CC6052 2012-13 Coursework Assignment

Key information Type: Title: Weighting: Submission date: Constraints: Group report (with MSS software on CD/DVD/USB stick) "ODDS Management Report and Software" 50% of module Friday 7 December 2012 to Undergraduate Office Font must be 12pt (Times New Roman or Arial) Page margins must be at least 1 / 2.5cm all around Include Access/Oracle database and spreadsheet.

Coursework outline Over the course of the semester, a MSS application is under development to support the management decisions identified in the module case study (Officionado UK Ltd). This work is to be done in groups, with an individual component from each team member. A single report should be submitted from each team, with the group and individual components clearly identified in the table of contents. Teams should submit a membership form specifying members, team name, and the software they intend to use. The underlying database for the management support system needs to be constructed from the CSV data files that have been provided, and the data requires attention to identify and deal with errors. Assignment outline This report is intended for the ODDS Steering Committee and should be presented to a professional standard. In this assignment, each team is required to produce: a Management Report about the ODDS Management Support System; and the ODDS MSS software with contributions from each team member: (i) Access or Oracle database with 3 parameter-driven queries/reports; and (ii) Excel spreadsheet with charts/graphs. Assessment criteria Component Section Title and contents pages Management Summary 1. Introduction 2. Organisation chart 3. Data Cleansing Group 4. ODDS MSS Database Design 5. Use of Feedback 6. Group Critique 7.Individual Contributions 8. Software Implementation Environment 9. Selected Management Decision 10. Data and Information Requirements 12. Technical design Individual 13. Test Plan and Results 13. Outline Solution 14. References (Group and Individual) 15. Software with Printouts Total 8 3 3 3 3 4 10 6 10 6 4 20 100

Marks available 2 3 4 5 6

Guidance In preparing the management report, please note the following: All the numbered section headings given below must appear in the report. The guidance itself should not appear in the report, nor should there be any additional sections, although numbered sub-section headings may be included. Note the suggested length of each section, as additional material will not be considered. For each report section, higher marks will be awarded for specific statements, which: are relevant to the facts contained in the case study; are supported by appropriate justification (where necessary); correspond to this coursework specification; are consistent with other parts of the document. GROUP COMPONENT The Management Report will include the following sections: Title page (1 page) To include: title of document, group name, student ID and name of each group member; submission date. A logo may be used. This should not have a page number. Management Summary ( page) Highlight the main features of the report. This should not have a page number. Contents page (up to 2 pages) All sections of the report listed with the first page number (not a range) of each section, using numbered headings and sub-headings. This should not have a page number. 1. Introduction (up to 2 pages) Provide a coherent introduction to this report: give a clear statement of its purpose, and how ODDS would assist management decision-making, which may include a number of stakeholders. Use one or more strategic planning technique(s) (e.g. SWOT analysis) to identify Officionados business objectives. This should start from page number 1. 2. Organisation chart (up to 3 pages; landscape format may be used) Provide a clear diagram indicating each member of staff, including job title and to whom they report. There should be a description of key features of the organisation chart (e.g. departments). Any errors found in the staff data file should be identified and corrected. 3. Data Cleansing (up to 3 pages) Identify any errors or inconsistencies found in the data, explain how these were dealt with, and state the reasons for the action taken. This may be in tabular format. 4. ODDS Management Support System Database Design (up to 5 pages: 1 page ERD, 3 pages data dictionary, 1 page other written description) Describe the management information available at Officionado UK Ltd.: include an entityrelationship diagram (ERD) and a data dictionary in tabular format for ODDS (including for each entity: name of entity; name of each attribute, identification of primary and foreign keys (including where a foreign key exists as a primary key), data type and length, range (if appropriate), description of attribute); include any new entities and/or attributes added to the database. Describe any other information (including external sources) that would be available to managers within the organisation. Note: the ERD must not be a screen dump from MS-Access or Oracle Designer. 5. Use of Feedback (up to 2 pages) Indicate how feedback on draft versions of the report or prototype database/spreadsheet has been employed in creating the final version. 6. Group Critique (up to 2 pages) Present a brief discussion of the development process (what was done well, what could be improved, etc.) and of the application developed (its strengths and weaknesses). 7. Individual Contributions (up to 1 page per team member and signatures of whole team) Provide a brief, clear outline of what each team member contributed to the project. Each page to be signed by all team members, to verify accuracy. 8. Software Implementation Environment (up to 1 page) Explain how to install and run the ODDS MSS, so the software can be used. There should be three queries/reports by each team member for each management decision selected, which should all run within a single environment. The charts/graphs should be provided within a single Excel spreadsheet (e.g. a worksheet for each team member). 2

INDIVIDUAL COMPONENT (ONE COPY PER TEAM MEMBER) Each member of the team should make a different selection from the range of management decisions in the case study. If two team members do decide to use the same decision, this must be justified in section 9, and there must be no overlap in the queries/reports and spreadsheets, although there should be cross-referencing to indicate whether the solutions complement each other, and how they could be used in conjunction with each other. 9. Selected Management Decision (up to 1 page) Identify and briefly discuss the Officionado management decision selected: identify the stakeholder(s) for this decision and their critical success factor(s) outline the information requirements of managers making this decision 10. Data and Information Requirements (up to 2 pages) Identify the data required to support the decision, including specific entities and attributes in the ODDS database, and any other data, such as external sources. Explain why any additional data has been added to the database, and its source. Outline the transformation processes required to convert data into information needed by decision maker(s). Consider: aggregation, calculation, classification, selection, sorting, summary. 11. Technical Design (up to 2 pages) Present the technical details of the solution design, clearly identifying the data it uses and explaining how this data is transformed to produce useful information. This section should make use of one or more recognised design technique(s), e.g. Decision table/tree, STD, ERD, DFD, task analysis, flow chart, any UML techniques, etc. 12. Test Plan and Results (length depends on complexity of the application; up to 5 pages) Provide a detailed and practical test plan. The bulk of this section should be in the form of a table detailing specific tests that have been conducted (Test Number, Condition, Input Required, Expected Outcome, Actual Result, Modification Undertaken, Comments, etc.). Provide a brief commentary, explaining how the results of testing were used to amend the design and/or implementation of the ODDS MSS. 13. Outline Solution (up to 2 pages) Describe the MSS solution in business terms with any relevant illustrations (diagrams and screen shots from the ODDS MSS application). This section should include a brief practical justification of the ODDS MSS solution for each decision, identifying the key stakeholders and specifying the benefits this application will offer. 14. References (Group and Individual) Use the Harvard Referencing Style to indicate details of books, case study material, documents, journal papers, websites, etc. cited in the report. There should be a single section of references covering all material used in the group and individual components. The software will include the following: 15. Software with printouts (software on CD/DVD/USB stick; up to 2 pages per query/report and charts/graphs) The software submitted on CD/DVD/USB stick should include: a version of the Access or Oracle database with - a menu (switchboard) or other suitable interface to facilitate user interaction; - 3 parameter-driven queries/reports an Excel application using data downloaded from the database, providing dynamic functionality and using charts/graphs to illustrate trends/patterns in the data. The printouts should show output generated by ODDS in the queries/reports, and the charts/graphs produced to support the chosen management decision. Provide three database queries/reports providing information relevant to the decision selected by each team member. Give clear instructions on how these are used. Provide a worksheet in a spreadsheet to produce charts/graphs.