Section A – Analysis Using Rich Pictures
This section is a representation of information from the entire case study and use examples from the case study.
Draw a Rich Picture for the Complete AgeCare Environment.
Symbol Key
Description and justification of the process I followed to arrive at my final picture
A2.1 Identification of the Key Actors in the Environment
The rich picture is based on the key factors identified from the cases study. I base the identification of the main factors on CATOWE system of analyzing organization. CATOWE stands for. In examining an organization the CATOWE system is significant for expressing a problem by demystifying all the situational and permanent factors involved. In this regard I consider CATOWE a description of the human activities and situation involve tin the AgeCare environment. CATOWE is an acronym standing for Customer, Actor, Transformation, World view and Environment. This is a body of five factors that make up of an organization such as AgeCare. The elements identified using CATOWE are listed bellow
Customer
The customers are the beneficiaries of the activities of the organization. The main beneficiaries are the elderly people whose needs are the main inspiration for the existence. Supermarket the support the program could also pass for customer since the elderly people supported by the program purchase their good thus boosting their revenue.
Actors
Actors are the individual behind the running of the program. Indentify actors was as easy as indentifying the customers. The actors in this program the employees, both permanent employees and the volunteers who offer service at their convenience. The other actors are the fanciers such social service and supermarkets which fund the activities such as paying for the good bough by the elderly, fueling their vehicle and financing management operations among others.
Transformation
Transformation on the other hand is a process of change. The transformation in Agacare environment is a change in its operation model. The management of the organization is inefficient, poor record keeping, poor accountability, lack of proper coordination between departments, disagreements and the need to embrace information technology.
World View
AgeCare is based on a world view that there is need to provide the elderly people with the necessary or basic service to enable them to have a fulfilling life.
Environment
The AgeCare environment is characterized by numerous projects targeting various aspects of the aged in the society. The environment is customers who are the elderly people served by the projects, and actors who are the people involved in the financing and implementation of the projects.
A2.2 What Led You to Choose the Key Issues and Areas of Conflict Affecting the Environment that you have Included in your Diagram?
The choice of the key issues and areas of conflict affecting the AgeCare environment included in the diagram we chosen because of their central role in the presenting a summary of what AgeCare is all about. My aim was to symbolically present what AgeCare stands for, its activities and the people and organizations involved the activities of AgeCare. The diagram further represents the served in a symbolic manner. The choice was base on my belief that picture can be used as symbols to represent or develop a concrete meaning for perceive realities. To understand my perspective one must first agree that picture are symbols of reality and what take place in every organization is symbolic. All situation, factors and process are having indisputable symbolic values. The perception of these values is like reading a script of information concerning the organization.
Base on these views, I made the selection of the issues depicted in the picture to give observers a summery description of the relationships between player, actors, customers and processes in the AgeCare environment. Observers can gain knowledge on the organization structure of AgeCare by simply studying the picture.
A2.3. The Main Focus of the Environment Shown in your Picture
In general, the main focus of the environment shown in the picture is the stakeholder and organization component of the AgeCare environment. To a specific level, the picture depicts the organization processes initiated by the stakeholders through the organization structure of the firm. An organization exists due to its strake holder and their activities. The stakeholders therefore, make an organization what it is by being responsible for it performance and dictating its services. This picture show AgeCare stakeholders, their organization structure, interactions and processes involved in delivering the service the organization was designed to deliver.
A2.4 Where does the Control of Systems, Data and Processing Lie in the Environment as Shown in your Picture?
Control systems, data and processing lie in almost every aspect of the environment shown in the picture. Every process involved in value delivery by the organization. However, most of the control lies in the management which can be considered senior of executive management.
The senior management in the organization is the source of all the activities conducted by the organization. The executives initiate the activities and projects the organization undertakes. They design these programs and allocate resources for the realization of the programs goals. It is the executive officers that hire all employees including volunteers.
The executive office also monitors the activities of the sub center that are dispersed in other regions in the south of England. It coordinates the finances and labor allocated to his centers. It hold the centers accountable for the resources the receive form the executive office.
