Srs of Library Management

| |Software Requirements Specification | For A-Flex Automated Library Management System Version 1. 2 Prepared by A-FLEX Group |Jude Marlon B. Alegro |111694 |[email  protected] com | |Arnel G. Abagua |082198 |[email  protected] com | |Jun Jun G. Abanag |102206 |[email  protected] om | |Ronaldo R. Arbes |061491 |[email  protected] com | |Amado C. Tan |101078 |[email  protected] com | | | | | |Instructor: |Prescilla F.Catalan | |Course & Year: |BS in Information Technology 3 | |Schedule: |TTH 7:30 – 9:00 AM | |Date: |April 16, 2013 | | | | Table of Contents title pagei table of contentsii table of figuresiii Revisionsiv 1Introduction5 1. 1Document Purpose5 1. 2Product Scope5 1. Definitions, Acronyms and Abbreviations5 1. 4References6 1. 5Overview6 2Overall Description7 2. 1Product Perspective7 2. 2Product Functionality8 2. 3Users and Characteristics8 2. 4Operating Environment9 2. 5Design and Implementation Constraints9 2. 6User Documentation10 2. 7Assumptions and Depen dencies10 3Specific Requirements11 3. 1External Interface Requirements11 3. 1. 1User Interfaces†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 14 3. 1. 2Hardware Interfaces†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 14 3. 1. 3Software Interfaces†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 14 3. 1. 4Communication Interfaces†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 15 3. 2Functional Requirements†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 15 3. 2. 1Librarian Use Cases†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5 3. 2. 2Clerk Use Cases†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 19 3. 2. 3Borrower Use Cases†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 24 4Other Non-functional Requirements27 4. 1Performance Requirements27 4. 2Safety and Security Requirements27 4. 3Software Quality Attributes28 4. 3. 1Functionality†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 28 4. 3. Usability†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 28 4. 3. 3Reliability†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 28 4. 3. 4Supportability†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 28 Appendix A – Data Dictionary. 30 Appendix B – Group Log. 31 InDEX. 33 Table of Figures Figure 1 Context diagram7 Figure 2 Operating environment9 Figure 3 Main interface11Figure 4 Logging station for Librarian12 Figure 5 Clerk station for connection13 Figure 6 Clerk station14 Librarian Use Cases15 Log in†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 15 Log out†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 16 Search book†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 6 Issue book†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 17 Update database†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 18 Clerk Use Cases19 Log in†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 19 Log out†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 9 Search book †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 20 Issue book†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 21 Return book†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 21 Add book†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 2 Update database†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 23 Borrower Use Cases24 Log in†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 24 Borrow book†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 24 Retu rn book†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 5 Revisions |Version |Primary Author(s) |Description of Version |Date Completed | |1. 2 |Jun Jun G. Abanag, Jude |The revision of this SRS was done by request. Error |04/16/13 | | |Marlon B. Alegro |corrections to some parts of the document were needed to fully| | | | |complete an accurate Software Requirements Specification.Some| | | | |specified features were removed because it was uncompleted due| | | | |to lack of time and preparation. Some small details in | | | | |chapters were also corrected and Content page was revised. | | | | |Finally, to finish the SRS, then Appendix B and Index were | | | | |added. | Introduction 1 Document Purpose This Software Requirements Specification will provide a c omplete description of all the functions and specifications of the project, A-Flex Automated Library Management System. It will explain the purpose and the features of the system, the interface of the system, what the system will do, the constraints under which it must operate and how the system will react to external stimuli. This document is intended for both of the stakeholders and the developers of the system and will be proposed to the College Library of Samar College. Product Scope The A-Flex Automated Library Management System will be designed for the librarian, the staff and clerks and especially for the students of SC Library to maximize their productivity by providing tools to assist in automating the: production and transaction; logging in; monitoring materials; borrowing and returning of books and other library materials; assessing the overdue; inventorying; and creation of statistics and reports, which otherwise have to be performed manually in an ordinary daily basis.M ore specifically, this system will allow a certain user to manage, organize and monitor the data and attendance of the clerks, the status of the books and other library properties and the library records of the registered students to the library. Nevertheless the access to these capabilities will depend on the user privilege of an account. It will automatically provide statistical reports based on the data stored in its associate database which is updated consistently. Therefore the software will give an ease to do these tasks that are vital in managing the library. Definitions, Acronyms and Abbreviations |Term |Definition | |Borrower |Any person who wishes to borrow books inside the school library. | |Clerk |Any person who assists the librarian in minor tasks needed performed inside the library. | |Database |A collection of all data produced by the system. | |Librarian |A person who is assigned responsible in generally managing the school library. |QR Code |Quick Response code, a type of bar code/encrypted code that will be used for the project in identification | | |purposes. | |Requirements |Refers to the â€Å"what† the product has to do, not the â€Å"how† it is be done. | |SC |Abbreviation of the name of the school where the system will be proposed. The Samar College | |SRS |Software Requirements Specifications.A document that completely describes all of the functions of a proposed| | |system and the constraints under which it must operate. For example, this document. | |Stakeholder |Any person with an interest to the project but is not a developer. | |User |Any person who operates or interacts directly with the product. | |VB |Visual Basic, a building/programming software used in creating the system | |XAMPP |An application used to have a connection between the product and its database. 4 References IEEE. IEEE Std 830-1998 IEEE Recommended Practice for Software Requirements Specifications. IEEE Computer Society, 1998. [IEEE] The applicabl e IEEE standards are published in â€Å"IEEE Standards Collection,† 2001 edition. [Bruade] The principal source of textbook material is â€Å"Software Engineering: An Object- Oriented Perspective† by Eric J. Bruade (Wiley 2001). [Reaves SPMP] â€Å"Software Project Management Plan Jacksonville State University Computing and Information Sciences Web Accessible Alumni Database. † Jacksonville State University, 2003. 5 OverviewThe next chapter, the Overall Description section, of this document gives an overview of the functionality of the product. It describes the informal requirements and is used to establish a context for the technical requirements specification in the next chapter. The third chapter, Requirements Specification section, of this document is written primarily for the developers and describes in technical terms the details of the functionality of the product. Both sections of the document describe the same software product in its entirety, but are i ntended for different audiences and thus use different language. Overall DescriptionThis section provides a more detailed overview of the system, including a description of the product’s functions and overarching constraints. 1 Product Perspective A – Flex Automated Library Management System Figure 1 – Context diagram As shown in the Figure 1, A-Flex Automated Library Management System (A-Flex ALMS) is independent from other system and has three active actors and one database (where all information is stored and retrieved from). The Borrower, Clerk and the Librarian have a privilege to access the library system. However, the Librarian alone has the privilege to access the database, i. e. eleting, updating and/or adding such records and making reports. A-Flex ALMS uses Interaction Model, a Use Case Diagram, to make stakeholders easily view the system operation. 2 Product Functionality The product has the following major functionalities: †¢ Automated logging in of students into the library †¢ Automated borrowing and returning of books †¢ Enables to show the status of the books †¢ Enables the clerk to customize the due time of returning books for photocopying purpose †¢ Enables the user to search for a particular book using the system’s specialized built-in search engine †¢ QR code scanner functionality Database data storage 3 Users and Characteristics There are essentially three users for the system and are expected to be computer-literate: the borrower, as this project is being made so obviously the main client for this system who wishes to borrow materials in the library. The students of the school are not only the borrower, faculty and other employees of Samar College who are in the list of the school’s employees, for confirmation, may borrow books if they give envelop to librarian, this envelop will serve as their record of borrowing. The borrower may also be a student from other schools, that are required to register (P 50. 