Systems Planning For Nexus Distribution Film Agency

About Nexus Distribution

1: User Interface Storyboard for Joy to Request Summary Report

It is assumed that Joy can access the first screen after logging in to his account with the correct credentials. The screen is shown below. There is a dedicated button for checking the summary of various topics like, films, travels, etc.
Once Joy clicks on the View Summary button, it will bring him to the second screen.

 From the second screen, Joy can select a topic for the summary report. Let assume, that he has selected the Film option from the second screen. Then it will bring him to the next screen.

 
From the third screen, Joy can customise the reports. For example, he can set the start and end dates to define the timeframe of the report. Then there is a choice to see only the details of the signed films or details of all films for which Nexus tried to take the distribution rights during the selected time frame. Joy can either download the report in PDF format or can click on the Show Report. The report will show the details of the films as per criteria set by Joy.

2: User interface storyboard for Elizabeth and Louise to add a new client/contact to the relationships database.

It is assumed, that Elizabeth or Louse needs to login to their respective accounts with the correct login credentials. So, the system can fetch the details from there about who has added the contract and the date of adding the contract. Now the first screen is given below. It contains a form, where either Louise or Elizabeth needs to add the name of the client, email, phone number, the position, it can be one or more roles played by the contract person.

 

Once, the Next button is pressed, it will bring to the next page where the details of the film will be added along with information about the distribution preferences, and review by either Louise or Elizabeth who has made the contract.

 

3: The alert that will be sent to meeting participants 15 minutes before a meeting commences.

The alert is a pop-up screen flashing on the mobile screen. It is,

 

The participant can confirm the participation by pressing the Accept button. If the person needs to cancel the booking then he can do by pressing the Cancel button. However, pressing cancel will make a call to the support group to arrange a different meeting date.

The Existing Information System

4: The screen for online meetings.

The screen for online meeting shows the participants individually and a message board for communicating with others. There is an area on the screen where the participant can see the live speaker. Other people may interact with the speaker through the chat window given below. The active participants and their profiles will be shown on the app in real-time.

Then, there is choice to make it a group meeting or one to one meeting by activating it using a suitable button. Here, the meeting is marked as a group meeting.

Once a user clicks on the start, the user will participate in the meeting. User can leave a meeting by pressing the Stop button. And user can go back to previous screen by pressing the Back button. The detailed design is given below.

 

5: The ERD for the process of adding a new film to the Catalogue database.

It is assumed that,

• During the process of adding a new film in the catalogue database, it needs to add details about the film, actors, director, producer, ratings from different festivals and the review given by Louise or Elizabeth. Rest of the business processes are out of the scope of the catalogue database.

The business rules are,

• A film can participate in one or more festivals where it can get different ratings. Each festival can have more than one film.
• A reviewer can review more than one film. A film will get review from one reviewer only.
• A film can have one producer only. However, a producer can produce multiple films.
• A film can have one director only. However, a director can direct more than one film.
• A film can have multiple actors, an actor can work on multiple films.

The ERD is,

 

6: Normalise the table to 2NF

The given table is currently in 1NF as there is no multivalued attributes, derived attributes. And there is a primary key in the table. The primary key is, {Title, Shown at, Spotted By}. The functional dependencies present in the table are listed below.

Title > Release date, Director, Production Company, Lead actor, Supporting actor, Spotted by

{Shown at, Title} > {Shown at, Title}

Shown at > Address, Phone, Type

Spotted by > Spotter’s Phone

Due to the partial dependencies as given above, the given table in decomposed into the following set of 2NF tables,

Film

Title

Release date

Director

Production Company

Lead actor

Supporting actor

Spotted by

Festival

Shown at

Address

Phone

Type

Spotter

Spotted by

Spotter’s Phone

Schedule

Shown at

Title

7: Normalise the 2NF tables to 3NF.

There is no transitive dependency in any relation. So, all are already in 3NF.

