Meetings

Part 1

Programmers are people that write computer software, this is writing in code and can be used in many different computer software programs. A programmer is not always writing code that is only 6 hours of their day because the rest of their day they have to do organisational hours which use is for 2 hours and this includes sending emails, telephone calls from clients and face to face meetings.  Programmers meetings usually involve finding out what a client requires in there program and possible problems which have come up in other programs. You also have to work out costing of a new programming, timing to do it and also planning of how to make the programming for the software. The ratio of hours per week of meetings and coding is 14 hours meetings and 42 hours of coding.

System Analyst consists of carrying out research to look at current systems and what new systems are required.  In this research you have to carry out interviews, observation, finding out current problems and finding out the requirements for the new system. This is what takes up most of the system analyst’s time. There job involves organisation of the project on how the system is going to work to its ability and the research will help to make the system the way the end user requires it to be. There is a high percent of meetings because of interviews and questionnaires which take place but the rest of this is observing the current system.

Part 2

The purpose of a post implementation review meeting is to make sure that the end user is happy with the new system and it has met all their requirements.  The implementation is also a time where you make sure that the end user can use the system and that the system is user friendly. Also this is a stage where the makers of the system can give training to the end users.  Also the meeting is also to go over and explain the software and hardware requirements and what was used for this new system.  If the system had any problems how these problems were resolved needs to be explained to the users. Also in this meeting how the current data was converted into the new system if this was required this needs to be stated and explained to users. This is in order for the end users to be happy and for the system to be completed.

The project is made in various stages, these stages include, analysis, design, development, testing, implementation and then creating an evaluation and user guide. The analysis stage is where you carry out research on the system such as having interviews, questionnaires, observing the current system and finding out requirement for the system. The design stage is where you design the new system and what is has you get all this information from the analysis stage, this is designing and getting a fee on how the new system will be created. The development system is where the system is getting developed; this is all the things in design stage put into the system of all the things the end user requires. The testing is checked by the developer and another person in order to check that the system works and that there is no errors coming up or no problems are arising, if problems are noticed then the can be fixed before the end user receives the system. The implementation stage is where you have to show the system to the end user and explain how the system works, what problems were resolved and give some appropriate training to the end user. The user guide is used to explain to the user how to use things in the system which might be complex and this is usually a user friendly guide, this also includes help and tutorial guides. The evaluation is the final stage and it is saying how u would make it any different if you were to do it again. All these steps are done after each other because they all lead on from each other and cannot be completed properly until all parts before have be done.

A scrum meeting is a quick meeting telling people within the business what they have to do and assigning people different jobs. Chickens and pigs are to different groups of people within a business. The pigs are the people that carry out the development and testing and who actually work on the system. Whereas the chickens are people who are interested in the system but do not actually work on it they just the end user or the client for whom the pigs are making the system for. The pigs have to find out what the chickens would like within the system and have a look at their current system and the chickens must state problems with system and requirements for new system. Pigs develop and test the system before giving it to the chickens and then this is where everything is checked to see if anything needs added on and that the chickens have an understanding of the system before the pigs hand the project completely over to the chickens.

Emmas Cafe

Part 1

This is the links to my surveys:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?PREVIEW_MODE=DO_NOT_USE_THIS_LINK_FOR_COLLECTION&sm=0tbMOkb0mN%2f4QGmV9KSPnrul7G0iE%2f6L4L%2fTVAoWbYM%3d

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?PREVIEW_MODE=DO_NOT_USE_THIS_LINK_FOR_COLLECTION&sm=0tbMOkb0mN%2f4QGmV9KSPnrul7G0iE%2f6L4L%2fTVAoWbYM%3d

In this questionnaire I have used various techniques in order to make the questions simplistic and easy to understand for all users. The questions I asked vary I did this by using a mixture of multiple choice questions, scale questions and open and closed questions which meant that the questionnaire did not take too long to complete.

My first two questions at the start of my questionnaire are introductory questions these questions consisted of Are you male or female? and What age range do you fall into? These questions are used to try and get an outline of the interviewee and to make the interviewee’s feel more involved in the questionnaire. These questions where closed questions because they either fit into one category or another and I feel an open question would not be appropriate for this because you might get more information than you require.

