Information Analysis and Systems Design
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BISM3222 Information Analysis and Systems Design
Individual Project
PART One
ASSESSMENT WEIGHTING: 50%
DUE DATE and TIME: 10 May 2021 AT 13:00 (AEST)
Overview
The Project requires you to design and create a business information system prototype to be
used to solve a problem that will support the sustainable development goal (SDG) 16:
“Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to
justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels “.
Then test the prototype on users, re-design based on feedback, and reflect on future possibilities.
The Project is to be completed individually, as you as an individual are being assessed against
the learning objectives. Among all the assignments submitted, there should be no ideas or
applications/prototypes that solve the same problem in the same way.
The project is divided into two parts. The first part will concentrate on planning and analysis.
The second part will be design and evaluation, which includes using reflective learning. The
details for the second part are in a separate document.
The overall idea is to simulate a small system or part of a larger system (a slice) that what
would be required to address a major issue for business, government or community in
meeting SDG 16. See the targets and indicators Goal 16 | Department of Economic and Social
Affairs (un.org) The system must simultaneously make money (or at least save the money
that is needed to implement and maintain your system) and solve a serious problem. Although
people have technically been doing this since the beginning of commerce, some examples can
be found in this article by the Forbes Technology Council, although not all address SDG 16.
The ultimate aim of the Project is for you to gain first-hand experience in systems analysis and
design by actually becoming the actor/s under examination, and then reflecting upon the totality
of your experience. As such, students will examine, experience, and reflect upon many things
from many angles with respect to a central topic – a set of activities that if performed well sets
the foundations for becoming an Analyst-Designer.
Furthermore, as this is specifically an Information Systems course, the business idea and
prototype should include novel approaches to gathering, analysing, and producing information,
the result of which should lead to specific actions based on these insights. At the same time
your foundation knowledge and skills need to be solid. Therefore, the project will be
undertaken using a prescribed methodology.
It is expected that students in the course talk about the Project with each other, and even discuss
their potential solutions particularly in class. However, the final Project is a unique collection
of ideas, diagrams, solutions, experiences, and personal reflections and, as such, the final
product MUST be completed solely by each student. The best practice to avoid misconduct is
not to look at another student’s file(s) and not to show your solution to other students. In case
where an assignment is perceived to not be a unique work, a loss of marks and other
implications can result. If a student is unsure about the degree of similarity among projects, he
or she should discuss this issue with the lecturer during office hours. Further, tutors will be
monitoring progress during semester. For further information about academic integrity and
plagiarism and the consequences, please visit http://ppl.app.uq.edu.au/content/3.60.04-student-
integrity-and-misconduct
Project Signposts
The Project will start in the first practical class and run for the length of the course. Since the
idea of the Project is to continuously build out the System and refine it, with new instructions
and challenges each week until completion, the following represents a weekly overview of
what is required. Specifics for each week will be presented classes. This means that this
document only serves as a guide or roadmap for the Project, so that students know generally
what is coming at different points, which also allows those students who like to plan and tinker
beforehand to do so. However, this also means that coming to lectures and practicals is
absolutely vital to better outcomes from the course. However, it is understood that there
may be students that will find this difficult under the current pandemic. Should you miss a
session or if for a reason that would be approved for an extension, please email the lecturer
before the next session for advice on how to proceed. If this is going to be a regular occurrence
please let the course coordinator know as soon as possible so that appropriate arrangements can
be put in place.
The entire Project process will basically be as follows:
Elicit personal values & problem focus => create long-term system vision => plan the
project for the semester => investigate requirements => create information system
concept => collate and submit diagrams and report => Part 2 prototype/develop low
code app for the system => test the system with users => gather feedback and refine
system => redesign accordingly => reflect on future of system analysis and design and
its possibilities as well as your own (including when we work as part of a group).
Week 2 – Values, Social Problem Focus & Goal
Class Activities:
In week 2, the students will consider the SDG and will undertake an exercise to elicit core
values from each other via a shortened version of what is known as Repertory Grid and
Laddering. This process gets students to map out and better understand their own values. The
goal here is for each student to be as honest as possible since this will set the stage for the
rest of the Project – it will be extremely difficult for a student to focus and stay on track if he
or she begins working on something that they do not believe in. However, if the student
chooses to give ‘safe’ answers then they will learn a valuable lesson early.
Students will then immediately identify a serious (or as close as they can get to it) problem
that they would like to solve with the help of an information system. The idea here is to find
such a problem that also aligns with their core values elicited in the previous step,
brainstorm, get a very rough idea of an information system that could possibly solve the
problem, and consider what and how information will be used in the system to solve the
problem (feedback loops are extremely advantageous here).
Finally, students will have the option to choose a 1) long-term project goal of approximately
2 years, or 2) Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG – will be covered in the lecture). The trade-
off with the first option, as in real life, will be that a long-term project goal will be easier to
manage, however, it will likely require less work, be less impressive, etc., and is therefore
likely to attract lower marks compared to projects that have BHAGs. Regarding choosing a
BHAG, the trade-off is that projects will be much more difficult to manage, however, if done
well, are likely to attract higher marks compared to projects that do not have BHAGs.
Follow-on Project Action:
Fill in the template provided on Blackboard, which will be the target for the rest of the
Project.
Week 3 – Pitching the Project & Approach
Class Activities:
Students will come up with what is known as a ‘pitch’ in the start-up world, and activities
will closely resemble what might be seen at a mini-hackathon. The idea is for students to
start articulating, very concisely, the outline of their vision from the previous week into a
workable business idea.
