BKAS3063 Accounting Systems Analysis and Design

SUGGESTED ANSWERS

BKAS 3063
ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS ANALYSIS &
DESIGN

SESSION A132
2013/12

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 BKAS3063 Accounting Systems Analysis and Design

ANSWER FOR QUESTION 1 (15 MARKS)

A(a):
- Top-down projects start with management, where managers determine that a new system is
needed or an existing system needs to be updated or replaced. √
- Bottom-up projects start with lower-level employees, who determine that systems they use are
inadequate and either need to be replaced or updated. √
(√ x 2 x 1 Mark = 2 Marks)
A(b):
- Decision requires analyses of information. √
- Information include relevant and non-relevant to the subject matter. √
- IS allow management to select relevant information to help making a sound decision. √
(√ x 3 x 1 Mark = 3 Marks)

B(a):
- Methodologies are comprehensive, multiple-step approaches to systems development. √
- Techniques are particular processes been followed to help ensure that the work is complete, well-
done, and understood by others. √
- Tools are typically computer programs that can be used to ease the work. √
(√ x 3 x 1 mark = 3 marks)

B(b):
- Methodologies, techniques, and tools work together to help ensure the quality and appropriateness
of the system being built. √
- Following a systems methodology, applying techniques, and using appropriate tools provides
structure to the systems development process. √
(√ x 2 x 1 mark = 2 marks)

C(a):
- Reuse refers to using previously written software resources, especially objects and components, in
new applications. √
(√ x 1 x 1 Mark = 1 Mark)

C(b):
- Advantage, it increases efficiency to reuse objects or components, and reduce defects. √
- Advantage, it reduces the amount of rework needed. √
- Disadvantage include organizational lack of commitment, and it is difficult to measure the
economic gains from reuse. √
- Other disadvantages include increasing programmer productivity, decreasing development time,
minimize scheduling overruns and tend to result in higher-quality software with lower defect
rates, which can decrease maintenance costs. √
(√ x 4 x 0.5 Mark = 2 Marks)

C(c):
“Ad Hoc” reuse refers to individuals finding ways to reuse objects and components on their own. √
- Facilitated reuse refers to reuse that is encouraged by the organization, but with limited
resources, infrastructure, and policies that would make reuse easier. √
- Managed reuse refers to reuse that occurs because the organization enforces reuse through
resources, infrastructure, policies, and people. √
- Designed reuse refers to an organization carefully designing assets for reuse. √
(√ x 2 x 1 Mark = 2 Marks)

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 BKAS3063 Accounting Systems Analysis and Design

ANSWER FOR QUESTION 2 (15 MARKS)

A. Answer:

(a) begins on 1/4 √ and ends on 7/4 √ (√ x 2 x ½ mark = 1

Mark)
(b) 3 days √ (√ x 1 x 1 mark = 1
Mark)
(c) Process analysis √ and Data analysis √ (√ x 2 x ½ mark = 1
Mark)
(d) start date 1/4 √ and end date 19/5 √ (√ x 2 x ½ mark = 1
Mark)

B. Answer:

Process
analysis

Requirements Logical
structuring 3 design
Implementation

1 2 5 6 7
Requirements Physical
capturing design
4
Data
analysis

( x 8 x 1/2 m, 4 Marks)
C. Answer:
One-time costs Recurring costs
1. server purchase  1. internet connectivity fees 
2. internet service setup 2. hardware upgrades 
3. initial website development 3. website maintenance 
( x 6 x ½ m, 3 Marks)
D. Answer:

(a) FOUR (4) sections contained in a Baseline Project Plan are:

INTRODUCTION  SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 
FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT  MANAGEMENT ISSUES 

(b) No 
Reason: The content and format of a BPP depends on the size, complexity, and
standards of an organization. 
( x 8 x ½ m, 4 Marks)

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 BKAS3063 Accounting Systems Analysis and Design

ANSWER FOR QUESTION 3 (30 MARKS)

