Statistical Techniques for Project Control

Question: Discuss about the Statistical Techniques for Project Control. Answer: Design of System Architecture for Willowbrook School As the technology is getting advanced the web is getting more importance to the users. In the similar way for developing the system design for the Willowbrook school its important to understand the model and the main concerns related to this model (Devine et al. 2013). For the client server model the communication between the client and the server is the point of concern. In this model the client requests the service from the server after the server grants the request the resulted content is sent to the client. The client server model can be thought as the software architecture model in which the clients always sends requests and the sever responds to this requests. This model also provides a inter process communication between the client and the server consisting the exchange of the data (Reynolds 2015). For the Willowbrook school the system is designed based on the 3- tier architecture which includes three parts or three tiers in the total design that are client PCs, the database s erver, and the application server. In this model the client has the presentation logics only (Xu and Lin 2013). Therefore the client needs lesser resources and coding for the operation. The 3- tier model supports the one to many relationship between the server and the client i.e. in this architecture one server can take charge of several workstations or PCs. It also involves an intermediary server that is known as the application server or the middleware. The middleware can be defined as mediatory between the client and the database server. It is separate software that is running in the separate machines and is used to implement the application logic. Figure: 3-tier architecture of the client server model (Source: Dillon 2014, pp- 807) Discussion about the Advantages and disadvantages of the selected model for the Willowbrook School Advantages: As the database server is separated from the application server thus its easy to manage the data that is independent from the physical storage. Again as the client PCs dont have too much coding and requirement of resources, therefore it makes the migration to a new graphical environment faster. The separation of the three tiers helps in making changes to each and every level without affecting the other one (Park and Sabir 2015). We can change the presentation level without affecting the data server and the application server. Since the client or user does not have the access to the database server therefore the business logic is much more secure. Disadvantages: The three tier model is more complex to implement and maintain as the structure of this model is complex one. The separation between the three tiers causes in the degradation in the performance. Cost benefit issues with the three tier model As the use of the three tier model is scalable so it the system can be scaled as per the requirement of the school and with changing environment. This model also helps in transferring the application from the mainframe computers to the less expensive client workstations or the computers (Dillon 2014). As in the three tier model one server can respond to the request of many clients then it can be said that it reduces the load of the network and efficiently increases the response time. Recommendations for the physical and logical network topology for the proposed system Physical network topology While implementing the three tier architecture for the administration another issue of concern is to determine the topology that will be used in the organization so that the users can efficiently use the resources provided by the network. The users with their work stations are considered as the nodes in the network. For the Willowbrook School, the most suitable topology that can be used is the star topology. In the star topology the each and every node in the network is connected with each other by using a network device called hub. The hub act as the repeater, or the signal booster in the web based client server model (Jiang 2015). The reason behind the use of star topology than the other topologies are i) this topology does not transmit the signal to the all nodes unnecessarily, ii) in this topology the adding and the removing the nodes are easier than in the other topologies. iii) the failure of a single node does not affect the whole network and at the same time the maintenance i s also easy for this network. Recommendations for the logical topology of the proposed system The logical topology defines the way the workstations or the nodes in the net work are communicating with each other and the data passes from one node to another. The logical topology is not always same with the physical topology. In this case the physical topology is the star topology but with the use of the twisted pair cables, Ethernet and the hub for connecting the nodes in the network represents the logical bus topology (Patti et al. 2013). Therefore at the end it is seen that the actual star topology is represented by the logical bus topology. Hardware Requirements Details To implement the three tier client server architecture and the star topology relation between the nodes, the required hardwares are Application server (). Database server (CPU-Intel Xeon E5503, 2.0 GHz). CPU (Intel Xeon E5503, 2.0 GHz, 4M Cache, 800MHz), Ram (8GB Memory (4x2GB), 1333MHz, Single Ranked UDIMMs for 2Processors). Access point to connect with the internet. Router (used as a hub in the star topology). Web server ( 146GB 15K RPM Serial-Attach SCSI 3Gbps 3.5in Hotplug Hard Drive). Net work hardwares. System design specification documentation for the Willowbrook School Scope of the project The proposed system for the Willowbrook school will help in smooth and efficient operation of the different processes like the enrollment admissions, payments etc. Also the system can be used to monitor and track the details of each individual