Business Information Systems Analysis Assignment

Business Information Systems Analysis Assignment

On

HAIR FOR YOU

                                                                                      SUBMITTED BY :

                                                                                             Arzoo Mehta

                                                                                              100999234

Cover sheet for submission of work for assessment

UNIT DETAILS

Unit name Business Information System analysis Class day/time Wednesday ^{Office use only}

Unit code INF80025 Assignment no. 1 Due date 09/09/2017

Name of lecturer/teacher Dr .Rajiv Vashist

Tutor/marker’s name Dr. Rajiv Vashist Faculty or school date stamp

STUDENT(S)

Family Name(s) Given Name(s)                                                                Student ID Number(s)

1. Mehta                                                   Arzoo

DECLARATION AND STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

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2. This assessment is my/our original work and no part of it has been copied from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made.
3. No part of this assessment has been written for me/us by any other person except where such collaboration has been authorised by the lecturer/teacher concerned.
4. I/we have not previously submitted this work for this or any other course/unit.
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(1) Arzoo Mehta

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PAGE 1 OF 1

Contents

1 Analysis and Identification of System Problem 4

2 Differentiation of hard and soft system problems 5

3 Key Stakeholders 6

4 Models, Tools And techniques 7

5 Rich Picture 9

6   SSM Evaluation 10

7 References 11

1. Analysis and Identification of System Problem

This report evaluates the issues encountered by the owners of Hair for You salon. The part owners are Jordan, Bill Junior and Sally who are the children of their dead father, Bill who started this salon. The salon has three branches. Jordan, the eldest of all runs the Melbourne branch, Bill Junior runs the Glen Iris salon and Sally runs the Cranbourne salon. The business is progressing but the business environment has been experiencing some challenges since last few years. Therefore, I am going to analyse these problems confronted by the three owners.

Problems faced by Hair for You:

• The most prominent problem in the existing system is low efficiency which is the outcome of lack of technological innovation.
• The owners are spending an extravagant amount of money on the receptionist and apprentice hairdressers to attend calls and book customer’s appointments. 
• Due to considerable technological advancements, the customers are highly demanding for a Facebook and Twitter account as it is easy for the customers to book the appointment online.
• Hair for You salon is not technologically developed and they are still implementing outdated business activities. 
•  The customers are dissatisfied with the fact that Hair for You does not have their own application for booking appointments.
• There is no customer loyalty system for the enhancement of customer’s experience.
• There is inadequate interaction, understanding among all the three part owners which is resulting into mounting conflicts among them on multiple matters.
• Inappropriate business competitive strategies and decision making rules.
• They are still executing their core activities using a manual appointment management system and manual cash register system and income reports and payroll are also produced manually. This can cause human errors and which can be problematic. Also it is time consuming process.

2. Differentiation of hard and soft system problems

No	Problem	Identification
1	Low efficiency due to lack of technological innovation	Hard System	Due to outdated technological resources the business is declining as it is unable to cope up with the technological advancements and this in turn is leading to decline in customers
2	Expenses increased by employing extra resources	Soft system/ Hard system	Employing a receptionist to make calls and book appointments is an extra cost for the part owners who are losing their business. Therefore, they are trying to reduce costs. This can be resolved by using SMS as a method to safeguard that customers appear for appointments.
3	No Online services available to customers	Hard system	The customers are demanding for a mobile application to make bookings which is easily accessible and they also want Hair for You to create a Facebook or twitter account where they can check the details and price lists and other necessary information.
4	Low Control management and conflicts among the part owners	Soft system	All the three part owners are not mutually taking a decision hence there is lack of proper management which is turn leading to conflicts and affecting the business.
5	Manual account handling	Hard system	It is difficult to manually monitor the income and salaries of staff of all three branches. It can be solved by building an automated system.
6	No proper decision strategy	Soft system	There is an unclear understanding of the goals and necessities of the company and no decision making for advancement in technology.

3. Key Stakeholders 

Internal
JordanPart owner(Melbourne Branch)	Wants to automate the appointment and payroll system with automatic generation of income reportsHas inadequate knowledge about the technological advancementsWants to transform the business environment back to its original state but lacking in proper decision making skillsInefficient management and controlShe intends to escalate the production of the hair products which can be used in their salonShe wants to invest into a large scale hair products manufacturing factoryDecline in business and losing customers
Bill JuniorPart Owner(Glen Iris Branch)	Desires to mitigate the expenses spent on employing receptionist for calling customers and booking appointments.Believes that using SMS can save costs and attract more customers with the improvement in customer experience.Does not want to invest into the hair products manufacturing factory proposed by Jordan Feels that they should concentrate on their main business (Hair Salon) and how to enhance their business practices.
SallyPart Owner(Cranbourne Branch)	She is keenly interested in investing in a customer loyalty system. Feels uncertain about the probable dispute impending between Bill and Jordan regarding investment for factory.She wishes to start a new salon in the West for her daughter who is an apprentice hairdresser at this branch.
External
Customers	They are dissatisfied with the technological development of Hair for You salon which has no Facebook or Twitter account.Querying about Hair for You app to book appointments. Poor customer experience