A
(a) The most appropriate method to be used in the situation is called Joint Application Design
(JAD). The method is deemed suitable because it involves many people from different
background and functions. In addition, the method is used because it enables resources from
different entities but with related areas to be pooled together in one specific place for an
extended period to discuss and reach an agreed solution that form a solid plan to overcome
the problem.
(2 marks)
(b) Seven typical JAD participants.
I. JAD session leader: The leader has responsibility to organise and runs the JAD. He
has a skill in the group management, facilitation and system analysis. He sets the
agenda and make sure it is met. He stays unbiased and do not contribute opinion or
ideas. He concentrates on the agenda, resolving conflicts, and disagreement and
soliciting the ideas. Head of Government Security.
II. Users. Key users of the system under consideration are very important participants in
JAD. They are the most comprehend people where they use the system on daily basis.
Air Traffic controller, Air Force Front Defense, Weather Forecast Agency,
MOSTI.
III. Managers: Managers of the work groups who use the system in question provide
insight into new organisational directions, motivations for and organisational impacts
of systems and support for requirements determined during the JAD. Directors of
Department of Civil Aviation and Commander of Air Force Base.
IV. Sponsor: A sponsor is the major undertaking with respect to expense. A JAD must be
sponsored by a relatively high level in the organisation such as Vice President or
CEO. Under Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Under Secretary to the
Ministry of Defense.
V. System Analyst: member of SA team attend the JAD, although their participation
may be limited. They attend to learn from users and managers. System Analyst
Team
VI. Scribe: take notes during JAD session. Secretariat
VII. IS Staff IS staff such as programmer, database analyst, data- centre personnel, may
attend the session. They are there to learn from the discussion, and possibly to
contribute their ideas on technical possibility of proposed ideas or technical
limitations of current system. (IS staff and Technical staff)
(7 Marks)

(c) The outcome of JAD is based on intense discussion from various parties and takes into
consideration of 360 degrees and could be describe as consent from everyone involved with
the system. Furthermore the approach gathers simultaneously key people in one place and
focussed on one specific issue that need a solution. All resolutions are based on the intense
sessions and resolve conflicts among them. In the context of this case all key people can
consider the overlapping and co-operation among each other to achieve one mission that is to
have an integrated radar system that could be used for security, defence, weather forecast,
research and development purposes. Some domain which involves national security should be
separately and exclusively controlled for by the government and some that are not involving
national security could be shared and used within the agencies.
(4 Marks)

(d) The end result of a complete JAD is a set of documents that detail the workings of current
system and the features of replacement system to be compiled and circulate among users and
system analyst.
(2 Marks)

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 BKAS3063 Accounting Systems Analysis and Design

B.(a) Level 0 diagram

Source/process/store= 8x ½=4
Flow= 13 x ¼= 3.25
Format = .075

B. (b)

Problem
Answerand
for Exercise
3B(b) 8

Customer OrderDetails
Order Product
PK CustomerNo PK,FK1,I1 OrderNo
PK OrderNo PK ProductNo
PK,FK1 CustomerNo
PK,FK1,I1 CustomerNo
Name PK,FK2,I2 ProductNo
ProductDescription
Street_Address OrderDate UnitPrice
City Quantity
PromiseDate
State
Zip

(21 x 1/3= 7 marks)

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 BKAS3063 Accounting Systems Analysis and Design

ANSWER FOR QUESTION 4 (20 MARKS)

A. Designing the forms and reports is a parallel process.

a. Discuss FOUR (4) steps in designing interfaces and dialogues using prototyping
approach.
 Collect information
a. What is a user wants (initial user requirements).
b. Define the sequence
 Construct prototype
a. Build working interfaces and dialogues
b. Demo set of interfaces & dialogues
 Assess usability
a. Test usability of the interfaces & dialogues
b. Ask user to review and evaluate the prototype
 Make refinements
a. Do a correction and modification to the prototype.
(8 Marks)

b. Give TWO (2) reasons why designing forms and reports should be done in parallel.
 When designing the forms, need to design reports at the same time.
 Both are user-focused activities.
 Both answering the same questions, who, what, when, where & how.
 Both need to be reviewed & evaluated by the users during the process.
(2 Marks)

B. Discuss the terms below:

a. File Organisation
A technique for physically arranging the records of a file.
(1 Mark)
b. (i) Sequential File Organisation
i. The rows in the file are stored in sequence according to a primary key value.
ii. Updating and adding records may require rewriting the file.
iii. Deleting records results in wasted space.

