Units Of Functionality Of The System

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Use Case

A use case diagram depicts the units of functionality of the system as well as the actors capable of carrying out these functions. An actor is a person within the system needed to carry out a particular function. A function is depicted by an oval text box and is referred to as a use case as well, use case in this terms meaning unit of functionality. A Use Case diagram is a compilation of Use Cases to form a system.

There are four actors within the MPP system. This does not suggest that only four literal people are responsible for operating the entire system. An actor is a classification of a person. In essence an actor refers to something general such as a job title as in this example the four actors are Secretary, HR Manager, Accountant and Staff Member. This use case diagram suggests that the classification of actors are responsible for the duties they are connected to. As such all persons holding that job title will be required to fulfil the duties depicted.

The duties or use cases are explain further as use case specifications and the actors are details as classes in task two.

Use Case Specifications

Number: UC0001

Name

Create Employee

 

 

Actors

Secretary, HR Manager

 

 

Goal: To add a new member of staff

 

 

Use Case Relationships

 

 

Extend:

 

Include:

 

Associations:

Secretary, HR Manager

 

Generalisation:

 

 

 

Description

 

 

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

1

Secretary gives member a form

 

2

Member fills form an returns it to secretary

 

3

HR Manager reviews form and approves employee

4

Secretary notifies employee

 

5

HR Manager confirms details

 

 

Alternatives

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

A 1/1

Person Not Approved

 

A 1/1.1

HR Manager disapproves person

 

A 1/1.2

Secretary notifies person

 

A 1/2

Invalid Data

 

A 1/2.1

Person confirms data invalid

 

A 1/2.2

HR Manager edits details

 

A 1/2.3

Person confirms details

 

 

This use case specification explains the procedure to be undertaken when adding a new member of staff to the MPP payroll. This process involves both the HR manager and the secretary in terms of the system. The secretary initially distributes a form to the potential employee to fill within which the applicants’ qualifications and contact information is kept on file. The details mentioned within the specification encompass all the personal information of the applicant inclusive of contact information as well as personal details.

This information is then sent to the HR manager to review where a decision is made to approve the employee for an interview. This decision dictates whether the secretary contact the applicant to inform them of an upcoming interview or to inform them that their application has been rejected. The assumption here is that MPP only hires members of the party to become staff members.

Number: UC0002

Name

Create a Member

 

 

Actors

Secretary

 

 

Goal: To add a new member to the MPP party

Use Case Relationships

 

 

Extend:

 

Include:

 

Associations:

Secretary

 

 

Create an Election Candidate

 

 

Create a Member of Parliament

 

 

Create a Regional Assembly Member

 

Generalisation:

 

 

Description

 

 

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

1

Person requests membership

 

2

Secretary creates new member record

 

3

Secretary confirms persons' details to be accurate

4

Member is added to membership list

 

Alternatives

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

A 2/1

Incorrect Details

 

A 2/1.1

Secretary enters incorrect details

 

A 2/1.2

Secretary edits details

 

A 2/1.3

Person confirms details

 

 

This use case specification depicts how a new member of MPP is added to the system. There is an estimated fifty thousand members of the party whom which information is needed to be stored as they are relied on during election time when the party is campaigning for election. The political party most probably doesn’t discriminate the right of membership by any one person. Seeing that not much clerical data needs to be manipulated the secretary is fully capable of adding a member to the party.

The process begins as a person requests membership to the party. The secretary then enters the members’ personal information especially their contact information as given by the applicant. Once the member confirms the information to be accurate the record is saved and thereby added to the membership list of MPP.

Number: UC0003

Name

Create an Election Candidate

 

 

Actors

Staff Member

 

 

Goal: To add a new Election Candidate

Use Case Relationships

 

 

Extend:

Create a Member

 

Include:

 

Associations:

 

Generalisation:

 

 

Description

 

 

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

1

Staff Member elects Member to become candidate

 

2

Staff Member contacts Member

 

3

Member confirms

 

4

Staff Member adds member to shortlist

 

5

Staff Member changes member position to EC

Alternatives

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

A 3/1

Member Disapproves

 

A 3/1.1

Staff Member elects another Member to become candidate

This system assumes that only existing members of the party are elected to become election candidates for a particular seat. A member therefore can be classified as an election candidate once their name has been added to a shortlist, which is a list of potential election candidates for a particular area.

Using this assumption a member position classification was created within the member file an as such a member may have many classifications ranging from volunteer represented as VOL and election candidate represented as EC.

Once an election candidate wins an election for a post they may be contending their position will be changed to Member of Parliament or Regional Assembly Member respectively as will be discovered.

