1. Information Requirement Analysis
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Student Name: Myint Oo @ Amirul Hassan
UOG Student Registration ID: 000805763
Coursework Title: Homeless Help Mission
COMP1645: Information Requirement Analysis
Coursework Coordinator: Elaine Major
Due Date: 25 April 2014
Center: KMD (Yangon, Myanmar)
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Table of Content
Acknowledgement........................................................................................................................................4
Part A Requirements Analysis using Rich Picture
A1. Rich Picture
A1.1 Rich Picture for Homeless Help Mission Environment ..........................................................6
A2. Discussion of complete Homeless Help Mission Environment
A2.1 What stakeholder is .................................................................................................................7
A2.1.1 Stakeholders involved ......................................................................................... 7-8
A2.2 What Organizational structure is? .......................................................................................... 8
A2.2.1 Organizational structure ...................................................................................... 8-9
A2.3 The need of system to be built.................................................................................................9
A2.4 What conflict area is? ..............................................................................................................9
A2.4.1 Conflict Area Identified..................................................................................... 9-10
A2.5 Issues discussed by each stakeholder ....................................................................................10
A2.6 What organizational culture is? .............................................................................................10
A2.6.1 Culture and sub-cultures identified.................................................................. 10-11
A2.7 High Level Processes exist in the organization .....................................................................11
A2.8 Sources of scrutiny in the organization ........................................................................... 11-12
Part B – Requirements Analysis using Use Case Modeling
B1. Use Case Diagram
B1.1 Use case diagram for Dig-It Project....................................................................................................14
B2. Documentation of Use Case Diagram
B2.1 Primary Scenarios for each use case................................................................................ 15-18
B2.2 Associated Secondary Scenarios for two of Primary Scenarios ...................................... 15-18
B3. Justification of the process from the final documented use case diagram
B3.1 Choosing Key actors from the use case diagram............................................................. 18-19
B3.2 Identifying the Key activities from a chosen Primary Scenario ............................................19
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B3.3 Identifying the Secondary Scenarios .....................................................................................20
B3.4 Some questions about the system and whom should be asked which
questions to get the information .....................................................................................................21
Part C - Critique of Rich Picture and Use Case
C1. Comparing the two approaches for requirements analysis
C1.1 Rich Picture
C1.1.1 Difference ..............................................................................................................23
C1.1.2 Purpose ..................................................................................................................23
C1.1.3 Used for .................................................................................................................23
C1.1.4 Characteristics........................................................................................................24
C1.1.5 Perspective.............................................................................................................24
C1.1.6 Advantages ............................................................................................................24
C1.1.7 Disadvantages........................................................................................................25
C1.2 Use Case
C1.2.1 Difference ..............................................................................................................25
C1.2.2 Purpose ..................................................................................................................25
C1.2.3 Used for .................................................................................................................25
C1.2.4 Characteristics.................................................................................................. 25-26
C1.2.5 Perspective.............................................................................................................26
C1.2.6 Advantages ............................................................................................................26
C1.2.7 Disadvantages........................................................................................................26
C1.2.8 Relationship between rich picture and use case.....................................................27
Summary and References
1. Summary……………………………………………………………………………..…….…28
2. References…………..………………………………………………..................................28-29
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Acknowledgement
I would like to express my profound thanks to my first lecturer, Mr. Francis Murphy for providing me his
excellent guidance, patience and caring for the completion of my coursework. Without him, submission of
coursework to UOG will not come into possible.
I would also like to express my sincere thanks to my second lecturer, Daw Moe Sandar Aung who also helped
me with my coursework by offering her valuable time to explain some IRA chapters patiently which are
directly related to my coursework.
Big thanks to Elaine Major, UOG coursework coordinator who has provided us such a useful coursework
from which we could gain much more knowledge about requirement analysis and developing a system.
Eventually, I have to thank my parents and friends who indirectly support me without which this coursework
would not be possible.
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A2 Discussion of complete Homeless Help Mission Environment
A2.1 What stakeholder is?
Stakeholders are the people who are interested, work and support for the organization.
A2.1.1 Stakeholders involved
Remark: Based on the above rich picture, the following stakeholders are taken out. Each stakeholder
is described including their tasks, roles and responsibilities.