(ii) Indexed File Organisation

i. The rows are stored either sequentially or non-sequentially and an index is created
that allows software to locate individual rows.
ii. Index
a. A table used to determine the location of rows in a file that satisfy some
condition.
iii. Secondary Index
a. Index based upon a combination of fields for which more than one row may
have same combination of values.

(iii) Hashed File Organisation

i. The address for each row is determined using an algorithm.
(9 Marks)

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 BKAS3063 Accounting Systems Analysis and Design

Note : can consider to give a mark if student draw a diagram for each type of file
organisation.

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 BKAS3063 Accounting Systems Analysis and Design

ANSWER FOR QUESTION 5 (20 MARKS)

QUESTION 5 A.

a) Describe acceptance testing.

Acceptance testing is defined as “testing the system in the environment where it

will eventually be used”. Acceptance refers to the fact that users typically sign
off the system and accept it once they are satisfied with it.(1.5M)

(b) Determine the type of testing that is suitable for each of the descriptions
above. Briefly explain each of them.

Test No 1 is called Alpha testing, which the most complete acceptance is testing.
Also called mock client testing typically performed by a group that is independent
of the design team, but still within the company, e.g. in-house software test
engineers, or software QA engineers. (1.5M)

Test No 2 is called Beta testing which is a second level, external pilot-test of a

product (usually software) before commercial quantity production. At the beta test
stage, the product has already passed through the first-level, internal pilot-test (alpha
test) and glaring defects have been removed. But (since the product may still have
some minor problems that require user participation) it is released to selected
customers for testing under normal, everyday conditions of use to spot the
remaining flaws (1.5M)

(c) Determine the type of data that are relevant to each test

Data used - simulated but typical data are used for system testing. (0.5M)

Data used - live data are used in the users’ real working environment (0.5M)

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 BKAS3063 Accounting Systems Analysis and Design

QUESTION 5 B

(a) Explain THREE (3) factors that influence users to use a new system.

Answer
1. How relevant the system is to the work the user performs
2. System ease of use and reliability
3. User demographics such as age and degree of computer experience
4. The more users can do with a system, the more they will use it.
5. The more satisfied the users are with the system, the more they will use it.

With explanation - Any 3 – 1.5 mark each total: (4.5 marks)

(b) Discuss TWO (2) approaches that an organization can use to provide ongoing
educational and ongoing problem-solving assistance to the users.

Answer:

1) Training IS users (0.5)

Training users can be a cost effective way to increase productivity. The types
of necessary training will vary by type of system and expertise of users.
Potential topics of training can include the use of system, general computing
concepts, IS concepts, system management etc. (1.5M)

2) Supporting IS users(0.5)
Computing support for users can be provided in many ways which include
paper or online versions of paper-based support, help desks provided by
vendor or residents experts within the same organization, and support in
standards governing client/server products in order to make equipment and
software from different vendors compatible. (1.5M)

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 BKAS3063 Accounting Systems Analysis and Design

QUESTION 5C.

Answer:
Lack of commitment to the project – Management and employee commitment are
important to the successful implementation of an information system.
Lack of commitment to change – Much like commitment to the project, users must
also be willing to change how they accomplish their work to include the new
information system.
Poorly conceptualized system – Systems may fail because they were not properly
conceptualized or developed. This indicates a serious lack of planning and project
definition.
Unrealistic user expectations – Users may not completely understand what the
information system can and cannot do. When the users form unrealistic expectations,
they are guaranteed to be disappointed by the system.
Users refuse to use the system – Users may simply refuse to use the system. This
however usually happens for one of the other reasons listed. It can also happen
because of characteristics of the users themselves. For instance, workers who have
done their job the same way for 20 years may be resistant to the change irrespective of
the information system involved.
Characteristics of the system - characteristics of the information system may make use
of the system unpalatable. Cumbersome interfaces and error-riddled software can lead
to low satisfaction.
Political reasons – Implementation may fail because of the misalignment of personal
goals of politically powerful people

Any 3 answers - Answer / half mark, // Explanation = 1.5 marks for one answer
(Total: 6 Marks)

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