Systems Design Project Instructions

For your final assignment in this course, you will create a project using the requirements outlined below. You may use your own place of business (preferred) or an existing business that will allow you to perform these exercises. Answers such as “Yes” or “No” are not sufficient to respond to these questions.

Final Project Requirements

Create an entire SDLC process that will bring added value to a business. Use of the following is mandatory:

1.      Planning Phase

a.       Identify the project—what is it supposed to do?

b.      Determine the methodology to be used; describe, in detail, why you chose this methodology

c.       Define/determine business requirements and describe the techniques you will use to gather this information

2.      Analysis Phase

a.       Describe how this project will bring added value to the business. This should be in the form of an actual presentation outline, such as one would read while doing a Power Point presentation to the Board

                                                              i.      Determine who the key players are

                                                            ii.      Describe any known or possible issues that might arise as to why the project will not be approved

b.      Along with the outline, prepare a Use Case diagram for the new system—ensure you consider staffing, budgets, training, maintenance, etc.

3.      Design Phase

a.       Determine the hardware and software requirements

                                                              i.      Will the existing infrastructure support the project?

1.      If not, describe in detail what will be needed.

                                                            ii.      Is new hardware required?

                                                          iii.      Is new software required?

1.      If new software is required, how will it be obtained?

2.      Is the existing database adequate?

b.      Create the Project work plan, complete with (projected) timelines using a Gantt chart.

4.      Implementation Phase

a.       Describe how the system is to be implemented; Phased? Turn key? Mirrored? Parallel?

b.      Describe why the implementation you chose is the best for this project. 

Additional comments from the professor:

To thoroughly address each of the deliverables most students need 8-10 pages and a parallel number of supporting scholarly references.  Thus, I would try to write at least 1-2 single spaced pages this week (2-4 double-spaced will be the result and you will be on your way).  Start with the planning phase.  Use an appropriate project methodology and support this method with recent scholarly sources given your business problem.  

As an example, here is a general outline with some ideas from each chapter of what should guide and support your project in the requirements and analysis phases:

• Chapter 3 requirements determination

• Requirements analysis strategy (BPA, BPI, BPR, etc)
• Determine the business requirements, addresses the planning phase of the project
• Chapter 4 business process and functional modeling

• Use cases, activity diagrams if necessary (e.g. software), use case descriptions
• Chapter 5 structural modeling

• Structural models, class diagrams, relationships between entities that will be necessary for design
• Chapter 6 behavioral modeling

• Sequence diagrams, communication diagrams, behavioral state machine diagrams, crude analysis

Chapters 3 – 6 address the requirements determination and analysis phases of the project.  Chapters 7 – 10 move into the design.  Our last mini case introduced a UI menu design but you may be designing something entirely difference and this is okay, as long as your design process is justified by the textbook and/or appropriate scholarly research.  Finally, chapter 12 addresses implementation.  You do not literally need to program the solution, just explain how you intend to deploy the final solution and the supported processes that this entails.