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Initech

Assignment 9: Systems Proposal Info-361-001 Pr

Nicholas Jones

December 5, 2014 Pr

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Table of contents

Planning

Opening Statement 3

Systems Request 4

Business Case 5-8

Current Gantt Chart 9

Use Case Model 10

Class Diagram 11

Sequence Diagram 12-13

State Machine Diagram 14-15

Windows Diagram 16

a. Prototype Screens 17-20

b. Mock Website 21

Usability Testing Summary 22

Executive Summary 23

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This project is still an ongoing project that has followed the UML model in a strict fashion.

Since the systems request, we at Initech have found that the core key requirements must not be

overlooked and that the intended system will include the essential requirements of streamlining

the transaction process of buy, pawn, and sell, help with record keeping, provide easier report

forming for financial and legal institutions, and help with online marketing. Throughout the stages

of this project, we will identify more aspects of the system and documents detailing the desired

functionality. We will then enter into the actual designing and construction phases were user and

stake holder support is a necessity for the project to succeed.

So far, the scope of the project has been small with pertaining to only one small business. This

is good in terms of risk and feasibility however this does not mean this project and its phases are

not important. We will continue to go along with the path pertaining to our Gantt Chart so that

the requirements of this system are met and for the business to prosper after the system is

complete.

We at Initech will continue our support of this development project and hope to provide value

to your business.

Nicholas Jones

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System Request

Project Name: Pete's Pawn Shop

Project Sponsor: Peter "Pete" Forthright, owner and chief operating officer

Business Need: Pete's Pawn Shop has been in the pawning business for 30+ years. The business specializes in jewelry, electronics, furniture and antiques, but other items may be accepted on occasion. Though Pete has been using a computer for simple tasks such as word processing, and managing inventory in simple spreadsheets, he has a difficult time keeping up with the record keeping and the legal requirements, and many accounting errors have resulted in substantial losses. Pete believes that his business operations could be made more efficient and effective with the proper information systems support.

Functionality: The expected functionality includes transaction support for sales, purchases, and pawning, as well as managing inventory and repeat-customers, provide financial and legal reporting [stolen property, etc.], and marketing.

Expected Value: Reduce losses due to book keeping errors, reduce cost for clerical support, better decision-making in offering loans and appraising items, and improve relationships with customers (new and repeat).

Special Issues or Constraints: Limited funds for equipment upgrades and software development; limited information systems

expertise; many one-time customers; reporting requirements to identify stolen goods; need for outside appraisers for some items; two workstations with Internet access; one external mass storage device; no website, Facebook or other social media identity.

Case Scenario- This is a new information systems idea for a small pawn shop owned by Pete Forthright.

These are the following assumptions.

1. 4 % discount interest rate 2. 16 transactions per business day on average 3. Currently $400,000 turnover per annum 4. Annual appraiser cost: $20,000 5. Current management & staff salaries:

a. assistant shop manager $65,000 b. two part-time sales clerks/bookkeepers $25,000 each

6. Current facility lease is $2,000 per month 7. Training to use and manage/maintain the system (make an estimate as to hours and cost) 8. New IT Equipment resources (make your own estimate)

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Business Case - Pete’s Pawn Shop Team Initech Sep/10/2014

Scope of the Project:

This project seeks to develop an information system for Pete’s Pawn Shop. The system will include a customer database, inventory management, loan tracking, POS capabilities, financial accounting, legal reporting and online presence. Goals and Objectives: This system is expected to streamline the staff and customer experience, reduce losses due to clerical errors, reduce staffing costs, improve decision-making and price-setting in making loans and appraising items, streamline transactions, and improve customer satisfaction and experience. Technical Feasibility

User familiarity: Medium Risk The system will be a big change to the current business, thus users will require training to learn how to use and manage the new system as well as the new technology that utilizes the system. Project size: Low Risk We are working with a small pawnshop thus installing, training users, and managing the system should be straightforward given the level of support and training planned. New hardware: Low Risk Scanners, printers, and other pawnshop technology will be installed on site to accommodate the system. Upgrades: Low Risk Current hardware such as the already set up workstations will need to be either upgraded or replaced to accommodate with new system. Analyst’s experience: Medium Risk The project managers are not experts on accounting or pawn shops and know of them, however since this is a small business the risk are lower. Legal requirements: Low Risk System must work with the legal requirements of pawn shops for the state. System must be able to work with police in sending reports and be able to safely store correct information of customers and accounting data. Integrating old accounting system to new system: Low Risk System must be able to integrate and store previous accounting and product data. Pre-built software that streamlines the process of entering previous data can be chosen to meet this requirement but inputting old data can be tedious.

