· The most difficult part which i felt in the course of COIS20025 is Assessment 1.

What was difficult about it and how would you suggest it could be improved?

·   The reason why I felt difficulty is, I am new to this structure of assignments and not highly familiar with the topics. In the first assignment while making DFD’s I felt a bit unhappy with the material provided for the same. Although professors explained a lot I was unable to review every point of his lecture for the reason, we don’t have recorded lectures. Library search portals helped us to some extent. Provision of sample case studies with the ability to provide innovativity in thinking and ability to review classroom lectures would help us do better.

Name three (3) things you learnt this term in COIS20025.

·   The way or the point through which you understand and treat a condition and find solution. (this credit belongs to my prof., Sachin)

·   Measures to be taken to design a system.

·   Procedures to be followed in the integration or implementation of a new system.

How will you be able to use this knowledge/these skills in your future career?

·   Finding the point or the apparent explanation behind a case definitely helps in improving my skills, which are essential.

·   Knowledge on how to analyze the existing system and develop new one or suggest improvements to the old system.

·   Concepts of the course help us in better understanding of database management. These courses along with some implementation knowledge & experience and guidance help us in performing better in the job.

The corrective maintenance measures that may be required for the CCPS are:

·        Replace failed processes if any.

·        Make a note of the processes in which the system is lagging and prepare corrective measures for the same.

·        Update the processes and network with upcoming technology in services like speed of network, efficiency in operation etc.

·        The e-mail received requesting for a booking may be required to be automatically updated at times.

·        Data interpretation, which is considered as a major security concern at the time of building the system, may require some flexibility depending on various reasons.

Adaptive Maintenance:

·        The online log system that is proposed may require additional options like extension of the car booking time, the data that is fixed for returning the car at the time of reservation may vary from that at delivery time, the model of the car at booking or reserving may differ from the car at pricking time.

·        Creation of a new type of ports may be necessary based on the requirement. This might require additional software to be merged into the existing system.

·        Add security patches to withstand the network threats that are increasing with technology.

·        A new data field may be required in the new system, to place the name person and employee responsible for the order in the input screen.

Perfective maintenance:

The maintenance measures striving for the perfect working of the system can be referred as perfective maintenance measures.

·        The network systems, which may be the best performing at the time of installation may not be the highest performing one, now. Thus, according to the new system, there may be a requirement to change the whole network to make the system highly efficient.

·        If a particular operation like generating daily reports is made automatic, it would save the time of employee as well as the system.

·        Compress the system files enabling the company to store large amounts of information.

·        Enable end-user flexibility like customizing their own profile.

·        Install more powerful network servers.

Preventive Maintenance:

·        Preventive maintenance can only be done by proper observation and analysis of the system.

·        Add the network security patches regularly to prevent virus and other data loss threats.

·        Analyse every problem, solve it and check if it would produce any problems or errors in the future.

·        Check the whole system regularly for consistency.

·        Develop standard back-ups for all the important information files to prevent data loss caused by networks of the system.

Direct Cutover: The implementation of direct cut over causes immediate change of the existing system to the new system. In Capricornia Car Pool System, clerk manages all the processes like booking, vehicle fleet maintenance and reporting. In the new system that automatically generates daily reports, vehicle logistics and vehicle tracking, it could be difficult for the clerk to manage changes, detect errors. Besides this, in direct cut over implementation, if the system has totally failed there would be no way that you can get back to the old system, also, clerk may perform mistakes in the process of getting used to the new system and he may require some training to work with it. So, it is not possible to implement direct cut over in enhancing the performance of the system.

Parallel Operation: The use of parallel operation method in implementing the new system is recommended to some extent. In this process of using both the systems simultaneously, some of the problems mentioned in direct cut over can be conquered. The outputs of both the systems can be compared, helping the employee in finding errors in the new system. Parallel operation method provides time for the employees to get used to the new system (training) and expertise in it. Hence if the clerk or other staff find errors in booking a vehicle or generating invoice, they could easily identify and manage the situation. Parallel operation method has some disadvantages as well.  It increases the cost of implementing the system and also increases workload on the employees, as they have to observe and work with both the systems, thereby decreasing the work speed.

Pilot Operation: This operation includes both the operations of direct cutover and parallel operation. The difference is that it operates in parallel in a particular branch or in particular department and depending on its success value direct cutover occurs in the rest of the branches. So implementing and testing both new and old system in one of the branches of CQU and depending on its success value and expertise of employees it can be implemented in other areas too. Therefore, pilot operation overcomes the factor cost of operation and thereby it overcomes all the anomalies of direct cut over and parallel operations.

Phased Operation: As the name itself says, Phased operation is performed in phases, say, departments in a factory, or other sub systems and then finally to the whole system. These changes in phases or sub systems may occur using any of the three changeover methods. In CCPS, the first change may occur in reservation phase and then move on to the other sub systems. If the reservation and logistic systems succeed in performing its operations, it would support the success of invoice system too. Advantages of the system include minimization of errors and thereby failures, efficient maintenance of the new system and so on.