There is also a sphere of control from the financiers who donate most of the funds for various projects. These donors normally insist getting copies of reports indicating how project funds were utilized. Accountability is the main quality that the financiers insist one. Many financiers shy away from funding future programs when they notice discrepancies or fail to get proper accountability.
Section B – Requirements Analysis using Use Case Modelling
The Green Drive project has been selected for the pilot project on the introduction of Information Technology systems in the AgeCare organisation. All the information about the Green Drive has been provided in by the AgeCare case stud in Appendix A. In this section I am going to analyse the Greed Drive project using Use Case Modelling. Use cases are scenarios which describe the channels by which an actor achieve a specific goal. In this regard, a use case model will consist of all the actors and use cases involved in realization of a common objective.
Draw a use case diagram for the system clearly identifying the actors involved
B1.1 A Primary Scenario for Each Use of the System
Scenario 1
Driver (actor) → System →Authentication → Access → Results (Duty plan, designate route and stops, bus assigned)
Scenario 2
Doris (Actor) → System → Authentication → Access →Results (Time bus returned, problems experienced, amount of fuel refills, receipt number)
Client → System→ Authentication → Access →Results (route of the day, time of collection, time of return)
B1.2 A Secondary Scenario for Each Use of the System
Scenario 3
Driver (actor) → System →Authentication failure→ Access denied →suggestion/redirection
Scenario 4
Doris (Actor) → System → Authentication failure→ Access denied →suggestion/redirection Scenario 3
Client → System→ Authentication failure→ Access denied →suggestion/redirection
B2. Describe and Justify the Process that you Followed to Arrive at the Final Use Case Diagram. In Describing this Process, Answer the Following four Questions:
B2.1. Why Did you Choose the Actors you Did and Why are they Key to the System?
I chose the actors in the use case model above because they are the main cause of action and activities engage in to realize the objectives of the project. Total of six actors are in this process. These include Clare Graham, Doris Smith, Drivers, the clients, social services, and supermarket. The contribution by each of the above actors leads to realization of shopping trips for the elderly people on the areas served by the project.
B2.2 Choose One Scenario. How Did you Identify the Key Activities to Include in it?
There are several scenarios in the GreenDrive project which consists of several activities. I am going to explore the drivers handling of the bus, which is one of the scenarios involved in the shopping trips. According to the case study the drivers are mostly volunteers and may drive the bus of a whole day or part of the day. A driver reports to work in the morning, picks a key from the office and signs for a bus and takes off driving to the day’s designated route picking the elderly on the way. He then takes the elderly to the supermarkets where they conduct their shopping. After they have conducted their shopping the driver drive’s back through the same route dropping the elderly one by one at their designated alighting stations or points. In case of a problem along the way the driver calls to report what is going on to Doris who responds to emergencies. At the end of his/her shift the driver returns the vehicle to projects premises, returns the key and sign to indicate s/he has returned back the vehicle. On Friday, the last drive refuels the fuel tank using money already allocated by Doris. In this scenario, the driver is the main actor and the activates involve are reporting to duty, picking the key and signing for the vehicle, driving the vehicle, picking the elderly at designated points, taking the elderly to the supermarkets, dropping them off at designated points, reporting any problem encountered on the journey, refueling the vehicle, returning the vehicle and the key and singing for the return.
B2.3 How Did you Identify Alternative Uses to Produce the Secondary Scenarios?
In use case modelling, alternative uses emerge as a product of failure in the main cases. The yare a created by alternative paths to the main parts use by the basic use case. For instance, in driver scenario above, if the sequence of activities is unable to take the usual designated course, the new course pursued is an alternative and the resultant use case an alternative case. An example, if a driver who has signed up for a vehicle is unable to return the vehicle leaves it to anther driver for an new shift, and the new driver return and signs for the return of the vehicle and the key, it is a diversion from the normal sequence of activities. Also only the driver who drives on Friday fuel the vehicle therefore, the sequence that involves refueling the bus is an alternative case.
B2.4 You Will have Needed to Make Some Assumptions About the System. In Real Life What Questions Would you have Asked to Get the Necessary Information? Who Would you have Asked?
The questions I would have asked to several questions in order to come up with the necessary information for the creation the use cases modeling are and people I would have asked are;
Driver
The drivers undertake the bulk of the activities involved in taking the elderly for shopping to the supermarkets and their questions would target their main line of activities;
- What are the activities you under take when you are on duty?
