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Summary of Assignment Based on a Case Study, students are expected to draw and discuss: An Analysis Class Diagram, a Communication Diagram, and a Sequence Diagram

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Summary of Assignment Based on a Case Study, students are expected to draw and discuss: An Analysis Class Diagram, a Communication Diagram, and a Sequence Diagram. Students are also expected to discuss and evaluate the usefulness of UML diagrams and a CASE tool during analysis and design. Diagrams should be created in Enterprise Architect and inserted into a Word or PDF file to accompany the discursive aspect of the assignment. University policies on late submission of coursework and plagiarism will be strictly adhered to for this assignment. This is an individual assignment. This part of the coursework represents 100% of the module mark. The marking schemes (the last two pages) indicate how marks are given for each aspect of the work. Learning Outcomes (from module template) 1. Apply up to date structured techniques to produce analysis and/or design models for a given case study problem 2. Have a comprehensive understanding of the role of the systems analyst/ designer, the context in which the systems development activity takes place and the professional standards that are applied to the activity
 

Assignment - Modelling Assignment

Summary of Assignment

Based on a Case Study, students are expected to draw and discuss: An Analysis Class Diagram, a

Communication Diagram, and a Sequence Diagram. Students are also expected to discuss and evaluate the usefulness of UML diagrams and a CASE tool during analysis and design.

Diagrams should be created in Enterprise Architect and inserted into a Word or PDF file to accompany the discursive aspect of the assignment.

University policies on late submission of coursework and plagiarism will be strictly adhered to for this assignment.

This is an individual assignment. This part of the coursework represents 100% of the module mark.

The marking schemes (the last two pages) indicate how marks are given for each aspect of the work.

Learning Outcomes (from module template)

1. Apply up to date structured techniques to produce analysis and/or design models for a given case study problem

2. Have a comprehensive understanding of the role of the systems analyst/ designer, the context in which the systems development activity takes place and the professional standards that are applied to the activity

 

Assignment Detail – Tasks

Based on the Swift Distribution Ltd. (SDL) Management System (attached as Appendix A), complete the following tasks:

Part 1. Use Case Realisation for the ‘Allocate Truck to Driver’ Use Case

Analysis Class Diagram

a) In your own words, briefly describe what is meant by an Analysis Class Diagram, and how class diagrams can be useful in systems analysis and design (max 100 words, +/-10% tolerance).

b) Draw a Class Diagram for the ‘Allocate Truck to Driver’ Use Case, using the Use Case description given. This should include all required boundary, control and entity classes with their associations and attributes. Your diagram should be drawn using the Enterprise Architect software and copied and inserted as a picture into your document.

c) Write a brief summary of the decisions made whilst drawing the diagram, and your reasons for making those (max 150 words, +/-10% tolerance).

Communication Diagram

a) In your own words, briefly describe what is modelled in a Communication Diagram, and how

Communication Diagrams can be useful in systems analysis and design (max 100 words, +/-10% tolerance).

b) Draw a Communication Diagram for the use case in your diagram that corresponds most closely to the use case ‘Allocate Truck to Driver’, using the Use Case description given. This should include all control, boundary and entity objects involved in the scenario and sufficient detail of the

3 messages to show that the interaction is feasible and would meet the system requirements. Your diagram should be drawn using the Enterprise Architect software and copied and inserted as a picture into your document.

c) Write a brief summary of the decisions made whilst drawing the diagram, and your reasons for

making those (max 150 words, +/-10% tolerance).

Part 2. Sequence Diagram

a) In your own words, briefly describe what is modelled in a Sequence Diagram, and how Sequence

Diagrams can be useful in systems analysis and design (max 100 words, +/-10% tolerance).

b) Draw a Sequence Diagram for the use case in your diagram that corresponds most closely to the

use case ‘Allocate Truck to Driver’. This should include all control, boundary and entity objects involved in the scenario and the sequence of interactions that take place in order to meet the system requirements. Your diagram should be drawn using the Enterprise Architect software, and copied and inserted as a picture into your document.

c) Write a brief summary of the decisions made whilst drawing the diagram, and your reasons for making those (max 150 words, +/-10% tolerance).

Part 3. Evaluation

Enterprise Architect is a CASE tool. In your own words and using examples, briefly describe what a

CASE tool offers during analysis of the Swift Distribution Ltd. (SDL) scenario, and what tasks the CASE

tool supports. Give your own evaluation of how the role of an analyst/designer is supported by a

CASE tool. Discuss how UML modelling supports the analyst/designer (max 750 words, +/-10% tolerance).

