Object Oriented Systems Analysis-Simon’s Kennels Case Study

SIMON'S KENNELS CASE STUDY

Simon's Kennels (SK) provides temporary care for Cats and Dogs. It is mainly for Cats and Dogs whose owners have gone on holiday for anything between 2 days and 10 weeks, although some provision is available for pet owners who wish to leave their pets for up to 6 months for any reason. Simon employs two office staff and a number of kennel staff to help him run the kennels. SK's reputation has suffered recently due to the fact they have had a number of situations where they have been over booked and have not had suitable accommodation for the pet when the owners arrived to drop it off.There have also been a few times where a pet's medical condition was not known or their food requirements not fully understood, therefore causing problems with allergies and an unhappy Vet stating that there wasn't sufficient information available. All reservations and associated administration is currently manual and on paper, which is often lost or not available when needed. SK realizes that they need a better system to manage reservations and record information about the pet and they have come up with a list of what they need to do:

• The kennels need to keep a record of the owner, their normal address and emergency contact information.
• They need to keep a record of the pet (or pets) that will be staying at the kennels, including their name, breed, approx. age, any known medical conditions, their regular Vet, date of last vaccinations (pets cannot stay without these), any allergies and their dietary needs (text description)
• The owners normally phone to make a reservation. They will be asked the approximate size of the pet to establish what sort of ‘room’ (actually a combination of covered sleeping area and outside run) will be required. Only then can the availability be determined and the reservation made. If either the Owner of the pet have not used the kennels before then these details as specified above will need to be recorded at this stage before the reservation can be accepted. If they are regulars, then just the date of last vaccinations and any new medical conditions or dietary requirements needs to be updated.
• The Office staff deal with all reservation bookings and maintenance of Owner and Pet details at this stage.
• As soon as a reservation is made, a room number is allocated to the reservation based on the size of the pet and whether there is more than one pet from the same owner sharing a room. This room allocation can be changed later, in which case a new room number is assigned. Simon does NOT want the system to determine the room allocation , system should only record his decision of room.
• All reservations will be in a provisional status until a deposit of 10% of the total fee is received, at which point it becomes confirmed. The fee is a per day rate and depends on the room occupied. If more than one pet occupy the same room then the rate per pet is discounted by 40% per pet. E.g. if two cats occupy a room and the per day room rate is £10 then the per day rate for each cat will be £6. No more than three pets may share a room and they must belong to the same owner.
• Only Simon can make the reservation confirmed. If the reservation is not confirmed within 7 days, it will be cancelled and the room will be released.
• The kennels currently have 4 types of rooms: e.g. small rooms – suitable for up to two cats or one small dog, medium rooms – suitable for up to three cats or one medium sized dogs and so on. Simon will maintain these details.
• It is possible for owners to cancel or change a reservation up to 7 days before the start date of the stay without loss of deposit.
• The Kennel staff need a weekly list of all pets due to arrive and due to leave on each day, with the relevant room numbers.
• On arrival, the Kennel staff will check the pet details (particularly the medical and dietary) and vaccination certificates, confirm the Owners emergency contact details for that stay and the reservation is updated to an arrived status.
• Whilst the pet is staying any unusual behaviour, medical condition of vet attention will be noted by the Kennel staff.
• When the owners arrive to collect their pet(s) the office staff print an invoice detailing the room fees and any other expenses incurred during the stay. This invoice needs to be retained in the system for future reference and accounts purposes.
• The owners pay in the office and then go to collect their pets where the Kennel staff will then change the reservation status to completed.

OVERVIEW

The objective of this piece of coursework is for you to demonstrate your ability to analyse a given situation, identify the problem domain and to prepare a feasibility report for the resolution of these business problems. As part of this coursework you will be required to use some Soft system and Object Oriented techniques that you have learnt as well as addressing the systems development issues in a given business situation.

TASKS

1. Analyse the present situation and the definition of the problem.
2. Produce an overview of the requirements for the problem domain of Simon's Kennels that you identified in Task 1.
3. Examine the options for solution. This is not a design but an assessment of what solutions could be possible e.g. package bespoke
4. Identify the objects for the Simon's Kennels system, draw the clss diagaram clearly highlighting the attributes and methods of classes as well as the relationships and cardinality among the classes.
5. Draw a sequence diagram for the following use case:

• Create Reservation

Complete the below tasks and present them in the same sequence in your answer.

1. Analysis of the Present Situation at Simon's Kennels

• Investigate the Situation:

• Produce a Rich Picture (a scanned free hand RP is preferable) and from this identify TWO problem themes.

• Select ONE of the problem themes then ONE system relevant to it (i.e. a Relevant System) and justify in not more than 50 words why you consider these selections to be the most important.

• Root Definition:

Write a Root Definition (RD) around the problem theme selected in 1(a) above carry out a CATWOE test (remember the test is part of the RD refinement process so an outcome will be a second RD). Your RD must relate directly to the RP and the answers given in 1(a).

2. Overview of Problem Domain

Produce a Use Case Diagram showing the Use Cases and Actors involved in the system under discussion. Provide a brief overview (no more than 2 or 3 lines) for each use case.