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Economic Feasibility: Low Risk Assumptions:

● Revenue increases by 0.89%1

○ New information system and increased web presence facilitates an average of one additional customer per week.

● Appraisal costs reduced by 25% ● Clerk salary costs reduced by 25% ● Discount Rate of 4% ● Off-the-shelf software package. An in-house development project would be much more expensive.

Tangible Benefits:

● ROI over 5 years: 2.10 ● NPV over 5 years: $44,059.85 ● Break-even occurs after: 1.04 years

Intangible Benefits:

● Increased customer satisfaction. More accurate appraisals mean better loans. ● Increased brand recognition through a web-facing storefront. ● Increased compliance with the local authorities through an electronic inventory system.

Developmental Costs:

● Consulting Fees - $5,527.302

○ $999.99 annual service contract ● Hardware Costs (Upfront): $1,575.65

○ Maintenance - 12% of original cost (incurred annually): $189.08 ● Software Costs: $1,188.00 annually

Operational Costs

3:

● Manager Training: $2,500.00 ● Clerk Training: $1,923.08

Organizational Feasibility

Strategic Alignment: Low Risk This project is strongly aligned with the business strategy of Pete’s Pawn Shop as it will increase sales, reduce losses due to bookkeeping, streamline accounting and tax reporting, and bring in new customers through online presence, all of which will increase overall revenue. Stakeholder Analysis: Low to Medium Risk

1 It should be noted that even if revenue does not increase at all, the new system would still be a financially

sound investment because of reductions in appraisal and salary costs as well as increased inventory turnover. 2 Consulting fees reflect a flat 200% on hardware and software costs.

3Operational costs assume 2 weeks lost productivity/training time for employees.

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Accepting the new system: Low Risk ● The owner of the company, also the champion of the project, has a very strong interest in the

project in order to improve his business. ● Change management plan: The users of the in-store system include the owner, assistant

manager, and two part-time clerks/bookkeepers. The owner and staff will be consulted as to what functionality would improve their sales and workload. The system that will be designed or purchased will be user friendly and streamline the sales, loans and bookkeeping. Shop staff will receive training to use the system and will benefit from the ease of POS capability, tracking of inventory, loan and sales records, and customer records.

● Customer users will benefit from the ability to check the status of their loans online if desired, and from a streamlined in-store transaction.

Adapting to the new system: Medium Risk

● Staff possibly has little experience in POS/inventory management software. ● Training will be provided to shop staff. System will improve ease of transactions.

Transferring inventory to the new system: Low Risk

● Current records will need to be transferred. ● This will take some time but the new system’s time saving features will make up for this time.

Legal and Contractual: low risk The software fees are on a month-to-month basis and there is no ongoing contract involved. Additional Comments:

Conclusion: Given the functional, organizational, technical and economic requirements of the project, it is our recommendation that we install an existing pawn management software package and related hardware at Pete’s Pawn Shop.

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Updated Gantt Chart

12/4/14

This Snapshot of the updated Gantt Chart includes what has been done highlighted in green and what needs to be done expanded and highlighted in yellow. As of now we are entering in the inception phase within execute project. If you wish to see the full Gantt Chart in Microsoft project format, check your email as I will be sending it to you along with this Systems Proposal.

