BA 3810 Midterm
Spring, 2008
Answer each question clearly and neatly. Type (wordprocess) the answer to questions 3, 4 and 5. Answers to Questions 1 and 2 may be drawn by hand (although the extra credit question requires use of Visio). Typed answers to individual questions may be no more than 2 pages each, double spaced with 1" margins. If I cannot read your answer or understand your grammar, or if you provide multiple answers, the answer will be wrong.
You may have notes, books or other reference materials that you desire. However, you must do the exam alone. This exam is due at the beginning of class on Monday, March 31. Turn in hard copy of the exam — do not email the exam to me.
1. Draw a context diagram, a level zero diagram and at least one explosion for the following problem (these may be done by hand). (So, the question has 3 parts) If you discover the narrative is incomplete, make up reasonable explanations to complete the story. Supply these extra explanations along with the diagrams. (25 points)
| Government Solutions Company (GSC) sells computer equipment to federal government agencies. Whenever a federal agency needs to purchase equipment from GSC, it issues a purchase order against a standing contract previously negotiated with the company. GSC holds several standing contracts with various federal agencies. When a purchase order is received by GSC’s contracting officer, the contract number referenced on the purchase order is entered into the contract database. Using information from the database, the contracting officer reviews the terms and conditions of the contract and determines whether the purchase order is valid. The purchase order is valid if the contract has not expired, the type of equipment is listed on the original contract, and the total cost of the equipment does not exceed a predetermined limit. If the purchase order is not valid, the contracting officer sends the purchase order back to the requesting agency with a letter stating why the purchase order cannot be filled, and a copy of the letter is filed. If the purchase order is valid, the contracting officer enters the purchase order number into the contract database and flags the order as outstanding . The purchase order is then sent to the order fulfillment department. Here the inventory is checked for each item ordered. If any items are not in stock, the order fulfillment department creates a report listing the items not in stock and attaches it to the purchase order. All purchase orders are forwarded to the warehouse where the items in stock are pulled from the shelves and shipped to the customer. The warehouse then attaches to the purchase order a copy of the shipping bill listing the items shipped and sends it to the contracting officer. If all items were shipped, the contracting officer closes the outstanding purchase order record in the database. The purchase order, shipping bill and exception report (if attached) are then filed in the contracts office. |
EXTRA CREDIT: Also, provide a Visio diagram of your level 0 diagram.
2. Draw a use case diagram for the same problem as considered in Question 2. (20 points)
3. Comment on the following statement (25 points):
| A good management information system should provide the manager with as much information as possible and that information should be provided in no more than five seconds after it is requested. |
4. What problems might occur during systems analysis if an organization used different CASE tools that did not share a common repository? How are you controlling this on your project?(15 points)
5. Suppose you are working with the manager of the campus bookstore to analyze the needs for a computerized inventory system as systems analysis project. The manager of the bookstore, Cecily, believes one of your team members is making a nuisance of himself by asking her extremely detailed questions about data items used in the system. For example, one of his questions was, “Cecily, how much space, in characters, does listing of an ISBN number take?”
- a. What are the problems of going directly to the manager with questions such as this?
- b. What would be a better way of gaining the information?
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