COM4004 Software Engineering Assignment Answer

COM4004 Software Engineering Assignment

As part of the formal assessment for the programme you are required to submit a Software Engineering assignment. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.

Learning Outcomes:

After completing the module, you should be able to:

1. Identify what a system is and how a systems approach relates to Information Systems.
2. Understand the role of models in analysis and design of software systems.
3. Understand and assess software tools and technology to enhance productivity and quality of software development.
4. Create and test models of software, data and processes using object-oriented methodologies such as UML where applicable.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of a requirements analysis.

Your assignment should include: a title page containing your student number, the module name, the submission deadline and a word count; the appendices if relevant; and a reference list in Arden University (AU) Harvard format. You should address all the elements of the assignment task listed below. Please note that tutors will use the assessment criteria set out below in assessing your work.

Maximum word count: 3000 words

Please note that exceeding the word count by over 10% will result in a reduction in grade by the same percentage that the word count is exceeded.

You must not include your name in your submission because Arden University operates anonymous marking, which means that markers should not be aware of the identity of the student. However, please do not forget to include your STU number.

This assignment will be based on the following case study. CASE STUDY

‘Ice & Easy’ are disrupting the traditional ice-cream and ice-lolly industry. They have identified a niche market not being served by mainstream suppliers. There are lots of middle-aged and older customers out there who have fond memories of childhood ice-cream and ice-lolly treats and now are at a place in their life where they have the disposable income to indulge in some private pleasures – one being deluxe and premium ice-cream and ice-lollies from their childhood.

That is a market, but the company has done further market research that suggests these cash-rich, nostalgia-loving, ice-cream-seeking customers are also time-poor and very impatient to get their fix. They are not price-sensitive. They want premium quality – now. This is where old-school treats meet modern technology and the company plans on cleaning up. How? Here is the company’s business model…

When the urge strikes, a customer can contact the company call centre – via telephone, web or smartphone app – 24x7x365 – and place an order from the on- screen menu. Fancy a Vimto Jubbly at 3AM or maybe a ‘99’ Flake while sweating it out in the office late at night? Not a problem!

The company guarantee to have that order in the customer’s hand within 15 minutes

• regardless of time of day, day of week or location of customer. If they fail to meet that time-frame, the customer gets the whole order for free.

The company can offer such a game-changing service because the customized sales-processing software instantly captures the customer’s physical location using a variety of geo-spatial mapping technologies and this is automatically passed to the nearest courier – all freelancers – who have been provided with a company

motorcycle containing a specially designed on-board micro-freezer. Previous research has been used to decide where these couriers need to be based - normally at home ‘on-call’ – so that each can cover a geographical area within a 15-minute motorbike ride.

Couriers are paid an ‘on-call’ flat fee of £10/hour – paid even if they do no deliveries - plus a further £7 per delivery. They claim their fuel back as expenses. Depending on time of day or day of week, deliveries can be to customer’s homes, places of work or anywhere else the customer happens to be when the urge strikes – chilling on the beach, walking the dogs in the forest, sailing or whatever.

Just as customers can order anytime, couriers can also work anytime – they simply log onto the courier portal using an ID/password and click the ‘Available’ button. The company’s only rule is that each ‘shift’ must be between 2 and 12 hours in duration, with a minimum gap of 12 hours between two consecutive shifts. Couriers must be aged 18 or older and have a full, clean motorcycle licence.

The software computes their wages automatically and is paid monthly into the courier bank account.

Customers can pay by debit card, credit card, PayPal, cash-on-delivery or – for regular clients – they can set up a client account that must be settled at the end of each calendar month. There is no minimum purchase level per order.

The company gets its supplies from a range of suppliers – both UK-based and overseas and accepts deliveries normally once per week, when they are all logged into the central warehouse. Then, a small fleet of company freezer vans distributes the products to all their home-based couriers, ready to deliver to customers when the orders come through.

In terms of staff, Ice & Easy is like many others in the ‘Gig Economy’ – it has a small core of full-time, permanent staff, all based at the company HQ – which also has an attached warehouse and call centre. This is where all central admin, sales-processing, logistics and IT is done.

All couriers are self-employed freelancers who work from home and most call-centre and warehouse staff are on short-term temporary contracts, sourced from an external recruitment agency. This all helps keep the wage bill down but even so, that 15-minute guarantee makes these up-market and expensive products.

Final Point

The above is simply an outline of the company and you will need to make your own assumptions and interpret or even extend the scenario as you go. Use your imagination as you see fit, but you must clearly document all assumptions and extensions.

Task 1

In your own words, supported by your own (fully referenced using the AU Harvard referencing style) private research, and using the above case study for specific examples, explain and describe the following concepts:

• Software Engineering
• Software Development Lifecycle
• Software Implementation
• Software Metric

Task 2

Using your own suitable diagrams and examples drawn from the above case study, compare and contrast THREE software development lifecycle (SDLC) methodologies, taking care to highlight the stages, features, strengths and weakness of each, plus suggesting the most suitable type of application project for each. Ensure at least one of your chosen methodologies follows the agile philosophy.

Task 3

Using the supplied case study, illustrate how the Unified Modelling Language (UML) may be deployed as part of an Object-Oriented (OO) software development project. You should ensure that you clearly demonstrate the following UML features:

• Class Diagrams
• Activity Diagrams
• Sequence Diagrams
• Use Case Diagrams

Compare and contrast two different commercial UML modelling tools that may be employed to do this work. Provide the web link to each tool.

Task 4

Critically evaluate two implementation languages that could be used to build the design from Task 3. You should include in your response a brief overview of the following programming constructs and how your two chosen languages implement them:

• Sequence
• Selection
• Iteration
• Modularity

Be sure to supply (and evidence via screenshots) your own code that demonstrates these programming features. For higher marks, you are expected to submit a fully working program but as a minimum you should submit code snippets that demonstrate the above programming constructs in each language.