Systems Analysis and Design

Telephone orders

Customers (known as Indirect Customers) may make an enquiry by phone, in which case the staff member will consult both the price list (also a manual list) and the stock list. If the price is right and the item is in stock (assuming that the stock list is correct), the customer may place an order. The order is recorded in the telephone orders book. In the morning a designated member of staff (usually Vijay) puts together the appropriate items of stock, if they are available, together with an invoice that is collected and delivered by the company van. If items are in fact unavailable Vijay has to tell John to make re-orders, send a part order, record the part order not completed and phone the customer to apologize. The telephone customer would typically then pay by check. John and Jean (who works in the office) handle the banking. If all or part of an order is out of stock (or is not normally held in stock) then a re-order is sent to the suppliers (if one hasn’t already been sent). The order is then filed away in a back orders file that is checked when new stock comes in.

A record is kept of customers’ invoices that is checked monthly. If a customer has failed to pay during the month then a repeat invoice is sent to them. If Jean is too busy/ forgets/ is on holiday/ sick then repeat invoices are delayed. Currently the business is owed approximately £10,000 by other shops and £10,000 by indirect customers. John blames Jean’s inefficiency for these debts and for his stomach ulcers!

Trade customers

Other bike shops may also place orders by phone. The only difference in the way their orders is handled to those of other (indirect) customers is that bike shops get a 15% discount on all purchases. John suspects that there are some customers getting this discount who shouldn’t be. Staff at Thomson Cycles is also entitled to this discount. Unbeknownst to John, Ged has already bought 4 bikes this year!

Suppliers’ invoices

John and Jean also handle all suppliers’ invoices which, when received, are checked against orders. Where there is a discrepancy usually Jean will phone the suppliers; otherwise Thomson Cycles has a reputation for paying promptly.

New System ideas

Ged, who works on the shop counter and is only paid £150 per week, took the first year of a computing course at University but left because he ran out of money and failed a couple of modules. He has his own Web site at home and reckons he could easily put together something for the shop. He told John, who is interested, but ignorant about such matters:

“... if you invest about £5,000 in two PCs (one for the counter and one for the office) and peripherals such as cable, barcode reader, printers etc which I can hook up together, I can build you a stock control system and a web site in about two months of my own time. You could use the Web to advertise the shop and take orders from customers who’re connected. You don’t need to worry about software, because I have got the latest kit that will do the job easily. All you’d need to do then is pay me an extra £2,500 per year on my salary to develop and manage the system, and an annual fee to an Internet service provider of about £200 per year.”

Relevant excerpts of Thomson Cycles Business plan as presented to the bank

Rationale

... Thomson Cycles is a bicycle showroom and repair shop. The shop has steadily expanded over the last 10 years and in 2015/2016 had a turnover of £400,000. The shop employs 7 staff including the owner and manager John. With the exception of Sally, who is part time and only works Saturdays and occasional other days such as Christmas, all the staff is full time. Two of the staff work full time on repairs...

In the current economic climate and considering the ongoing influence of macroeconomic entities the business must consider its position vis a vis ‘out of town’ developments. It is the view of the directors (in reality John ed.) that the business will either need to significantly expand to a turnover of £800,000 by the year 2019 or collapse. This is the justification for seeking a loan of £200,000 with repayment over a 5-year period. Details of the business plan follow...

Name of business: NoAsthma

In order to increase revenue, Thomson Cycles will reposition itself to take advantage of an increased public interest in leisure, fashion and the environment. It will therefore rename itself ‘NoAsthma’ and seek to significantly increase sales, particularly in cycle clothing. It will introduce its own range of branded designer clothes, manufactured by a third party. By purchasing additional premises it will double floor space devoting one half to clothing. The measures outlined below are expected to increase turnover by 100% in the space of 3 years...

Solution

Task One: Physical Design

Thomson Cycles is owned by John Owns who manages the bicycle shop that has a wide range of products for meeting the needs and requirements of the consumers. Competition in the market made it mandatory for John to adopt an innovative approach in the form of the information system. The purpose of this report is to analyze the current situation of the Thomson Cycles and the information system that can manage the daily operational activities in an efficient and effective way.

The best software/hardware platform for Thomson cycles. The software as a service, generally known as the cloud computing, permits its users accessing applications through the open internet connection. In the cloud, the applications of the system are run through the shared computing resources. The maintenance of resources of the system are done in remote data centers.

The cloud-based solution allows the E-commerce websites to be deployed in a much lower cost. Thomson cycle can pay the charge of hosting based on monthly basis or resource usage. The cloud host will provide all the hardware that will be required to deploy the solution. The cloud host will be responsible for updating the software packages and maintain system’s non-functional requirements. The Thomson cycle can provide the details of the change of modifications they need in the system. The host will do those changes as per the client request.

The following benefits will be received by Thomson cycle from the development of cloud system.