CEO-Chief Executive Office (Lisa Attward)
She has to make decisions for every department in head office. As the charity organization
has to stand on public funds and trust, she has to be very careful when she makes decision. So, she is
one of key stakeholders.
FD-Finance Director (Ken Wong)
He is one of the most important stakeholders who handles all financial transactions and sends
required finance to each local project centers and receives report for it and sends them to Executive
Committee and funders.
IQO-Information Quality Officer
He has to collect data from each project running under the organization and try and observe
which project is lacking resources and which is running effectively. He has to offer regular reports to
the funders and executive committee.
DCAS- Director of Central Administrative Support (Ade Adetayo)
He is an experienced person but new to the Homeless Help Mission. His sole task is to
manage information centrally.
External Sources (Funders/Agencies/Local Government)
They are the most important stakeholders in the charity sector because these are the people
who provide funds to run the organization.
Volunteers
As Homeless Help Mission is a non-profit charity organization, it can’t hire many full time
employees. So, volunteers are very important for the organization.
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Lead Workers
No matter how big or small the project is, there is always a lead worker to lead it. Without
lead workers, running the project will be a mess.
Assistant Manager and Center Manager
Each local project center has an assistant manager and center manager. They have to send
report all happening in their responsible center to the head office.
Administrative Assistant
These are the stakeholders required for running the projects and registering volunteers daily.
Without their support, it will take time to finish the projects on time.
A2.2 What Organizational structure is?
Organizational structure shows what the roles and responsibilities of employees are, how the
tasks are allocated, controlled and how information flows between the different levels of management.
The organizational structure of Homeless Help Mission is described below. (The organizational
structure can be different depending on their objectives)
A2.2.1 Organizational structure
The Homeless Help Mission is organized in FOUR different levels. They are
Executive Committee
Head Office (Staffs)
Local Project Centers
Volunteers
Executive Committee
There’s an Executive team which is composed of a CEO and some other employees to help
CEO with his work. CEO makes decisions for the head office for their daily transactions and has the
sole responsibility to manage the whole organization.
Head Office (Employees)
Head office is managed by the Executive committee. It has to obey the instruction of
executive committee and manage the local project centers as instructed and submit report to the EC.
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Local Project Centers
Head office extends its services through local centers in different cities such as Manchester,
oxford etc. Each center consists center manager and assistant manager who have to report to the head
office concerning all about the center.
Volunteers
Volunteers are the key for the organization because it can’t pay for all employees and these
are the people who communicate and provide services to the clients and supervise them.
A2.3 The need of system to be built
By observing the issues and requirements discussed by each employee and processes from the
rich picture, it’s known that the system that needs to be built for the organization is Management
Information System. The following are the reasons.
The existing information system can only support financial transactions at head office. As it’s
an off-the-shelf payroll system, it can’t fulfill all daily requirements.
The information quality office from head office has to overcome various obstacles to collect
data from local centers because each local centers record data in their own format and no standard
way of recording them and data become inconsistent. So, he can’t have the right information and fails
to provide report to the executive committee and funders on time. It’s also hard to know which project
needs what and which projects are running well and which are not. The head office and executive
committee also finds it difficult to manage and instruct the employees on how to handle the projects
and run the local centers. The projects are also hard to be measured with KPI.
A2.4 What Conflict Area is?
Conflict area is something that is discussed with unique ideas and opinions by more than two
persons.
A2.4.1 Conflict Area Identified
The rich picture drawn above concerning Homeless Help Mission is full of conflicts discussed
by different levels of the organization. As Homeless Help Mission has to stand on public funds, CEO
is concerned that whether the organization has gained public trust and increases its reputation or
image. The CEO is very eager to have a new MIS for the effective of whole the organization while the
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finance director needs a new financial management system now as he said financial is central to the
organization.
The Executive committee is upset with information quality officer as he doesn’t send report
on time and he is disappointed in getting the data with different format given by local centers and data
are not consistent. He hasn’t got the right information on time either.
The finance director is worried of not having enough funds and sending the required funds to
the local centers on time and the center manager find it difficult to run the centers as he doesn’t get
funds on time from the finance director.
A2.5 Issues discussed by each stakeholder
The CEO knows that some projects are not using resources effectively. She is so worried
about it because it might attack the organization’s image. She is also eager to know that how effective
the decision she made is. She is upset with some employees as they don’t send the reports regularly.
