Tasks to be undertaken:
I.E. two class diagrams and two communication diagrams.
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Swift Distribution Ltd. (SDL) is a medium-sized haulage company specialising in collecting and delivering goods for customers throughout England, Scotland and Wales. Â It is trying to survive in difficult industry conditions, competing against larger haulage firms and within an environment of rising fuel costs and heavy taxation. Â By providing an efficient service and personal attention, the company has built up a stable customer base. The owners of SDL are concerned that their market share is under threat; larger haulage firms are able to offer more competitive prices and the fast and efficient service is being compromised by road congestion. They have recognised that the company needs to hold down costs by seeking to save fuel and to save time by having available better, quality information about road conditions, while maintaining their reputation for personal and friendly service. Â
In addition to taking these measures they have sought to enter into agreements with larger business partners in order to achieve stability in their customer base. In recent months a contract has been agreed with a company called Home Electronics Co-Operative (HECO). This is an organisation which acts for independent electronics retailers allowing the bulk purchase of electrical goods which enables them to buy electrical goods at prices competitive with those of the big bulk buyers such as department stores and the high street chains. HECO also records stock kept at the independent retailersâ premises which allows them to hold lower stock levels and to fulfil orders by âborrowingâ stock from the other retailers when they have sold out of particular items. SDLâs role in this agreement is to provide for HECO the collection of stock from the warehouses of the national electrical distributors and to deliver it to the independent retailers. They will also collect and deliver the inter-retailer âstock loansâ.
To achieve these ends the owners of SDL have decided to invest in a new integrated information system to replace the current disparate customer, order, driver and vehicle management systems. The new system will be required to maintain records of current customers and the business they generate, including the production of invoices and management of customer accounts. Â Additionally, the new partnership with HECO necessitates the new SDL system will be required to download independent retailer records from the HECO system together with details of collections and deliveries from distribution warehouses and retailers; and from retailer to retailer. It will also maintain records of the haulage vehicles, including taxation, maintenance and mechanical faults reported by drivers. Â It will also need to maintain driver records (although the payroll will continue to be contracted out); this will include personnel records, license information and driving hours. Â
The main innovations for the new system will include a business to business (B2B) link between the SDL servers and the HECO servers in order to transfer stock collection and delivery information; and a GPS-based (global positioning system) logistics system to optimise vehicle routing and save both fuel and time. It is envisaged that requests for stock originating from retailers are sent to HECO; the nearest associate retailer holding that stock item is located; and the location of the âdonorâ and ârecipientâ retailers together with stock item details are to be transferred to the SDL servers. From here this information is to be immediately transmitted to an appropriate driver for collection and delivery. By using a GPS the head office could know the location of every vehicle at each point in time. Putting this together with information about the loads each vehicle is carrying and the loads they are scheduled to pick up and deliver, work could be dynamically re-scheduled and drivers directed to the appropriate place to make the most efficient use of the vehicle fleet. Â Added to this, information about road conditions could be used to inform drivers what route they should take and what trouble spots to avoid, thus shortening journey times. Â
The following staff roles have been identified as users of the proposed system:
Customer Service Staff are primarily responsible for dealing with SDLâs customers. They create delivery job records; create/maintain customer records; record card payment details; and can track parcels. It is envisaged that in the new system they will also be responsible for downloading the HECO delivery list. At very busy times they may also assist the Finance Clerk in sending out invoices to business customers.
The Finance Clerk has responsibility for dealing with customer payments. For business customers (including HECO) this involves sending out invoices and processing invoice payments; and for individual members of the public who use the SDL courier service in involves processing their card payments.
Logistic planners are responsible for creating the delivery schedules for each truckâs daily deliveries. They will need to download the HECO delivery list to facilitate this. Where a âcollect and deliverâ request comes from HECO they will identify individual trucks and modify its schedule to incorporate this job.
The Fleet Manager ensures that the trucks are roadworthy and so is responsible for the maintenance of the truck service record. Other responsibilities include the maintenance of driver records; the allocation of a specific truck to a specific driver; and in order to ensure drivers stay within the legal limits for working, for the checking of odometer readings.
Drivers are issued with networked handheld devices so that they may update the status of consignments dynamically. They are responsible for setting the start of their driving period; setting the end of the driving period; recording job collections and job deliveries; and acknowledging schedule modifications.
The following is an outline of the functionality that it is thought will be needed to be provided by the proposed computer system.
1 |
Create Delivery Job Record Poly Styrene, who is a member of the Customer Service staff, receives a phone call from Johnny Rotten a member of the public (individual customer) and wishes to create a delivery job record for the collection of a guitar to be delivered to Sid Vicious.  To do this she will need to:- · Enter the customer number in order to retrieve Johnnyâs details. · Check that the collection address is correct (or enter a new one if necessary) · Enter the delivery address · Note the number, size and weight of the parcel(s) in the consignment. · Record new payment card details (if necessary). · Confirm entry complete when prompted.  |
2 |
Create Customer Record Poly Styrene, finds that Johnny Rotten isnât a registered customer so will need to create a customer record for him.  To do this she will need to:- · Check to see if a customer record exists for Johnny. · Enter required customer details (name, address, tele number, email address etc.). · Request send email with customer number for Johnny to use for online registration (if he requires to track his parcel). · Confirm entry complete when prompted.  |
3 |
Record Job delivery Lewis Hamilton a driver wishes to record the delivery to Adeleâs World of Electronics (an independent retailer) of a consignment of parcels that were collected from the East Midlands Electrical Distributorâs Depot.  To do this he will need to:- · Browse the delivery schedule to identify the appropriate delivery job. · Set the delivery status to âdeliveredâ. · Ask Adele (or her representative) to sign for the delivery (using the handheld device). · Confirm entry complete when prompted  |
4 |
Check Odometer Readings Judy Dench, the Fleet Manager, wishes to check the odometer records taken from James Bondâs truck against the recorded driving hours he has done on a particular day. To do this she will need to:- · Enter his James Bondâs driver number and retrieve his list of driving hours for a specified date. · Check the recorded hours against the odometer hours. · Enter corrected hours taken from the odometer, if necessary. · Confirm entry complete when prompted  |
5 |
Modify Truck Schedule Lil Wayne (Logistics Planner) has downloaded a request from the HECO system for two parcels to be collected from Lady Gaga Electronics Discount to be delivered Adeleâs World of Electronics (an inter-retailer stock loan). To do this he will need to:- · Enter Lady Gagaâs Electronic Discount/Adeleâs World of Electronics post codes. · Identify nearest suitable truck. · Check that the collection point can be incorporated into the truck schedule at a suitable point. · Add consignment collection and (if possible) delivery points to schedule. · Confirm and transmit schedule modification. |
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Create Customer Record Poly Styrene, finds that Johnny Rotten isnât a registered customer so will need to create a customer record for him.  To do this she will need to:- · Check to see if a customer record exists for Johnny. · Enter required customer details (name, address, tele number, email address etc.). · Request send email with customer number for Johnny to use for online registration (if he requires to track his parcel). · Confirm entry complete when prompted.  |
2 |
Record Job delivery Lewis Hamilton a driver wishes to record the delivery to Adeleâs World of Electronics (an independent retailer) of a consignment of parcels that were collected from the East Midlands Electrical Distributorâs Depot.  To do this he will need to:- · Browse the delivery schedule to identify the appropriate delivery job. · Set the delivery status to âdeliveredâ. · Ask Adele (or her representative) to sign for the delivery (using the handheld device). · Confirm entry complete when prompted |