Film

Title

Release date

Director

Production Company

Lead actor

Supporting actor

Spotted by

Festival

Shown at

Address

Phone

Type

Spotter

Spotted by

Spotter’s Phone

Schedule

Shown at

Title

8: The ERD for the customer order process.

It is assumed that, by the customer it refers here the distribution companies with whom Nexus makes distribution contracts. Hence, the customer order process refers to the contracts made with the theatres, chain of theatres and video distribution units. Collectively, all are referred as distributors here. It is also assumed that the ERD for the customer order process will cover the details of the distributors of different types, contracts with the distributors and films. In this case only the filmID will be required. And that will be fetched from the catalogue database.

The business rules are,

A film can have many contracts with different distributors.
A distributor will have a single contract for a film.
A distributor can have multiple contracts for multiple films.

Communication Problems and Inefficiencies

The ERD is given below.

 

9: System Architecture Checklist

Based on the requirements and details of the proposed information system for the Nexus Distribution Company, the system architecture checklist must contain the following items.

Sl No.	Item	Short Description
1	ERP	ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. It is a centralised solution that integrates all core business processes of an organisation. It helps to make data available to all business processes from a single space and it makes sure that all business processes are using the current and same data. It helps to accelerate the growth of a business, generating more revenue and earning the ROI faster. Nexus requires to implement a cloud based ERP system that will keep all their databases connected and all core processes running on the top of the ERP system. It will help to solve the communication issues between the members, accessing data, delay in system updates etc. So, it will synchronise the business operations carried out by different staffs and from different time zones.
2	SCM	SCM stands for supply chain management system. Nexus Distributions needs a SCM implemented for their business. It will cover the whole process of travelling to festivals, booking films, making contracts, building distribution network and making contracts with the distribution networks and promoting the films.
3	Initial Cost and Total Cost of Ownership	Nexus needs to calculate and estimate the initial cost to develop and implement the proposed mobile app based information system for their business. Further, they must consider all relevant costs to calculate the total cost of ownership.
4	Mobile Application	The information system will be based on a suitable mobile app intended for Louise, Elizabeth, Joy and Deane. The app will be accessed from desktop also. But the interfaces and controls must be focused on mobile devices. Hence, the approach should be mobile first.
5	Scalability, availability and reliability of data and the proposed system	The app should be scalable as the business grows. It must be available and there must be negligible downtime if any. The app must process and produce reliable and accurate data for all kinds of business operations covered by the system.
6	Changes in the business	Due to the implementation of the proposed information system, there will be some changes in the current business process. The company must ensure adaption of a suitable and effective change management process so that it can handle the changes within the organisation.
7	Web integration	The system must be integrated with web and mobile platform at the client side.
8	Mobile centric architecture and web centric architecture	As the approach is mobile first, so the app must be developed by following some mobile centric architecture. However, it must support web centric architecture too so that it can be integrated with other legacy business information systems being used at the Nexus.
9	Legacy systems interface requirement	The proposed information system may require to interface with some of the legacy systems being used by the Nexus Distributions. Hence, there must be provision to implement and support the interfaces.
10	Data transfer from the existing system	All operational and transactional business data must be transferred from the existing information systems and manual processes to the proposed business information system.
11	Processing option	There may be different types of processing options supported by the proposed information system, for example mobile data processing, distributed processing and so on.
12	Security issues	There may be security issues related to the mobile app, use of the Internet and cloud computing technologies. During the development of the application, such issues must be taken into consideration so that the risks can be reduced or mitigate.
13	Cloud computing architecture	The application will be developed using the distributed cloud computing architecture. The IaaS, PaaS and SaaS layers must be defined according to the proposed mobile application solution.
14	Client details	The details of the web client and mobile based thin client must be defined for the proposed mobile app.
15	Cost benefit issues	The cost benefit analysis of the project must be handled carefully. It must be realistic and cover all cost and benefits related to the project. It must include the tangible and intangible cost and benefits.
16	Corporate portal	The system will require a corporate portal so that some stakeholders can access it from the web as well as from mobile devices. The portal will give access to different groups of users from the same platform.
17	Online processing	There may be online payment processing requirements in future. To ensure the scalability feature of the website, it must take care of the online processing features, secure payment processing etc.
18	Networking models	It will follow the TCP/IP networking model. The portal, mobile app etc. will be accessed over the Internet. Hence, it needs to implement the layers according to the internetworking topologies.
19	System design details	All system designs including data flow designs, system architecture design, database designs, Interface designs etc.
20	Presentation	The presentation of the system design and analysis report must be detailed so that the management of Nexus can understand it.

