Convention Center Management: A Systems Analysis & Design Course Project

1. CASE LEARNING OBJECTIVES The semester project is structured as a group effort; however, it is extremely important for each student to have an opportunity to participate in all phases of the project, with the workload evenly spread so that no one person bears the burden of too much work. This teamwork approach should provide appropriate learning opportunities for all. The learning objectives for the case are as follows: 1. To provide each student with an opportunity to work with other students in team-building exercises, which emphasize individual contributions to a team effort, aimed at solving real business problems. 2. To expose each student to a situation that is conducive both to the development and the enhancement of the student's problem-solving, analytical abilities. 3. Gain insight about the use of information technology (IT) for support of operational, tactical, and strategic levels of management for the firm. 2. PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS Each group must employ the following phases of the systems analysis and design methodology, which is a variation of those described by Whitten and Bentley (2008): 1) scope definition (i.e. identify baseline problems and opportunities; develop baseline scope; develop baseline schedule and budget); 2) problem analysis (i.e. understand the problem domain; analyze problems and opportunities; establish system improvement objectives); 3) requirements analysis (i.e. identification of functional and nonfunctional requirements of the system); 4) logical design (i.e. creation of context diagram; creation of E-R diagram); 5) decision analysis (i.e. identification and analysis of candidate solutions; recommended solution); 6) physical design and integration (i.e. physical design and integration of system); 7) construction and testing (i.e. construction and testing of system); 8) installation and delivery (i.e. selection of appropriate implementation methodology; creation of user manual; post-implementation review); 9) system operation and maintenance (i.e. system use and operation; system maintenance, updates, and revisions). In the above, steps 8 and 9 are optional. Each group is also responsible for creating a video presentation to summarize the various aspects of the project. The essence of the project involves the analysis, design, and development of a database solution (Microsoft Access) for booking and events planning at the City Dome and Convention Center. Group members are charged with designing a database that handles the booking and events planning for both of these venues. The remaining paragraphs present a fictitious explanation regarding this case. At the present time, when an individual or company calls to make a reservation at either the City Dome or the Convention Center, the entire process is handled manually and by one office (located offsite). With the recent population growth experienced by the city, it has become nearly impossible for the current scheduling office to handle all of the paperwork. Harry Underwood (Office Manager) and Kathleen Wallace are the only individuals working in the scheduling office at this time. Everything is quite disorganized with constant mistakes being made (i.e. double-booking of some of the rooms in each of the venues). Such errors are unnecessary, time-consuming, and costly. It is, therefore, imperative to implement a database solution as soon as possible. And while it is necessary to ensure that the fundamental aspects of the scheduling process are reflected in the database solution, the inclusion of features that aid in a user-friendly interface and quality-enhanced reporting, for example, would be welcomed. The immediate concern is to make certain that efficiencies are improved with regard to the storage of data pertaining to event scheduling (e.g., customers, venues, etc.). The handling of this data manually has become too slow and cumbersome and Harry is becoming increasingly frustrated with the inefficiencies. …