Number: UC0004

Name

Create a Member of Parliament

 

 

Actors

Staff Member

 

 

Goal: To add a new Member of Parliament

Use Case Relationships

 

 

Extend:

Create a Member

 

Include:

 

Associations:

 

Generalisation:

 

 

Description

 

 

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

1

Candidate is voted member of parliament

 

2

Staff Member changes member position to MOP

 

Alternatives

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

A 4/1

Member Looses Election

 

A 4/1.4

Staff Member changes Member position to VOL

 

Number: UC0005

Name

Create a Regional Assembly Member

 

 

Actors

Staff Member

 

 

Goal: To add a new Regional Assembly Member

Use Case Relationships

 

 

Extend:

Create a Member

 

Include:

 

Associations:

 

Generalisation:

 

 

Description

 

 

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

1

Candidate is voted Regional Assembly Member

 

2

Staff Member changes member position to RAM

 

Alternatives

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

A 4/1

Member Looses Election

 

A 4/1.4

Staff Member changes Member position to VOL

 

Both the Create a member of parliament and Create a regional assembly member use cases rely on the Create a member use case. Once a member looses an election his position within the party is reassigned to a volunteer.

Number: UC0006

Name

Add Member to shortlist

 

 

Actors

Staff Member

 

 

Goal: To add a Member to a shortlist

Use Case Relationships

 

 

Extend:

 

Include:

 

Associations:

 

Generalisation:

 

 

Description

 

 

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

1

Member approves to become a candidate

 

2

Staff Member adds member details to shortlist

3

Staff Member changes Member position to EC

Alternatives

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

A 4/1

Member Steps Down

 

A 4/1.1

Member notifies Staff Member

 

A 4/1.2

Staff Member removes member from shortlist

A 4/1.3

Staff Member edits Member position

 

A staff member is responsible for adding a member to the shortlist thereby creating an election candidate. The shortlist is a record of potential election candidates of the MPP. Editing of the shortlist is as simple as editing a table. A staff member is responsible for this responsibility.

This use cases is used in conjunction with the Create an election candidate use case within which adding a member to a shortlist is referred to. Once a member agrees to become an election candidate their personal information is added to a list of potential candidates for a particular seat within a respective area.

Number: UC0007

Name

Contact Members

 

 

Actors

Staff Member, Secretary

 

 

Goal: To contact members of the party

Use Case Relationships

 

 

Extend:

 

Include:

 

Associations:

 

Generalisation:

 

 

Description

 

 

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

1

Staff Member/Secretary queries member details

2

Secretary/Staff Member contacts Member

 

Alternatives

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

A 7/1

Contact Unavailable

 

A 7/1.1

Contact unavailable at given contact

 

A 7/1.2

Use another form of contact given by the member

This use case shows the procedure to be undertaken when contacting a member of the party. As shown, only full time workers and secretaries contact members. There are many uses of this unit of functionality beyond the boundry of this system. The political party requires that sufficient contact information is stored on each member as individual members are relied on during the campaigning process to organise meetings and assist with advertisement.

The contact information that is stored on an individual member of the party includes a telephone contact, home mailing address and email address. The staff members as well as the secretary therefore have three options in which to utilise when contacting a member.

Number: UC0008

Name

Record Income

 

 

Actors

Staff Member

 

 

Goal: To record income generated by MPP

Use Case Relationships

 

 

Extend:

 

Include:

 

Associations:

 

Generalisation:

 

 

Description

 

 

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

1

Staff Member records Invoice Number

 

2

Staff Member records income Details

 

3

Staff Member records the ID number

 

4

Staff Member records the Amount

 

5

Staff Member records the date generated

 

Alternatives

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

A 8/1

Incorrect Record

 

A 8/1.1

Income is recorded incorrectly

 

A 8/1.2

Staff Member confirms details with Invoice

 

A 8/1.2

Staff Member edits details

 

 

The member of the party responsible for recording income will be a full time employee of the party. Since there are several offices each of which generate individual incomes there must be persons within each regional office to account for funds the party may receive, either by subscriptions received or from other sources such as donations from persons interested in supporting the party and its objectives.

The person receiving income distributes an invoice through which a record is kept of individual payments to the party. This invoice must contain all the information needed on the transaction such as what the payment was for, whether it is a subscription or donation. The invoice also contains who made the payment, how much money was paid to MPP and what date was the payment made.

In the instance of a donation a record is kept of the donor personal information so they are kept on record an assigned a donor identification number. This is to ensure full accountability of the finances reaching the party. This donor number is entered into the "ID Number" field in the income table.

Where a member pays their annual subscription to the party their member ID is stored within the same field. This ensures accountability for the transaction as well as a record of the subscription received for that individual member.

Number: UC0009

Name

Record Expenditure

 

 

Actors

Staff Member

 

 

Goal: To record expenditure incurred by MPP

Use Case Relationships

 

 

Extend:

 

Include:

 

Associations:

 

Generalisation:

 

 

Description

 

 

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

1

Staff Member records Receipt Number

 

2

Staff Member records expenditure Details

 

3

Staff Member records the ID number

 

4

Staff Member records the Amount

 

5

Staff Member records the date incurred

 

Alternatives

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

A 9/1

Incorrect Record

 

A 9/1.1

Expenditure is recorded incorrectly

 

A 9/1.2

Staff Member confirms details with receipt

 

A 9/1.3

Staff Member edits details

 

 

Full time employees are also responsible for recording the expenditure incurred by the party. The operation of any political party requires a host of expenses in which to organise and manage the party properly. The individual offices of the party will incur expenses for each office it maintains.