0) to school’s registrar to access a privilege and utilize the offered 8 hours services; the librarian, the main user of the system who manages the library and its database and responsible for activities such as adding book records, deleting book records, updating book status such as if book is issued and etc. ; the clerk, the assistant librarian and secondary user of the system who has a privilege to lend books, they are expected to have a different privilege as to librarian. 4 Operating Environment XAMPP Link from proposed system Figure 2 – Operating environmentThe system will be operated in the Samar College Library, as it was proposed to. When the user interacts into the system, the system will pass the user to the database, through XAMPP v. 3. 0. 12 which allows Windows program to transfer data to and from the database to record every interaction of the user. 5 Design and Implementation Constraints The current constraints on the pro ject are related to the provision of hardware resources to implement and test high-performance features. At present, an Intel Dual-core processor is needed, with a 2 GB RAM, serves as the server, with XAMPP running on top of the Windows 7 operating system.For better performance analysis, a number of dedicated workstations would be beneficial for the student workstation. The hardware that the project will be running on may constrain some design decisions pertaining to real-time and performance, as well as the scanner’s accuracy. Also, certain required hardware within the library imposes specific requirements on the project. The following is a list of constraints pertaining to the accuracy of the library system: †¢ The information of all the users must be stored in a database that is accessible by the system. The students must have logged in upon entering the library before they can borrow materials or books. †¢ The librarian only has the privilege and responsibility for the system’s security and privacy. †¢ Clerk and librarian have different privileges upon using the system. †¢ LAN is not implemented. †¢ BIOS of the system unit should be working to get the real-time in issuing of the books to the borrowers. 6 User Documentation The user can easily understand of the usage of the system with a user’s manual to be delivered with the system.The manual would be helpful with the some screen shoots within it. User can easily learn operation of the system by displaying corresponding shortcuts on controls for simple task. Contacts numbers of the developers will be given to the school librarian for further assistance when complex problems arise. 7 Assumptions and Dependencies A number of factors that may affect the requirements specified in the SRS include: †¢ The users have sufficient knowledge of computers. †¢ The users know the English language, as the user interface will be provided in English. Hardware and syst em specifications might not compatible. †¢ System might not supported by the operating system. †¢ It is assumed that librarian and/or clerk might forget their password for logging in. Specific Requirements 1 External Interface Requirements Below is a list of enumerated requirements that provides additional specifications for the behaviour and functionality of the system. 1 User Interfaces Using this system is fairly simple and intuitive. A user, who has a familiarity with basic logging in navigation, should be able to understand all functionality provided by the system.As Figure 3 shows, the user with different privileges can now select his workstation, with corresponding shortcuts for options, so that the system may give the user an access to these and may let the not be able to use those of privilege he usually should not have. [pic] Figure 3 – Main interface If the user selects the Open Librarian (Ctrl + L), system now then identify him as Librarian, a Server, an d Figure 4 will display with a pop-up form that lets the Librarian to have a three (3) attempts of logging in. If the user failed to log in successfully, system then will automatically shuts down. pic] Figure 4 – Logging station for Librarian If the user selects the Open Clerk (Click + C), system now then identify him as Clerk and Figure 5 then will display asking for an IP address sin order to have a connection to Librarian Workstation, server. [pic] Figure 5 – Clerk station for connection As the Clerk workstation has successfully connected to its server, then Figure 6 now will be displayed. Letting the Clerk to log in, as same of Librarian, if the Clerk failed to log in successfully it will automatically shuts down. [pic] Figure 6 – Clerk station 2 Hardware InterfacesSince the system will be installed in a Local Area Network (LAN) for collecting data from the users and also for updating the Library System and making reports, it is recommended by the developers , in order to have a maximum usage of the system, that the library should have the following: †¢ at least one camera for students’ easy logging in and scanning of books; †¢ printer for making reports; and †¢ computer unit(s) for the Clerk Workstation(s). The librarian then has to decide the number of units whether the library’s clerks would use. 3 Software InterfacesThe system will use only one external software, XAMPP v. 3. 0. 12, for the connection between the system and database. The system has a built in QR (Quick Response) Code Reader. 4 Communications Interfaces The system will be installed and run in a LAN of computer units. 2 Functional Requirements This section provides the detailed list of all product operation with their corresponding specific use case. 1 Librarian Use Cases 1 Use case: Log in Diagram: Brief Description The Librarian accesses the system, and can do various tasks. Initial Step-By-Step DescriptionBefore this use case can be init iated, the Librarian has already set up or prepared the units to be used. 1. The Librarian hits Ctrl + L, the option log in for a Librarian. 2. The system displays the pop-up login for the Librarian. 3. The Librarian selects the log in. 4. The system records the info into the database. 2 Use case: Log out Diagram: Brief Description The Librarian is signing off the system. Initial Step-By-Step Description Before this use case can be initiated, the Librarian has already successfully logged in. 1. The Librarian clicks his name at the left top of the form. . The system displays the pop-up confirmation for log out. 3. The Librarian selects the OK button. 4. The system records the info into the database. 5. The Librarian has logged out. 3 Use case: Search book Diagram: Brief Description The Librarian gets the list of books and info. Initial Step-By-Step Description Before this use case can be initiated, the Librarian has already successfully logged in. 1. The Librarian selects the form fo r books, borrowers, etc. then chose the book. 2. The system displays the list of books and shows the different categories. 3.The Librarian selects the category. 4. The system gets the selected category to dataset and at the same time records it. 5. The system displays the matched book(s). 6. 4 Use case: Issue book Diagram: Brief Description The Librarian is able to issue the book(s) to the borrower(s). Initial Step-By-Step Description Before this use case can be initiated, the Librarian confirmed the borrower that he has a validated registration. 1. The system Librarian searches the books in the list. 2. The system displays the list of books and shows whether the book is listed and/or available. a.If the book’s copy is more than one (1) and is available, the Librarian sets the due date/time. b. If the book is not available due to some reason, the system will automatically alerts the Librarian that the requested book(s) is not available and thus will automatically gives the re ason(s). 3. The system gets the due date/time to be recorded to the database. 4. The system will give a confirmation that the transaction is successful. 5 Use case: Update database Diagram: Brief Description The Librarian wanted to do some tasks the he/she needed the data be manipulated in the database.He or she also can update the database. Initial Step-By-Step Description Before this use case can be initiated, the system has verified that the Librarian is logged in. 1. The system displays categorized options of the entire data. 2. The Librarian selects the category. 3. The system gives other options of that selected category. 4. The system gets the selected category to dataset and at the same time records it. 5. The system displays the matched selected category. 2 Clerk Use Cases 1 Use case: Log in Diagram: Brief Description The Clerk accesses the system, and can do various tasks.Initial Step-By-Step Description Before this use case can be initiated, the Clerk has already set up o r prepared the units to be used. 1. The Librarian hits Ctrl + C, the option log in for a Clerk. 2. The system displays the pop-up login for the Clerk. 3. The Clerk selects the log in. 4. The system records the info into the database. 