- How are your activities coordinated?
- Which activities do you conduct occasional when on duty?
- Do you feel that some activities are unnecessary? If yes which one do you consider unnecessary?
- Do you feel the some new activities should be included? If yes which activities would like added?
Clare Graham
- What activities do you engage in daily on behalf of GreenDrive?
- What difficulties do you encounter with record keeping?
- What do you believe are the best solutions to the problems you experience with record keeping?
- What are your expectations of the new management information system underway?
Doris
- What activities do you engage in daily on behalf of GreedDrive?
- What difficulties do you experience in your daily routine?
- What record keeping challenges do experience?
- What solutions would you suggest to these challenges?
- What are your expectations of the new management information system underway?
Supermarkets
- What role do you play in Greeddrive project?
- What challenges do you encounter in participating in the project?
- What solutions would you suggest for these challenges?
- What are your expectations of the project?
- What are your expectations of the new information system underway?
The elder people
- What is services do you derive from the GreenDrive project?
- What challenges do you experience from the project?
- What service would your want change, improved or included?
- What are you expectation of the new management information system underway?
Social service
- What role do you play in Greeddrive project?
- What challenges do you encounter in participating in the project?
- What solutions would you suggest for these challenges?
- What are your expectations of the project?
- What are your expectations of the new information system underway?
Section C – Critical Analysis
In this section, will discus how the analytical tools, rich picture and use case modelling have yielded useful information about the AgeCare organisation. The tools, both in A and B above have yielded adequate information to determine the minimum requirement to be met by the new system in order to enhance efficiency in the organisations service delivery activates.
C1. How these Tools Complement Each Other When Carrying Out a Requirements Analysis Exercise
No single can be effective in analysing program to determine the inefficiency and look for opportunities for improvement. The result s of each technique would be undermined by the limitation of the technique. Using several techniques to conduct an analysis of the same program or object on the other hand enhance the accuracy of the accuracy of the analysis.
Using rich picture and use case modelling to determine the weaknesses of AgeCare organisation and programs and opportunities for improvement conferred the analysis the advantages of both techniques and reduces the effect of the shortcoming of each of the approach on the final results.
The use of rich picture had several benefits to the analysis. First, the rich picture helped map the entire organisation of the AgeCare environment is a simple symbolic outlook that enables easy conceptualisation of the actors, customers and processes involved in realising the objective of eh organisation.
Second, by mapping the entire stakeholder and the processes that take place in the AgeCare environment, the rich picture helped to draw the relationships and interactions between process and activities in the organisation environment.
Through observation of the outlook of the organisational environment and the understanding of the interaction between processes it is easier for one to determine the system requirement for AgeCare charity organisation.
The shortcoming of the rich picture analyses had little impact on the overall analysis of AgeCare management systems requirements due to the complementary effects of the use case modelling analysis.
The benefits Use case modelling conferred to this analysis can not be overstated. The main benefit I enjoyed while using the use cases modelling approach to understand the current state of AgeCare and its organisational need is the ease of managing complex issues. With use cases, I was able to focus on a single issue at a time. For instance, I would focus on a single actor and his/her line of contribution the entire process of service delivery. I was also able to isolate different use cases and examine then in exclusion of the rest of the other use cases. Use cases are based on a very simple principle that main reason for existence of a system is service to its uses. Based on this notion, I was able to examine how each set of activities lead to service delivery, and how each set interacted with other sets of activities.
Each use case presented a different in which the system is to be used to when it is complete. This gave me an opportunity to understand that those in charge like Clare and Doris will have different uses from the drivers who execute most of the activities, the supermarkets and social services that finance project and the elderly people who are the main beneficiaries or clients. In its entirety as case modelling, the approach helped me understand what can go wrong and understand the need for alternative course of activities. Certainly understanding the possible outcomes of all scenarios before designing the system serves to enhance the development process and reduce the need to make numerous alterations in the future.
Another benefit that I enjoyed while working with use cases was provision of a base for groundwork necessary to identify the requirements, documentation, and user needs; a body of information that can be used to enrich the development of new system.