• i. The cloud solution will decrease the upfront charge regarding entire computing infrastructure like data servers and hardware
• ii. The IT support services are not required any more in the Thomson cycle. It is because, the system related support is provided by the host
• iii. Thomson cycle does not have to pay the upfront cost of various applications they use, all these will be included into cloud system charge
• iv. The upgrade and updates of the system are done on time and perfectly as the host remain responsible for that
• v. Thomson Cycles can pay only the required computing resources
• vi. A fixed rate per month will allow management of Thomson cycles to invest the capital in organization’s operation and structure improvement
• vii. The owner and management can access the system from anywhere as the cloud systems are not restricted to a place or time

• Architecture: Explaining the general association of a framework worked from administrations as the components, communicating using systems, for example, SOAP. Related terms: application engineering, structural worldview, compositional style, programming design
• Binding: The time at which a specific administration (and supplier) is picked. In a SOA, this can be at the season of utilization through powerful binding. Related terms: spryness, dynamic authoritative, adaptability, free coupling, on interest.
• Capability: The motivation behind a SOA as saw from an end-client point of view. Related terms: business capacities, asset the executives.
• Composition: The procedure by which a given arrangement of administrations are collected so as to give a solitary generally speaking administration that meets an end-client require. Related terms: movement, joining, organization, benefit creation.
• Contracts: The components for concurring upon the terms and conditions under which an administration will be conveyed. Related terms: benefit contracts, benefit transaction.
• Delivery: The procedure that pursues structure, whereby benefit usefulness is provided by the specialist organizations to meet end-client needs. Related terms: benefit association, benefit conjuring, specialist organization, benefit buyer.
• Distributed Sources: A SOA is certainly equipped for being made utilizing administrations that are conveyed over a system and consequently that are not really claimed or controlled by the end-client or their operators. Related terms: distinctive possession, circulated framework engineering, organize condition, arrange.
• Identity: The attributes that portray a specific administration and the methods by which these might be gotten to. Related terms: agent, benefit revelation, benefit production, benefit vault, benefit requester, benefit description work.
• Interoperability: The systems that make it conceivable to send administrations with no information of their area or the methods by which they are provided. Related terms: association innovation, system, equipment free, interfaces, dialect autonomous, stage autonomy, norms, correspondence, informing conventions.
• Packaging: The qualities of administration execution that empower it to be treated as a one of a kind and unmistakable personality. Related terms: segment display, epitome, granularity, reuse, reusability, self-regulation, web administrations.

This system will help to manage and deliver all the operational activities and steps in the Thomson cycles ordering and sales for the management of sales and fulfilling the consumers’ needs and requirements. The system will automate the purchasing/stock control, repairing of the bikes, related all the activities, telephone orders, suppliers’ invoice and introduction of new systems those could manage the overall revenue and production of the organization.

Task Two: User Interface Design Principles and User Interface Type

The following user interface design is demonstrating the functions of the entire system and how the work process will be followed throughput the business lifecycle. The process will start at a single point as mentioned in the diagram and parallel three activities or tasks will be executed including contacting the organization by the customers in three different ways. Thereafter many decisions need to make by the system as demonstrated by the decision notations. The activities will keep travelling from the customer, organization, repairing, ordering, sales, and supplies in manner to finally satisfy the needs and requirements of the customers. In different cases the system either terminates or move to reordering section where the customers are asked to wait for the new stock or order another model. The ultimate goal of this automated system is to make sure that the product being developed and delivered will be satisfying the needs of the customers at the minimum or real time and make sure they are satisfied with the way in the deliveries are being managed.

The registration page is for gathering the client information and store into the database. The client will get to the website through the cell phone. In the wake of getting to the website, the client will be inquired as to whether the client is new and does not have a record. At that point the client will diverted to the registration page. The client will fill every one of the fields in the page and tap on the catch named join. After the catch is clicked, the client will be diverted to the login page. In the event that the entered information is not legitimate, the interface will raise issues. The existing manual system is not capable of managing and delivering the increased demands and requirements of the consumers. The manual system is making the entire operating of the organization slow and not capable of delivering the expected benefits and hence, it is not very efficient in managing and delivering the necessary output of the organization. The indirect customers are not making any purchase that is a problem for the functioning and operating of the Thomson cycles and hence, the indirect customers are not getting in touch with the organization. The purchasing or stock control is not very efficient for the organization and hence, is influencing the overall production and revenue of the organization. The introduction of the automated system is very effective and efficient for managing and delivering the operational activities. The major emphasis is on the management of the problematic areas operations in better and efficient way considering the improvement and management of the daily operational activities and the required output. This system will be capable of managing the current ordering and cycles and leading the organization towards success.

In this page, the client books the cycles. The association gives various services through the website. The client will open the administration booking area and tap on the administration they need to buy. For this situation, the administration is reserving a cycles or comparable water versatile. The client will get the opportunity to look over changed shades of Cycles and for various predefined hours. All these data will be unmistakable in the booking administration page. The client can buy more than one administration by adding the wished administrations add to the truck. The objective of developing user interface is to demonstrate the way of managing the ordering and sales cycle of the organization considering the enhancement in the final production and output of the organization. Another objective is to keep and track the records of all the operational activities being delivered for the management and delivery of the final outcome of the project.

The review giving page is basic for gathering client criticism for the services. These inputs will be seen by alternate clients. The client can change their input on the off chance that they need. The framework will ensure that just confirmed reviews are appeared to the clients. To make this conceivable, the framework will ensure that just those clients who has bought the service can compose a review. This implies a client can't compose a review about a service that he didn't utilize. The reviews are evaluated intermittently to organize the most well-known issues in the service and moderate them.