The lead workers are always worried that whether they have enough funds and resources left
to run the projects. The volunteers find some homeless people difficult to communicate. So, they have
hard times to provide services and accommodation to them. They are in need of some more volunteers
to cooperative with them for the effectiveness of carrying out the projects.
The funders always want to know that how their funds are used for what. They also want to
know how homeless people are treated and provided services. They are always eager to have correct
reports from the head office and EC.
A2.6 What’s organizational culture?
It shows the different values of social and psychological background of an organization. It
contains organization’s experiences, prospect, values, and is articulated in its self-reputation, internal
workings, and communications with its clients (e. g clients, funders) and future expectations.
A2.6.1 Culture and sub-cultures identified
The Executive committee manages head office and its employees and instructs them on how
to run projects well. All the employees are hardworking and experienced. They all do their respective
jobs as instructed. In case any problems, they send report for help to EC. In local centers, they don’t
need to take every decision to run the projects from head office. The current working system doesn’t
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provide job satisfaction to the employees because it’s lacking an effective MIS and the right
information on time.
The volunteers supervise the clients and provide services to the clients (homeless people).
Clients are also taught life skills and to find employment. The volunteers are well trained to
communicate well with the clients. The funders provide funds to EC. If any more funds need, EC
contact funders. EC sends report to the funders how the funds are used efficiently.
A2.7 High level processes exists in the organization
There are many processes that the organization has to carry out daily. Out of them, two high
level processes are taken out from the rich picture because without these processes, the organization
can’t run well. They are developing a new MIS and using Dig-It project as a pilot system.
Presently, the head office can’t get correct information from local centers as there’s no
standard way to record data and provide reports to the funders regularly. It’s also difficult to measure
projects with KPI and which projects are running and how. So, developing a new MIS is chosen as a
high level process because the head office and executive committee find it hard to manage the whole
organization.
It project is an ideal project out of all projects in the organization and the UK prime minister
also paid a visit as the way the employees and volunteers run it is very impressive e.g. effective
management and the project helped many homeless people with getting them life skills and
employment. Because of the success of the project, funders want to offer more funds to expand. So,
many employees including CEO would like to use it as a pilot system. This is why it’s chosen as the
second high level process.
A2.8 Sources of scrutiny within the environment
Internal Scrutiny
There are many things within the environment to pay careful scrutiny such as checking daily
progress of each local center, keeping the data secure, having the right information, sending correct
reports to the funders.
If the head office doesn’t check daily progress of the local centers, they won’t provide the
right instruction and help and know which centers run projects in what way.
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As it’s a non-profit organization, data security is not a big issue but the data is misused, it can
attack the reputation of the organization. So, the data should be accessed to the right person.
In order to make strategic decision for the success of the organization, it’s very important to
have the right information and data.
The organization has to ensure that the funders get correct reports as funds come from them
on which it has to stand.
Word Count for Part A – 1560 (Excluding all headings)
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Part B – Requirements Analysis using Use Case Modeling
B1. Use Case Diagram
B1.1 Use case diagram for Dig-It Project
Use Case Diagram for Dig-It Project
Administrative assistant
(Primary Actor)
Record clients
Record Volunteers
Create volunteer
rota
Report project’s
progress
Tim Tidy, Lead Worker
(Primary Actor)
Add daily project
activies
Ask for DRB check
<<include>>
Jennifer O’ Brien, Center Manager
(Primary Actor) Head Office
(Secondary Actor)
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B2. Documentation of Use Case Diagram
B2.1 Primary Scenario for each use case
Use Case Name: Record clients
Actor: Administrative assistant
Pre condition: Administrative assistant must be authorized and login into the system
Flow of events:
Use case starts when administrative assistant selects client registration form
1. Administrative assistant enters the name to check whether it already exists or not
2. If doesn’t exist, administrative assistant enters client’s personal information
3. Then, administrative assistant saves the information
Post condition: Client’s personal information will be saved in the system.
