1.(30) Forest Point Construction (System Planning)

At Forest Point Construction, your boss says that he can estimate the total project time based on his personal experience. You are trying to convince him that he should use project management techniques to handle a complex project. To prove your point, you decide to use a simple example of a commercial steel building construction project, with eight steps. You create a hypothetical work breakdown structure, as follows:

• Prepare the site (3 days), and then set the building footers (3 days).
• Finish the foundation (5 days), and then assemble the building (3 days).
• When the building is assembled, start two tasks at once: finish the interior work (5 days) and set up an appointment for the final building inspection (15 days).
• When the interior work is done, start two more tasks at once: landscaping (7 days) and driveway paving (3 days).
• When the landscaping and driveway are done, do the painting (2 days).
• Finally, when the painting is done and the final inspection has occurred, arrange the sale (2 days).

1. What is the correct total time?
2. Create a Gantt chart that shows the WBS.
3. What is the critical path?

2. (35) Atrium Bio-Medical Supply, Inc. (System Analysis)

Atrium Bio-Medical Supply is a medium sized regional supplier of medical and laboratory equipment. Since starting the company 12 years ago, Victoria Dawn has built Atrium into a competitive supply company across several metro areas, but her growth potential is limited because the firm does not have an integrated sales and logistics system. Victoria asked you to evaluate Atrium’s options for acquiring a new system.

Tasks

1. What options does Atrium have for acquiring a new system?
2. What are the pros and cons of in-house development versus purchasing a system?
3. If the decision is made to purchase a new system, what are three options for customizing the software?
4. Based on Part C of the Systems Analyst’s Toolkit, what financial analysis tools should you use to evaluate the software acquisition options for Atrium? Explain how you would apply each of the tools.

3. (35) Nothing But Net

Nothing But Net is an IT consulting firm that specializes in network architectural design. As a newly hired systems analyst, you have been asked to explain the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of networking concepts. Your answers will be incorporated into a FAQ section of the new marketing brochure.

Tasks

1. Should an organization choose a new system based on client/server architecture? Why or why not?
2. Explain the pros and cons of thick or thin client characteristics.
3. What is the difference between physical and logical topology? Provide examples.
4. Will mobile devices replace desktop system units and traditional laptop computers? How would networks have to change if that were to happen?