student. System design In this design phase modularity, cohesion, coupling of the proposed system is determined and specified. Component and Processes design In this step the processes like the connecting to the internet the login process, the authentication process of the login system, the retrieval and the processing of the data is checked and determined. Data design Designing dataset is about finding and characterizing the proposed application's data qualities and processes. Dataset designing is a procedure of refinement of the data, from the unrefined data, it defines "What data is required for the proposed application?". Also the exact structures of the dataset and procedures that can provide it. With the proper data, the proposed application's access and response time is increased, effectively kept up, and can smoothly acknowledge future information upgrades. User interface in the proposed system At the time of planning and designing complex frameworks, it is suggested that, to precisely plan the interfaces between subsystems or the modules. However while planning humancomputer frameworks, the interface amongst human and system is not considered in such terms and importance. Rather, the users have wide access to important and arbitrary parts of the proposed system. This results into the failure of the implemented system. So keeping this in mind the UI of the proposed system should be designed. Schedules for the different phases of the project In this step the different time frames are defined in which the different modules and the phases are to be completed and also the extended time period that may be needed for the development is also defined in this step . Selection of Development methodology for the proposed system of Willowbrook School (Agile methodology) For the proposed system the agile development methodology is adopted since this method helps in accommodating the requirements of the clients throughout the development cycle. Also this development model has some features that give flexibility to the development process like modularity, iterative, convergent and people oriented Figure 3: Agile methodology (Source: Dingsoyr et al. 2012, pp-1213-1221) Comparison between the structured, object oriented and agile development methods Agile development method includes a group of development strategies for iterative and incremental development of the proposed system, a system for solving a specific problem. Also the agile method tries to reduce the number of resources to start the development process (Dingsoyr et al. 2012). As the pitfall of this development method it can be stated that, the systems developed in this method have complex maintenance processes. For the object oriented development approach, the main objective of object oriented development is the confirmation that the system will have extended life while having lesser maintenance issues (Dennis et al. 2015). The Object-oriented approach is the procedure to develop a system that uses the method of interaction between the different objects to develop a system. Since the majority of the processes of the developed system are embodied, so they can be reused and introduced into the newer processes. Also the object-oriented development guarantees more reliability than other development methods, fundamentally in light of the fact that new requirements can be fulfilled by using the existing objects (Olsson et al. 2012). This can be done by using the reusability feature of the objects. The new objects can be created and they can inherit the feature of the other object or many other objects whenever needed to meet the requirements. For the structured development method, it can be stated that, this is the development method that have less complexity than any other method (Valacich 2015). But the only issue with this development method is the amount of time and funding to analyze and evaluate the method. Types of testings to be performed and the different types of data used in the testing To implement the system in the organization its important to test the usability, reliability of the system before installing it in the organization. In this case the following testing should be done. Program testing: The program testing incorporate unit testing, integration testing and the system testing. In unit testing, the modules of the proposed system are tested for any potential errors taking one at a time. Since all the modules must cooperate, integration testing is done for checking the interoperability between modules (Brajnik et al. 2015). The modules are integrated with each other steadily by adding a single module at a time. While adding the modules in a top down approach, this type of testing checks whether the joined modules are producing the desired and consistent results. The main objective of integration testing is to check whether the system meet the requirements of the clients. The last phase of program testing is the complete system testing (Changshen et al. 2014). The aim of system testing is to know the, how each of the modules or the components of the new system will work under different conditions and different workloads. The greater part of this testing can be thought as the guideline and not the absolute rules. Acceptance testing: The acceptance testing includes the end users of the developed system to measure how well the final developed system meets their expectations and requirements. In alpha testing, clients test the system execution and performance (Monden et al. 2013). Methods for security and recovery are also tried in this testing phase. In beta testing the actual data of the school is used to check the output before the installation of the system in the organization. The recovery test looks at the functionality of the installed system when it is forced to fail or in faces any undesired situations. For example, does it restart properly, retrieve information effectively and provide data about the status of data transactions that were in progress when the failure occurred. Security