Last the use cases enhanced the process of envisioning how the desired management information system would look like. With use case it was easier to imagine the design of the outcome before starting to define and design a new system. In this regard I found User cases to be proactive in facilitating development of a management information system for AgeCare, starting with the pilot project of GreenDrive.
In a nutshell, using use case modelling was like using a malty stakeholder approach to solving problems. This is because each use case involves a different actor.
However, all is not rosy while using use case modelling analysis approach. In my analysis I encounter various shortcoming of the approach whose negative effects were neutralised by the use of rich pictures. The shortcomings I hand to content with are; the approach only enabled me to focus on the needs and users experience with little regard to usability of the new system, second drawing the relationships among the various use cases was challenging.
C2. Incorporation of Different Cultural and World Views Into the Model
Culture and world views are very influential in developing a management system such as a management information system. The cultural and world view factors that influence this analyses are enshrined in the nature of management, the management should be conducted centrally on specific duties designated to other bodies such as the centres of specific projects. This management approach is bureaucratic in nature. In the case study centralised management had been encouraged by the financial director Jayne Harrison, but Rodriguez he colleague discourages it. In my analysis, bureaucracy is evident in the rich picture where by it is the management that receives funds, recruits volunteer and employee, initiates projects, finances centers which intern oversee the projects.
Another culture that has been espoused clearly in the study and in the analysis is the culture or organisation and division of labour. Responsibilities are properly share and in the GreenDrive project thus enhancing service delivery. GreenDrive further encourage the culture of proper record keeping and accountability through the way it conducts is activist. Problems experience by drivers are recorded, purchases of fuel are also properly recoded. Doris maintains a spread sheet record that always leaves the finance department smiling.
C 3. Selecting Data and Information that was Important for Building the Proposed System
I based my selection of the data necessary for construction of a new system on the current realities experienced by the employees and volunteers at AgeCare charity organization an observation of their current processes and complaint the employees have about the system are a clear indication that change us needed. Identification of the shortcoming of the system was very much easy. The case study provides the background information about the organization which paints a clear picture of the conditions at age care. Second, information of what is missing in the organization is generated through interviews with the employees of the organization. The employees air dissatisfaction with the working condition for sometime. This dissatisfaction and other direct communication on what the employees directly pointed to be lacking alongside study provide useful indispensable data on the important component of necessary for the new system. The most critical systems for proper performance of an organization which must be incorporated by the new system are financial information system and records keeping and management system.
I landed on the financial system because of the compelling by the management staff complaints about the organization’s financial system. Jayne Harrison, the AgeCare financial director is on record stating the need for a new financial system. He states, “…we need to sort our finance system first, before we start worrying about the information each of the projects holds” (Case Study). Finances are a critical component of projects and if mange poorly the success of the project can be seriously undermined. For instance Rodriguez, the Center manager at Basingstoke notes that in the prior to the interview the administration had accidently allocate extra £2000 to his center instead of Portsmouth center. This is clearly an indication that the finical systems are terrible. Financial management is left at the hand of individual projects and is this wasteful. The new system should enhance centralized movement of finance to enhance efficiency.
The filing and record keeping system also need to be streamlined to ensure that everything that take place is accurately recorded and filed. AgeCare centers mostly relay on had copy or paper documentation. A few centers like Basingstoke headed by Jose Rodriguez have rudimentary MS Excel database that are used to store information electronically. However, Rodriguez note that staff member normally have a problem filling the spreadsheets and sometime mix up data. Collecting information about projects and centers is also problematic according to Christos Papadimitriou, the Information quality officer a centralized database the can be feed information by members of staff through the internet is necessary to simplify his work. Such a system would also synchronize the way all centers present their data.
Other then the interview with senior employees at the organization the minutes of the Facilitate Workshop Development Meeting of AgeCare management information system directly state what the organization need. From the minute I deduce the main features that are necessary for the new system (which are similar to those espoused through interviews). They are accuracy in data collection, timely data collection, standard format of data collection, production of important process management reports, expandability, accessibility, map resource use, develop a common interface for all centers, provide a diary system, allow importation of existing information, and facilitate information sharing.
In a nutshell, the identification process for the necessary component of the proposed system involved reading and abstracting the case study.