Use Case Name: Record volunteers
Actor: Administrative assistant
Pre condition: Administrative assistant must be authorized and login into the system
Flow of events:
Use case starts when administrative assistant selects volunteer registration form
1. Administrative assistant enters volunteer’s personal information including his or her
available time
2. Then, administrative assistant adds DRB information from DRB certificate
3. Administrative assistant produces terms and condition of Homeless Help Mission
where he or she has to sign on it and save it as JPEG format
4. Administrative assistant submits all the above information
Post condition: The entire volunteer’s information will be saved in the system.
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Secondary Scenario
2. (a) If there are similar volunteer’s names, the system will warn with a message box
3. (a) If the DRB certificate is expired or fake, the registration will be cancelled.
4. (a) The registration will fail if the volunteer disagree with the terms and condition provided
to sign
Use Case Name: Create Rota
Actor: Tim Tidy, Lead Worker
Pre condition: Tim Tidy must login into the system and all volunteer and client information
has already been inserted in the system
Flow of events:
Use case starts when Tim Tidy clicks creates new rota form
1. Tim Tidy creates Project ID and name
2. Tim Tidy enters activity
3. Tim Tidy enters date, time for activity
4. Tim Tidy checks client lists and add to the activity
5. Tim Tidy searches for volunteers profile to know the available time of volunteers to
supervise the clients and add them to the activity
6. Tim Tidy enters location name to pick up clients added
7. Tim Tidy confirms the above data entered
Post condition: Rota for volunteers will be created.
Secondary scenario
2. (a) If Tim Tidy enters wrong activity and the system won’t recognize and warn to enter a
correct activity
5. (a) If there are no volunteer profiles found, the system will show the message and can’t
display the available time of volunteers
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6. (a) If Tim Tidy enters wrong location, the system will suggest a correct format of location.
Use Case Name: Add daily project activities
Actor: Tim Tidy, Lead Worker
Pre condition: Tim Tidy must login into the system
Flow of events:
Use case starts when Tim Tidy creates new daily project activities
1. Tim Tidy selects Project ID, activity and assigned volunteers
2. Tim Tidy inserts the hours worked on what activity
3. Tim Tidy selects client IDs who presented for work and inserts their attendances.
Then selects client IDs who failed for work and inserts the reasons for absence
4. After inserting his remarks, Tim Tidy submits daily activities of project.
Post condition: Project daily activities will be saved.
Use Case Name: Report project’s progress
Actor: Jennifer O’ Brien
Pre condition: All correct information about projects has already been saved
Flow of events:
Use case starts when Jennifer O’Brien selects report type e.g. monthly report from the report
category
1. Jennifer O’Brien selects month for the specific report to be produced
2. Jennifer O’Brien searches for key information of project by entering project ID or
name
3. The system will display what Jennifer O’Brien has searched which may contain the
use of resources, budget and the number of tasks finished. It also shows how the
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project meets KIPs, for example volunteer’s performance on supervising clients,
client’s satisfaction on services provided.
4. After inserting her remarks on the project report which is going to be sent to head
office and she clicks print or send button
Post condition: Report will be printed out or sent
Secondary scenario
1. (a) If Jennifer O’Brien selects wrong month, the system will search and show different
month’s project information
2. (a) If the searched information is not found, the system will show “No search result” and
can’t produce the report, and this ends use case.
B3. Justification of the process from the final documented use case diagram
B3.1 Choosing Key actors from the use case diagram
By observing the above drawn use case of Homeless Help mission, five key processes
are found.
Without volunteers and clients, Dig-It project has nothing to do. So, the information
of volunteers and clients are very important for Dig-It. This information can also be used to
measure KPI. As center manager and lead worker are busy with running and managing the
centers and projects, they can’t provide their time to use the system very often. However,
Dig-It has more than one administrative assistant to help run the project. So, the processes of
recording clients and volunteers are done by administrative assistants as they can carry out
these processes with the system effectively for the organization. But center manager instruct
them how well to do that. That’s why administrative assistants are regarded as primary actor.
As the success of a Dig-It project is under the instruction and management of lead
worker, Tim Tidy, he is regarded as a primary actor in the above use case. The reason why he
is the primary actor is that he needs to create rota for volunteers when and where they have to
work with which client groups for the effectiveness of the project. The local government
authorities funds for Dig-It and they want to know how effective and successful the project is.
To do that, all the information related to Dig-It is needed to measure KPIs. So, it’s a must to
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add daily project activities in the system. Only then KPI can be measured and can show the
progress of the project to local authority.