The main expenses that must be accounted for include payment of rent for the various offices that the party operates. Salaries must also be accounted for as MPP employs over a hundred individuals which accounts for a major portion of the party’s expenditure. A major part of any election campaign is advertising which as for MPP includes television advertising as well as leaflets that need to be distributed by the party’s members. Along with these major expenditures the party may also incur miscellaneous expenses in order to keep the offices running such as telephone bills and mailing expenses, all of these are classified as sundry expenses.

Whenever any expenditure is incurred all receipts given to the party is filed and documented. These receipts are used to document all the expenditure incurred by the party as the amount, dates and to whom payments are made are documented on the receipt. Each office, member and advertiser are assigned an ID number so that a level of accountability can be maintained as to whom payments are made.

Number: UC0010

Name

Generate Financial Report

 

 

Actors

Staff Member, Accountant

 

 

Goal: To generate a financial report for each office

Use Case Relationships

 

 

Extend:

 

Include:

 

Associations:

 

Generalisation:

 

 

Description

 

 

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

1

Staff Member/Accountant selects Financial Report table

2

Staff Member/Accountant print Financial Report

 

Alternatives

 

Index

Actor Event

 

 

A 10/1

Incorrect Report Printed

 

A 10/1.1

User selects correct report

 

A 10/1.2

User prints correct report

 

 

Each regional office is expected to produce a financial report to account for its activities. This will make for easier planning and budgeting by the national officers responsible for this such as the accounts department of the party. Therefore both party members as well as the national accountant can generate a financial report.

To ensure the legitimacy of the financial reports the political party is expected to employ an internal as well as external auditor that examines the financial reports and compares them to the income and expenditure of the party.

The financial report entails the total income generated as well as the total expenditure incurred for a particular office. These figures can be used to determine the General Reserve available for funding the party’s activities.

Activity Diagrams

An Activity Diagram shows the logical flow of data within a particular use case. The following diagrams show the Create a Member use case but in two different activity diagram formats. The first diagram shows simply the logical order in a flow chart fashion. The second diagram shows the same use case with the implication of swim lanes.

Activity Diagram Showing the Create a Member Use Case

Activity Diagram showing the Create a Member Use Case with Swim Lanes

The swim lanes are used to make a distinction between which objects is responsible for the flow of data at any point of the process.

Class Diagram

Class diagrams are used to identify the objects of the system and show how they relate to each other and their attributes. The class diagram used to analyse the objects associated with the MPP and depict their relationships with each other.

Everything is related to each other through the MPP class. It is an empty class but is there to show that the generalisation relationship exists between the Regional Office and Head Office Class and the MPP class. Most other relationships within this diagram are generalisation relationships depicted by the empty arrow head. This diagram is structured in a hierarchal format.

A generalisation relationship allows the subclasses of any parent class to inherit the properties of the parent class. This feature is also show in the diagram by the empty boxes within the Secretary, Staff Member, Accountant and HR Manager classes. This does not suggest that these classes don’t have any attributes but that they inherit the attributes of their parent class.

The other relationships depicted is; the relationship between the Staff Member class and the Income, Expenditures and Financial Report classes, and between the Accountant class and the Financial Report class. These relationships show an association relationship as the classes interact with each other on some level of their functionality.

The individual classes are explained in detail within their respective CRC card.

CRC Cards

A tool used to document the purpose and capability of a class is the CRC card. CRC stand for Class-Responsibility-Collaboration, as will be discovered, is exactly what the cards depict along with several other features of the class. The CRC cards represented in this section depict the classes identifies in the MPP system and show how they relate to each other.

Name: Regional Office

ID:1

Type: Concrete

Description

A MPP office representing a region of Contentedland

Associated Use Cases: Record Expenditure

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

 

 

Full Time Employee

 

 

Employee

 

 

 

 

 

Attributes

Relationships

Office ID

Generalisation: MPP(super class)

Region

 

Member (subclass)

Address

 

 

Donor (subclass)

Monthly Rent

 

Employee (subclass)

 

 

Aggregation:

 

 

Other Association: Full Time Employee

 

 

 

Expenditure

The regional office class is a subset of the MPP as a whole. There are several regional offices namely; Northland, Southland, Eastland, Westland and Central. Each office will possess the same characteristics as the other and as such are represented by a single regional office class within the class diagram.

Distinction between classes is possible through the attributes of the class utilised and as such can be uniquely identified. The assumption made is that the entire system is divided into regions and as such all corresponding members and records are also presented in that regional office category.

