BCO2041 Systems Analysis and DesignSystem Specification 20% (marked out of 80)
CriteriaMaximum available MarksAllocated MarksExceeds ExpectationsMeets ExpectationsApproaches ExpectationsDoes Not Meet ExpectationsReport Presentation5
Executive Summary5
Acquisition Strategy10
Architectural Design5
Hardware and Software Specification5
Interface Design Interface Structure Diagram User Interface Flow Wireframe diagrams (3)
101010
Program Design Structure Chart Program Specifications (3)
1010
Total out of 80
Allocated Marks out of 20
BCO2041 Systems Analysis and Design Case Study (For Assignments) Note: The case study below may not provide all of the information necessary to complete the assignment. Students will have to use their personal experiences to complete some aspects of the assignment. Students may also seek clarification from their tutor during tutorials or office hours. Yachts Australia Yachts Australia (YA) is a family business operating a charter yacht fleet in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef on the tropical coast of Queensland at the Whitsundays Islands. The Whitsunday group of islands are acclaimed as the best cruising ground in Australia if not the world with access to over 90 National Park Islands plus a choice of 9 different resorts ranging from Wilderness to 5 Star Luxury. All the major central islands lie within 2 to 15 nautical miles of the mainland – from 1 to 3 hours sailing from Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island. They are all within sight of each other, separated by distances from about 0.5 to 5 Nautical Miles. The lesser frequented southern islands extend some thirty miles off shore and are up to 15 miles apart. Delightful secluded mainland bays are within 2 hours cruising north of Airlie Beach. Navigating in this area is therefore extremely easy, usually only by visual means, and therefore does not require a high level of navigation skills. Background The owners Alice and Paul have recently taken over the business from Paul’s parents who have retired. Paul’s parents established the business in the late 70s and originally ran sailing trips from the harbour at Bowen to various islands in the area. Since Alice and Paul have taken over the business they have increased the fleet and the services they are offering the tourists. They are now offering tours that are fully staffed and catered through to self- skippered sailboats. With the business steadily building Alice and Paul decided to expand the business and YA have now franchised their operations to include outlets in several pristine locations in West Australia and the Northern Territory. The long term intention is to establish self-skippered one-way trips between these outlets across the top end of Australia for the more experienced yachtsmen. As part of several legal franchising agreements, YA receives a set income of 15% of the profits from these operations. Payments are usually transferred quarterly into YA’s bank account. The fleet currently includes 6 sailing yachts, 4 catamarans and 6 skippered touring boats all varying from 4 berths to 10 berths all with separate cabins and bathrooms. The staff numbers have also increased and now include 11 staff across all the operations: 1 full time and 1 part time receptionist, 2 cleaning staff, 6 contracted licensed skippers, 1 bookkeeper as well as Alice and Paul who undertake much of the management duties including approving bookings and reservations. They also hire backpackers to help with tasks in peak seasons such as answering phones, bookings, cleaning and crewing on skippered tours. Furthermore, YA also operates closely with a catering company called Gourmet Picnic Baskets (GPB) which not only delivers lunches and dinners for skippered tours but also stocks chartered boats with essential local produce in readiness for the trips. This arrangement earns YA 10% of their total income. Alice and Paul can see there are major issues that require solutions. The business has grown to a more complex operation moving from only one operation outlet to four distributed office locations as well as the other activities mentioned. This has meant that the systems for keeping records have become inadequate and they have hired you to improve the reservation and payment systems. Ideally, Alice would like to be able to see how the business is performing on a daily basis. Cheap second-hand yachts often become available at very short notice and she needs to know if the business is in a financial position to take advantage of such situations. Paul has been buying sailboats, refurbishing them and selling them to the franchised operators for a nice profit, something they would like to continue with. Alice and Paul recently hired a web designer to give them a web presence so they could make use of the internet to advertise their services. Customers who contact YA through the website receive a discount voucher via return email with offers, usually a 5% discount for booking within 30 days. Paul and Alice have decided to employ you to investigate the business needs and to conduct an initial feasibility study into the possible options for improving their current system. Description of the Current System Sailboat Charter Rates Name Make Berths Gourmet Food basket Mid-season Per day Peak-season Per day Lady luck Catalina 4 $200 $450 $550 Sea change Beneteau 4 $200 $450 $550 Seasalt Beneteau 6 $300 $600 $750 Offspray Hanse 6 $300 $600 $750 Rosea Beneteau 8 $400 $785 $835 Kurtzie Beneteau 8 $400 $785 $835 Catamaran Charter Rates Name Make Berths Gourmet Food stocks Mid-season Per day Peak-season Per day Rocket Catalina 4 $200 $450 $550 Twilight Beneteau 4 $200 $450 $550 Wrighteo Catalina 6 $300 $600 $750 Lillemig Catalina 8 $400 $785 $835 Skippered Trips Rates Name Make Berths Mid-season 4 nights Peak-season 4 nights Encore