August 1997 SD206: Systems Design (Question 3)

August 1997
SD206: SYSTEMS DESIGN

QUESTION 3

Total Marks: 20 Marks

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for Question 3

A national library, which has several branches spread around the country, has decided to upgrade its computer system. At present, the dialogue approach that is employed is in a question-and-answer style. This results in many complaints as user feel as if they are not in control of the system. As an example, when updating membership, the librarians have to hit the 'enter' key several times, even though they may decide to abolish any further updates. The following data (for updating membership particulars) is displayed on the current screen. In addition, the librarians also feed back that they have to go through several menus in orders to perform their desired tasks.

Membership number	6 numeric
Branch	5 characters	(e.g., Chicago, Utah, etc.)
Type of membership	7 characters	(Student or Staff)
Expiry date	6 digits	(DD/MM/YY)
Course	20 characters	(e.g., Computer Science)
Full name	30 characters
Address	70 characters
Telephone number	10 digits

(a) Suggest ways of reducing the above data.

[6]

(b) Based on the librarians' feedback, design - using your suggestions from Part (a) - single online dialogue that enables the user to update membership in all ways required. The possible updates include the following:

[8]

adding new members

modifying an existing member's details

terminating an existing membership

renewing an expired membership

printing an existing member's details

[6]