SADM 5/ed – CASE STUDY 4 – Milestone 1: Preliminary Investigation
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MILESTONE 1 – PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION
 Synopsis
he purpose of the preliminary investigation phase is threefold. First, it answers
the question, “Is this project worth looking at?” To answer this question, this
phase must define the scope of the project and the perceived problems,
opportunities, and directives that triggered the project.
T
In this milestone you will prepare a Request for System Services, which is the trigger
for the Preliminary Investigation Phase. Also, you will use fact-finding techniques to
extract and analyze information from an interview to determine project scope, level
of management commitment, and project feasibility for the IT Tracker System. With
these facts and facts obtained from the Case Background, you will have the necessary
information to complete the Problem Statement Matrix and construct the Project
Feasibility Assessment Report.
 Objectives
After completing this milestone, you should be able to:
 Complete a Request for System Services form, which triggers the preliminary
investigation phase.
 Analyze a user interview and extract pertinent facts that can be used to assess
project feasibility.
 Complete a Problem Statement Matrix documenting the problems, opportunities,
or directives of the project.
Prepared by Gary B. Randolph for
Systems Analysis & Design Methods 5ed
by J. L. Whitten, L. D. Bentley, & K. C. Dittman
Copyright Irwin/McGraw-Hill 2001
SADM 5/ed – CASE STUDY 4 – Milestone 1: Preliminary Investigation
Page: 1-2
 Prepare and understand the structure and content of the Project Feasibility
Assessment Report.
 Prerequisites
Before starting this milestone the following topics should be covered:
1. The preliminary investigation phase – Chapters 3 and 5
2. Optional – project management – Chapter 4
 Assignment
Frank Baravelli is a recent graduate of Huxley College who has just been hired onto
the system development team of Huxley’s Information Technology Department. He
has been given the assignment of investigating and, if the project is approved,
designing the IT Tracker system subject to the oversight of a steering committee.
Frank’s first task will be to prepare a Request for Systems Services. To obtain
information for that, he has arranged an interview with Mr. Julius Marx, IT Director
for Huxley. Secondly, by analyzing the interview transcript and by using fact-finding
techniques, one should be able to determine the feasibility of the project, level of
management commitment and project scope to compose the Problem Statement
Matrix and a Project Feasibility Assessment Report.
Refer to the Case Background found in the Introduction and the interview
transcript in Exhibit 1.1 for the information necessary to complete the following
activities.
 Activities
1. To complete the Request for System Services form, use information from the case
background. Make assumptions where necessary.
2. To complete the Problem Statement Matrix, use the interview with Julius Marx
and the case background for the basis of your information. Make assumptions
where necessary. Place yourself in the shoes of Julius Marx. Which problems do
you believe have the highest visibility, and how should they be ranked? Try to
determine the annual benefits. State assumptions and be prepared to justify your
answers! Finally, what would be your proposed solution based on the facts you
know now?
Deliverable format and software to be used are according to your instructor’s
specifications. Deliverables should be neatly packaged in a binder, separated with a
tab divider labeled “Milestone 1” and accompanied with a Milestone Evaluation
Sheet.
Prepared by Gary B. Randolph for
Systems Analysis & Design Methods 5ed
by J. L. Whitten, L. D. Bentley, & K. C. Dittman
Copyright Irwin/McGraw-Hill 2001
SADM 5/ed – CASE STUDY 4 – Milestone 1: Preliminary Investigation
Page: 1-3
References and Templates:
Case Background
Workbook Introduction
Transcripts of Interview with Julius Marx
Exhibit 1.1
Templates
See online learning center web site for the textbook.
Deliverables:
Request for System Services:
Due: __/__/__
Time:_______
Problem Statement Matrix:
Due: __/__/__
Time:_______
ADVANCED OPTION
For the advanced option, prepare a Project Feasibility Assessment Report.
Use the information provided by the case background, the user interview, and the
completed problem statement matrix. Be sure to include a Statement of Work and
Gantt charts for the project schedules. Information on the Statement of Work and
Gantt charts can be found in Chapter 4 of the SADM 5th ed. textbook.
Project Feasibility Assessment Report:
Milestone’s Point Value:
Prepared by Gary B. Randolph for
Systems Analysis & Design Methods 5ed
by J. L. Whitten, L. D. Bentley, & K. C. Dittman
Due: __/__/__
Time:_______
_______
Copyright Irwin/McGraw-Hill 2001
SADM 5/ed – CASE STUDY 4 – Milestone 1: Preliminary Investigation
Page: 1-4
The following is a copy of the transcript of an interview between Mr. Julius Marx, IT
Director, and Frank Baravelli, a new system development employee. This was the
initial interview concerning the proposed IT Tracker system. Its goal was to obtain
facts about the problems and opportunities that triggered the project request, plus
other general information needed to prepare the Problem Statement Matrix.
Exhibit 1.1
Frank: Good morning, Mr. Marx. Are
you ready for our interview?
Julius: I sure am, Frank. Let’s see if
we can get this system on the
road.
Frank: I’m excited about it myself –
but a little apprehensive.
Julius: Well, we’ll take it one step at a
time. I’m sure you’ll do fine.
You come highly
recommended. The first step is
to prepare a formal Request for
System Services. That is a
document used by anyone in
the organization to request the
investigation of a system
development project.