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Use Case Model

October/6/1024

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Class Diagram

October/24/2014

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Sequence Diagram

November/7/2014

:Customer Manager:Manager

Request Pawn Display

Pawn TransactionScreen

Draw Screen

Enter item description, category, redemption period, and estimated value

Calculate Item Loan Amount

Estimated value

less interest to be chargedLoan

Amount

Request Pawn Creation

Update Pawn Item

Inventory

Update Financial Records

Update Successful

Update Succesful

Display Transaction

Confirmation

Accepts Pawn Offer

Return Pawn Offer

CreatePawnItem( itemCategory, itemDescription,

estimatedValue, itemRedeemPeriod )

:PrintReceiptBot

Print Receipt

Call New Pawn Entry Routine

Get Info

Return Info

Pawn Inventory:Database

:PawnItemFinancialRecords

:Database

MainMenu:UI

PawnScreen:UI

:CalcLoan:EnterNew

Pawn

Get Info

Return Info

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Object Descriptions

Object name Object

Type

Description

:Customer Actor A Customer initiates a pawn transaction through the Manager.

:Manager Actor A Manager interacts with the system using the Main Menu and the

Pawn Screen. A Manager determines the estimated value of the item, and interacts with the Main Menu and Pawn Screen to process

the customers pawn, record the transaction, and print the receipt.

MainMenu:UI Boundary Class

The Main Menu User Interface displays the transaction options buy, sell, and pawn. It communicates with Pawn Screen in this

sequence.

PawnScreen:UI Boundary Class

The Pawn Screen User Interface allows the Manager to create, calculate and enter new pawn offers. It calls Pawn Item, Calculate

Loan, Enter New Pawn. It displays confirmations from Calculate

Loan, Pawn Inventory Database and Financial Records Database.

:CalculateLoan Control Class Calculate Loan is called by Pawn Screen when the Manager enters

pawn item description (estimated value, length of redemption

period, and interest rate) into Pawn Screen. It communicates with Pawn Item to process the pawn item information to calculate loan

amount.

:PawnItem Entity A Pawn Item is created when the manager enters the item

description, estimated value, and length of redemption period. It is

called by Enter New Pawn in New Pawn Entry Routine.

:EnterNewPawn Control Class Enter New Pawn is called by Pawn Screen to enter the new pawn

into the system after the Pawn Item has been created and Customer

has agreed to pawn offer. It calls the Pawn Inventory Database to create a new DB entry for the new pawn to the database. It also

calls the Financial Records Database create a new DB entry of the

financial details of the new pawn.

PawnInventory:Database Entity Pawn Inventory Database stores pawn instances. It is called by

Enter New Pawn to create a new database entry when a new pawn

is created. It confirms update to Pawn Screen.

FinancialRecords:Database Entity Financial Records Database stores financial information related to

each pawn. It confirms update to Pawn Screen.

:PrintReceiptBot Boundary

Class Print Receipt Bot is called by the Pawn Screen to print receipt at

completion of transaction.

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State Machine Diagram

November/14/2014

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State Descriptions

State Description

Pending Pawn Item is temporarily stored in the system awaiting customer acceptance.

Open Pawn Item loan has been issued but not yet redeemed or defaulted, that is, it

carries a balance and the redeem date has not yet passed.

Redeemed Pawn Item is moved to this state when balance is zero. Item is then archived.

Defaulted Pawn Item is moved to this state when the balance is greater than zero and the

redeem date has passed. Item is then moved to sellable inventory.

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Windows Navigation Diagram

November/24/2014

Make Pawn WND

<<Report>>Print Receipt and

Contract

<<window>>Main Menu

<<Button>>New Pawn

<<Button>>Receive Payment

<<Button>>Closeout Pawn

Click New Pawn Button

<<Button>>Sign In

<<Button>>Cancel

<<form>>Login Form

<<form>>Lookup Customer

<<Button>>Search

<<Button>>Confirm

<<Button>>Cancel

<<form>> New Pawn Form

<<Button>>Add Customer

<<Button>>Lookup Customer

<<Button>>Print

<<Button>>Edit Info

<<Button>>Cancel

<<Button>>Confirm

<<Button>>Upload Picture

Click Sign In Button

Click Lookup Customer Button

Click Print Button

Click Cancel Button

Click Cancel Button

Click Confirm Button

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Prototype Screens

For functional windows, see attached file.