Name: Member

ID: 2

Type: Abstract

Description

A Member of MPP

Associated Use Cases: Create Member, Create an Election Candidate, Create a Member of Parliament, Create a Regional Assembly Member

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

 

 

Full Time Employee

 

 

Income

 

 

 

 

 

Attributes

Relationships

Member ID

Address

Generalisation: Regional office(concrete class)

Last Name

E-mail

Aggregation:

First Name

Office

Other Association: Full Time Employee

Title

County

 

Secretary

Date-of-Birth

Position

 

Telephone

 

 

 

 

 

 

The member class comprises all the attributes of all the members of MPP. The assumption is that, regardless of hierarchal qualification all members of the party share common attributes and inevitably are all members of the party. This assumption gives way for the "position" attribute within the member class.

A member according to the party can be a volunteer that assists the party in some way for no charge. Members are also election candidates who contend regional and national elections. The member doesn’t change their nature only their position when they are elected and become either a Member of Parliament or a Regional Assembly Member.

As such the member class depicts that it is associated with the creation of all members of the party as they relate to their appropriate use cases within the system.

Sufficient contact information is stored on members of the party as they may need to be contacted during election time when the party wishes to implement a rigorous advertising campaign. The email contact of each member may be a useful attribute as it is more efficient to send a mass email to all members than to individually contact them.

Name: Donor

ID:3

Type: Abstract

Description

A person other than a member of MPP that donates to the party

Associated Use Cases: Record Income

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

 

 

Full Time Employee

 

 

Income

 

 

 

 

 

Attributes

Relationships

Donor ID

Telephone

Generalisation: Regional Office(Abstract class)

Last Name

Address

Aggregation:

First Name

E-mail

Other Association: Full Time Employee

Title

Office

 

Income

Date-of-Birth

County

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Income is earned through subscriptions as well as through donations. People who donate to the party does not necessarily have to be a member. A person who’s interests are aligned with the policies of the party may choose to donate to their campaign in a hope that they may win the election.

Information needs to be stored on such individuals to account for the sometimes large sums of money they may give to the political party. It is also useful where the party wishes to contact these members for one reason or the other.

A Donor share similar attributes to members however as they are not members of the party they do not require a position field. However sufficient contact information is kept on these individuals so the party can always keep in touch with them.

Name: Employee

ID: 4

Type: Concrete

Description

An Employee of MPP

Associated Use Cases: Create a Staff Member

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

 

 

HR Manager

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attributes

Relationships

Employee ID

Telephone

Generalisation:

Regional Office(Abstract class)

Last Name

Address

Secretary(sub class)

First Name

E-mail

Staff Member(sub class)

Title

Office

Aggregation:

Date-of-Birth

County

Other Association: HR Manager

Position

 

 

 

 

 

 

The political party hires full time employees to coordinate their activities. These employees are classified under each regional office and withdraw a salary from the party. Employees include Staff Members whose hierarchal classification is determined within each regional office as well as Secretaries who attend to each office of MPP.

Name: Secretary

ID: 5

Type: Abstract

Description

An Employee of MPP

Associated Use Cases: Create a Member, Contact Member

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

Create a Member

Member

 

Edit Member

HR Manager

Delete Member

Staff Member

Contact Member

 

 

Attributes

Relationships

Employee ID

Telephone

Generalisation: Employee(Abstract class)

Last Name

Address

Aggregation:

First Name

E-mail

Other Association: HR Manager

Title

Office

Member

Date-of-Birth

County

Staff Member

Position

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Secretary of the party is responsibilities include contacting members as well as adding members to the party. However they can only maintain volunteer records. Staff Members are responsible for the management of the other members of the party.

Name: Staff Member

ID: 5

Type: Concrete

Description

An Employee of MPP

Associated Use Cases: Create Member, Contact Member, Add Member to Shortlist, Create an Election Candidate, Create a Regional Assembly Member, Create a Member of Parliament, Record Income, Record Expenditure, Generate Financial Report

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

Record Income

HR Manager

Record Expenditure

Secretary

 

Generate Financial Report

 

 

Add Member

 

 

Edit Member

 

 

Delete Member

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attributes

Relationships

Employee ID

Telephone

Generalisation: Employee(Abstract class)

Last Name

Address

Aggregation:

First Name

E-mail

Other Association: Income

Title

Office

Expenditure

Date-of-Birth

County

Financial Report

Position

 

HR Manager

 

 

 

Secretary

Staff members handle the brunt of the work within the party. Staff Members is a general term used to describe all the full time party workers who are employed within the regional offices of the political party. Staff members include all the party workers represented for each county of Contentedland.

The duties of these members function similarly to clerical duties within an office. These staff members are allocated duties within the office structure oven though each member is responsible for their respective county that they oversee.

Name: Head Office

ID: 6

Type: Concrete

Description

The Head Office of MPP

Associated Use Cases: Record Expenditure

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

 

 

National Officer

 

 

HR Manager

 

 

Accountant

 

 

 

 

Attributes

Relationships

Office ID

 

Generalisation: MPP (super class)

Region

 

National Officer(subclass)

Address

 

Aggregation:

Monthly Rent

Other Association: Staff Member

 

 

Expenditure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Head Office posses the same characteristics as a regional office and it functions similarly as well. The difference between the head office and the regional office aside from its geography, is the employees that it houses.