Catalina 6 $4,875.00 $5,350.00 Ruth Jenneau 8 $5,350.00 $6,725.00 Kurtzie Beneteau 8 $5,350.00 $6,725.00 Interlude Catalina 10 $6,725.00 $7,750.00 Intothewind Jenneau 10 $6,725.00 $7,750.00 Nordlys Beneteau 10 $6,725.00 $7,750.00 Insurance is charged at 12% of the rates payable by the customer Bookings Most reservations are initiated by a telephone call from a potential customer. When potential customers call, the YA staff member asks a series of questions designed to help them decide which sailboat charter is right for them. Note that all YA staff members, whatever their other duties, are expected to interact with potential customers. Generally, first-time customers want to know what types of boats are available. Even returning customers need to be told about new boats that might have been added to the fleet and their availability. If the customer decides to book a charter, the YA staff member records general customer information (e.g., name, address, and phone number) on a pre-printed form. Then the staff member requests information about the actual booking (e.g. booking date, number of participants, age). The staff member must check the master calendar to see if a yacht with the right number of berths is available. She or he must also make certain that there are enough employees with the appropriate skills available for fully skippered charters. If there are no conflicts, then the staff member tentatively schedules the charter and asks for more specific details about the particular booking (e.g. linen and Gourmet Food Baskets menus and non-food purchases needed).The staff member calculates an estimated total price and then calculates 20% of the total price as a base deposit and communicates this information to the customer. If the customer agrees, the booking is provisionally scheduled, which means that it is added to the master calendar and the selected staff members are tentatively assigned to it. Payment At this point, the staff person checks on the preferred manner of payment for the deposit and if the customer has a discount voucher. If the customer prefers to pay by credit card, the staff member takes and verifies all payment information. The booking is then changed from provisionally scheduled to “booked,” and YA assumes that a commitment has been made to provide a yacht under the conditions agreed to. Additionally, the staff member prepares an invoice to mail to the customer showing all terms and arrangements regarding the booking as well as the amount paid and the amount remaining for payment. YA also accepts payments in person from clients who use cash and in person or by mail from clients who pay by cheque. All scheduling issues are arranged to accommodate the various payment methods. The scheduling status officially changes from provisional to ‘booked’ following a verbal agreement with the customer and the receipt of the deposit, triggering changes in scheduling status. Normal customers are required to pay the balance of the invoice two weeks before the booked date. Customers wishing to cancel after this date lose their 20% deposit. Frequent customers, such as the seven largest companies in the region, have accounts with YA. Specific employees at these firms have the authority to book a charter. In these cases, the booking itself is considered sufficient to reserve the yacht, and no deposit is required. Records for all the costs are maintained for these bookings, and a bill is sent to the accounts payable officer at the relevant company about two weeks after the sail trip takes place. The franchised operations usually pay the 15% of their profit to YA through direct debits every quarter which are confirmed via an email but Alice is not sure if the amounts correspond with the actual profits. As the payments have been declining she feels a better system is needed. The Gourmet Food Baskets are charged on the YA invoicing and it is therefore easy to calculate the 10% profit YA makes on the sales. Alice usually holds on to the 10% profit and forwards the rest as well as a copy of the invoice to the owner of GFB at the end of each month. Supply Orders YA orders supplies based on the individual booking. Generally on Friday mornings, Alice assesses the bookings scheduled for the next week. She makes sure the crew is available for the skippered tours; she contacts Gourmet Picnic Baskets with the various requests for the catering and picnic hampers as well as organising the linen for each boat. Issues Unfortunately, despite the owners’ years of experience and expertise, the number of double bookings and other mistakes at YA has been too high. Although the number of bookings is still growing Alice and Paul are worried that the increase in competition might see disgruntled customers go elsewhere. Furthermore, they are not too sure if the growth of their business is on par with what the industry is experiencing in general. The business has grown rapidly over the past years, and the owners want to install a new computer system for managing the booking, staffing and the supply ordering processes. Alice would like the new system to be able to incorporate the following improvements: • Currently sail bookings are made on a pre-printed sheet, cost calculations done by hand and scheduling and staffing availability checked from one master calendar. YA would like to have a computer system to streamline these processes and make checking of details, creating schedules and invoicing much easier. • At present much information about previous customers and staffing is stored in Alice’s head which is frustrating staff and making the business look unprofessional. They would like to be able to have up- to-date details about the yachts, staff and customers. • The receptionist has raised concerns about the security at the organization with all the backpackers and contracted staff.