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19

20

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Website

For functional web pages, see attached file.

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Usability Testing Summary

Team Initech conducted a usability test on a prototype version of the user interface for Pete’s Pawn

Shop. There were two participants with average computing skills. The participants were asked to

navigate the system screens using a scenario for creating a pawn. They rated the system’s usability

with the following questions.

1. What are your overall impressions of the system?

2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how well do you as the user understand the information contained on the

system forms and the information the fields are asking for?

3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how well does the interface draw your attention to the correct areas?

4. On a scale of 1 to 10, how easy is it for you to use this system?

5. What are some parts of our system that you think are consistent? Inconsistent?

6. On a scale of 1 to 10, how quickly would you be able to navigate through this site?

7. Name three words or characteristics that you feel describes this system.

8. What are the three things you like best about the systems structure?

9. What are the three things you like least about the systems structure?

10. If you could make one significant change to this system, what change would you make?

Both participants’ overall first impressions were very positive. They commented positively on the ease

and readability of the design, and were very impressed with the auto fill feature. When asked to rate

how much they understood the information contained in the system forms, they both gave full marks.

One subject commented that she was able to do this even though she was unfamiliar on the inner

workings of a pawnshop. Their ratings on how well the interface drew their attention to the correct

areas of the screen were mixed. One subject liked how the buttons were grouped by category and gave

a 10/10, while the other subject felt the interface was a bit plain.

In the areas of ease of use and consistency of the interface, both agreed that it deserved full marks, and

one participant commented that she barely had to think while using it. The other subject went even

further to say that if she worked at a pawnshop she would demand this software. When asked to name

three words that would sum up their experience while navigating the interface the two subjects

responded, “consistent, easy, and friendly” and “fast, fun and friendly” respectively. When asked to

explain why they selected those words, they both agreed that ease of use was the primary factor, adding

that it was intuitive, and they didn’t have to click too many buttons to navigate to the target areas.

In all, the testing session went very well. Both participants loved the functionality of the interface, and

its simple and consistent construction. The only negative comment they had was that the color and look

of the interface were a bit drab and dull. From this feedback we added a colored background, and a

border to contain each category.

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Up to this point, there has been a lot of effort put in to making this information system. What

started out as a systems request has now been brought from the planning phase to the end of the

elaboration phase of this project thus we at Initech are proud to be working with Pete’s Pawn Shop

and will continue to operate and bring this project to its closure. Before we can do this however there

is still some cases we need to go over.

Before we can go any farther, your approval is necessary for what has been done and what

needs to be done for this project. Thus far, one of the deliverables we have gone over from the

original systems request was the Business Case that included the project feasibility analysis including

a cost benefit spreadsheet. We developed a Gantt chart to map out the entire project all the while

updating the chart after each milestone. A Use Case and Class Diagram was developed to map out

scenarios and to help later on with implementing and possible programming. Sequence and State

Machine Diagrams were created to further detail the Use Cases and Classes respectively. Finally we

made a Usability Prototype and tested randomly selected users for input on our emerging system.

We have gone through a lot of milestones but there are still many requirements that need to

be met before we can launch. We still need to flesh out some ideas with enhancing the current

system once we have taken into account the original user requirements and refine the behavioral

the other dynamic classes. I suggest a website later down the road where you can post your items for

sale. This will further your revenue and keep your inventory low in return for little cost. Once these

issues have been dealt with, we can enter the next phase but a choice will have to be made sometime

in the near future regarding whether or not to build the system from scratch using our analysis or

acquire a pre-built system that matches the project requirements.

Once we get into the implementation stage, that’s where our work will take flight. My

suggestions for this stage are that we stick to the Gantt Chart as close as possible and to refer back to

our analysis documents whenever possible as to avoid missing key functions. The implementation

stage is where we need all hands in play including the users and you yourself so please expect testing

in the near future.

In conclusion, we at are proud to be of service to you and your business needs. I hope we can

continue to work on this project if you so choose to keep going from here on out. Please let me know

soon if you have any questions or comments about any of the supplied documents.

Nicholas Jones