2 Use case: Log out Diagram: Brief Description The Clerk is signing off the system. Initial Step-By-Step Description Before this use case can be initiated, the Clerk has already successfully logged in. 1. The Clerk clicks his name at the left top of the form. . The system displays the pop-up confirmation for log out. 3. The Clerk selects the OK button. 4. The system records the info into the database. 5. The Clerk has logged out. 3 Use case: Search book Diagram: Brief Description The Clerk gets the list of books and info. Initial Step-By-Step Description Before this use case can be initiated, the Clerk has already successfully logged in. 1. The Clerk selects the form for books, borrowers, etc. then chose the book. 2. The system displays the list of book s and shows the different categories. 3.The Clerk selects the category. 4. The system gets the selected category to dataset and at the same time records it. 5. The system displays the matched book(s). 4 Use case: Issue book Diagram: Brief Description The Clerk is able to issue the book(s) to the borrower(s). Initial Step-By-Step Description Before this use case can be initiated, the Clerk confirmed the borrower that he has a validated registration. 1. The system Clerk searches the books in the list. 2. The system displays the list of books and shows whether the book is listed and/or available. . If the book’s copy is more than one (1) and is available, the Clerk sets the due date/time. b. If the book is not available due to some reason, the system will automatically alerts the Clerk that the requested book(s) is not available and thus will automatically gives the reason(s). 3. The system gets the due date/time to be recorded to the database. 4. The system will give a confirma tion that the transaction is successful. 5 Use case: Return book Diagram: Brief Description The Clerk returns the book he/she has borrowed. Initial Step-By-Step DescriptionBefore this use case can be initiated, the Clerk, now as borrower, must return the book on time. 1. The Clerk himself may return the book he has borrowed. 2. The Clerk selects the Borrowed tab on the Borrowed form. 3. The system will display on the grid the borrowed books including his book. 4. The Clerk may scan the book with QR Code, or he may manually put the accession number of the book. 5. The system them will check for its due date and time, evaluates the time consumed for penalty if the clerk wasn’t able to return the book on time. 6. The system records info into the database.Note: All Librarian assistants in the school’s library are working students, so therefore they may somehow be a â€Å"borrower†. 6 Use case: Add Diagram: Brief Description The Clerk adds some info, it might be addi ng books or borrowers to the database. Initial Step-By-Step Description Before this use case can be initiated, the Clerk has given permission from the Librarian and thus he has already data to be stored in the database. And he has successfully logged in to the Clerk’s form. 1. As he logged in, the clerk clicks the â€Å"Add† tab on the Clerk’s workstation. 2.The system displays an option on whether what the clerk wants to add or store. 3. The clerk chooses an option. 4. The system displays needed data to be filled out whether it’s either a new book or new borrower. 5. The system then evaluates the input before storing to the database. a. If the required data is completed, the system displays a message box as notification of a new data. b. If some required data is missing, otherwise, a message box will be displayed to notify that some important data are not properly filled out. 7 Use case: Update database Diagram: Brief DescriptionThe Clerk modifies some d ata that are stored in the database. Initial Step-By-Step Description Before this use case can be initiated, the Clerk scanned some info, might in the book or borrower, and is incorrect. 1. The Clerk selects the â€Å"Update† tab on the Clerk’s workstation. 2. The system displays the pop-up options of the data to be updated to be edited. 3. The system displays the info that the Clerk wanted to update. 4. After the Clerk verified the correct records, the system then will display the updated data of a specified record. 3 Borrower Use Cases 1 Use case: Log inDiagram: Brief Description The Borrower, if student, logs in through the scanner by swapping their IDs with QR Code. Otherwise, if the scanner is not available he can manually input his student number. The faculty who wants to borrow has no record of logging in but they have to provide an envelope that the librarian refers to. Initial Step-By-Step Description Borrower enters the library. 1. The Borrower looks for the needed book(s) to borrow. He can ask the clerk to search the book(s) through the system. 2. The system displays the possible results for the input info. Use case: Borrow Diagram: Brief Description The Borrowers, either a student or faculty, borrows their needed book. Initial Step-By-Step Description Before the Borrower can have the needed book(s), he successfully logged in inside the library. 1. The Clerk selects the tab for borrowing within the Clerk’s workstation. 2. The system displays the required data to be filled out for the borrowing. 3. After the Clerk or Librarian hits the OK button, the system will evaluates the borrower if he or she has due book(s) that not yet been returned. 4.The system displays the notification and due date and time of the borrowed book(s) upon the request of the Clerk for borrowing the book then records it to the database. 3 Use case: Return Diagram: Brief Description The Borrower returns the book he or she has borrowed. Initial Step-By-Step De scription Before this use case can be initiated, the Clerk Borrower must log in inside the library. 1. The Borrower asks anyone among the Clerks for returning assistance. 2. The Clerk selects the â€Å"Borrowed† tab from the Borrowed form. 3. The system will display on the grid all the borrowed books including his book. 4.The Clerk may scan the book with QR code or he may manually input the accession number of the book. 5. The system them will check for its due date and time, evaluates the time consumed for penalty if the Borrower wasn’t able to return the book on time. 6. The system records info into the database. Other Non-functional Requirements 1 Performance Requirements 1. Response Time – The Splash Page should be able to be load within seconds using a Windows 7 32-bit Operating System and at least 1 GB memory (RAM). The information is refreshed every two minutes. The access time for the computer unit should be less than a minute.The system shall respond to the member in not less than two seconds from the time of the request submittal. The system shall be allowed to take more time when doing large processing jobs. 2. Administrator/Librarian Response – The system shall take as less time as possible to provide service to the administrator or the librarian. 3. Throughput – The number of transactions is directly dependent on the number of users, the users may be the Librarian, employees of the Library and also the people who use the Library for checking-out books, returning books and checking library account. . Resource Utilization – The resources are modified according the user requirements and also according to the books requested by the users. 2 Safety and Security Requirements The server on which the Library System resides will have its own security to prevent unauthorized write/delete access. There is no restriction on read access. The use of email by an Author or Reviewer is on the client systems and thus is ext ernal to the system. The PC on which the Clerk resides will have its own security. Only the Editor will have physical access to the machine and the program on it.There is no special protection built into this system other than to provide the editor with write access to the Library System to publish reports. 3 Software Quality Attributes 1 Functionality Logon Capabilities The system shall provide the users with logon capabilities. Alerts The system can alert the Librarian or the administrator with notifications regarding the status of the books and in case of any problem. 4 Usability †¢ The system shall allow the users to access the system from a stand-alone client or its derivative technologies for public inquiries of the students.The system uses another computer unit for the client interface. †¢ The system is user friendly. 5 Reliability The system has to be very reliable due to the importance of data and the damages incorrect or incomplete data can do. Availability The s ystem is available 100% for the user. The system shall be operational 8 hours a day and 7 days a week. Accuracy The accuracy of the system is limited by the accuracy of the speed at which the employees of the library and users of the library use the system. Access Reliability The system shall provide 100% access reliability. 