The author, researchers, and the faculty at the Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, N.C., believe that the use of technology is crucial and critical to help their students go through the academics effectively and help them keeping in touch with it even in the time they are at work. So, they hired a carrier network to keep on posting the documents, PowerPoint presentations and other course material over mobile phones. Researchers and programmers named it as MobileU which uses windows operated smartphones. In the process of research, over 100 people are chosen and are given all the facilities. MobileU features include transport information from current place to campus (using GPS), browsing library information and so on. 

This technology of providing students with transport information and Wireless network services to obtain course material, updates and other technical information on their smartphones and laptops would be of great advantage to the students. 

Two potential innovations that are identified for the COIS20025 course website and/or learning and teaching strategies are:

ü      Blog Check and Suggestions

  ü      User-friendly Login System 

Describe the innovation and how it would work and the service it would provide to students and/or staff. 

Blog Check and Suggestions:

The weekly blog post system that is introduced to keep continuous track of course by the students is really help full. As all the blogs are related to assignments, it would be better if the blogs are given some comments by the tutors. This would help the students in deciding if they are on the right track and if their view on the topic is correct. Finally, students’ performance may be improved.

User-Friendly Login System 

Students are provided with personal login and password facilities in order to secure their own work and files on University database. As per security concerns it is good to have necessary login requests in the course website. Ofcourse it is necessary in arrears like Assessment details. But, in the case of viewing or downloading lecture slides and other course material, this is not necessary. So login request at that particular area can be ignored.

How did you identify this innovation?

These innovations are identified on personal observation, questionnaire and survey.

The Structured English description of the process for creating and registering the blog is as shown below:

Blog creation 

Open wordpress.com

Sign up to create ID, enter email address

  If chosen ID=ok, if availability check=Yes

        Password sent to your email ID

  Else

         Choose another ID

Registration 

Open syd.cqu.edu.au and login to student portal

Enter into particular subject

Select course profile

Enter your blog address

Click register

If registration=Yes

             The blog is registered

   Else

             Check your blog address.      

Ø      Document reviews: Review the documents that are prepared during the creation of the website and also the documents stating updates and changes if any.

Ø      Observations: Observe the current system, so that the areas in which students are much interested can be known.

Ø      Questionnaire and Surveys: Surveys can be done by preparing a proper and systematic questionnaire, so that the services that are mostly useful and interesting to the students can be brought out. Also, the additions to the current system can be obtained through suggestions or drawbacks in the survey performed.

Ø      Sampling: All the information gathered through document review, observation, questionnaires and surveys can be sampled to refine the information.

Ø      Research: Based on the current system and all the gathered information, research can be done to develop the necessity of the additional services and update current services that are useful to the students, on the course website.

The learning and/or teaching strategies that might improve the student learning in this course can be found using:

Ø      Document review: Review the documents that are prepared during the creation of learning and/or teaching, also the documents stating updates and changes if any.

Ø      Observation: Closely observe the current strategies of learning and/or teaching, so that, the current system can work much more effectively.

Ø      Questionnaire and Surveys: A survey among the teaching staff may not be possible to obtain good results. So, arrange personal interviews with the teaching staff, so that some valuable information can be obtained.

Ø      Sampling: By applying some new or updated strategies on small groups and current system on some other small groups and perform sampling, we may be able to develop some useful information.  

Ø      Research: A specific and detailed research may not be necessary. But, we can just gather information, if the strategies we are going to develop or perform are successful.

The journals that might be useful to search for articles about educational innovations can be found using the following processes:

Ø      Document review: By just making a review over the available educational systems we may be able to search for innovations.

Ø      Observation: Observation, ofcourse is needed, but to just observe what type of journals are helpful to find articles about educational innovations.

Ø      Questionnaire and Surveys: Questionnaire and Survey plays an important role here. Based on the standards of questionnaires that the journals are able to answer and the survey success levels, the journals can be chosen.

Ø      Sampling: Sampling may be useful at times but not always when you search for articles it may generate you heaps of results. Then it may happen for you to perform sampling among search results.

Ø      Research: Not much research is necessary to find journals that might be useful to search for articles about educational innovations. But a bit is required to analyse and choose between journals obtained through search.

®    Capricornia Car Pool System is a system through which the cars are hired by the faculty and other divisional staff members for business purposes and ofcourse may be personal at times. Some of the activities that are involved in this system are:

Ø     Booking of cars through phone calls and e-mails depending on the customers ease.

Ø     Choosing the type of cars such as sedans, station wagons, with automatic or manual transmission, with or without cruise control etc., depending on customer requirement and availability in the pool.

Ø     Payments and its modes.

Ø     Registering the log details of the cars by a clerk.

Ø     Maintenance of cars.

   What are the current problems with the Capricornia Car Pool System? 

®     

What information do you need to find out about the Capricornia Car Pool System to develop a detailed understanding of the current system?

®    The following information is required further to analyse the Capricornia Car Pool System:

Ø     How do the clerk manage updates like late extended hire times, late payments, late deliveries, postpone or prepone bookings based on availability etc.? Totally, the reservation system has to be deeply analysed.

Ø     Issue & delivery registry process i.e., the log process.

Ø     How about the maintenance of the cars in peak and non-peak seasons?

Ø     Current Tracking System.

Ø     How do the management recognise the requirements of cars such as cars to be replaced, add on new one’s to the pool or sell old one’s, upgrade facilities etc.

Ø     Salary payment process.