10: Priorities

The priorities are explained below.

Sl No.	Item	Priority	Short Explanation
1	ERP	High	It is one of the core part of the solution.
2	SCM	High	It is one of the core part of the solution.
3	Initial Cost and Total Cost of Ownership	High	It is required to run the project successfully.
4	Mobile Application	High	It is one of the core part of the solution.
5	Scalability, availability and reliability of data and the proposed system	High	It is one of the core part of the solution.
6	Changes in the business	High	It needs to run the business process smoothly.
7	Web integration	Medium	It may be required for the data transfer phase.
8	Mobile centric architecture and web centric architecture	High	It is one of the core part of the solution.
9	Legacy systems interface requirement	Medium	It may be required for the data transfer phase only.
10	Data transfer from the existing system	High	It is one of the core part of the solution.
11	Processing option	High	It is one of the core part of the solution.
12	Security issues	High	It is one of the core part of the solution.
13	Cloud computing architecture	High	It is one of the core part of the solution.
14	Client details	High	It is one of the core part of the solution.
15	Cost benefit issues	High	It needs to be there to ensure the project budget is adequate for the project.
16	Corporate portal	Medium	It may enhance the core system.
17	Online processing	Low	It may be required in future.
18	Networking models	High	It is one of the core part of the solution.
19	System design details	Medium	This is for the designer and developers.
20	Presentation	Low	It is the last phase of the project.

11: Cloud Computing Model for Nexus

For the proposed information system for Nexus, a suitable cloud computing architecture is required. The suggested one is a hybrid cloud based on the layered cloud computing architecture. The cloud based model will help to have the following benefits (Wang et al., 2011).

– It is a cost effective solution for businesses. It does not require to make huge investment on IT infrastructure required for a business. Rather, consumers can pay based on the subscriptions.
– Cloud platforms are highly scalable in nature. There are features like load balancing, on-demand services etc. These services help to make the platform robust, available and scalable.
– Cloud computing follows a distributed architecture. To ensure high processing speed and data backup.
– Cloud computing also helps users to access the solution from anywhere and anytime. All they need are Internet connectivity and mobile devices to access the platform.

12: Corporate Portal

Corporate portal will be a good option for the Nexus. As there are different group of users who will access the system from mobile devices as well as from web. So, rather than creating different sites for each group of user, it is feasible to create a corporate portal and allow access to all groups of users. Once they log in, they will find their personalised functionalities and profiles (Rosenblatt, 2013).

13: Describe the ethical issue.

An ethical issue encountered in past was, downloading music from the websites that offers pirated and low quality songs. It is ethically wrong and a case of infringement of copyright and digital property rights. But there are thousands of such websites that offers these songs for free and allow people to download the same. They runs advertisements on their site and their sole intension is to earn money from the advertisements.

14: To analyse the ethical issue you described in question 13, which is better: the ethical decision-making process from O’Boyle (2002) or the one from Reynolds (2015)?

For the case described in the question 13, I think the ethical decision making process from Reynolds is more suitable. Because, in that case, my behaviour was unethical and I needed my guts and honesty to put an end to that. It is hard to stop such unethical websites and practices, but if I keep myself away from it and convince my friends and family members to do the same then that might have a large impact someday.

Requirements for the New App

15: What are your reasons for rejecting the other approach?

