Cyber Systems Analyst

System Requirements Document

Authors: Anthony Hankins, John McGuire, Stephen Walton,
Joshua Carnahan, Christopher Braziel
November 15, 2016

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1. Summary of Purpose and Primary Objectives
The College of Southern Maryland has a system in place for determining which
textbooks to use for any given semester and for getting these textbooks approved
for purchase. Once approved, textbooks are placed on order by the campus
bookstore.

A system request was submitted for immediate attention in developing a new,

more streamlined and less manually-intensive system for textbook approval.
Ideally, the adopted solution will save time and reduce user frustration with the
current system.

The purpose of this project was to act on this system request by reviewing the
current system with the primary objective of determining a path for
improvements while remaining within resource constraints for time, cost and
funding.

2. Findings
CBA analysts found that there are already substantial hardware and software
assets in place that may be leveraged to make meaningful improvements to the
current system. There are two approaches that can be used—a Build Option or
Ready-Made Option. Looking forward, both options are equally scalable.

Build option:
● 3a. Advantages:
The Build Option is based on the use of existing database software
(Microsoft Access). The primary advantage to the Build Option is that the
database will be constructed from the “ground-up”. User involvement and
input in the building process usually results in a friendlier system in which
users feel more involved and capable.
o 3a1. Tangible benefits:

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 Tangible benefits for the Build Option include the user-generated
improvements to the database system. A build option would allow
users to provide valuable input, thus improving the structural logic of
the system. Since both options leverage the same existing software
and hardware available, there are no dollar savings.
o 3a2. Intangible benefits:
Intangible benefits for the Build Option cannot be expressed in terms
of dollars, but in the case of this option, an intangible benefit is the
possible increase in user satisfaction that could be realized by having
them participate directly in the design and selection of report layouts
and formatting (fonts, colors, etc.).

● 3b. Disadvantages of this option:

The primary disadvantage of this option is that it will take time and effort
(thus, money) to produce the tables, queries, forms and reports required.

● 3c. Costs:
o Labor Costs:
It is estimated that each table, report, query and form will take, on
average, five hours to build and check out. At $200/hr, this will run
$20,000 ($200/hr x 20 objects x 5 hours). Detailed time and cost
reports and future estimates can be found below in the Time and
Cost Estimates section.
o Training Costs:
Cyber Systems Analysts will be hosting a training program where our
pay will be approximately $60/hour for three hours. The training
aspect of our project will total out to be $180. Since the Build Option
uses existing software, the 3 hours allocated for training is sufficient
and is assumed to be the same as the Free Option.
o Other Costs:
Any other costs are expected to be a “wash” with the costs
associated with the Free Option.
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Ready-made software option:
● 3d. Advantages:
The primary advantage of the Free Option is that useable tables, queries,
forms and reports are already built, saving labor and time. The system has
also already been tested by the original developers and multiple users on
the Internet.
o 3d1. Tangible benefits:
The tangible benefit realized with this option is cost avoidance of
having to start from scratch. This results in an expected savings of
$20,000.
o 3d2. Intangible benefits:
Intangible benefits include the fact that this can be fielded almost
immediately, allowing CSM several additional months to test and
acclimate to the new system.

● 3e. Disadvantages:
The primary disadvantage with this option is the loss of user participation in
the design and selection of structural design, layouts and formatting (fonts,
colors, etc.), and additional features. Additionally, the database must be
checked and tested to guarantee file integrity, as well as proper referential
integrity and design implementations.

● 3f. Costs:
o Labor Costs:
As the ready-made option provides software that is pre-built and
immediately applicable, labor costs would be greatly reduced.
Currently the estimated cost of labor has been estimated to be about
$56,800 by the end of our project. Detailed time and cost reports and
future estimates can be found below in the Time and Cost Estimates
section.
o Training Costs:

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 Cyber Systems Analysts will be hosting a training program at a cost of
$60/hour for three hours. The training aspect of our project will total
out to be $180. Since the Free Option uses existing software, the 3
hours allocated for training is sufficient and is assumed to be the
same as the Build Option.
o Other Costs:
Any other costs are expected to be a “wash” with the costs
associated with the Build Option.

