data flow diagrams shows the flow of data from external entities into the system. UML activity diagrams are somewhat considered as the object-oriented equivalent of flow charts and data flow diagrams (DFDs) from structured developments. Both diagrams are useful in determining the flow of the data, entities and even the system itself.

Now, back to the main question, what characteristics does an analyst (you) examine when evaluating DFD quality? To be honest, I really had a hard time thinking of how to create good and perfect data flow diagrams. And in fact, there are different types of DFDs that can be used in modeling the process of a system. Here are some of the characteristics:

SAD 1 : Assignment 9

Data Flow Diagram

- According to Scott W. Ambler, Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs) show the flow of data from external entities into the system, showed how the data moved from one process to another, as well as its logical storage.

Data Flow Diagramming definitions:

• Context Diagram - A data flow diagram (DFD) of the scope of an organizational system that shows the system boundaries, external entities that interact with the system and the major information flows between the entities and the system

• Level-O Diagram- A data flow diagram (DFD) that represents a system’s major processes, data flows and data stores at a high level of detail.

Four Different Types of DFDS

Current Logical
- Physical aspects of system are removed as much as possible
- Current system is reduced to data and processes that transform them
New Logical
- Includes additional functions
- Obsolete functions are removed
- Inefficient data flows are reorganized
New Physical
- Represents the physical implementation of the new system
Current Physical
- Process label includes an identification of the technology (people or systems) used to process the data
- Data flows and data stores are labeled with the actual name of the physical media on which data flow or in which data are stored

Here are some of a Data Flow Diagram of the Pre-enrolment system:

a. CONTEXT DIAGRAM

SAD 1: Assignment 8

UML 2 activity diagrams are typically used for business process modeling, for modeling the logic captured by a single use case or usage scenario, or for modeling the detailed logic of a business rule. Although UML activity diagrams could potentially model the internal logic of a complex operation it would be far better to simply rewrite the operation so that it is simple enough that you don’t require an activity diagram. In many ways UML activity diagrams are the object-oriented equivalent of flow charts and data flow diagrams (DFDs) from structured development (Scott W. Ambler, UML 2 Activity Diagrams, Agile Modeling).
Wikipedia defines activity diagrams as graphical representations of workflows of stepwise activities and actions with support for choice, iteration and concurrency.[1] In the Unified Modeling Language, activity diagrams can be used to describe the business and operational step-by-step workflows of components in a system. An activity diagram shows the overall flow of control.