10 SupportabilityThe system designers shall take in to considerations the following supportability and technical limitations. Information Security Requirement The system shall support the information security requirements. Maintenance The maintenance of the system shall be done as per the maintenance contract. Standards The coding standards and naming conventions will be as per the American standards. Appendix A – Data Dictionary |Borrower – Any person who wishes to borrow books inside the school library. | |Clerk – Any person who assists the librarian in minor tasks needed performed inside the library. |Database – A collection of all data produced by the system. | |Librarian – A person who is assigned responsible in generally managing the school library. | |QR Code – Quick Response code, a type of bar code/encrypted code that will be used for the project in identification purposes. | |Requirements – Refers to the â€Å"what† the product has to do, not the â€Å"how† it is be done. | |SC – Abbreviation of the name of the school where the system will be proposed, the Samar College | |SRS – Software Requirements Specifications.A document that completely describes all of the functions of a proposed system and the | |constraints under which it must operate. For example, this document. | |Stakeholder – Any person with an interest to the project but is not a developer. | |User – Any person who operates or interacts directly with the product. | |VB – Visual Basic, a building/programming software used in creating the system | |XAMPP – An applic ation used to have a connection between the product and its database. Appendix B – Group Log Notes Taken during our first meeting with Jun, Arnel & Marlon on January 23, 2013. †¢ Interview the librarian †¢ interview the library employees †¢ understand the flow of data in the library †¢ understand the processes used in transactions in the library †¢ new design †¢ lan network †¢ create a floor plan including 3 units for 3 stations of the whole system †¢ 3 stations: Admin station, Clerk Station, Log in Station †¢ provides photocopies of authentic documents from the library †¢ learn the penalty system of the library copy the list of books †¢ list the basic requirements †¢ Software Requirements Specification for Page 12 †¢ fix the QR scanner †¢ dry run the system †¢ Should we try this for different operating system environment? †¢ We might need licenses, ask if necessary. †¢ Given our budgets, th is is the best we can do. †¢ Set up servers. †¢ Began looking through test cases †¢ Will work on SRS †¢ Jun Abanag †¢ Created QR code samples for ID †¢ Will work on SRS. †¢ Marlon Alegro. †¢ Will work on SRS. †¢ Jun Abanag. †¢ Will work on SRS. †¢ Scrum Meeting 2/8/2013 †¢ Marlon Alegro Downloaded licensed software. †¢ Worked on SRS. †¢ Will work on feedback to finalize SRS. †¢ Nicholas Cross †¢ Worked on SRS. †¢ Will work on feedback to finalize SRS. †¢ Jun Abanag & Marlon Alegro †¢ Worked on SRS. †¢ Will wait on feedback from mentor to finalize SRS. Group activities †¢ Overnight sessions (starts at 10 in the evening up to 5 in the morning: 7 hours) Most of us have part time jobs during day time and we have different schedules for Software Engineering so we used our time to work during evening and midnight because of the busy schedule during day time.We spend seven hours during midnight to work on our system and the SRS. ? Alegro Residence one a week ? Abagua Residence one a week 11/15/2012 11/18/2012 11/19/2012 11/23/2012 12/4/2012 12/12/2012 12/15/2012 †¢ Group meetings Since we have different schedules for Software Engineering, we try to meet up during free hours. And most of the times we are not complete because of the busy schedule. So what we do is two of our group mates meet up at certain time and the other one would discuss it to the other member when they meet.So in that way we can exchange ideas even though we don’t meet properly. Afterwards, the other few members will also catch up with updates from the recent group discussion. ? Samar College, twice a week. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday ? Alegro Residence one a week ? Abagua Residence one a week 11/15/2012 11/18/2012 11/19/2012 11/23/2012 12/4/2012 12/12/2012 12/15/2012 Index |A |Log out (use case), | |A –Flex ALMS, 5, 7, 8 | Clerk, 19 | |Add book (use case), 22 | Lib rarian, 16 | |Assumptions and Dependencies, 9 | | | |O | |B |Operating environment, 9 | |book, (use case) |Overall Description, 7 | | Borrow, 24 |Overview, Product, 6 | | Issue, 21, 1 7 | | | Search, 16, 20 |P | | Return, 21, 25 |Performance Requirements, 27 | |Borrower, 5, 7,8 |Product | | | Functionality, 8 | |C | Perspective, 7 | |Clerk, 5, 8 | | | use cases, 19 |Q | | station, 14 | QR (Quick Response), 5, 13 | |Context Diagram, 7 | | |Communication Interface, 15 |R | |References, 6 | |D |Reliability, 28 | |Delete (use case), 7 |Requirements | |Document purpose, 5 | External Interface, 11 | | | Functional, 15 | |E | Other Non-Requirements,27 | |External interface, 11 | Performance, 27 | | | Safety and Security, 27 | |F | Specific, 11 | |Functional Requirements, 15 |Return book (use case), 21, 25 | |Functionality, 8, 28 | | | |S | |I |Safety and Security Requirements, 27 | |Interfaces |SC, 6 | | Communication, 15 |Search book (use case), | | Hardware, 14 | Clerk, 20 | | Software, 14 | Librarian, 16 | | User, 14 |Software Interface, 14 |Issue, 17, 21 |Software Quality Attributes, 28 | | |Specific Requirement, 11 | |L |SRS, 6 | |Log in (use case) |Stakeholders, 6 | | Borrower, 24 |Supportability, 28 | | Clerk, 19 | | | Librarian, 15 | | | | | U | | |Use cases | | | Borrower, 24, 25 | | | Clerk, 19, 20, 21,22, 23 | | | Librarian, 15, 16, 17, 18 | | |User, 5, 6, 8 | | | characteristic, 8 | | | documents, 10 | | | interfaces, 9 | | | | |X | | |XAMPP, 6, 9, 14 | | ———————– Borrow books Librarian Clerk Search User System Database Librarian Update database Log in Article Borrower Issue book DATABASE Issue books Add Article Report Delete Article Update Librarian < include > < include > < include > < include > < include > Librarian Search book Log out Return books Log out Librarian Log in Librarian Log in

Do Societies Choose to Fail or Survive Essay

The society is a very important aspect on the life of any human. The very definition of the term society which is entwined on the aspect of relationships of a group of people, who depend on each other in either way make it to be of utmost importance. When viewed in broader terms, the society depicts people in a certain region and most certainly has common bonds such as culture, language or any other factors that brings them together. It is therefore common knowledge to note that although the society has the gist of prospering, other societies have fallen and the question that arises is whether a society chooses to fail or survive. Various arguments have been put across with some of the hardliners taking passionate stands on what they believe in with regard to the prosperity or failure of a society (Diamond, 2005). One of the authors who has been vocal in examining the survival of societies Jareed Diamond, probes why some of the societies in the past were able to survive and why some feel out rightly. The author bases his research mainly on concentrating on the past right to the modern world. In his award winning book titled Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, the author in the prologue states that the book â€Å"employs the comparative method to understand societal collapses to which environmental problems contribute†. The author in writing this book tends to offer a historical context of societies that have on the â€Å"collapse or survival† of the society. The author thus seems to argue that â€Å"input† variables have significant effect on the â€Å"output† (Diamond, 2005). The author highlights some of the factors that have in the past been culprits in collapse of societies. Some of them are overfishing, overpopulation, deforestation and others. He also goes further to include factors that may in the future aid in the survival or collapse of societies. The author uses the Anasazi collapse to put forward his arguments on why societies fail at sometimes. The Anasazi who are a Native American society are used by the author to clearly illustrate the link between population growth and environmental damage directly to the collapse of the Anasazi. The author as he tries to highlight is that the warfare that took place was not a significant contributor to the failure of this society (Diamond, 2005). Another incisive and highly critical book of how society thrives is the book Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability and the Aftermath of Empire. The book which has an impressive number of 15 scholarly scientists, provide an incisive look at this issue with each of the personalities contributing significantly. The authors of this book borrow appraise Diamonds work and use his â€Å"provoking inquiries† to give their valuable insights into this issue (Norman and McAnamy, 2010). Another highly critical and analytical book Marketing Conquest and the Vanishing Indian: an Indigenous Response to Jared Diamond’s Archaeology of the American Southwest, the book tries to respond to Diamond’s work. The essay seems to suggest that Diamond’s are some of the most important aspects with regards to conquest. In Diamonds books, he seems to suggest that â€Å"colonialization and conquest† were what he refers to as ‘accident’ and that modern collapses of various societies can be avoided by studying the root causes of these earlier conflicts. This essay is a direct response to Diamonds assumptions and it mainly questions the authenticity of his assumptions and comes to the conclusion that diamonds are actually an important aspect of conquest. References: Diamond, J (2005). â€Å"Prologue. † Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. New York: Penguin —. â€Å"The Ancient Ones: The Anasazi and Their Neighbors. † Chapter 4 of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Penguin, 2005. McAnamy, P. A. and Norman Y (2010). Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability and the Aftermath of Empire. New York: Cambridge UP, 1-20 Wilcox, M. â€Å"Marketing Conquest and the Vanishing Indian: An Indigenous Response to Jared Diamond’s Archaeology of the American Southwest. † Eds.

