Overview of Business Process Analysis and Functional Requirements for UMUC Haircuts
For your Case Study Stage 1 assignment, you performed a Five Forces Analysis and justified Myras chosen strategy for competitive advantage and the business process that she would like to improve through the application of technology.
In the Stage 2 assignment, you will identify the inputs, processing, and outputs of Myras selected business process. Those inputs, processing, and outputs form the functional (business) requirements for an IT system to improve the process.
The first step in identifying the functional or business requirements for an information system is to develop the high level requirements that establish the scope of the system. Myra has selected the Customer and Employee Scheduling Process for improvement using an IT solution, and together you have identified the following high level requirements. The system must:
Allow employees to enter their availability and desired days/times to work
Allow Myra to review the employee requests and develop a schedule
Make the schedule available to employees to review their final work schedule
Make the employee schedule available for staff to enter customer appointments
Allow Myra and the staff to enter customer appointments
Keep track of customer appointments, including stylist and service performed
Accommodate changes in the employee schedules and customer appointments, and update the schedule accordingly
Accommodate changes in the customer information stored in the system
Provide management reports to Myra showing employee workload, customers served, customer contact information, busy times/days, etc.
For this assignment, you will focus on the customer appointment portion of the overall process. The high level requirements are not detailed enough to be used as the functional or business requirements. More detailed requirements are developed using a variety of tools and methods. One such tool is a process model. The process model shows the steps in the customer appointment process. In a process model, rectangles are used to illustrate process steps and diamonds are used where decisions, or choices, are made. You need to be aware that there are other aspects of the process to be considered, as shown in the high level requirements above. The points at which these additional steps intersect with the customer appointment process are shown in the process model with a circle.Customer Appointment Process Model: The Customer Appointment Process model is separately provided as an Excel file, labeled Stage 2 Customer Appointment Process Model.
Assignment: UMUC Haircuts Stage 2: Using the Customer Appointment Process Model, create a document that includes:
I. Introduction
At the top of your paper, show the strategy for competitive advantage that Myra selected and the business process she has chosen to improve, using the following format:
Generic Strategy for Competitive Advantage: xxxxxxx (just name the strategy)
Business Process to Be Improved: xxxxxxxxx (just name the process)
II. Table of Functional (Business) Requirements
Copy the table below into your paper. Using the Customer Appointment Process Model provided complete the table of requirements for an IT system, for each of the numbered process steps, that includes:
the inputs to the process include specific items of information or data elements (for example, customer name) entered into the system as part of the process step
processing or actions that the system takes (for example, check calendar to let person know if UMUC Haircuts is open at the specified time)
outputs of the process include specific items of information or data elements (for example, appointment date) that the system will display or print out for the user to see
There are 7 numbered steps in the Appointment Process itself. In addition, there are two other processes that are needed (numbered 8 and 9), but are beyond the scope of the appointment process: a process for entering the time needed and costs for the various styling services; and the payment process that collects customer payments and updates the database accordingly. For these two processes, you should also identify the input needed for the system, what the system is to do with that input (process) and what output the system will need to create or display either immediately or later.
The responses that you enter into the table for each requirement must be aligned to the specific business process to be improved and the data it uses, and it must be appropriate to the UMUC Haircuts business.
Note: Processes are actions that the system will take and should include action verbs. Inputs and outputs are not actions, but are data or information. If you need to use action words (verbs) to describe the input or output, they should be kept to a minimum and put in parentheses.Table of Functional (Business) Requirements
Steps in the Appointment ProcessProcess Step Input
Information/data item(s) entered into the system as part of this step Process
Processing or action the system must perform for this step Output
Information/data item(s)/record created, or displayed, or printed out for the user in this step
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9EXAMPLE Using the Employee Scheduling Process
The example below demonstrates what is required for the assignment, using the Employee Scheduling Process, which is shown in a circle in the Customer Appointment Process Model. The process model for this example is separately provided as an Excel file named Stage 2 Example Scheduling Process Model. The entries in the table correspond with the numbered process steps in the model.
Table of Functional (Business) Requirements
Steps in the Employee Scheduling ProcessProcess Step Input
Information/data item(s) entered into the system as part of this step Process
Processing or action the system must perform for this step Output
Information/data item(s)/record created, or displayed, or printed out for the user in this step
1 User ID and password Verify user id and password against security database Welcome screen or Invalid User ID and Password message
2 Employee name, dates Locate and present appointment dates for the employee Appointment dates for employee
3 Dates and times available for work (employee name entered in step 2) Record dates and times employee is available for work Confirmation that dates and times have been saved
Formatting:
For academic writing, the writer is expected to write in the third person. In third person, the writer avoids the pronouns I, we, my, and our. The third person is used to make the writing more objective by taking the individual, the self, out of the writing. This method is very helpful for academic writing, a form in which facts, not opinion, drive the tone of the text. Writing in the third person allows the writer to come across as unbiased and thus more informed. Submit a document that includes the Table of Functional Requirements.
Table entries should be single spaced.
Use APA formatted citations and references for any external sources used.
Include a title page, and a reference page if references are included.
Compare your final work to the rubric to be sure you have met content and quality criteria.
Submit your paper as a Word document, or a document that can be read in Word.