Project description
Title: Systems Analysis and Design, Video Enhanced (8th Ed.)
Author(s): Shelly, Cashman & Rosenblatt
Physical ISBN: 0-538-47443-2 eBook
Publisher: Course Technology
Chapter 1,2,3,4,5,6
Read the Willowbrook School case study, and then complete the following question regarding the case study.
1. In order to succeed as a Systems Analyst, you have to understand the
purpose of the organization that you support. Our work is focused on the
needs of our business partners. Given that your first deliverable is to
draft a mission statement for Willowbrook Schools. Please keep in mind
that the focus of the Mission Statement is on the business and not the
I.T. assignment!
Willowbrook School
Willowbrook School is a small private school that has retained you to
assist in the development of a new information system for the school’s
administrative needs.
Background
Willowbrook School is a small, private school in the Midwestern United
States. For the past 20 years it has offered a curriculum for preschool
through Grade 3. It also offers after-school care, usually referred to
as after-care, on premises. Last year the school added a new classroom
to allow the curriculum to expand to provide a Grade 4-6 program.
Willowbrook is experiencing significant increases in enrollment
applications for all programs from pre-school through the Grade 4-6
program. Increases in applications coupled with the expanded program and
increased demand for after-school care have led to a very high workload
for the administrative person on staff. The principal and teachers have
stepped in where possible, but the demand is becoming too great.
Willowbrook School is a non-profit, and is not in a position to hire
another full-time administrative position, which is what the principal
and administrator think would be needed to handle the increased
workload.
You are an independent IT consultant, specializing in developing IT
solutions for small business needs. You have been contacted by the
parent of one of the students to speak to the school principal,
administrator, and teaching staff about the possibility of setting up an
information system to handle some of the school’s administrative and
financial tasks. While there is not enough money in the budget to add a
full-time position, the school does have a very active board of
directors and parent committees that are experienced and enthusiastic
about fund-raising for projects that do not fit into the budget. It is
the hope of the school that it might be feasible to use a combination of
grants and fund-raising to cover the initial cost of purchasing and
setting up and information system, and the ongoing cost of a part-time
support position for the system.
The paid staff of the school is as follows:
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Kathy Gilliard is the principal of Willowbrook. She has been at the
school for nine years, and is a certified teacher. Kathy handles the
academic and curricular issues that arise, and ensures that the school
meets all federal and state educational standards. She also deals with
issues related to the school’s non-profit status. Kathy and the teachers
who report to her make decisions jointly about admissions and
assignments to classrooms. Kathy handles payroll for teachers and
teacher aides. Kathy also substitutes in any of the school classrooms
when a teacher is out.
Susan Brown is the vice-principal. She is responsible for the after-care
program. She has traditionally handled or been responsible for all
administrative tasks related to tuition and after-care fees. Susan sends
out monthly bills for tuition and after-care, records payments, and
handles bank deposits. While students must be pre-registered for
after-care required on a daily basis, the school does offer
"drop-in" care on an "as space
allows" basis. Susan handles all requests for drop-in care in
consultation with the after-care teachers, and adjusts monthly bills
accordingly. She also maintains the school calendar, prepares handouts
and reminders for parents, and administers the "camps"
that run during the two weeks that the school is not in session during
the spring, and the summer programs that run through July and August.
She maintains all student records, and ensures that contact and pick-up
lists for all classrooms and after-care programs are up-to-date. She
also handles payroll for the after-care teachers and part-time
assistants in the after-care programs. Currently Susan handles all her
responsibilities using Microsoft Word and Excel. She is comfortable with
the applications, but finds that maintaining records and producing
reports, payroll, etc., results in a lot of duplication of effort, as
she has to copy a lot of information from one worksheet or document to
another.
There are six full-time teachers at Willowbrook, three for the
pre-school-Kindergarten program, two for the Grades 1-3 program, and one
for the Grades 4-6 program. There are five teacher's aides for
the pre-school-Kindergarten and the Grades 1-3 programs. Teacher’s
aides report to their respective teachers. Enrollment in the 4-6 program
does not warrant the hiring of a teacher’s aide at this point in time,
but it is expected that an aide will be hired next year, when all three
grades of the program will be populated. Each teacher is responsible for
keeping attendance records and recording them in the student files.
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There are two full-time after-care teachers, one for the
pre-school-Kindergarten group, and one for the primary grades.
After-care teachers report to Susan Brown. Each after-care teacher has
part-time assistants assigned to the program. Assistants report to the
after-care teacher. The number of students pre-registered in the
after-care program determines the number of assistants. The after-care
teachers are responsible for keeping time sheets for their part-time
assistants and submitting them every two weeks to Susan Brown. In
addition, the after-care teachers are responsible for submitting weekly
summary sheets to Susan Brown detailing any hours above those
pre-registered for that students spent in the after-care program, so
that parents are billed for the additional time.
Like many other non-profit schools, Willowbrook relies on volunteer time
from parents to accomplish many of the tasks essential to the running
of the school. A financial committee examines monthly financial reports,
a fund-raising committee evaluates possible fund-raising projects and
handles approved fund-raising. In addition, individual parents step in
as needed to do rote office tasks such as copying and distributing
handouts, to free up Susan Brown for other tasks. Parents also fill in
as assistants in the after-care programs when needed, and qualified
parents step into the classroom as teacher’s aides whenever possible to
reduce the reliance on substitute teachers.
Preliminary Investigation
After an initial conversation between yourself and the school staff, the
staff has decided that pursuing the possibility of an information
system is a good idea. Susan Brown, the vice principal, particularly
feels the strain of the increased workload associated with the rapid
growth in the student population. The system that she has been using of
spreadsheets and word processing documents worked well when enrollments
were smaller, but now the amount of time spent copying information from
one place to another is daunting, and the possibility of errors is
increasing. Volunteers can help out in the office, but due to the nature
of volunteerism, the staff agrees that reliance on volunteers must be
for non-critical tasks, and that an information system is necessary to
cope with the growing administrative workload.
Based on your initial conversation, staff members are initially
interested in a system that could track tuition and after-care billing
and payments. While there are other administrative tasks that could
easily be added, right now these are what they believe to be the
priorities.
Project Requirements
1. Mission Statement is clear and concise demonstrating that the team understands Willowbrook’s mission.
Fact-Finding Summary
Billing and payments
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