testing: Security testing concentrates on whether the security strategies have been executing as planned in the finished and developed system. Moreover, whether the security strategies are introducing any unexpected issues in the system (Viehmann and Werner 2013). For instance, let for security reasons, an administrator may need access to payment data. So only the admin can access the payment data. This security measure or strategies implies that teachers would not have access to payment data when the administrator is not present in the school. This limitation to the access would make it impossible to alter the payment data unless the administrator is available. Stress testing: Stress testing is done to break the developed system by not following the built up principles and techniques. In this testing the results are observed when the user does not follow some predefined stages and submit incomplete information or data. An implemented system wont be helpful to the organization if it crashes due to the some simple errors performed by the end user. Such testing is critical for examining the system performance as it identifies the client volume or the maximum number of users that can be managed by the newly developed system. Stress testing also considers the performance of the system under overwhelming use conditions. Performance testing: Performance testing looks at the use or the execution of the system in various different situations (Grechaniket et al. 2012). If the organization uses various different networks and workstations running in the different department like in after care in this case. It is essential to test the performance and execution of the developed system in these different situations to ensure it works properly under the majority of the required conditions. Identification of the specific group of people for the training For the teachers: The teachers are the most important part in any educational Institute. Hence in the context of the Willowbrook School too, training is provided to the teachers to operate the new system so that they can keep track of the records of each and every student using the new installed system. Like keeping the daily attendance of the students, or the students getting the facility of the drop in service from the school, the grades of the students. Also the teachers are trained to generate reports that are related to the students. The training covers the following areas How to upload the reports and the grades of the students on the new system. The process to upload the assignments and to download the answer sets. The methods to troubleshoot the small problems while operating the system. Interaction with the higher authorities through the system. For the administrators: For the administrative staff of the Willowbrook School, they need the training so that they can operate the whole system and can access the different parts of the system (Ismail et al. 2012). In this way they can find out the reasons and solutions of problems, whether it's related to the academics, payments, or the services that are provided from the school. In taking necessary steps and to generate reports that are related to the administrative issues, the performance of the teachers and students the system can be used. Also by using the system they can request enhancements in the existing services so that the students and their parents get the quality services from the school. How to raise funds for the school using the system. Tracking the enrollments, payment of the fees, admissions and other administrative tasks using the new installed system. Data conversion and changeover As the school used the spreadsheet software's like the MS excel to record and store the different kinds of data like enrolment details, payment details, teacher and student details etc are kept. Therefore, after installing the new system in the school, the previously stored data needs to be entered into the proposed system in order to maintain the consistency of the data. So to bring in the data from the manual system to the new system its important to data conversion should take place in the organization. Often it is observed that in a Data Conversion process, the users tend to think that any two comparative systems are used for storing and maintaining the same type of information or data. Also they are doing fundamentally the same things, so it wont be a big issue to map all the data from the legacy system to the new system and can be done without much effort. In reality to implement a data conversion in a organization needs planning. Figure: Data conversion process (Source: Schwalbe 2015) In the process of the data conversion the critical data are, name of the student, information about the student, enrollment and admission date , the payment details of the course fee , the attendance of the students, the other services that are provided to the students(like the drop in facility) are need to be carefully kept and mapped to the new sytem. Selection of the method for the changeover in the organization Between the four possible methods of the changeover techniques the best suitable method for the Willowbrook School is the Pilot operation change over technique (Badiru and Agustiady 2012). The pilot operation changeover technique includes implementing the new system at a chosen department of the school. The department in which new system is first introduced is known as the pilot site. The old framework keeps on working for the whole organization excluding the pilot site or the department. After the system demonstrates fruitfulness at the pilot department, it is actualized in the remaining part of the school. Pilot operation can be thought as a blend of parallel operation and direct cutover strategies. Pilot change over technique guarantees the working of new system and decreases the danger or chances of system failure. References: Badiru, A.B. and Agustiady, T., 2012.Statistical Techniques for Project Control. CRC Press. 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