The assumption made is that the national officers within the head office function as managerial employees as would happen within a typical company. It should be structured in a way so that the ten national officers act as the managerial departments of the political party inclusive of the accounts department and the human resource department used within this scenario.

Name: Accountant

ID: 7

Type: Abstract

Description

The accountant responsible for the finances of MPP

Associated Use Cases: Generate Financial Report

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

 

 

Financial Report

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attributes

Relationships

Employee ID

Telephone

Generalisation: National Officer(concrete class)

Last Name

Address

Aggregation:

First Name

E-mail

Other Association: Financial Report

Title

Office

 

Date-of-Birth

County

 

Position

 

 

 

 

 

 

The accountant of the MPP is housed within the head office of the party. The accountant has the duty of managing the finances of MPP. The accountant is also responsible for generating the financial reports that are to be audited to produce a tax figure which the party must incur annually. This expenditure is classified as a sundry expense and must be accounted for within the finances of the party.

The accountant is also responsible for ensure that proper control procedures are in place in terms of managing money the party receives. After all he is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the financial records and ensuring that they are in good standing with the laws of the country.

Name: HR Manager

ID: 8

Type: Abstract

Description

The HR Manager of MPP

Associated Use Cases: Create a Staff Member

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

Add Employee

Employee

 

Edit Employee

 

 

Delete Employee

 

 

 

 

 

Attributes

Relationships

Employee ID

Telephone

Generalisation: National Officer(concrete class)

Last Name

Address

Aggregation:

First Name

E-mail

Other Association: Employee

Title

Office

Accountant

Date-of-Birth

County

 

Position

 

 

 

 

 

 

In keeping with the assumption, the HR Manager is classified under the head office as this position is a managerial role. The human resource manager holds the same attributes as any other employee of MPP how ever his duties implicate him to be the one to manage the records of all the employees of the party.

Name: Income

ID: 9

Type: Abstract

Description

Revenue generated by MPP

Associated Use Cases: Record Income

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

Print

 

Staff Member

Display

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attributes

Relationships

Invoice Number

Generalisation:

Income Details

 

Aggregation:

ID Number

 

Other Association: Staff Member

Amount

Financial Report

Date Generated

 

 

 

 

 

Income is generated through two sources in the party. The attributes of income allow for any sort of income to be documented, whether it is a subscription received from a member or a donation given to the party. A staff member is responsible for recording income into the system. The summation of the income table is exported to the financial report to form the net income figure.

Name: Expenditure

ID: 10

Type: Abstract

Description

Expenditure incurred by MPP

Associated Use Cases: Record Expenditure

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

Print

 

Staff Member

Display

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attributes

Relationships

Receipt Number

Generalisation:

Expenditure Details

Aggregation:

ID Number

 

Other Association: Staff Member

Amount

Financial Report

Date Incurred

 

 

 

 

 

Expenditure is incurred from several means. A Staff Member is responsible for accounting for all receipts that an office receives as a result of incurring an expense. The summation of the expenditure table is transferred to the financial report to form the net expenditure figure.

Name: Financial Report

ID: 11

Type: Abstract

Description

A Report summarising the finances of MPP

Associated Use Cases: Generate Financial Report

 

 

Responsibilities

Collaborators

Print

 

Staff Member

Display

 

Accountant

 

 

Income

 

 

 

Expenditure

 

Attributes

Relationships

Report ID

 

Generalisation:

Net Income

Aggregation:

Net Expenditure

Other Association: Staff Member

General Reserve

Accountant

Date Generated

Income

 

 

Expenditure

 

 

 

 

A Financial report is generated for each office of the party. The financial report includes the Net Income and Net Expenditure figures. A financial report is generated after a particular period of time, more commonly a financial year.

The summation of financial reports received from all offices provides an idea of the general reserve available for the party. This figure is the budgeted figure used to fund further activities of the party and would operate similarly to profit.

The persons capable of generating a financial report include a staff member as well as the accountant. Staff members must be assigned the duty of generating a financial report because a report must be generated for individual offices. This requirement means that there will be several different reports. This must be structured in this way in order for individual offices to account for their activities.

The accountant must be able to generate a report because he must have some degree of measure when budgeting finances as well as when he is criticizing the integrity of the financial records.

Communication Diagram

Communication diagrams show the logical flow of information within a given use case. These diagrams are responsible for enacting the duties of each actor as well as the objects they interact with.

Communication diagram showing the Creating a Member Use Case

The actors involved with this process include the person requesting membership to the political party as well as the secretary who carries out facilitates the transferral of the personal information of the potential member to the system. The steps of this process include;

A person requests membership

The secretary creates a new member record

The secretary confirms the persons information to be accurate

The person is added as a member on the membership list

Creating an Election Candidate

The actors involved in creating an election candidate are include the Member, who is actually becoming the election candidate, as well as a staff member who coordinates the election. The staff member is responsible for selecting a member from the membership list and requesting that they become an election candidate. This steps of this process include;

A Staff Member selects a member from the Membership List to become a potential election candidate.