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APPENDIX A

 

Swift Distribution Ltd. Management System

Swift Distribution Ltd. (SDL) is a medium-sized haulage company specialising in collecting and delivering goods

for customers throughout England, Scotland and Wales. It is trying to survive in difficult industry conditions, competing against larger haulage firms and within an environment of rising fuel costs and heavy taxation. By providing an efficient service and personal attention, the company has built up a stable customer base. The owners of SDL are concerned that their market share is under threat; larger haulage firms are able to offer more competitive prices and the fast and efficient service is being compromised by road congestion. They have recognised that the company needs to hold down costs by seeking to save fuel and to save time by having available better, quality information about road conditions, while maintaining their reputation for personal and friendly service.

In addition to taking these measures they have sought to enter into agreements with larger business partners in order to achieve stability in their customer base. In recent months a contract has been agreed with a company called Home Electronics Co-Operative (HECO). This is an organisation which acts for independent electronics retailers allowing the bulk purchase of electrical goods which enables them to buy electrical goods at prices competitive with those of the big bulk buyers such as department stores and the high street chains.

HECO also records stock kept at the independent retailers’ premises which allows them to hold lower stock levels and to fulfil orders by “borrowing” stock from the other retailers when they have sold out of particular items. SDL’s role in this agreement is to provide for HECO the collection of stock from the warehouses of the national electrical distributors and to deliver it to the independent retailers. They will also collect and deliver the inter-retailer “stock loans”.

To achieve these ends the owners of SDL have decided to invest in a new integrated information system to replace the current disparate customer, order, driver and vehicle management systems. The new system will be required to maintain records of current customers and the business they generate, including the production of invoices and management of customer accounts. Additionally, the new partnership with HECO necessitates the new SDL system will be required to download independent retailer records from the HECO system together with details of collections and deliveries from distribution warehouses and retailers; and from retailer to retailer. It will also maintain records of the haulage vehicles, including taxation, maintenance and mechanical faults reported by drivers. It will also need to maintain driver records (although the payroll will continue to be contracted out); this will include personnel records, license information and driving hours.

The main innovations for the new system will include a business to business (B2B) link between the SDL servers and the HECO servers in order to transfer stock collection and delivery information; and a GPS-based (global positioning system) logistics system to optimise vehicle routing and save both fuel and time. It is envisaged that requests for stock originating from retailers are sent to HECO; the nearest associate retailer holding that stock item is located; and the location of the “donor” and “recipient” retailers together with stock item details are to be transferred to the SDL servers. From here this information is to be immediately transmitted to an appropriate driver for collection and delivery. By using a GPS the head office could know the location of every vehicle at each point in time. Putting this together with information about the loads each vehicle is carrying and the loads they are scheduled to pick up and deliver, work could be dynamically re-scheduled and drivers directed to the appropriate place to make the most efficient use of the vehicle fleet. Added to this, information about road conditions could be used to inform drivers what route they should take and what trouble spots to avoid, thus shortening journey times.

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Functional Requirements

The main users will be:

• Customer Service Staff– Customer Service Staff are primarily responsible for dealing with SDL’s

customers. They create delivery job records; create/maintain customer records; record card payment

details; and can track parcels. It is envisaged that in the new system they will also be responsible for

downloading the HECO delivery list. At very busy times they may also assist the Finance Clerk in sending

out invoices to business customers.

• Finance Clerk– The Finance Clerk has responsibility for dealing with customer payments. For business

customers (including HECO) this involves sending out invoices and processing invoice payments; and for

individual members of the public who use the SDL courier service in involves processing their card

payments.

• Logistics Planner– Logistic planners are responsible for creating the delivery schedules for each truck’s

daily deliveries. They will need to download the HECO delivery list to facilitate this. Where a “collect and

deliver” request comes from HECO they will identify individual trucks and modify its schedule to

incorporate this job.

• Fleet Manager– The Fleet Manager ensures that the trucks are roadworthy and so is responsible for the

maintenance of the truck service record. Other responsibilities include the maintenance of driver

records; the allocation of a specific truck to a specific driver; and in order to ensure drivers stay within

the legal limits for working, for the checking of odometer readings.