Air travel

Aircraft Utilization: The most basic metric for an airline is aircraft utilization. This is a measure of the average number of hours that each aircraft is flying in each 24 hour period. Planes that are flying are probably making money. Planes that are sitting on the ramp, whether undergoing maintenance, suffering delays due to weather or waiting for crews to fly them are not making money. Utilization is a statistic that varies from carrier to carrier and is normally considered a closely guarded corporate trade secret and is not tracked by government. Part of the art in running an airline is keeping utilization high. Load Factor: The next most important metric for an airline is the Load Factor, which measures the percentage of available seats that are filled during a specific period. In 2007 load factors for major airlines ranged from 72-84%[citation needed]. In 2008 U. S. airlines averaged a Load Factor of 79. 74% on domestic flights and 78. 74% on International flights [1] Available Seat-Miles (ASM): The ASM metric is used to track seat supply among airlines. ASM is equal to the number of available seats times the number of miles flown. Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPM): RPM measures the number of seat miles flown for which the company earned revenues. That is, RPM equals the number of filled seats times the number of miles flown. Yield: The amount of revenue earned per RPM is known as the airlines yield. This metric is generally expressed in cents and ranged from 9. 8-13. 1 cents for the major airlines in the first half of 2007[citation needed]. Fuel Costs: Most factors that affect the profitability of airlines are fairly stable, except for fuel costs. Fuel costs are facing extreme risk from the threat of Peak Oil. During January 2009, airline fuel costs averaged $1.76 USD per gallon[2]. Trends and Forces Joseph Weisenthal said in a recent post Airline-In-A-Box: Few businesses have as many variables and challenges as airlines. They are capital-intensive. Competition is fierce. Airlines are fossil fuel dependent and often at the mercy of fuel price volatility. Operations are labor intensive and subject to government con trol and political influence. And a lot depends on the weather. The Dual Mandate Problem The general public, including most investors, is not aware that congress long ago created what is referred to as a dual mandate for regulation of the airline industry. This means that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is a sub-agency under the U. S. Department of Transportation (U. S. DOT), is charged with both the promotion of the airlines and the safety regulation of the airlines. This creates an obvious conflict of interest and the dual mandate has been questioned and criticized for decades. The question has been asked if the FAA should be divided into two separate divisions, one that would function as a Department of Airline Promotion and another that would function as a Department of Safety. Another proposed solution is to shift the sky police functions involving safety to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Although the NTSB seems like it might be a good solution to police safety, the political realities of the U. S. Congress, the FAA hierarchy and the extreme size and funding imbalance between the two agencies make it impractical and unlikely that any shift would be feasible. The FAA generally maintains that they do not directly promote the airlines, which is true in the sense that the public doesnt see billboards and television commercials and email campaigns from the FAA promoting airlines. However, the FAA indirectly promotes the airlines in a huge way on a daily basis by imposing generally lax standards and enforcement. In fact, it is a well known historical fact that the FAA is so bad at safety enforcement that there exists what is called in the airline industry the Tombstone Imperative which refers to the fact that over and over again the FAA has known about serious safety issues and refused to correct them and the result was dead people. PGSanalyst 21:11, March 14, 2009 (PDT) The Railway Labor Act Problem The general public, including most investors, is also not aware that labor in the airline industry is regulated by the Railway Labor Act. This is arguably amazingly strange and curious that one of the major modern industries, developed in the early 20th century, and now providing part of the industrial backbone for commerce and industry in the 21st century, is regulated by a body of law that was originally passed to protect wealthy railroad investors from railroad strikes in 1877. As a general rule, airline labor is not allowed to strike, similar to the prohibition on strike actions for Federal Employees and employees of some states. For example, the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) functions as the collective bargaining agent for most, but not all, of the airlines in the U. S. and most ALPA collective bargaining contract terms provide very, very limited circumstances under which a strike is legally authorized. Another example of the difficulty of labor expressing its grievances by means of a strike is the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) strike that ended with President Ronald Reagan firing the controllers by using the authority of the Taft-Hartley Act that was passed in 1947 to greatly reduce the power and influence of unions in the U.S. The basic thing for a wise investor to understand about labor issues is that happy people are generally more productive than unhappy people and limiting by means of regulations peoples right to express their grievances may not promote happiness of the labor pool and thus adds risk to investments in those businesses in industries affected by labor relations ris ks. PGSanalyst 21:11, March 14, 2009 (PDT) Consolidation After the events of 9/11, the domestic commercial airline industry went into a precipitous freefall, prompting consolidation of several airlines and bankruptcies of others. Elimination of airlines, through consolidation or bankruptcy, benefit both revenuesthrough higher faresand costs by eliminating redundant expenses and routes. Additional terrorist attacks or declines in the overall domestic economy could accelerate consolidation as weaker airlines get acquired by financially stronger ones or become insolvent. Airlines worldwide have also sought to share costs by creating partnerships or alliances. Through these agreements, airlines can share facilities and operational costs (e. g. , maintenance facilities, sales offices) and negotiate volume discounts on large purchases. Passengers benefit from lower prices (due to lower expenses) as well as optimized routes and pooled loyalty rewards, especially in regards to international travel. Since the deregulation of the airline industry begain, airline ownership has been limited to companies and individuals of the operating country. THis has prevented major international mergers and acquisitions from occuring. Recently, the US government has announced its intentions to relax these regulations and clear the way for international ma deals in the airline industry. This could create significant cost-saving and synergy in the rapidly deteriorating industry. The three major global alliances are: Spotlight on Oil Prices Oil Prices are a key factor for airline operations because Jet Fuel costs are directly linked to the cost of the oil that must be refined to produce Jet Fuel. In 2008 fuel is constituting about 34% of an airlines costs, as opposed to about 13% in 2002. [4] For the budget airlines such as Jet Blue and AirTran, this share rises to nearly 50%. The rise has been very drastic just in the first six months of 2008. At the start of the year, jet fuel cost $850 a metric ton. As of June, the cost is now approximately $1300 a ton. [6] Jet fuel is extremely correlated with spot petroleum prices, which have risen significantly over the past several years. On the flip side, the stock prices of domestic airlines tends to be highly negatively correlated to jet fuel prices, indicating the sensitivity of this historically low-margin business to fuel expenses. In an exogenous event for the fuel procurement of airlines, oil companies are increasingly making airlines pay up front for fuel. In the past, the airlines were allowed to use fuel on credit and pay up to weeks later. Now, the oil refiners are eliminating this free credit line and making the carriers prepay. This will cause a negative shift in the short term cash situation for the airlines as they can no longer keep cash from revenues on the books for this credit line period. On June 4, the International Air Transport Association drastically lowered their profit forecasts for the industry. The group now projects that global airlines will collectively lose $2. 3 billion if oil averages $107 for 2008. If the price averages $135 for the last six months of the year, airlines will lose $6. 1 billion. [8] However, on 1 October 2008 Northwest Airlines (NWA) CEO Doug Steenland claimed that his company can maintain profitability even if oil stays at $100 a barrel. [9] Some airlines have utilized hedges to lock in the price of fuel and hence insulate themselves from oil price volatility. Southwest was perhaps the most forward-looking of airlines, and has hedged significant portions of its fuel expenses through 2010 at various prices per barrel below the current market rate. The company will reap benefits compared to other airlines if oil prices continue to rise or remain at current levels. On the other hand, if prices fall below Southwests hedging levels, they will be at a disadvantage to other airlines. American Airlines and United Airlines, on the other hand, have no remaining fuel hedges in the foreseeable future as of 2008. Other airlines have limited remaining hedges. Peak Oil Peak Oil experts from the oil industry are already warning of impending catastrophic drops in oil production that will severely limit the future growth of the airline industry and cause extreme increases in Jet Fuel costs and other oil related costs including fuel for airline support infrastructure such as maintenance vehicles, External Ground Power Units (GPUs), crew transportation vans, airline food costs, etc. , etc.. Some scientists and industry experts are seriously discussing the viability of the entire global airline industry and asking the question of whether their grandchildren will ever even fly on a commercial aircraft? The mere fact that these questions are being asked and remain unresolved should cause a wise investor to carefully consider the long and short term impacts of Peak Oil on the airline industry as a whole. PGSanalyst 21:23, March 14, 2009 Business vs. Leisure Travel Business travel is important to the commercial airline industry for two major reasons. First, it commands a much higher average ticket cost, approximately 5 times higher than the average leisure fare. Second, business travel is less elastic changes in macro-economic trends than leisure travel, which may be considered a form of luxury. In the past 24 months, leisure fares have dropped slightly, ranging from $110 to $100 In the same time frame, business fares have increased significantly, from around $350 to $500 Domestic