Home Sweet Home Property Management System Use case diagram Activity diagram Class diagram Assignment Solution
Introduction
Home Sweet Home (HSH) is a relatively small, respected, independent Estate Agent.
Their main business is the selling of houses and other small properties. They also act
as the agent for landlords in letting their property to tenants. The following is a
description of their conduct of this business.
The staff
HSH employ seven staff: Alison, who is the Agency Manager, Jean who is the office
manager, Kate and Iain who work in the office in a clerical capacity, and Sanah, Cath
and Nick who are responsible for visits to property and customer liaison.
The property portfolio
Vendors (or sellers) invite HSH to sell their property. A representative from HSH
gathers details of the property including a photograph. The details of the property
are typed up (usually by Kate) on the office word processor in the office and a copy
of the photograph attached. This forms a fact sheet, which is filed in the Current
Properties filing cabinet in HSH’s office. A copy of the fact sheet is displayed in the
HSH high street office. A brief summary of the property, together with a reduced
photocopy of the photograph is also typed onto the relevant summary sheet for
advertising purposes (see mailing lists below). Details of the property are also
passed on to Harry Signs Ltd who put up the ‘For Sale’ sign on behalf of HSH.
Personal details about the vendor and their solicitor such as name, address,
telephone, availability for visits from buyers, etc. are placed on the vendors’
database on the HSH computer. A memo field on the database allows the staff to
insert useful comments such as ‘Mind the dog if you’re visiting’ or ‘This seller won’t
be knocked down,’ etc. Iain built the datasheets himself using Excel. He looks after
the computer, which is an old PC, since he is the only person with computer skills
having studied a computing course a few years ago (which he never completed!).
The database holds approximately 1000 records.
Enter the customer
Potential buyers (also known as customers) phone up for details or have a look in
the shop and can receive a copy of the fact sheet. Kate or Jean usually keeps a copy
of the customer details in their customer address book. Should the customer wish to
inspect the properties advertised, HSH will either make an appointment for the
customer to meet the vendor by consulting the vendors’ database or, where the
property is empty, arrange for a member of staff to escort the customer on a visit of
the property. In this case the appointment is made by consulting the HSH diary that
holds details of staff availability. When the appointment is made the diary is updated
accordingly, and a record made in the Current Property file. The previous agency
manager used to check these records, and when a property had received loads of
visits with no corresponding offers he would suggest to the owners a reduction in
price since the HSH fee is only realized upon a sale.
Mailing lists
Potential buyers are also asked if they would like to be placed on the mailing list
whereby they are mailed on a monthly basis about properties that match their
criteria of cost and area. This information is kept on another Excel sheet which Iain
also looks after. In total these lists include about 700 customer records so it is a time
consuming and costly task to print their details onto labels, fill envelopes with the
appropriate summary sheets and post them. Alison suspects that the information is
often incorrect – for example the customer may no longer be interested, the
property may no longer be on the market, or the customer may have been mailed
with identical information the previous month.
The Offer
At any stage the customer may make an offer for the property. The offer is conveyed
to the vendor’s solicitor by HSH usually by fax. Also, the file for the property is taken
out of the Current Properties filing cabinet, updated and transferred to the Properties
Under Offer cabinet. HSH keep details of local surveyors, solicitors, building societies
and banks that they can recommend (or not as the case may be) for the customer.
This information is held on the HSH address book that was built up by the previous
agency manager after long sessions at the local golf club. The information is vital
since recommendations work two ways e.g. HSH recommends a solicitor to a
customer/the solicitor recommends HSH to a customer, etc. The address book
contains more than just names and contact details. It contains comments by all staff
concerning their contacts (which are not always flattering).
At some stage HSH will be notified by the customer’s solicitor that the offer has been
withdrawn, in which case this is marked on the file which is transferred back to the
Current Properties cabinet, or that the property has been sold to the buyer in which
case the file for the property is transferred to the Properties Sold filing cabinet. When
a property is sold the vendor’s solicitor pays a fee direct to HSH’s bank, which is a
percentage of the sale price. Typically HSH may sell 4-6 properties per week. They
send a copy of the transaction to HSH who record the details in the file in the
Properties Sold cabinet. HSH perform a monthly check of the Properties Sold
comparing them to statements they receive from their bank, and where necessary
mail payment reminders to the vendors’ solicitors. The vendor may also withdraw the
property from the market regardless of whether or not the property is under offer. In
this case HSH charge the vendor a £50 handling fee; Jean suggests that the recovery
of these debts causes so much inconvenience that this fee should be significantly
increased. At present a large proportion are written off.
Publicity
HSH has extensive dealings with the local press. This involves the submission of
property details to the local press who display advertisements on behalf of HSH.
These adverts in turn generate a significant number of telephone enquiries/visits
both from potential buyers and sellers. The local papers invoice HSH who make
payments by check.
Agent for letting
Landlords contact HSH to act on their behalf for the letting out of property to
tenants. HSH collects rent from the tenants that, after deducting a commission, it
forwards to the landlord. In some cases HSH also arranges for the maintenance of
the property by organizing building work, plumbing, etc. In total this represents
about 10% of HSH’s income, and Alison is considering whether or not to continue
this part of their business.
Deliverable Tasks:
Task 1 (20%): Development Methodology
In your report describe your role as a system analyst throughout the SDLC.
Given the current scenario, select a suitable system development
methodology to implement an information system. Justify your answer by
comparing your selected methodologies with more than two other
methodologies.
Task 2 (20%): Requirement Gathering
Choose the suitable requirement gathering technique(s) to ascertain user
needs. Discuss and justify your choice(s). You do not need to actually apply
your chosen technique. Instead, based on your understanding of the scenario,
create a requirement definition statement, i.e., a grouped and prioritised list
of functional and non-functional requirements.
Task 3 (20%): Use Cases Modelling
Create a UML use case diagram for the new system. Selecting two major use
cases, create a use case description sheet for each of the selected use cases.
Task 4 (20%): Activity Modelling
Identify the system’s main flow of activities. The results are to be represented
as a UML activity diagram.
Task 5 (20%): Class Modelling
Identify the existing objects and classes, their attributes and operations. Draw
a UML class diagram showing the identified classes, attributes and methods
(operations). The diagram should also include relationships and multiplicities.
Solution:
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