3. Recommendations
● 3a. Recommended Option
After analyzing both options, either of the Build and Free Options offer
nearly identical functionality and improvements to the existing system. CSA
recommends the ready-made option to best suit the needs of CSM. The
current system in place has multiple inefficiency issues that could be solved
by replacing and updating the system with a pre-built Access Database.

● 3b. Rationale
A pre-built system would provide a cost savings benefit compared to the
originally implemented system; as the ready-made option provides
software that is pre-built and immediately applicable.

● 3c. Economic feasibilities

Using a pre-built option would eliminate the need for excessive physical
work, leading to an overall drastic decrease in costs and required
manpower. It also provides a conduit for expansion and ensures that the
system will scale accordingly if CSM decides to create additional divisions
and courses.
● 3d. Technical feasibilities
All provided computers are wired in via the campus network interface
Colleague, which will be able to input directly into the access database.
Also considering that all CSM IT personnel are professionally trained in
multiple software platforms, proves that this is technically feasible.

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 ● 3e. Operational feasibilities
Currently, all stakeholders to the current system in place, support the act of
abolishing and replacing it with a much more new and improved system;
one that can increase both time and cost efficiency as well as bring up
employee morale. Our program will be able to allow Course Managers as
well as Division Chairs, a much easier method of textbook approval. This
system would allow for a user-friendly interface that is both easy-to-use
and easy-to-learn. Given this, there are no conflicts or legal concerns
around this new system.

4. Time and Cost Estimates

● 4a. Cost to Date
Labor costs will include labor for the programming of the system and the
installation; CBA personnel will be paid a wage of $200 per hour for our work
spanning the duration of the creation and implementation process.
Currently, CBA personnel has accumulated 204 hours of effort at an average
wage of $200 per hour for our work, totaling $40,800. As this is a 15-week
project, the following weeks are estimated to produce 80 hours of labor.
With this data, we estimate a budget of $56,800 for the cost of our
programming and implementation of the newly spoken software. Adding this
to the cost of the training program and we estimate a total of $56,980. Of
course, as some of the members of our group work for more hours and some
less, these are not exact numbers but are based on current averages.
The following table summarizes the current labor costs:

Current Labor Costs

Employee Anthony John Stephen Joshua Christopher
: Hankins McGuire Walton Carnahan Braziel
Week 1 6 5 4 3.5 -
Week 2 2.5 5 3 3.5 -
Week 3 5 5 2.5 3.5 -
Week 4 4 5 3 3 0.5
Week 5 5 5 3 3 6

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 Week 6 3 5 3 3 5
Week 7 4 5 3 3 5
Week 8 4 5 3 3 5
Week 9 3 5 3 3 5
Week 10 4 5 3 3 5
Week 11 4 5 3 3 5
Total Hours: 44.5 55 33.5 34.5 36.5

● 4b. Estimation of Final Costs through the End of Semester

The following table summarizes the estimated future labor costs through the
end of the semester:

Estimated Future Labor Costs

Employee Anthony John Stephen Joshua Christopher
: Hankins McGuire Walton Carnahan Braziel
Week 12 4 5 3 3 5
Week 13 4 5 3 3 5
Week 14 4 5 3 3 5
Week 15 4 5 3 3 5
Total Hours: 16 20 12 12 20

● 4c. Training Costs

Cyber Systems Analysts will be hosting a training program where our pay will
be approximately $60/hour for three hours. The training aspect of our
project will total out to be $180.

● 4d. Time Estimates

The new information system is due to CSM by 9 December 2016. CSM plans
to test this new system in Spring of 2017. During the Summer 2017, training
sessions will be conducted for the users inside the academic divisions and for
technicians in the information technology support group. Training will occur
in late Summer 2017 and the new system should go live in Fall 2017.

5. Expected Benefits
The kind of benefits that we at CBA are going to implement includes a vast
simplification of the current tedious process of textbook acceptance; this is
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achieved through a manufactured system that will allow authorized users,
specifically Course Managers, direct access to updated publisher textbooks and
currently accepted textbooks provided by the Division Chair. This will be an
incredible improvement of efficiency and time consumption when compared to
the dated method of requiring physically transported paper forms.