That Staff Member contact the member informing them they are a potential candidate

Member agrees to becoming a potential election candidate

Staff Member changes Member Position to "EC" suggesting they are an election candidate

Staff Member adds Member to the Election Candidate shortlist.

B Sequence

A Sequence diagram is used to show the logical flow of data in terms of processing time per action compared to the process as a whole. Sequence diagrams employ actors as well as objects and depict the length of time each actor takes to do an operation including what operation they are doing.

Sequence Diagram for the Use Case Create an Election Candidate

This diagram graphically represents the actor events within the description of the use case compiling the use case specification. This shows that the staff member is the main actor as they are operational through the entire sequence in one fashion or another.

Sequence Diagram for the Use Case Create a Member

This sequence diagram shows the process as defined within the use case specification of the Create a Member Use case. The four actor events are divided between the Secretary and a Person requesting membership. This diagram goes through the sequence of events leading up to a Person becoming a Member of the MPP.

C State machine

State Machine diagrams show how a single class changes state as events occur over time. The sate of a class is represented by the oval shaped boxes and the lines depict the various forms the single class may undertake.

Once a person is granted membership they become a regular member of the party. They can hold this position until they leave the party. Once they hold a regular member position they are considered to be a volunteer and assigned the position "VOL".

A Member can be selected to contend an election once this happens their state changes from member to Election Candidate. The event responsible for this change is the member being added to a shortlist.

If the member looses the election they go back to being a regular member. If they win their election they can be elected either a Member of Parliament or a Regional Assembly Member. Should a member be elected a Member of Parliament they incarnate that state and are assigned the position "MOP." An Election Candidate elected a Regional Assembly Member they take up that state and are assigned the position "RAM."

a. Searching for the Election candidates for a particular county

Print screen showing the design view of the election candidate query. Since election candidates are members of the system the query needs to be designed to search the membership list for all the members who are election candidates. This is done by inserting "EC" into the criteria row of the position column.

The query must also show that they belong to a particular county. The county being searched for election candidates is within the central land region. Each region is divided into counties number one to ten. The county being queried is county ten within centraland. Therefore "C10" is entered into the criteria row under the county column.

Print screens showing the election candidates for the county C10

b. Editing Member Details

Print screen of Mrs. Carol Andrew of #17 Singh Trace, Central. In the instance where Mrs. Andrew has a change of residence the member record may need to be edited.

Mrs. Andrew moved to #22 Bim Bim Road, Northland. This is a totally different region in Contented land. As such Mrs. Andrew’s details need to be edited as such. Not only will her address field change but also her ID because Identification numbers are distributed according to region. He County will also change as well as the office in which she interacts with.

c. Adding a new Member

Print screen showing the form used to enter member details into the system

Screen shot showing the form filled and the save button to be selected.

d. Listing the party’s MP showing where they were elected.

Print screen showing the design view of the query used to search for all election candidates. The assumption is that candidates only go up for election within the county in which they reside.

Print screen showing all the members of parliament along with their counties.

Normalisation

UNF

MPP

Employee ID

Employee Last Name

Employee First Name

Employee Title

Employee Telephone

Employee Address

Employee Date-of Birth

Employee Region

Employee County

Employee email

Employee Position

Member ID

Member Last Name

Member First Name

Member Title

Member Date-of-Birth

Member Telephone

Member Address

Member email

Member Region

Member County

Member Position

Donor ID

Donor Last Name

Donor First Name

Donor Title

Donor Date-of-Birth

Donor Telephone

Donor Address

Donor email

Donor Region

Donor County

Office ID

Office Region

Office Address

Monthly Rent

 

 