vs. International Travel International travel accounts for about one-third of all traffic and capacity for the major carriers. Comparing 2007 year to date to the same time period in 2006, these major carriers saw international travel increase by about 5% , which is faster than domestic travel, which was relatively flat. Growth in domestic travel has been soaked up in large part by the regional discount carriers such as Southwest and AirTran. History of Airline Bankruptcies Raises Risk Concerns For Investors Over the period from 1990 through 2006 the Air Transportation Association of America reports that domestic airlines posted a cumulative loss of $22 billion on cumulative revenues $1,866 billion. Since 1978, when commercial aviation was deregulated, no fewer than 137 carriers have filed for bankruptcy protection. And from the end of World War II, when aviation started to become big business, through 1994, the sum of the industrys profits and losses was less than zero. Warren E. Buffett once remarked that it would have been a blessing for shareholders if someone had thought to shoot down Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk. [11] One reason the major airlines are at higher risk for bankruptcy is that they use huge amounts of fixed capital wide-body jets go for $100 million each and cant be readily liquidated which explains why many airlines do not own their aircraft but lease them instead. Airlines also depend on a highly skilled labor force that requires large cash flow into training, benefits and pensions. Consider some other businesses for a moment: Microsoft has highly skilled programmers but little invested capital. Merrill Lynch has both, but its assets stocks and bonds mostly could be liquidated overnight. Steel has high fixed capital, but it can replace its workers more easily. Unbundling of costs usually bundled in ticket prices Business practices for much of the history of the airlines included bundling all costs of travel into a single ticket price. Although some unbundling of the costs in tickets has occurred to various degrees at some airlines in different parts of the world, since the summer 2008 spike in fuel costs many airlines have chosen to broaden the practice, for example, charging the passenger for each piece of checked baggage b) Forces in the macro environment In terms of the case, it suggests that the environment of airline companies is not very stable, especially the increasing price of fuel which is the key driver of change. From Ryanair profit statement (Exhibit 1a) it shows the fuel and oil cost has increased by â‚ ¬200 million from 2005 to 2006. The increase in fuel costs is 74 percent. The impact to the airlines companies is obvious and the budget airlines may face the trouble more so than normal airlines. Moreover, airline companies also have to concentrate on some other issues. For example, according to the case, they are facing the risks from terrorist attacks which are difficult to predict. It is not difficult to find the changeability, however it is complex to the airline environment. Some factors, such as legal action and customer demand, also have influence on them. Some of these such as the price of fuel and oil can be predicted, while some of them cannot. Audit environmental influences The Pestel Analysis is employed to identify macro-environment influences of the airline industry. Political: Government wants to strengthen the economy and, consequently, will support local airlines by setting rules, such as preferential rights. Every government however, will probably do so. Therefore there’s no obvious advantage between competitions. The political issues have a wide range of effect, so they are not the key points that budget airlines are facing. Economic: This is identified as the most crucial factor to airline companies, especially to budget airlines. The influences refer to the macro-economic factors such as the national growth rates and the exchange rates. As budget airlines, they will pay more attention to the operation costs such as fuel cost. It became a big issue for budget airlines because of the increasing cost of fuel. That may reduce the advantages and the companies will be less competitive than before. On the other hand, the recession will lead more people to choose budget airlines. Social: With the development of Asian countries in particular China, there are more and more people deciding to study or travel in Europe. In recent years, the lifestyle of local people has also changed. They tend to travel abroad to enjoy their lives. Most of these people are not wealthy such as student. The budget airlines therefore, will be their best choice to reduce the travel costs. Technological: The innovation of technology helps the airline companies reduce costs and carry out tasks more effectively. The new type of aircraft can help to reduce the burning of fuel; and new technology can also make the security check more efficient and accurate. Environmental: European countries pay more attention on environmental issues, especially greenhouse gases from carbon emissions. Moreover in terms of the case, airline companies have to pay the environmental taxes for the contributions they make to global warming. In particular, it is bad news for budget airlines. Costs will increase and the companies want to maintain good brand image in the consumer’s perception. Furthermore, noise pollution and energy consumption cannot be ignored under such conditions. Legal: Some legal actions such as preferential airport rights are directed against the specific airlines. As budget airlines, which have higher competitive power, they should pay more attention to the legal forces to prevent loss. On the contrary, they can also take the initiative over illegal aid to rivals. Stage 3 – Determine industry specific factors (this stage will be analysed in Question 2) Stage 4 – Identify competitive position (this stage will be analysed in Question 3) Stage 5 – Identify key opportunities and threats There are many potential opportunities for the airline companies. For instance, the recession may lead to more people choosing the budget airline rather than the expensive ones; new technology which helps to reduce the usage of fuel; government set the tax at a lower percentage. On the other hand, the increasing cost of fuel may be the most significant issue most budget airlines face. What’s more, the compensation to passengers, terrorism and security, and customers’ satisfactions will all have potential negative impacts on the airline. In order to achieve lower costs, budget airlines will have to reduce costs from many departments and operations. That’s why lots of customers are not satisfied with the budget airlines except for the price. Question 2 Prepare a Porter Five Forces analysis of the budget airline industry. Express Ryanair’s perspective of these forces. The threat of entry There are high barriers to enter the budget airline industry. i) High investment requirements. Economies of scale are important in the airline industry. It is difficult for new entrants to match others existing competitors. In addition to this, the operational experiences cannot be acquired in such short space of time. ii) Expected retaliation. Retaliation will take place when new entrants appear for budget airlines, it will probably be in the form of a price war due to costs of entry being very high for them. iii) Legislation or Government action. Government won’t let new entrants enter the market if the industry is saturated. With regards to Ryanair in the budget airline industry, there will not be large impacts to existing budget airlines if new entrants appeared. Budget airlines always focus on the costs and price, so does Ryanair. According to the case, Ryanair was the first budget airline in Europe and now its ticket prices are much lower than the other rivals’. Therefore it will be impossible for new entrants to set a low price to win the market. The threat of substitutes Before discussing the threats, some comparative data is showed below. London Stansted Milan Going Out Regular Fare Adult 8. 99 GBP Tue, 2 Dec 08 Flight FR 4184 8:15 Depart 11:15 Arrive Coming Back Regular Fare Adult 12. 99 GBP Sun, 8 Dec 08 Flight FR 4185 6:45 Depart 7:50 Arrive (Source: Ryanair. com) One way by Rail Europe: London (ST Pancras) Milan Standard Class Adult 227 GBP Tue, 2 Dec 08 8:40 Depart 21:20 Arrive (Source: Raileurope. co. uk) Most of the travellers will prefer the short journey, in addition to the cheaper way to travel. From the tables it is obvious that taking a plane from Ryanair is much cheaper than taking the train in a similar situation. Although some airlines may be expensive, budget airlines such as Ryanair will usually be the best choice. The impact of substitutes, therefore, has less impact on the budget airlines. The power of buyers Buyers of airlines tickets can sometimes be the travel agency. In other cases, Ryanair caters to ultimate consumers. Majority of the buyers are not concentrated buyers and they come from all over the countries. Individuals can select the budget airlines according to their preference, because the switching costs are low and the differentiation of such service is weak. It is extremely expensive for people to own an aircraft. When there is a choice of budget airlines to use, with low prices. So there is a low buyer competition threat. Like Ryanair, with less concentrated buyers and buyers’ competition threat, the power of buyers is low. The power of suppliers The high power of suppliers may be one of the most significant threats among the budget airline industry. The increasing price of fuel, which leads to a high cost for airlines, is a basic issue they are facing. As we know, fuel industry is now concentrated in the hands of few producers. Therefore, in this situation it is difficult to cut the price for this essential material. In addition to this, it is useless to change fuel suppliers when the global price is growing. Moreover there are no practical substitutes. Ryanair is facing this problem with other budget airlines. Furthermore Ryanair sells all the ticket directly through the website. Thus there is no intermediary. Competitive rivalry Rivalry is influenced by these four competitive forces and each of them may have different levels of impact on the competitive rivalry. In this market, every airline provides the same services which are poorly differentiated. Low differentiation and switching costs in this industry, therefore, cause the price competition. Ryanair, which has the first mover advantages, still holds the dominant position. Although many of the competitors were losing money or even have been taken over, Ryanair remains steady in incremental growth. For industry growth rate, this industry is in the maturity situation of life cycle, which means the growth is low. Price war is therefore playing a crucial role throughout the competition. Question 3 Evaluate Ryanair’s particular strengths and weaknesses and explain, with reasons, what Ryanair must do to retain a sustainable competitive advantage. As the first-mover of budget airline industry, Ryanair still holds the dominant lowest-cost position. This is also the one of the strengths it has. What’s more, Ryanair was announced being the most profitable