My third question is Are you full time or part time in the university? This is to find out how many times roughly the person would be in the university which could find out whether they would be in the university much in order to visit the cafe. This question is also closed this is because there is only the option of full time or part time, no other would really relate to this question. This is also another introductory question to begin my questionnaire.

My forth question is finding out more on the interviewees habits and what the interviewee does within the university. This question is: How often would you buy lunch in the university? This is an open question because this will vary between the different interviewee and get all different answers to get a rough estimate on how many people buy food within the university.

My fifth question is a multiple choice question trying to find out whether the interviewees are happy with the current food places within the university or not. This question is: What do you think of the variety food places within the university. This is trying to get an accurate answer from interviewees on their opinion on the cafes within the university. This question is finding out whether a new business introduced would get a good review at its launch or not.

My sixth question is trying to find out the interviewees usual eating habits to see if the new cafe can relate to them or as many people as possible to make it successful. This question is open and consists of: What food would you consider having within the university? The question lets the interviewee answer what they have for lunch or break to see how this could fit into the new business.

My seventh question is trying to find out if people would like to try new foods because this new restaurant is food that most people will not have tried before. This question is: Would you be a person to try new things? This question is closed because there is only one answer which is needed by the interviewee.

My eighth question is: Do you like vegetarian food? This is trying to find out if the interviewee likes vegetarian food this relates to the new cafe and can decide whether the new business will be successful or not. This question is open to try and find out what interviewees like and do not like. This leads out from the question above because it is trying to find out more in depth information on the new business.

My ninth question is a scale question and it is: How successful do you think a vegetarian business would be in the university? This question is trying to get the opinion of the interviewee and trying to get an average on who thinks the restaurant will be successful and who wouldn’t. This question is a scale and it lets the interviewee choose between 1 and 5 on how successful the business would be.

My tenth question is another closed question because it is asking the interviewee: Whether they would use the new cafe or not? There are only a few possible answers to this question which are required. This is a question which also leads on to finding out more on the interviewee’s opinion and also finding out on how successful the business could be.

My eleventh question is trying to get an input from the interviewee’s on what they think would make the cafe successful and what they would like to see in it. The question for this is:  What would be the main features you would be looking for in this kind of cafe? This question is an open question to get the customers opinion on what they want.

My twelfth question is: Do you think the new cafe would have much of a reaction and response from people within the university? This is another open question trying to get the opinion of the interviewee. This relates to finding out whether they think the launch will have much of an effect on the people within the university. This is again trying to find out research on the business.

My thirteenth question is: What would you like to see on the vegetarian menu which would attract customers? This question is another open question trying to get the interviewees opinion. This is again to try and improve the cafe and give it more of an appeal on what the customers would like to see.

My fourteenth question is: What price range would you be willing to spend on food during the week? This is to try and get a feel on what people are looking to spend in case the new cafe has prices to high. This is also to make the interviewees feel more involved in decision making.

My last question is: What would you like to name the cafe? This is to make the interviewees feel more involved, this is another open question, this is my last question because it leaves the interviewee on a simple easy note.

Part 2

To carry out my observation I will carry out the following procedures:

·         Questionnaire

·         View other cafes in the university

·         Look to see problems with other cafes

·         Interviews

·         Look to see what new system might need and requirements from customers

Firstly I will give about 10 to 20 people in different cafes in the university my questionnaire in order to get different people’s opinions on the new cafe and find out what they would like and what they think of the idea of the new cafe. This has its good points and bad points to this method because it will find out ways in which to improve and bring into the restaurant but then at the same time most of the customers will not be honest in there questionnaires making it hard to judge whether this is really want people want.

I will also sit inside the different cafes in the university and see what customers are buying and what the benefits of the cafe is compared to the others and what prices and products are being sold. This gives me a better view on what to bring into the new cafe which will make the business successful. By doing this in a variety of the restaurants I can see what each unique selling point is to establish one for the new business.

I will also be sitting in restaurants and by doing this I can watch and see the problems with the current cafes in order to see what customers aren’t happy about and what makes the business lose customers in order to stop this happening in the new business. When problems are noticed these can easily be sorted out to stop them arising again.

By sitting in restaurants I can easily have a one on one interview with customers in order to see what they like and don’t like about the current cafe and what they would like to see in the new cafe. Face to face interviews normally get more honest answers but problem with this is not many people will want to carry them out.