Report ID

Net Income

Net Expenditure

General Reserve

Date Generated

Invoice Number

Income Details

Income ID Number

Amount Received

Date Received

Receipt Number

Expenditure Details

Expenditure ID Number

Amount Paid

Date Incurred

1nf

Region

Employee ID

Employee Last Name

Employee First Name

Employee Title

Employee Telephone

Employee Address

Employee Date-of Birth

Employee Region

Employee County

Employee email

Employee Position

Member ID

Member Last Name

Member First Name

Member Title

Member Date-of-Birth

Member Telephone

Member Address

Member email

Member Region

Member County

Member Position

Donor ID

Donor Last Name

Donor First Name

Donor Title

Donor Date-of-Birth

Donor Telephone

Donor Address

Donor email

Donor Region

Donor County

Office ID

Office Region

Office Address

Monthly Rent

Staff-Financial Report

Employee ID

Report ID

Net Income

Net Expenditure

General Reserve

Date Generated

Income-Financial Report

Report ID

Invoice Number

Income Details

Income ID Number

Amount Received

Date Received

Expenditure-Financial Report

Report ID

Receipt Number

Expenditure Details

Expenditure ID Number

Amount Paid

Date Incurred

2nf

Region

Employee ID

Employee Last Name

Employee First Name

Employee Title

Employee Telephone

Employee Address

Employee Date-of Birth

Employee Region

Employee County

Employee email

Employee Position

Member ID

Member Last Name

Member First Name

Member Title

Member Date-of-Birth

Member Telephone

Member Address

Member email

Member Region

Member County

Member Position

Donor ID

Donor Last Name

Donor First Name

Donor Title

Donor Date-of-Birth

Donor Telephone

Donor Address

Donor email

Donor Region

Donor County

Office ID

Office Region

Office Address

Monthly Rent

Income

Invoice Number

Income Details

Income ID Number

Amount Received

Date Received

Staff-Financial Report

Employee ID

Report ID

Financial Report

Report ID

Net Income

Net Expenditure

General Reserve

Date Generated

Expenditure-Financial Report

Report ID

Receipt Number

Expenditure

Receipt Number

Expenditure Details

Expenditure ID Number

Amount Paid

Date Incurred

Income-Financial Report

Report ID

Invoice Number

3NF

Employee

Employee ID

Employee Last Name

Employee First Name

Employee Title

Employee Telephone

Employee Address

Employee Date-of Birth

Employee Region

Employee County

Employee email

Employee Position

Donor

Donor ID

Donor Last Name

Donor First Name

Donor Title

Donor Date-of-Birth

Donor Telephone

Donor Address

Donor email

Donor Region

Donor County

Office

Office ID

Office Region

Office Address

Monthly Rent

Member

Member ID

Member Last Name

Member First Name

Member Title

Member Date-of-Birth

Member Telephone

Member Address

Member email

Member Region

Member County

Member Position

Financial Report

Report ID

Net Income

Net Expenditure

General Reserve

Date Generated

Staff-Financial Report

Employee ID

Report ID

 

Expenditure-Financial Report

Report ID

Receipt Number

 

Expenditure

Receipt Number

Expenditure Details

Expenditure ID Number

Amount Paid

Date Incurred

Income-Financial Report

Report ID

Invoice Number

 

Income

Invoice Number

Income Details

Income ID Number

Amount Received

Date Received

B. Data Dictionary

Data Dictionary

Title:

System:

MPP

Document:

Name:

Income

Sheet:

1

Type

Structure

Name: Income

Alias: Revenue

Definition:

Income= Invoice Number +

Income Details +

ID Number +

Amount +

Date Generated

Occurrence:

Every time income is generated

Picture:

Notes:

Author:

RB

Date:

25/01/10

Data Dictionary

Title:

System:

MPP

Document:

Name:

Income

Sheet:

2

Type:

Element

Name:

Invoice Number

Alias:

Income number

Transaction Number

Definition:

The primary key of the income table. It uniquely identifies every transaction that occurs which attract income to the MPP.

Occurrence:

Every time income is generated

Picture:

Format: Text

Field Size: 7

Notes:

Every income transaction demands a new invoice number. There can never have a duplicate invoice number.

Author:

RB

Date:

25/01/10

Data Dictionary

Title:

System:

MPP

Document:

Name:

Income

Sheet:

3

Type

Element

Name: Income Details

Alias:

Details

Income

Generated From

Definition:

The reason for the income transaction

Occurrence:

Every time income is generated

Picture:

Format: Text

Field Size: 30

Notes:

An entry must occur here to make record of what reason income is being recorded. Income can come from subscriptions received from employees or from donations made to the party.

Author:

RB

Date:

25/01/10

Data Dictionary

Title:

System:

MPP

Document:

Name:

Income

Sheet:

4

Type

Element

Name: ID Number

Alias: Received from

Definition:

The identification number of a person who pays money to the party

Occurrence:

Every time income is generated

Picture:

Format: Text

Field Size: 7

Notes:

Every individual who give money to the party is allocated a record within the database. Existing members already have an identification number so as such that number is entered in the field. Should the person giving money to the party not be a member they are recorded as a donor and assigned a Donor ID

Author:

RB

Date:

25/01/10

Data Dictionary

Title:

System:

MPP

Document:

Name:

Income

Sheet:

5

Type

Element

Name:

Amount

Alias:

Definition:

Occurrence:

Every time income is generated

Picture:

Format: Currency

Notes:

The quantitative amount of money involved within an individual transaction

Author:

RB

Date:

25/01/10

Data Dictionary

Title:

System:

MPP

Document:

Name:

Income

Sheet:

6

Type

Element

Name: Date Generated

Alias:

Definition:

Occurrence:

Every time income is generated

Picture:

Notes:

The date that the transaction occurred

Author:

RB

Date:

25/01/10

Data Dictionary

Title:

System:

MPP

Document:

Name:

Office

Sheet:

7

Type

Structure

Name: Office

Alias:

-

Definition:

Office = Office ID +

Region +

Address +

Monthly Rent +

Occurrence:

Picture:

Notes:

There is a Regional office located within every region of Contentedland and a Head Office in the nations capital