airline in the world according to the case. The revenue is still increasing, despite the price of fuel did not stop growing in recent years. The brand image of Ryanair is also one of its strengths. Customers are attracted by the lower price. Its traffic is the highest among the competitors (see Exhibit 2) and it is still increasing due to the enlargement of the company. On the other hand, there are still some weaknesses of this budget airline leader. In terms of the case, Ryanair win the market mostly depends on the costs. However, the costs of its major raw materials are increasing rapidly these years. This will be a serious issue. Further, minimize costs largely will cause the lack of service and training quality and so on. The Skytrax star rating (See Exhibit 2) indicates Ryanair is below the average level. Besides, competitors contribute big influence to Ryanair. For example, Easyjet which is a young upstart of the European budget airline industry grows quickly with a large number of market shares. It is obvious Ryanair makes success base on its price advantage, and how to sustain this advantage become very crucial issue in recent situation. Keep first mover advantages. Long history with experiences, well-known brand image and economy of scale, these are the unique resources of first mover advantages. It is difficult for competitors to get these resources at a similar level. Therefore, in order to prevent the competitors from copying the same strategy as cost reduction, Ryanair must make good use of these unique resources and try to dominate the market. Technology. Purchase and introduce the latest technological support. Although the fixed costs will be high, they can help the airline carry out tasks more efficiently and effectively such a new security check machine. Moreover it can also help to reduce the variable costs. For example, according to the case, new type aircraft produced 50 percent less emissions, 45 percent less fuel burn and 45 percent lower noise emissions per seat. They help Ryanair reduce the fuel cost with a lower pollution to environment. Unique cost structure. A cost structure which aims to minimize the costs must be set up. In particular to fuel cost, the fluctuations are subject to unpredictable and volatile world events according to the case. It is important for Ryanair hedge the risks before the price goes up suddenly. On the other hand, choosing the secondary and regional airport destinations is a good way of the structure. Moreover, the internet is used to reduce distribution costs. Service quality / Customers’ satisfaction. Customers will normally associate low price with low service benefits. Ryanair was voted the world’s least favourite airline due to its bad service such as unfriendly staff and poor legroom. However it still won a great number of customer base on the price. Thus if some competitors cut down the ticket price to a low level, Ryanair will get into a big trouble due to the similar prices but lower service quality. Therefore it must not only focus on the price but also the service. In order to gain competitive power, for example, brand loyalty can be one of the aspects. Government / legal actions. Ryanair should take care of the government and legal actions and moreover, can take the initiative over illegal aid to rivals. These may prevent the unnecessary loss. In summary, Ryanair, as the cost leader in budget airline industry should not only focus on the costs but also lots of other issues. Although it is developing rapidly and successfully, the future is unknown. The uncertain environment is changing all the time, thus Ryanair should always follow it and make the long-term plans in order to retain a sustainable competitive advantage. Grasp the opportunities, and it will has a bright future. c) Sources for collecting information Collecting your info: We may collect personal information that can identify you such as your name and e-mail address, as well as other information that does not identify you. When you provide personal information through the Site, the information may be sent to our servers located in the United States and other countries around the world. User Provided Information. We may collect and store any personal information that you enter into the Site or provide to us in some other manner. This includes identifying information (such as your name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number), and any other personal information you choose to provide while using the Site or the Services. Third Party List Information. We may also obtain both personal and non-personal information about you from third party data gathering sources. We may match this third-party collected information with the personally identifying information that you provide to us. When obtaining this information from third parties, we seek assurances from such third parties that they have the right to provide the information to us. Cookies, Web Beacons, and Other Information Collection Technology. We and our business partners, such as advertisers, may use various technologies to collect information from your computer and about your activities on the Site. For example, we and our business partners may collect and store non-personally identifying information through technologies such as cookies, log files, clear gifs (also known as web beacons), and other tracking pixels and third parties to help determine user viewing preferences for advertising and other purposes. We collect information at several stages during your interaction with . When you first enter our site, we note your IP address and time of your visit. As you browse the site, we record your zip code via a cookie so we can serve more location specific information on your next visit. We will not collect any personally identifiable information about you. Cookies do not recognize you as a person, just your computer. You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits although in that case you may not be able to use certain features on our site. This Privacy Policy is intended to cover collection of information on the Site from residents of the United States. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. If you are visiting the Site from outside the United States, you acknowledge and agree that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. By using our Services, you acknowledge and agree that your  information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it as described in this privacy policy. Third Party Advertising: We work with third parties who use cookies to collect non-personally identifiable information when you visit our Web site and other sites. This information may be used to provide you with better shopping or savings opportunities through advertisements on this and other Web sites that you visit, or to conduct market research and website analysis. User submited reviews: We discourage you from entering any personal information and please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online for example through e-mail, discussion lists, or elsewhere that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. It is not required for you to submit personally identifiable information to enable you to submit a review. Sharing of information: We do not not share any contact information or IP address information with its partners. We will only use information that helps our customers to find the lowest prices. How we protect your information: The privacy and protection of your personal information is vitally important to us. Our Travel Portal does not make personal information available to any third parties without your permission. Any user statistics that we may provide to prospective advertisers or partners regarding your usage are provided in the aggregate only and do not include any personally identifiable information about any individual user. This Website Privacy Statement is effective as of the date listed below. Even if you read and/or agreed to a prior policy statement, you need to review this updated version. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, or other places we deem appropriate so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected. If, however, we are going to use users personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection we will notify users by posting a notice on our Web site for 30 days. d) Collection tools and methods Prior to 1992, the length of time that aircraft deicing fluids (ADF) provided protection was overestimated by most commercial airlines. This was realized after the crash of U. S. Air Flight 405 at LaGuardia Airport, in which a long queue caused ice to re-accumulate on the planes wings and airframe after ADF had been applied. Bryan Wagoner, the Environmental Programs Administrator at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW), says this incident spurred a nationwide focus on deicing practices. The FAA mandated that every plane must be absolutely free of snow at the end of the runway prior to take-off, he explains. This resulted in a significant increase in the quantity of ADF used nationwide. Midwestern winters, however, can be unpredictable. Months can go by with little to no precipitation, and then a snowstorm worthy of national news can hit with a fury. W

Law and Contract Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Law and Contract Strategy - Essay Example However, for a valid contract to be valid, the elements must be: a) capacity, b) mutual assent (which includes offer, acceptance, and meeting of minds), c) consideration, d) lawful purpose, e) certainty of terms, and f) form provided by law (Essential 2006). On the other hand, Wikipedia (2007) cited the three key elements of a contract under common law jurisdictions as: a) offer and acceptance, b) consideration, and c) intent to create a legal relation. In sum, while the law considers three essential elements (consent, consideration and object), a valid contract requires other elements (e.g. capacity of parties, lawfulness of object, etc.). A contract is an agreement of parties (two or more) arrived at after adequately considering to do or refrain from doing an action (Contract Law. n.d.). It is also defined as a promise(s) which provide(s) a remedy for its breach or which the law recognises its performance as a duty (Contract Formation n.d.) (Essential 2006). It covers a wide array of subjects and transactions from sale of real or personal property, or terms of employment (Larson 2003). It defines the rights and obligations of a party, provides the means to enforce the rights, and allocates risks between the parties (Lewis-Elements n.d.). Contracts vary according to its usage. A construction contract is complex because it involves numerous parties (e.g. engineer, quantity surveyor, etc.), long period of execution, and a series of subcontracts (Lewis-Elements n.d.). In the construction sector, all details necessary to reflect the intents, timetable, insurance, or dispute settlements are considered essential elements. T o ease this complexity, industry professional and organisations created forms that will cover every detail of their particular needs, such as: building contracts (JCT series), engineering contracts (ICE series), government contracts (GC Works series), etc.