4. Models, Tools And techniques

Technique/Model	Description	Pros	Cons
SWOT Analysis	Examines Organization’s Strengths, Weakness, Threats and Opportunities.	This technique can assist Hair for You Salon to review their interior and exterior environment, rapidly discover its threats and Opportunities along with the establishment of an innovative strategy so as to overcome the confronts and utilize the opportunities.	It is a single level process that will identify a characteristic as either Strength or Weakness but doesn’t categorize it as double-sided. Moreover, it doesn’t prioritise concerns or deliver solutions (Anon 2016).
Requirement Interviews and Surveys	Structured interviews of all chief stakeholders can be conducted to interpret their requirements to deliver a specific solution and customer surveys can be conducted to understand their experience.	Distinct perspectives and assessments of various stakeholders at Hair for You can be detected via interviews and can be documented as a requirements document and the results from the customer survey can also be documented and considered to transform the business environment.	A time consuming method and multiple ideas delivered by discrete stakeholders might be difficult to execute in the updated system which can lead to dissatisfaction.
Business Process Modelling	A graphical or pictorial demonstration of a sequential workflow to enhance the understanding of business processes with effective decision-making.	A Visual depiction of workflow at Hair for You Salon can elucidate and validate the need of new ERP system and customer loyalty system to respective stakeholders and also investment in technology which can benefit the business. The process can appear much more apparent using this technique and aid them understand how to bring the business back to its stable state.	Sometimes a large system can be modelled into a big model which is commonly imprecise and complex, moreover the solution model cannot be formed in one attempt and involves more attempts (Kesari, Chand and Seddon 2003).
Use Case Modelling	It describes the functionality of the up-to-date system to execute depending on the user viewpoint.	Hair for you Salon requires a social media account and an application for booking appointments. It is essential to get a deeper knowledge about the stakeholder’s expectations regarding the application and its functionality before developing it. Similarly, the key actors and their connections with the updated system should be evidently stated.	This approach does not encompass the non-functional requirements of the system appropriately and an expertise in Business analysis skills can only implement approach well.
Data Modelling	It utilizes entities and attributes to define the business requirements and visually represent their activities and communication.	Main entities and their attributes at Hair for You Salon can be recognized with their communication among each other. This can be applicable to the analysis and deigning phase of ERP system and customer loyalty system with best potential solutions.	Such modelling types don’t support any standardised methodology or any notations. These are beneficial for complex projects. (Tangkawarow &Waworuntu 2010).
User Stories	Facilitates to accumulate user requirements and expectations from latest system.	Stakeholders at Hair for You have different viewpoints and therefore this technique can be applied to comprehend their usage purpose which can promote an enhanced advancement and more likely user acceptance and agreement with the latest system.	As Distinct people have different description of the same characteristic so this can lead to ambiguity and we can miss the essential details.

5. Rich Picture

6   SSM Evaluation

(Blum 1994)

The Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) discusses about the rational thoughts and the limitations expressed by the respective stakeholders of the existing system, which can be sometimes technical, and sometimes elusive which is same as sentiments of insight. These issues are articulated in ordinary language and a Business Analyst is the one who can interpret and evaluate those issues to discover a potential solution to resolve them. There are few cases in which these end solutions are not related to technical or a software development aspect but relatively related to a modification in the reflective thinking and the attitude toward the challenges.   

In his research paper (Blum 1994), Blum illustrates a quadrant for the software development methodologies. The SSM developed for Hair for You salon can be placed in I section.  This is because it provides a precise and better comprehension of all the underlying issues and also anyone can easily provide the necessary solutions just by observing the graphical demonstration of the workflow sequence. It could also be placed in section III as it reflects poor decision making strategy and improper management but since it is easy to understand the current situation of the business through SSM, therefore it is placed in Quadrant I.  We can draw a data model recognizing all the necessary identities and related attributes and the type of communication in form of relationship among them. This assists to get a deep insight into the system and emphasize on the organizational culture along with other hard issues. 

7. References 

Blum, B 1994, “A taxonomy of software development methods”, Communications of the ACM, vol. 37, no. 11, pp. 82-94.

Dhanvani, P & &rarr;, V 2014, “Difference between Structured Programming and Object Oriented Programming | Structured Programming vs. Object Oriented Programming – FreeFeast.info : Interview Questions ,Awesome Gadgets,Personality Motivation Guide, Famous IT personalities”, FreeFeast.info : Interview Questions ,Awesome Gadgets,Personality Motivation Guide, Famous IT personalities, viewed 8 September, 2017, <http://freefeast.info/difference-between/difference-between-structured-programming-and-object-oriented-programming-structured-programming-vs-object-oriented-programming/>.

Anon 2016, “Benefits and limitations of SWOT analysis, Queensland Government. Accessed on 6^th April 2017 < https://www.business.qld.gov.au/starting-business/planning/market-customer-research/swot-analysis/benefits-limitations>

Kesari, M, Chang, S, Seddon, P.B 2003, “A content-analytic study of the advantages and disadvantages of process modelling”, Australasian Conference on Information System. Pp. 1-11. 

Tangkawarow, I.R.H.T & Waworuntu, J 2010, “A Comparative of business process modelling techniques”, IOP Publishing. Pp. 1-15.

 Saad, M 2010, “Structured Vs, Object Oriented Analysis and Design”, Slideshare.net, viewed 8 September, 2017, <https://www.slideshare.net/mksaad/structure-vs-object-oriented-analysis-and-design>.