Jennifer O’Brien is a center manager of the project who has the sole responsible for
Dig-It project. She has to arrange the information which is collected and added by Tim Tidy
in the system every month and send the report to the head office. So, she is the primary actor
and head office is the secondary actor as it has to see the report and offer instruction based on
the report.
B3.2 Identifying the Key activities from a chosen Primary Scenario
There are six use cases in the above use case diagram of Homeless Help mission
which are already discussed in detail. Even if they are discussed well, some of the data are
inadequate to show the full understanding of overall coursework and the drawn use case
diagram. Consequently, it’s required to explain the assumption of some key activities
included in the chosen primary scenario of Create volunteer rota.
In order to complete this scenario, three key activities are chosen out of six activities
which are
- Searching for volunteers profile to know the available time of volunteers
- Entering date and time for activities
- Entering location name to pick up client group indentified
The reason why the above are chosen is that the other remaining four scenarios and
activities rely on them because Dig-It project can’t be run without a volunteer rota. If one of
these three key activities is left to do, it can cause a huge impact on the project and the project
will likely fail. If there’s no search for volunteers available time found, there will be hardship
to assign volunteers to supervise the clients for the gardening activities. Similarly, if there’s
no correct date and time, clients will have difficulties to work at elder people’s gardens.
Finally, if wrong location name, it can waste the time of volunteers to pick up client group
which may delay the project to finish. As a result, these three activities are identified as key
activities based on my assumption.
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B3.3 Identifying the Secondary Scenarios
No perfect system can be developed. So, every system has its different errors.
Likewise, the system I am going to develop for Homeless Help Mission may also have
system errors as well as human typing errors which go into secondary scenarios. In order to
document the primary scenario for create volunteer rota. Some alternative paths were
carefully thought which may happen due to error situations. The following will be clearly
discussed why they are identified as secondary scenarios.
- If Tim Tidy enters wrong activity
- If no volunteer profiles found
- If a wrong location is entered
If Tim Tidy enters wrong activity
Alternative will arise when Tim Tidy enters a wrong activity. There are two types of
activities, Dig-It for elderly and Dig-It for purpose. So, the system only knows these two
activities. When wrong activity is entered, the system doesn’t know and let him search the
available time of volunteers.
If no available volunteers found
Alternative will arise when there’s no volunteers profiles exist. So, Tim Tidy will fail
to create a volunteer rota as he doesn’t know which volunteers are available and unavailable.
Without volunteers, there’s no rota needed. This can effect on the project hugely.
If a wrong location is entered
Alternative will arise when a wrong location is entered by Tim Tidy. The system will
provides suggestion of correct format to enter as location is very important to pick up the
client group and start the project. If the system doesn’t suggest for a correct format, it can
waste volunteers’ time and the project will be delayed to start.
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B3.4 some questions about the system and whom should be asked which questions to get
the information
In order to show the clear understanding of the drawn use case, it is required to make
some assumption when drawing use case diagram for the Homeless Help Mission. There are
no specified employees from whom the questions can be asked to get the information. But,
the only way to ask the questions in real life is to ask from those who are currently in charge
of doing the processes included in the drawn use case.
Asking questions will be done by producing requirements sheets for each use case of
the drawn use case diagram. Interview will be an effective way to gather the information for
each process in real life. There are 5 key processes in the use case diagram such as record
client, record volunteers etc. The following is the requirement sheet for which the questions
will be asked to whom. The following is the requirement sheet for interview.
Use Cases from the
drawn use case diagram
Who will be asked in
real life
Questions to be asked in real life
Record Client Administrative assistants How the registration will be processed if
client’s information is insufficient?
How the new and old clients will be
recognized?
Record Volunteers Administrative assistants
and Tim Tidy
Will a volunteer be accepted if his or her
DRB certificate is expired?
Are the volunteers limited to the system
(e.g. 10 volunteers in a time)
Create Volunteer Rota Tim Tidy How will you do if there are no available
volunteers when needed?
How you arrange the activities?
Add daily project activities Tim Tidy How you add client’s attendance?
Report project’s progress Jennifer O’Brien How do you send reports to the head office
when you have not enough information
about project?
Is the information helpful to measure KPI?