• Driver– Drivers are issued with networked handheld devices so that they may update the status of

consignments dynamically. They are responsible for setting the start of their driving period; setting the

end of the driving period; recording job collections and job deliveries; and acknowledging schedule

modifications.

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The main system tasks are:

• Requests for delivery services will be received from customers directly on line via the Internet, by

telephone or by email. Delivery service requests for HECO are received by connecting to the HECO

server system and executing a download of the necessary collection/delivery details for the various

consignments. Requests via the Internet result in the direct creation of the delivery job record, but for

orders received by telephone, by email or by download, a delivery job record has to be created

separately. Where a customer making the request is new to SDL then a customer record has to be

created (this is done directly through Internet requests).

• Customers that are registered for online access to the system may identify a particular delivery job

from their records and track the whereabouts of that parcel. This will show its current status e.g.

awaiting collection, on truck in transit etc.

• The payment method for delivery services varies depending upon the type of customer. For private

individual customers credit card details are required to be recorded at the time of the delivery request.

The card payment will be processed just prior to collection of the consignment. Business customers

will be invoiced weekly. Delivery jobs undertaken for HECO are invoiced weekly directly to HECO and

not to the independent retailers. An invoice may be for one or more delivery jobs. Once paid, the

payment status of each delivery job will be updated.

• Delivery schedules (i.e. the route for collections/deliveries taken by the truck) are created for each

truck for each day using the address information from the delivery job records. A request for a

collection may be incorporated into an existing schedule once the driver has started on the route

provided that it can easily be included without too great a disruption to the driver’s schedule. This is

achieved by locating a truck nearest to the pick-up point and depending upon subsequent stopping

points, modifying the schedule to include that call. Route changes will be transmitted to the driver’s

handheld device which they will also use to acknowledge its receipt. Where routes cannot be easily

changed in this way, the job will be incorporated into a schedule for the following day.

• At the start of each day a driver will be handed their delivery schedule. Just immediately prior to the

start of their journey they will use their handheld device to set the start of the driving period. The will

also set the end of the driving period when they finish deliveries. The same mechanism is used to

record breaks taken during the day. The fleet manager will check that these times match the odometer

record in order to ensure legal compliance. The handheld devices are used by the driver to record

collection of jobs and also to record job deliveries. The latter will require a customer signature

recorded electronically on the device.

• A maintenance record is kept for each truck which contains the date/type (including MOT) of its next

service; weekly check date; road tax expiry date; and details of any reported faults and subsequent

repairs.

• Drivers like to use the same truck when they can so a truck will be “allocated” to a specific driver.

However, when a vehicle is off the road for repair/service a different truck will be allocated to that

driver. Similarly, when a driver is on holiday then that truck may be allocated to a different driver in

the interim.

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The Use Case Description:

Use Case Name: Allocate Truck to Driver

Primary Actor: Fleet Manager

Secondary Actors: None

Other Stakeholders: Driver

Business Goal: To allow the Fleet Manager to allocate a truck to a driver.

Precondition Truck maintenance schedule is up to date

Success Condition System records specific truck is allocated to a driver

Allocation start and end date is recorded

Truck is no longer available for allocation

Non-Functional Reqs. Allocation facility to be available during office hours

Main Path Actor System

1.Fleet manager clicks ‘View

Available Trucks’.

2.System displays a list of all available

trucks.

3.Fleet manager selects a specific

truck and requests to view details.

4.System displays information - e.g.

truck_Id, truck Make, truck Model,

truck odometer (i.e. distance travelled

by a Truck), maintenance record (e.g.

maintenance_Id, last service date,

service due-date), …, etc.

5.Fleet Manager enters the driver

name.

6.System displays driver details, such

as; Driver_Id, Driver name, Driver age

and Driver licence type, …, etc.

7.Fleet Manager selects ‘Allocate

Driver to Truck’

8.System displays empty start and end

date fields

9.Fleet Manager enters the start

and end of allocation date.

10.System displays truckID,

driverName, startDate and endDate;

along with “do you wish to make this

allocation?” message.

11.Fleet Manager selects “Allocate

Truck” option

12.System displays “Truck truckID has

been allocated to driver driverName

until endDate” message.

And, and displays ‘Allocate another

Truck to Driver?’

13.Fleet Manager selects ‘No’

Variant Paths

6. Driver not available for that

allocation

 6a. System Displays “Driver not

available.” message

 6b. Go to 5