This will be a high-intensity class where students will need to think quickly and refine the
idea as fast as possible, making sure that the idea is always aimed at the Goal or BHAG, and
is a workable business idea. A major part of this will be determining how the idea will
realistically bring in revenue or save money to fund itself if part of a bigger business, but
also very important are other areas of a Business Model Canvas such as value proposition,
key partners, etc. – people will not pay for something if there is no value proposition.
The end result should be a polished and concise pitch that serves as a focusing lens for the
Project and helps to start generating new ideas about how it might be designed. It will also be
at this point that students will need to crystalize their Project plans and ensure no conflicts
with other projects (details on how to do this will be provided in lectures and/or practical).
This will mean that there is an Advice Point in next week’s practical.
Follow-on Project Action:
Refine pitch as needed. Transfer pitch to template. Ensure originality of specific Project.
Fill in “method” section of template to explain what development methodology might be
used for the Project, why it is particularly suited to this particular project, and why the other
approaches might not be appropriate. Optionally, students can come up with their own
‘composite’ approach and justify that. OR if none of these approaches would be appropriate,
explain why. Note: you will be undertaking an Agile approach. However, within this
approach there are many options. So, at the end of the project you should be able to comment
on your recommended approach and adjust this section being more informed.
Week 4 – Investigating Requirements (Advice Point 1)
Class Activities:
In class students will officially begin their analysis and design activities, which will be
referred to as the Design Sprint, or just “Sprint”.
Students will come up with the Sprint questions, which are the questions that will be used to
guide requirements analysis. These questions will be the result of first brainstorming the
various challenges that their idea might face on its way to implementation, and then
considering how these challenges might be overcome (and if they even can be overcome).
Then students will come up with a user story map that will be used to visualize categories of
user activities, company (theirs) activities, etc., considering what could or should take place
between the moment just before someone discovers their product or service, to the end result.
Finally, you will create a 3-screen concept that will visually illustrate what the product does
in a way that is as self-explanatory as possible. So basically, if students have to explain the
specifics beyond what is presented, it is not that good. A perfect concept is one that can
simply be looked at by anyone and most people would quickly be able to explain it back to
the student.
It should be noted that it would be greatly beneficial to the student during this step to
investigate the requirements from multiple angles (technological, psychological,
sociological, etc.). The idea is to really consider the audience, what they need, and how they
might approach your product. This will likely be multifaceted and needs to be thought about
carefully. This is where feedback loops would make the Project excel.
We will also be examining and practicing information requirements techniques during the
practicals.
Follow-on Project Action:
Fill in template with long term goal / BHAG along with sprint questions. Transfer user story
map (along with targeted area) as well as concept ‘screenshots’ to template. Depending on
how you do this, the screenshot can be something you have done using a digital program or
pictures you have taken of their paper drawings. It’s up to you, it just needs to be able to be
clearly seen so it can be marked.
Weeks 4 to 8 – UML Diagramming
Practical Activities: Diagramming practice
When we are ready (this an activity that hands over to Part 2) – User Journey and
Storyboarding
Class Activities:
This week, students will finalize their concepts, come up with a user test flow which is what
will eventually be tested, and then create a hand drawn 6-cell storyboard. The goal of this
week is to come up with a storyboard that could be handed off to any designer and they
could immediately get started working on it rather than having to explain to them what
something means or clear up confusion.
Follow-on Project Action:
Document the models for your project.
Reflect and consider possible pain points in user test flow that might not have considered
prior to the final storyboard and refine if necessary. Transfer pain points and storyboard to
template.
Weeks 8 and 9 – Architecture and Deployment
Class Activities:
Discuss possibilities for architecture and deployment of application. This will be a deep-dive
into the various pros and cons of contemporary application development languages,
frameworks, and/or libraries, as well as possible systems that the application could be
deployed to. Consideration to what testing and conversion will be required. Discussion
about change management, support and training
Further guidance will be provided in class, however, students that are highly keen can
consider this step during any point in the Project – the earlier, the better.
Follow-on Project Action:
Transfer architecture and deployment strategy to report. NOTE: There will be no deployment
in this course.
Follow-on Project Action:
Complete Project Report ready for submission.
Final Project Report must have a professional presentation. Use the following format &
presentation: − Times New Roman − Size 12 font − 1.5 line spacing − Left aligned − Normal
margins (2.54 cm) − Number all pages. The content must appear in the following order:
Cover Page
Table of contents
System Vision
Problem Description (half a page in report and supported by Project Template
1submitted separately)
User Story Map (supported by Project Template 3)
System Capabilities (up to 1 page high level capabilities and a short
explanation about the target area from the user story map)
Business Benefits (supported by Project Template 2)
Project Plan used for your project to date and justification (1 page)
End date is final submission of prototype and reflection. It is the steps you are
taking to complete the assignment, not imaginary.
Implementation plan (up to 2 pages): this will outline the expected steps and
justification to deploy your system after the completion of the design. This is let’s
imagine the system is going to be implemented as you would in business.
System Requirements (Functional and Non-Functional) (note high weighting -
approximately 3 pages) Note: the functional requirements must be meet by Part 2.
Reference List (APA or Harvard Style)
Appendices:
Use Enterprise Architect or Visual Paradigm to draw the diagrams. The diagrams must
have a readable font size and not require the marker to tilt their head to mark.
Export each diagram as an image and paste it in a WORD DOCUMENT and submit
the EA FILE/VP FILE used to produce the portfolio. IMPORTANT: You are allowed
to use Enterprise Architect Trial Version to create the UML diagrams. The watermarks
on the diagrams will NOT result in any deduction of marks. However, it has a trial
expiry date, so either you will need access to it on campus in the Labs or use Visual
Paradigm Community Version on your machine. More on this during classes.