Word Count for Part B (B3) – 971 (Excluding headings and table information)
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C1. Comparing the two approaches for requirements analysis
Like Gathering information is not possible without using any methods such as
interview, workshops, questioners, prototyping etc, developing a system is also out of
questions without using any tools such as rich pictures, use cases etc. In order to apply these
two techniques in the development process, the differences, the purpose of these
techniques, used for, what are the characteristics, perspective, advantages,
disadvantages and relationship between them are clearly known and understood. Only
them they can be used effectively to develop a management information system for Homeless
Help Mission.
First of all, the rich picture will be discussed with the above criteria described. Then,
use case will be discussed.
C1.1 Rich Picture
Difference
Rich picture is a soft system methodology that focuses on human factors.
Purpose
The purpose of the rich picture is to show a good view of the overall environment of
Homeless Help Mission to develop a MIS. It also expresses data requirements, organization’s
processes, stakeholders involved in the processes and their responsibilities, the relationship
between stakeholders and conflicts between them, potential problems and risks.
It’s one of the effective techniques to show the key tasks of the Homeless Help
Mission. As a result, it can help identify soft factors which are hard to control and predict and
can be evaluated the thoughts and needs of stakeholders.
Rich picture used for
It’s used for observing the existing situations of Homeless Help Mission such as way
of working, how data flows from strategic level to operational level, difficulties that the
stakeholders having, their views and opinions to develop a new MIS for the effectiveness of
the organization.
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Characteristics of Rich picture
As the rich picture has no rules and restrictions, can includes any types of graphical
representations. But they should be simple and universal so that anyone can easily
understand. The following are the key characteristics used for the rich picture drawn for
Homeless Help Mission.
- Issues (What difficulties that the stakeholders have e.g. Prime Minister’s issue is
“How Dig-It running?”)
- Conflicts ( Different opinions between two stakeholders e.g. EC requires MIS and
FD doesn’t require MIS now, but FMS)
- Processes ( What stakeholders do for the organization e.g. register clients)
- Stakeholders ( People who support are work for the organization e.g. lead
workers)
Perspective
The rich picture is drawn from the stakeholders’ perspective.
E.g. (1) from local authority’s perspective, they provide funds for Dig-It project
E.g. (2) from lead worker’s perspective, he creates rota for volunteers and manage and
instruct them how to supervise the clients.
Advantages
As there are no rules and restrictions for rich picture, different types of graphical
representations like cartoon-like symbols were used in drawing rich picture for Homeless
Help Mission. So, no expertise is required to interpret it. Stakeholders from high level to low
level such as EC members can easily know the drawn rich picture.
Depending on the changes made by the organization, rich picture can easily be made
additions and amendments to any parts. As the drawn rich picture shows conflicts, emotions,
perceptions of all stakeholders involved in the Homeless Help Mission and offer a basic for
communication between each other, stakeholders can easily discuss their individual roles and
responsibilities.
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Disadvantages
In comparison with use case, rich picture doesn’t come into use to develop the system
as it’s not very specific to what is needed for system. Stakeholders of old ages may not like to
see the rich picture as it is complex with different things such different types of cartoon-like
symbols etc.
The drawn rich picture doesn’t cover all the information of Homeless Help Mission as
the stakeholders and places took space. So, some necessary information is left.
C1.2 Use Case
By using the above criteria, use case will also be discussed including examples.
Difference
Use case is a hard system methodology that focuses on technical factors.
Purpose
The purpose of the use case diagram for Dig-It is to show the dynamic aspect of the
system going to be developed including interaction between the key stakeholders of
Homeless Help Mission and the system. It also describes the major functions and processes
which will contain in the proposed system for Dig-It.
Use case used for
It’s used for finding correct solutions for all the existing issues overcoming in the
organization which are clearly described at the rich picture and technical solutions to gratify
all the needs of actors identified by inserting all their related processes into the proposed
system.
Characteristics
Unlike rich picture, no graphical representations can be used apart from the following
characteristics.
Actor – Stakeholders of Homeless Help mission e.g. Tim Tidy, lead worker, Jennifer
O’Brien, center manager who will use the Dig-It system
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Association – Relationship between stakeholders, actors and use case indicating that which
stakeholders can do what in the proposed system for Dig-It. E.g. an association between Tim
Tidy and create rota use case shows that Tim Tidy will do that process in the proposed Dig-It
project.