Frank: Do we have to do that even
when we are requesting our
own services? I mean, this
system is for our own use.
Julius: Yes, we do. We have to justify
our allocation of human
resources to this project. By
doing this project we have to
put off another project
requested by someone else.
Frank: Is there that much demand for
system development?
Prepared by Gary B. Randolph for
Systems Analysis & Design Methods 5ed
by J. L. Whitten, L. D. Bentley, & K. C. Dittman
Julius: Why do you think you were hired?
Frank: Good point. Well, then I better ask
you a few questions. First, of all
what do you want this proposed
system to do?
Julius: We want it to keep track of each
piece of equipment (computers,
printers, scanners, etc.) that we
have in service throughout the
college. We need to know how
each computer is configured in
terms of RAM, hard drive, video
card, etc. And we need each
component tied back to the PO
that purchased it so we can check
warranty times.
Frank: PO?
Julius: A Purchase Order. It is an
accounting document used to
specify a purchase.
Frank: Sorry. I know we covered that in
accounting. Go on.
Julius: Well, that’s one thing – knowing
what is installed and when each
component was purchased. But, of
course, we do maintenance on the
equipment, too.
Frank: What should the maintenance part
of the system look like?
Copyright Irwin/McGraw-Hill 2001
SADM 5/ed – CASE STUDY 4 – Milestone 1: Preliminary Investigation
Julius: For one thing, I’d like to know
what components were
previously installed on each
machine. That way I can
determine maintenance
problems. Beyond that we need
a system that allows users to
easily submit a service request,
allows me to assign those
service requests to techs,
allows techs to quickly see a
machine’s service history, and
allows me to look at statistics
and trends.
Frank: I take it the present system
doesn’t do that?
Julius: The present system is a mess.
Frank: How does it work?
Julius: Well, on the equipment
tracking side of the equation,
we simply keep a spreadsheet
with a row for each PC. It lists
the current CPU, hard drive,
RAM, etc.
Frank: What’s the problem?
Julius: The problem is it is never upto-date. Techs have to
remember to update it after
they come if from a service
call. That rarely happens. Even
when the list is up-to-date, it
doesn’t show when each
component was purchased.
Frank: You need that for the
warranty?
Prepared by Gary B. Randolph for
Systems Analysis & Design Methods 5ed
by J. L. Whitten, L. D. Bentley, & K. C. Dittman
Page: 1-5
Julius: Right. Currently, we have to get
the serial number off the part that
was removed and then manually
scan through all the old purchase
orders to find a match. This
office probably spends $2000 per
year in work just doing that.
Frank: How does the service request part
of the current system work?
Julius: Right now users call or e-mail in
their requests. Whoever is here
takes the information and records
it on a service request form. I get
those forms and assign one tech
or another depending on the
nature of the problem. The tech
goes out. It may take multiple
trips. It may require ordering a
part and then going back. We
may have to send a second
person. When you change
persons or just have the passing
of time, information gets
forgotten and lost. That whole
process should be done
electronically from the user’s
request to recording each tech’s
work.
Frank: What would that look like? What
are our options for setting it up?
Julius: We could put it all on an intranet.
Or we could build a client-server
app that was placed on each PC.
Frank: Which way do you prefer?
Julius: We don’t know enough at this
stage to prefer anything. Don’t
jump to implementation.
Copyright Irwin/McGraw-Hill 2001
SADM 5/ed – CASE STUDY 4 – Milestone 1: Preliminary Investigation
However we do it, I want each
user to be on the system and
each tech to be able to get on
the system from any PC on
campus. Plus I could use that
information for better
managing the department and
the equipment.
Frank: How so?
Julius: I could track average number
of days from request to
resolution and track that for
continuous improvement. I
could track number of repeat
trips for each tech. I could
track maintenance history for
each PC and calculate total
cost of ownership.
Frank: That would be great to have all
that information.
Julius: Yes, it would be great. But it
isn’t going to happen unless
we get a new system running.
Frank: Are there any timetables I
should be aware of?
Julius: I would like to get the system
analysis and design wrapped up
this semester. Then we can get
it programmed next semester. It
might be somebody’s senior
project. By the end of next
semester, I want it operational.
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Julius: I doubt it. We have a good clientserver back-end database. We
have networking throughout
campus. If we use a web front-end
then every PC on campus is
already powerful enough. By the
way, that has to be a system
requirement. I want this system to
reduce our workload, not increase
it by requiring updates.
Frank: If every user can get on and techs
can get on from every workstation,
what about security?
Julius: Good question. The system will
have to have security to make sure
that only the appropriate people
can do various tasks. Some
students would love to enter bogus
computers and bogus problems.
We also need to keep everyone but
me out of the management reports.
I don’t want all users requesting
the specific tech with the best
response time.
Frank: OK. I’ll review this information.
I’ll put together the Request for
System Services and do some
initial problem analysis. I should
have all that done in a few days.
Julius: Glad to hear it. Give me a call if
you have any questions.
Frank: I will. Goodbye, Mr. Marx.
Frank: Do you think we’ll need any
additional hardware or
software to drive the system?
Prepared by Gary B. Randolph for
Systems Analysis & Design Methods 5ed
by J. L. Whitten, L. D. Bentley, & K. C. Dittman
Copyright Irwin/McGraw-Hill 2001