Author:

RB

Date:

25/01/10

Data Dictionary

Title:

System:

MPP

Document:

Name:

Office

Sheet:

8

Type

Element

Name: Office ID

Alias:

Office Number

Definition:

The Primary key of the Office table. It uniquely identifies an individual MPP office

Occurrence:

One ID number is distributed for every Office

Picture:

Format: Text

Field Size: 7

Notes:

Author:

RB

Date:

25/01/10

Data Dictionary

Title:

System:

MPP

Document:

Name:

Office

Sheet:

9

Type

Element

Name: Region

Alias:

-

Definition:

The region in which the office is situated

Occurrence:

Each office record must include a record of a Region

Picture:

Format: Text

Field Size: 9

Notes:

There are five regions of contented land namely; Northland, Southland, Eastland, Westland and Central

Author:

RB

Date:

25/01/10

Data Dictionary

Title:

System:

MPP

Document:

Name:

Office

Sheet:

10

Type

Element

Name: Address

Alias:

Location

Definition:

The geographical location of the office

Occurrence:

Each office record has a record for address

Picture:

Format: Text

Field Size: 50

Notes:

Author:

RB

Date:

25/01/10

Data Dictionary

Title:

System:

MPP

Document:

Name:

Office

Sheet:

11

Type

Element

Name: Monthly Rent

Alias:

Rent

Definition:

The rent expense incurred from occupying an office per month

Occurrence:

Every office has a rent per month figure within its record

Picture:

Format: Currency

Notes:

Rent is an expense paid from the party and is incurred per month. Every office has a rent per month figure which it incurs.

Author:

RB

Date:

25/01/10

Task 7

Object oriented analysis and design is the newer approach to developing systems. Object orientation revolves around the idea of representing real life objects as physical objects in the analysis and design stages. Object oriented development is classified as a language and there are many languages available. The language used within this assignment is the Unified Modelling Language more commonly known as UML.

UML enables designers and developers to build a system in the perspective of the components rather than the structure. Systems are built by in visioning objects and grouping them according to functionality and relationships. This means that the structure is determined by the components and how they interact with each other.

Advantages of Object Oriented Analysis and Design include the ease in which complex relationships can be depicted, as well as, it offers a method of communicating these complex ideas between technical and non-technical users. This method also proves a seamless flow between the analysis and design stages of the development.

The use of object oriented analysis more so UML within tasks one through three allowed for complex ideas to be easily mapped and manipulated. The methodology allows for the structure of MPP to be generalised into diagrams. The object oriented tools examined within task one provided the basis for the structure of the entire system developed as well as provided an idea of the functionality of that system.

Use case diagrams ensured that each unit of functionality of the system be critically thought out including the people who are capable and responsible for operating these functions of the system. The use case specification showed each unit of functionality in greater detail and demanded that real life systems or actor events be developed to carry out the process required for the system. Alternative courses of action were also considered. The activity diagrams considered the logical flow of control throughout the system

Class diagrams is another useful tool within the object oriented arsenal. In task two class diagrams were used to show the relationships between objects within the MPP system. Classes aim at defining the objects in terms of their attributes and characteristics. These classes also show what each object is capable of doing and the relationship to other object to which they may form some sort of relationship.

The communication and sequence diagrams add to the rigidity of the analysis process as the system is examined literally through time and space. The communication diagram show how the flow of data is transferred between object in terms of space and literal order of events. The sequence diagrams uses the a similar flow of information as the communication diagram but it depicts the proportionate time an event will take in terms of the entire unit of functionality.

In general OOAD was easy to use and made the analysis and design of the system generally simple to produce.

SSADM

The structured system analysis and design method has been utilised by software developers for several years. The methodology uses words as well as diagrams to convey ideas of a systems’ architecture. SSADM uses three techniques to design systems and to provide different views of the system namely; Logical Data Design, Data Flow Modelling and Entity Behaviour Modelling.

Logical data design depicts the ideas of a particular project and encompasses all the attributes and participating entities of the system to be designed. These diagrams include entity relationship diagrams (ERD) and data flow diagrams (DFD). Data flow design represent how data logically flows throughout the system, again a DFD is useful at this stage. Entity behaviour modelling depict how the system is suppose to respond when certain events come into play and is produced in a documented form.

The methodology is designed in such a way that all three documents are integrated to depict the functionality of the system. This type of modelling is made to mimic the waterfall model, in that, emphasis is placed on procedural design of the system. There are different versions of SSADM but the preferred version consist of five stages; Feasibility Study, Requirements Analysis, Requirements Specification, Logical System Specification and Physical Design.

Advantages of this methodology include achieving a sense of a timescale as this method allows for planning to be implemented and as such a clear understanding of the timeline can be appreciated. This planning can also result in better quality, greater efficiency in production and as such can be cost effective in that manner.

Disadvantages SSADM may suffer is from the extensiveness of planning that the model calls for. This may mean for some business an agonisingly long period of time and can be beyond the prescribed budget for the project.