Business use case – Shows the functionality of the Dig-It system that the stakeholder or actor
carries out e.g. register clients.
Include Relationship – Relationship between two business use cases which means one
functionality which the Dig-It system offers and another functionality of the system is
accessed. E.g. Register volunteers and Ask for DRB certificate
Perspective
The Dig-It use case diagram is drawn from the stakeholders’ perspective.
E.g. (1) from administrative assistant perspective, he or she will record clients and volunteers.
E.g. (2) from lead worker point of view, he will create rota for volunteers and add daily
project activities.
Advantages
As the use case diagram is drawn through the rich picture where all the requirements
are clearly described from the stakeholder’s point of view, it will help to make sure that the
correct system is developed. Stakeholders of Homeless Help Mission can know the system if
it is well-built and meet requirements as use case descriptions are easy to understand. So,
both system analyst and stakeholders can better communicate to each other.
Unexpected errors or problems can be well considered as primary and secondary
scenarios of each use case are described which can make the Dig-It system more robust.
Disadvantages
Even though quality issues are important for MIS, there are no systematic ways to
control nonfunctional requirements with use cases. So, it may have more or less effect on
Dig-It project.
As end-users are asked to know which sets of functions are crucial for designing use
case diagram, they may not know the appropriateness for them due to lack of technical skills.
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Relationship between Rich Picture and Use case
As use case is drawn based on the rich picture, there is a strong relationship between
rich picture and use case. This will be discussed in the following.
The high level process, Dig-It included at the rich picture becomes the system in use
case diagram as EC team would like Dig-It project as a pilot system. The major processes of
Dig-It such as register clients and volunteers become functions and the stakeholders included
in Dig-It project such as administrative assistants and lead worker become the primary actors
in the use diagram.
Word Count for Part C – 1139 (Excluding all headings and criteria names)
28. Information Requirement Analysis
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Summary and References
1. Summary
In part A, the existing situations of Homeless Help Mission is analyzed to develop by
drawing a rich picture where the issue, conflicts, processes are clearly discussed by each
stakeholders. Then each of the characteristics or elements of rich picture such as issues,
scrutiny are explained in detail. So, human factors and organizational factors can be
considered well to develop MIS for the organization.
In part B, a use case diagram is drawn based on the high level process included at the
rich picture which shows all the functional requirements, primary and secondary actors of the
proposed Dig-It system. After that use case descriptions including primary and secondary
scenarios are explained. In order to show the clear understanding of the drawn use case
diagram, four questions such as the explanation of key actors and why they are the key to the
system etc are described in detail including examples.
In part C, by using some criteria such as difference, perception, purpose, the comparison
of rich picture and use case diagram are discussed.
2. References
Website References
SourceMaking. 2010. Use Case Diagrams. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://sourcemaking.com/uml/modeling-business-systems/external-view/use-case-diagrams.
[Accessed 05 April 14].
Tutorialspoint TP. 2014. UML - Use Case Diagram. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/uml/uml_use_case_diagram.htm. [Accessed 06 April 14].
Donald G. Firesmith. 2004. Use Cases: the Pros and Cons. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.ksc.com/articles/usecases.htm. [Accessed 06 April 14].
UX Apprentice. 2011. Disadvantages of use cases and scenarios. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://uxapprentice.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/disadvantages-of-use-cases-and-scenarios/. [Accessed
07 April 14].
29. Information Requirement Analysis
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Better Evaluation. 2014. Rich Pictures. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://betterevaluation.org/evaluation-options/richpictures. [Accessed 07 April 14].
MONK, A.; HOWARD, S. 1998. Rich Pictures. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.sswm.info/category/planning-process-tools/decision-making/decision-making-
tools/gathering-ideas/rich-pictures. [Accessed 08 April 14].
Electronic Books References
Virpi Mäkinen (2003) ANALYSIS OF USE CASE APPROACHES TO REQUIREMENTS
ENGINEERING. [Online]. Available at:
https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/12463/G0000231.pdf?sequence [Accessed: 9
April 2014].
Pat Horan (2000) Using Rich Pictures in Information Systems Teaching. [Online]. Available at:
http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-72/039%20Horan%20SSM.pdf (Accessed: 9 April 2014).