I will also talk to staff to find out what they would like to have if they could get improvements in their current cafe. I can also talk to customers about this to find out what they would like to see in the new cafe I could easily do this by surveys. This means that I can find current problems and requirements and put these into new cafe.

The time I will take for this observation is a couple of weeks to find out what problems, requirements and to let the interviews and questionnaires take place to make the new cafe successful.

ABC Bakeries

Part A

To: Seamus O’Kane

From: Business Analyst

Date: 16 October 2009

Subject: Investigating Economic Feasibility of a new system

The reason I am writing this memo is to investigate the economic feasibility of a new system and the problems and benefit this new system will bring into the ABC Bakery business. Economic feasibility is a method in which to find out whether a business is going to have a big effect on the business, this includes looking at the different costs from the old system compared to the new system and benefits that the new system will bring which can affect the business economically. Costs can be both tangible and intangible, tangible costs are costs that include paying for rent, raw materials and staff. Whereas intangible costs are costs that are from loss in productivity and also can be from the drop of customer morale. You also need to be aware of tangible and intangible benefits. Tangible benefit is something that businesses achieve this usually involves money, either saving it or increasing your sales. Intangible benefit is something that a business achieves which doesn’t involve money, for example saving time etc. In this I will investigate the economic feasibility in production, distribution and management of the ABC Bakery.

In ABC Bakery the concept of introducing a new online system has a lot of cost benefits and problems within the process. First the production, the production in the business would have to greatly increase and produce more goods at a faster rate in order to meet the needs of the customers. This will mean that more staff may have to be employed in this area to help make the process a lot quicker. Another problem is that more stock would need to be available for the staff to make the products to increase sales. These both cost money to the business off buying in stock and paying staff but this also means that there would be more customers because people would be more aware of the business if the system is online. This production method may have to involve getting less quality goods but more of it at a lower price in order to make more orders and to increase the amount of products being sold. But also to have many specialised products on line as well to make the business more successful with a range of different products. This can have its disadvantages with the customers feeling the products are not as good but it means that there is more of a range of products and more customers that are satisfied which increase sales.

Distribution is another important element in the ABC Bakery business, this is because this business is seen to have a delivery service and this needs to be able to carry out all the deliveries in order to keep all its customers happy. The problem at the minute is that deliveries are expected to be to big supermarkets and larger deliveries but the majority of deliveries are to small shops with small deliveries. This could be because products are not made in time making the deliveries to supermarkets impossible this can be fixed by production improving. The business needs to try and get more of a regular delivery to a number of small places or a delivery to big supermarkets this means that more delivery staff will have to be available because there will be more advertisement on the online system to promote this service.

Management is another important factor because the management needs to be able to manage all staff and costs in order to make sure that everything in there business is going the way it should be. If management is not aware of all staff then staff could be stealing or not working to there ability and management would not be aware of this. In ABC Bakery they should have someone who is aware of the retail sales or get advice from other companies or advisors on how to make this part of the business more successful. Management need to make sure staff are working properly and have been trained properly because this can affect the production. If a website is made staff need to be aware of the costs in set up and have someone who is able to work the system in order to get all sales and delivery information, training of staff may be required for this which costs the business money. Many older people do not have as much experience in this so the chances of them losing there jobs is more likely although they are the ones working the hardest.

Other costs which can affect the business are the fixed costs which are required in order for the system to get up and running. The fixed costs are the cost of rent, raw materials, security etc. This is not a problem with opening an online business because by doing this you do not need to premises or many raw materials all you need is someone to set up the online business and then you can access this from home or ant of the other shops. It might be an idea in this business to close one of the other shops in order to have more staff working on production and deliveries for the online system to make the online system work more smoothly.

In conclusion I feel that opening an online shop for specialised goods is a good idea and can help the business in general because it means that the shops can have less quality goods at a lower price and made more quickly making range of products wider and more customers satisfied. Although there are a lot of costs in an online system to be aware of, these include the people making the system and training people to use the system.

