System Analysis

1.Imagine that you are to design a budget report for a colleague at work using a spreadsheet package. Following the prototyping discussed in the chapter (see also Figure 1-13), describe the steps you would take to design a prototype of this report.

2. Consider a system that produces budget reports for your department at work. Alternatively, consider a registration system that produces enrollment reports for a department at a university. For whichever system you choose, answer the following design questions: Who will use the output? What is the purpose of the output? When is the output needed, and when is the information that will be used within the output available? Where does the output need to be delivered? How many people need to view the output?

3.Imagine the worst possible reports from a system. What is wrong with them? List as many problems as you can. What are the consequences of such reports? What could go wrong as a result? How does the prototyping process help guard against each problem?

4.Given the guidelines presented in this chapter, identify flaws in the design of the Report of Customers shown. What assumptions about users and tasks did you make in order to assess this design? Redesign this report to correct these flaws.

Report of Customers—26-Oct-09

Cust-ID Organization

AC-4 A.C. Nielson Co.

ADTRA-20799 Adran

ALEXA-15812 Alexander & Alexander, Inc.

AMERI-1277 American Family Insurance

AMERI-28157 American Residential Mortgage

ANTAL-28215 Antalys

ATT-234 AT&T Residential Services

ATT-534 AT&T Consumer Services

…

DOLE-89453 Dole United, Inc.

DOME-5621

DO-67 Doodle Dandies

…

ZNDS-22267 Zenith Data System