3. Options for Solution and Recommendation

What are their options to provide a solution to the problem described in the given case study? Assess the options (at least two), make a recommendation and give reasons for your choice (and the rejection of the other options).

4. Class Diagram along with the Relationships and Cardinality among the Classes / Objects using UML notation.

You are required to focus on the identification of the objects, their attributes, methods, and relationships, cardinality among these objects and their representation using UML notation, in the draft class diagram. Identify any / all Gen-Spec, any / all Whole-Part and association links amongst your relationships. Whole-Part and associations MUST be shown with the appropriate cardinality. Identify the attributes and operations also for the classes that you identify to draw the class diagram.

5. Sequence Diagram

You are required to draw the sequence diagram for the following use case:

• Create Reservation depicting the interaction among the objects to achieve the goal of the above use case. The sequence diagram is to be drawn using UML notation.

You should submit your answers for Tasks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the form of a report having the following sections:

1. Title Page.
2. Terms of Reference – this should relate to the case study and to your root definition in Task 1.
3. Summary – a summary of the key points for senior management.
4. Background – this is already provided as part of the Case study.
5. Method of Investigation – this should be a brief description of the method(s) you would use if you had done the investigation
6. Outline of existing system – include the work you have produced in Task 1
7. Requirements – include the work you have produced in Task 2
8. Options for solution and Recommendation – include the work you have produced in Task 3
9. Class diagram using UML notation along with the relationships among the classes/objects – include the work you have produced in Task 4
10. Sequence Diagram using UML notation – include the work you have produced in Task 5.

Your report should be about 2500 words in total. The word count does not include any words on diagrams or pictures or in the CATWOE test. Nor does it include the Title page. However, the word count does include the brief use case descriptions that you provide in Task 2.

Background

Simon's kennel is a business house which takes care of those pets, whose owners go out-of-station for vacation or other reasons. Currently, pets taken care of are primarily cats and dogs. Clients book the kennels by making phone calls. The staff members of the company receive the calls and record the necessary details from the clients. These details include the address of the clients, the number of pets, the date of booking, the medical record of the pets and dietary requirements. Recently the company has been facing a lot of issues with respect to over-booking. The records are all manual in nature and hence are prone to errors. There is no proper mechanism to update the medical records of the pets and hence it results in complications like allergies and vet dissatisfaction. The organization is in search of a proper system to cater to their business needs, so that operations are smoother in nature.

Method of Investigation

The study of this system involves a five stage investigation

Stage 1: Predict: In this stage, we engage into discussions on the probable processes that we may expect to find out during the actual investigation. This stage will test our pre-notions regarding the industry involved.The industry at-hand is similar to any online booking service. Although the business needs and framework are unique for Simon's kennels, yet a background study of related industries would help us to understand the industry trends. A background study would ensure that our predictions are more tuned and accurate.

Stage 2: Plan: In this stage, we plan on the best methods that we can employ, to make sure that we get accurate observations. We also prepare a list of questions that would be used to gather the necessary details. Our aim would be to make the whole process very systematic. Every step should be planned, and probable outcomes should be evaluated. A well prepared plan ensures that the implementation is carried out in a systematic manner, with minimum number of glitches. We make sure that all the necessary stakeholders are kept informed about the whole process of planning. There are certain important guidelines which need to be followed while framing the actual plan. Firstly, the plan should be realistic in nature. Secondly, the actual needs of the projects should be addressed. It is important to make a clear distinction between the good-to-have and must-have features. These precautions would ensure that the plan is relevant and well-formed.

Stage 3: Data collection: This stage involves data collection from different sources. The staff could be involved in group discussions or personal interviews. The staff should be educated regarding the positive outcomes of the research. It is important to extract the tacit knowledge of the workers. It is known that, in any organization, not all the information is available in documented form. Most of the information is in non-documented form, with the employees of the organization. Proper questionnaire would be used to see that all the relevant details are captured.The staff would be encouraged to share their experiences and feedback. It is important to evaluate the inputs obtained from the staff, because that would reflect the actual needs of the organization. They are the most important stakeholders, as far as the proposed system is concerned and so their involvement is of utmost importance.

Stage 4: Analysis: This stage would involve a thorough analysis of the data collected, to understand the strengths and weaknesses in the existing system. Data is analyzed to find patterns, or uncover anything which we missed to notice during our interaction. At this stage, we might also like to go back to the staff involved in the data collection. They are the most important stakeholders, as far as this project is concerned. Thus, it is important to ensure that they are always involved in the analysis. They can be involved to get some necessary insights and confirmations regarding our conclusions. Their feedback can make our analysis better toned.

Stage 5: Reformulate: This is a critical stage, in which we apply our findings and conclusions, to formulate a better design for the existing system. At this stage, we are quite clear about the strengths and weaknesses of the underlying system. We have done a thorough study of the actual business needs and the existing loopholes. The strengths and capabilities have been identified and understood. It is the correct time for implementation and re-engineering. The findings of this stage would form the basis for the further steps that would be adopted.