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Software Development Unit 4, Outcome 2 Solutions: Extreme Adventures

Test Solutions

Question 1 A Gantt or PERT chart.

Question 2  To determine tasks and allocate resources.  To provide a timeline for tasks to occur.  To determine the critical path.  To identify milestones and lag time within the project.

Question 3 A contingency plan provides an alternative or backup plan just in case the project implementation goes wrong.

Nate and the staff could have plans in place that may allow them to revert back to the old system in case something goes wrong with the changeover. Another alternative is to have a manual system that they could put in place for a short period of time. The plan should not need to be long term.

Question 4 Students can discuss such issues as:  Availability of components.  Location of suppliers.  Compatibility of components.  Costs.  Reliability of suppliers.  Ergonomic requirements.  Reliability and robustness of components.

Question 5 Any method can be chosen here, as long as the justification is appropriate

 A procedures manual that outlines the processes for booking adventure tours, handling enquiries, and communicating with the main office.  Operating manuals for the hardware would be needed to provide information on routine maintenance and replacing consumables.  Any other documentation that the teacher feels is valuable and is explored in detail.

The staff will need to be trained in how to access the network remotely and how to communicate all information to the head office. It is probably best that one staff member, perhaps Nate, is trained and then can go to each location to train the other staff. This would most likely keep costs down rather than having all remote staff travel to one location for training.

 The business should put a firewall in place on the server to prevent unwanted access to secure files.  Data being sent online, particularly booking information should be encrypted to prevent any corruption or interception.  All computers should be username and password protected, to ensure that nobody can access the data on the computers, particularly the laptops at the remote sites.

Nate should have a disaster recovery plan that will outline what to do in case of an emergency. It should include a backup plan with details on how backups should occur, how often and how they will be reinstated. It should contain an emergency plan that outlines how to shut the system down, emergency services contact details, evacuation procedures and other similar needs; a recovery plan that outlines how the system will be restored and a test plan that outlines how the disaster recovery plan will be tested.

Question 6 The new system may make it necessary for Extreme Adventures to alter the way it does things, so day to day procedures for dealing with the new system may have to change. This means that these new procedures would need to be documented and provided for staff in training.

The costs involved in changing over to a new system may have an impact on the implementation method chosen. Extreme Adventures would need to determine how much they can afford to contribute at any one time, and this could impact on the changeover method chosen.

Changes to an organisation should be communicated to all staff to avoid any resistance to the change. It will be important that Nate keeps all staff informed of the changes being made at Extreme Adventures and supports them through the process.

Question 7  Use the online booking module to process a number of dummy bookings, print out reports from the bookings software that the module interfaces with, to ensure that all dummy bookings were received correctly.  The testing should be done after the module has been designed or modified and before it is installed on the web server.  Kendra, who is responsible for all of the bookings, should check to see that the booking has been received into the booking software and Ryan should check to see whether the payment has registered through the accounts software.  Correct transmission of all data from the online booking module to the correct software packages will determine whether the module passes or fails the test.  If the module fails the test, the section causing problems should be identified and re-written to remove ambiguities.

Question 8

Performance How to evaluate Who should do When evaluation requirement the evaluation should take place Count the number of overseas Kendra would Evaluation is Overseas bookings in the last 12 months, probably be the ongoing and should bookings for Count the number of overseas best person as start as soon as the Adventure bookings in the next 12 months she has been new system is tours should and compare the tallies. taking bookings. operational. double in the Evaluation will be ongoing next year. commencing as soon as the new system is operational. An electronic log of system Ryan is The log can be System down downtime at both sites should overseeing the checked at the end time should be kept and the totals technology of each month for average less calculated for each month, then aspects of the compliance. than two hours averaged over the year system. So it per month. (spreadsheet that could be should be his accessed from both offices?). responsibility to The person reporting the fault monitor the could update the log. system.

Question 9 Nate will now be doing a lot of the marketing and advertising online, so he will need to learn how to use new software packages and how to work with web pages. Online payment of bookings will reduce the time that Ryan has to spend on processing payments and accounts, giving him more time to focus on other areas of responsibility. Since she still has to be available to take bookings from customers who don’t have access to the Internet, Kendra may find that the new system does not change the way she works.