Part B

You will need to have a number of staff in order to make sure the website is running correctly and that everything is working the way the owner wanted it. The staff or people required include:

1. The analyst- You may need a few analysts in order to have a look at the current system and how it works and what all it requires in order to see what the new system needs to include.
2. The interviewer- The interviewer interviews the owner of the business to see what the owner or owners would like to have in there new system which would benefit the business. The interviewer also finds out what problems the current system has to try and solve these with the new system and the user requirements for the system. The interviewer also send questionnaires out throughout the business in order to find out what staff think would be a good idea for the new system.
3. Designer- The person or people who will design the new website, they will do this by looking and using information from the analysis stage. This usually uses a number of people to make the system made quicker than if there was only one person
4. Tester- The person who will test that the system works to its ability and it means the needs and requirements of the end user.
5. End user- The person that will be using the system that it reaches all criteria and that it is user friendly.
6. Trainee- The person who trains and shows the staff who will be using the system how the system works.

Week 3- Assignment for friday 11pm

How well or badly did the system work?

The enrolment started of with everyone going to the registration point, where everyone got registered into the information and technology course. But when I arrived at the room I was directed to which I found quite hard to find the room was changed. Which is a weakness for the system because this could have been made more aware of by staff or notices at the main entrance. In the registration everyone received there timetables and were made sure that they had signed in and got registration forms which I thought was a positive aspect. But all of the forms had to be signed by the lecturer which was very time consuming. This could have been done a lot quicker if other lecturers where there to help sign the forms.  After that everyone went with their student advisor’s for a tour which was a positive aspect because many people did not understand the layout of the university. After this many people were confused on what they had to do next because they weren’t sure whether to go to enrolment officer or get there photos taken for id but in this process people did not know what they had to do first. This is where I feel people could have been instructed a lot better. Also the queue to see the enrolment officer did not have enough people in order to get everyone’s forms stamped so this process was a lot longer than people expected and was very time consuming. I feel more staff with less time could be more cost efficient. The rest of the process I feel went very well because the student card process was very quick and easy to understand. Also I feel that the finance procedure was very simplistic which made this part of the system very successful. The last thing we had to do was to go to the Learning Resource Centre and do are online enrolment and in this process we had people there to ask help from which I thought brought more of a positive feel to the students enrolling making the system more successful.

How easy was it for you to go through?

For me the system was harder at the start but got easier as you got along because I found it hard to find the room to start of with. Then I found it very confusing to know what we had to do after the registration because I didn’t know whether to go to the enrolment officer or to get my photo for my student ID card which I personally thought should have been explained more clearly and had more people to carry out these procedures to make it quicker. After completing those to tasks I found the on-line enrolment very simplistic and finance process to been done a lot faster than any of the other stages in this system which made this part of the system more successful.

Would it have been hard for someone coming from a non IT background ? If you entered the course from a non IT background do you think that made the system harder to use?

In the enrolment process there was only on part of the process which used a computer and that was the on line enrolment and in this process I feel that the on-line enrolment process was very simplistic and that anybody who hadn’t come from an IT background could understand it and if not they could ask one of the advisers for help because they were going round making sure everyone knew what they were doing. Most of the process was manual so many people did not need to have an IT background which made the system a lot easier to understand. I think that if the system was based on mainly computers it would have a lot harder for non IT backgrounds to understand and that’s why more of a manual process was used.

How well or bad did the manual and computer based parts of the system fit together?

The system mainly used manual parts because this was a lot easier and people got a better understanding. The computer based parts and the manual parts linked your information together which I thought saved a a lot of time because you only needed to check your information was correct and fill in additional information. The manual system was the main part of the system and I feel it was a lot more complex because a lot more people where getting confused on where they had to be compared to computer based part which brought success and failure to the system.

Is the user interface well designed?

I feel that the system was not very well designed because although we got a sheet to tell us what to do and where to go the sheet was not in the right order which got people confused. Also there was person that really instructed you on what to do next which could have helped a lot of students during the enrolment. The design of it did have its advantages because it had all students information stored which made process a lot quicker and it meant the process took less time in certain parts than others. the design of the system was very important to give students an understanding of what they were doing which I thought was made clear with everything you needed to bring and all the different processes within the enrolment.

What do you think could improve the current system?

I personally think that clearer instructions and more staff would help make the system work more smoothly and could save a lot of time for students and staff and money for the university. But overall I thought the system worked very well with a few errors which could easily be improved which are stated above to make the enrolment system a lot more successful.