O’Boyle’s ethical decision making process is based on ACM code of ethics and it is focused on the ethical decision making process for computer professionals. It is more suitable for the scenarios where computer professional needs to take decision about building a software, or system ethically. And it does not suit my case directly. Hence, I have rejected this approach.

16: Apply your chosen approach to the ethical problem you described in question 13.

The steps for applying the selected approach are,
– Defining the problem statement. In this case, the problem statement was, “Is it ethical to download pirated music from the Internet when we can get that for free?”
– The next step is, identifying and choosing an alternative. In this case, some alternatives were,
Buying music CDs and DVDs.
Subscribe to some streaming music service providers.

In that cases, I selected the second alternative to subscribe to some streaming music service provider.

The third step is to implement the decision in an effective and timely manner. I subscribed the alternative service on monthly basis, installed the app and used it.
The fourth step is to evaluate the results. I inspired two of my other friends to do the same. Hence, we stopped downloading low quality pirated music for free. We had to pay some amount to buy the subscription but we had access to high quality music that is not pirated or unethical to listen to or download.

17: Reflect upon the processes in Reynolds (2015) and O’Boyle (2002).

a. Reynold’s approach was more suitable for my case. It is easy to apply for this particular scenario. It has simple steps that are aligned to the cognitive thinking process of a person and help to decide and take an ethical approach. It can be applied on any ethical decision making approach. On the other hand Boyle’s approach is more focused for computer professionals. It follows the ACM code of ethics and it helps to think about a problem from different aspects like from moral point of view, analytically, logically, assessment of one’s freedom and so on.

Certainly, if two approaches are merged partially or completely then Boyle’s approach will be helpful to explain why the incident was unethical. And then Reynold’s approach will be followed to solve it strategically.

b. Boyle’s approach is more theoretical and it helps to explain why an incident is unethical at all. Then it can help to find a solution for it. On the other hand, Reynold’s approach starts from a problem statement defined and then finding a suitable solution for it. Hence, both are complementary to one another.

18: What is the overall purpose of the systems design phase of a project and how does it differ from the systems analysis and systems planning phases?

System analysis is focused on finding out the requirements for a proposed system. It helps to define the requirements, categorise those in functional and non-functional requirements. And system planning phase is focused on the planning for the development process, utilisation of the resources, estimation of the cost for developing the system, and the steps to be taken during the system development life cycle.

Once system planning is completed successfully, then the system analysis phase starts. In the system design phase, it takes the system specifications prepared during the system analysis phase and make graphical representations of the proposed system from different aspects, for example the behavioural aspects of the system, data flow and processes, data models etc. All these are used during the system development process. That comes next to the system design phase (Rosenblatt, 2013).

19: With respect to the systems design tasks completed above, identify problems that may arise for the following stakeholders.
a. Nexus

– They may not be able to understand the functionalities covered by the proposed information system. As there is no clear design like Use Case model that shows the functionalities of the system.
– They may not be able to understand how the system will collect data from external entities and process the same as there is no data flow diagrams.

b. Nexus’s customers or the wider community
– They won’t be able to find how they may interact and use the proposed system.
– They may not be able to understand the role of the proposed information system for them.

c. Your own future work tasks (systems analysis tasks)
– It will be difficult to do the database design task.
– Have to start from the initial task of creating event table, use case, data flow diagram etc.

20: With reference to these four problems, what are your conclusions about the importance of attention to detail with respect to system design?

System design require more detailed approach. It must starts from identifying the functional and non-functional requirements, then how those functional requirements are related to different stakeholders, how they interact with the proposed system, and the Interfaces for different stakeholders. So, the process starts from the beginning rather than starting with the Interface designs. Once all functionalities are not clear, then designing the interfaces may not be effective.

References

Rosenblatt, H. J. (2013) Systems Analysis and Design. Cengage Learning (Shelly Cashman series).

Wang, L. et al. (2011) Cloud Computing: Methodology, Systems, and Applications. Taylor & Francis.