Problem I
“You’ll be happy to know that we made a strong case
to management that we should hire a new systems analyst to specialize in
ecommerce development,” says Al Falfa, a systems analyst for the
multi-outlet international chain of Marathon Vitamin Shops. He is meeting with
his large team of systems analysts to decide on the qualifications that their
new team member should possess. Al continues, saying, “In fact, they were
so excited by the possibility of our team helping to move Marathon
into an ecommerce strategy that they’ve said we should start our search now and
not wait until the fall.”
Ginger Rute, another analyst, agrees, saying, “As
long as the economy is healthy, the demand for Web site developers is far outstripping
the supply. We should move quickly. I think our new person should be
knowledgeable in CASE tools, Visual Basic, and JavaScript, just to name a
few.”
Al looks surprised at Ginger’s long list of languages,
but then replies, “Well, that’s certainly one way we could go. But I would
also like to see a person with some business savvy. Most of the people coming
out of school will have solid programming skills, but they should know about
accounting, inventory, and distribution of goods and services, too.”
The newest member of the systems analysis group, Vita Minn,
finally breaks into the discussion. She says, “One of the reasons I chose
to come to work with all of you was that I thought we all got along quite well
together. Because I had some other opportunities, I looked very carefully at
what the atmosphere was here. From what I’ve seen, we’re a friendly group.
Let’s be sure to hire someone who has a good personality and who fits in well
with us.”
Al concurs, continuing, “Vita’s right. The new
person should be able to communicate well with us, and with business clients,
too. We are always communicating in some way, through formal presentations,
drawing diagrams, or interviewing users. If they understand decision making, it
will make their job easier, too. Also, Marathon
is interested in integrating ecommerce into the entire business. We need
someone who at least grasps the strategic importance of the Web. Page design is
such a small part of it.”
Ginger interjects again with a healthy dose of
practicality; saying, “Leave that to management. I still say the new
person should be a good programmer.” Then she ponders aloud, “I
wonder how important UML will be?”
After listening patiently to everyone’s wish list, one of
the senior analysts, Cal Siem, speaks up, joking, “We’d better see if
Superman is available!”
As the group shares a laugh, Al sees an opportunity to
try for some consensus, saying, “We’ve had a chance to hear a number of
different qualifications. Let’s each take a moment and make a list of the
qualifications we personally think are essential for the new ecommerce
development person to possess. We’ll share them and continue discussing until
we can describe the person in enough detail to turn a description over to the
human resources group for processing.” Be specific and explain your
reasoning in answering the following questions:
a) What qualifications should the systems analysis team
be looking for when hiring their new ecommerce development team member?
b) Is it more important to know specific languages or to
have an aptitude for picking up languages and software packages quickly?
c) How important is it that the person being hired has
some basic business understanding?
d) Should all team members possess identical competencies
and skills?
e) What personality or character traits are desirable in
a systems analyst who will be working in ecommerce development?
Problem II
Use the process of
normalization to transform the table below into 3NF. Show the tables in 1NF and
2NF that are created in the process.
|
Student ID |
Student Name |
Student Address |
Student Major(s) |
|
100 |
Smith |
Salt Lake City |
Math, Biology |
|
101 |
Jones |
Phoenix |
Math |
|
102 |
Lee |
Denver |
Chemistry |
|
104 |
Smith |
Salt Lake City |
Physical Science |
Problem III
Speedy Spuds is a
fast-food restaurant offering all kinds of potatoes. The manager has a
30-second time limit for serving customers. Servers at the counter say they
could achieve that limit if the form they must fill out and give to the kitchen
were simplified. The information from the completed form is entered into the
computer system at the end of the day, when the data entry person enters the
kind of potato purchased, additional toppings purchased with their quantities,
and the price charged. The current form is difficult for servers to visually
scan and fill out quickly.
a. Design and draw
a form that lists possible potatoes and toppings in a manner that is easy for
counter servers and kitchen crew to visually scan, and can also be used as
input to the inventory system that is on the extranet connecting Speedy Spuds
and Idaho potato growers. Choose a size that is sensible and be sure to
indicate the size of the form if it is not drawn at full-scale. You may use MS
Word to produce this form if you don’t have any other drawing software
available. You won’t be judged on the aesthetics of the form, just the content
and layout. Be sure to observe the guidelines for good form design.
b. Design and draw
a representation of a display screen that can be used by the servers and clerks
to fill in the information captured on the form. Again, you may use MS Word for
this purpose.
c. Design and draw
a display screen based on your screen in part b. This time it should function
as a display that shows a kitchen crew member what to prepare for each Spuds
order. List three changes to the screen in part b that you made to adapt it to
function as an output display. You may use MS Word to show the layout of the
screen.
Problem IV
An example of a
code used by an ice cream store to order its products is
12DRM215-220,
where 12 stands
for the number of items in the box, DRM stands for Dreamsicles ( a particular
kind of ice cream product), 215 indicates that the product is low-fat, and 220
is the distributor’s product number.
a. What kind of
code is the example?
b. Construct a
coded entry using the same format and logic for an ice cream product called
Pigeon Bars, which come in a 6-count package and are not fat free.
c. Construct a
coded entry using the same format and logic for an ice cream product called
Airwhips, which come in a 24-count package and are low-fat.