Critical issues of justice Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Critical issues of justice - Assignment Example This kind of view on justice still holds true until now and I believe that the equality that Penn demanded when he was being tried in court, is the same as how it is at present. Ralph Waldo Emerson was more than a writer. Bloom sees Emerson as the â€Å"American theorician of power† (5), politically, in literature, spiritually and even in trade, because of the transcendentalism that he introduced during his time (Bloom 5). Emerson sees justice as having contradictory effects on either side of the concerned parties, positive to those who will have favor on it, negative to the other, despite the evidences. Even in our present time this point of view is still present. When the accused is found guilty, their family thinks justice was denied to them, while those who favor the prosecuting party are happy with the results, and say that justice was served. Solzhenitsyn’s view on justice speaks about what is humane. He recognizes that people who do justly deeds are those that are compassionate and act according to what our conscience dictates to be right. This perspective still exists in our society and I strongly agree with his view. However, the reality of drugs and alcohol influencing our judgment is a sad truth, which clouds our conscience, and this results to the crimes that we experience in our daily lives. Law and order is a necessity in the society. Laws preserve the order of things and justice accompanies them. Hoover was a man of order, but his view on justice has a bias, because he was more devoted to finding all those he believed were subversives or were involved in anarchy (biography.com); rather than finding reason for the sentiments of the organizations that he was after. While Hoover’s quote holds true for our present society, the reason why he said it has a different meaning. It even appears to have an underlying meaning; that with selfish motives based

Battle of Okinawa Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Battle of Okinawa - Research Paper Example a period of 80 days, the â€Å"Typhoon of Steele† as it was referred to, raged on as the Allied Forces made headway in the battle to make Japan surrender. The attack itself took place on April 1, 1945. The Americans had sent in two United States Marine and Army Divisions to land via amphibious vehicle on the island of Okinawa. The Japanese troops were thought to number at least 150,000 covering ground, air, and naval troops. 10th U.S. Army Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. was in command of the Allied troops that consisted of III Amphibious Corps and XXIV Army Corps. Even though the Allied Forces had sent a formidable troop assignment to the island, the Japanese still felt that the war was going to end with them as the victors. After all, the Japanese were fighting on their home territory, 350 miles from the Japanese homeland. However the Americans had other plans for this battle as they pulverized the island of Kyushu. The Japanese by this point knew that the battle was lost and yet they soldiered on. The Japanese soldiers fought based upon honour and military logic. But the bombings of the American planes coming from the Marianas Islands would soon conquer Japan. Truth be told, there was too much land coverage in Okinawa for the troops that were first sent to cover. Thanks to the Army, the new 6th Marine Division, the war became a winnable battle for the Americans. Eric Hammel, noted Pacific War historian recounted the battle as follows: Coming to put their defense arrangement to the test was the Tenth Army. The new 6th Marine Division (1st Provisional Marine Brigade plus the 29th Marines and attachments) would land over the northernmost beaches on the western side of Okinawa a little south of the islands midpoint. It was to strike across the island, then turn north to pacify a little more than half of Okinawa on its own. To the right, the 1st Marine Division was also to strike across the island, then become part of the Tenth Army reserve.

Solar enrgy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Solar enrgy - Research Paper Example This paper looks at the alternative sources of energy in general, and focuses on the Solar Energy as one of the most effective, affordable, and cheap alternative source of energy. The paper also looks at the use and development of solar energy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), especially, by the company called MASDAR, based in the UAE. As we have just seen, alternative source of energy is any energy source that does not use fossil fuel in generating energy (Alternative Energy, Web). There are a number of advantages of using alternative source of energy in comparison to using the fossil fuel source of energy. One of the advantages of using the alternative source of energy is that the alternative source of energy reduces the usage of fossil fuel source of energy and therefore preserves and prevents the fossil fuels from being depleted. With the emergence of many and powerful industries in the modern world, coupled with the increase of the number and usage of vehicles, aeroplanes, and ships, which all depend on fossil based fuels, the fossil fuel source of energy is indeed at the danger of being depleted. ... many alternative sources of energy do not release toxic chemicals to our environment. Fossil based sources of energy are well known for releasing greenhouse gases, Carbon Dioxide gas, in the environment, thus leading to the global warming (Alternative Energy, Web). Global warming threatens to make our world inhabitable and so there is an urgent need to develop alternative sources of energy that do not cause any threat to our very own existence. Many alternative sources of energy therefore help us to get the energy that we need in our various activities without causing any harm to our environment. The third major advantage of using alternative source of energy is that, the alternative source of energy is quite cheap and affordable in comparison to the fossil fuel based sources of energy (Alternative Energy, Web). The cost of the fossil based fuels is increasing each year in many countries around the world that do not produce the fossil fuels. Different governments are using a lot of m oney on fossil fuels as source of energy. Also, many poor people are not able to afford the fossil fuels because of the astronomical costs associated with them. On the other hand, alternative sources of energy like the solar energy and the biogas are quite cheap and affordable to almost everybody. The alternative sources of energy, therefore, are quite cheap and affordable; alternative sources of energy ensure that almost everybody has access to power. The alternative sources of energy therefore spurs economic growth of a country through making cheap power available to all people, including the poor people. Having looked at the main advantages of alternative sources of energy, let us now look at some of the common alternative sources of

Discussion borad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion borad - Essay Example It is also done to know if a certain independent variable creates negative or positive impact to the dependent variable. For example, does empowering women increase prejudice against men? The dependent variable, in this case, is the prejudice while empowering women is the independent variable. To get to a clear conclusion about the said question, the level of prejudice must be measured and be known through one of the components, pretesting and post-testing. The process will help to determine whether empowering women increases prejudice in men. To dispute or agree with the question that empowering women has increased prejudice in men, the subject has to be divided into two different parts mainly, experimental section where the stimulus is administered (empower the women) and the section that does not receive the stimulus. Both sections may not have increased prejudice, but if only a few people who do not see the essence of empowering the women agree with the said question, then it means that empowering women do not increase prejudice against men. It is not right to argue that empowering or giving power to women will hurt power of men (Mosedale p

International Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

International Business Strategy - Essay Example This essay discusses an example of Tesco’s entry in China regarding all the aspects mentioned above to depict practical application in the real world. Then the company has to make a research of the types of segments and what kind of segments among them are the target segments for their products. They also have to keep in mind that whether the products the multinational is offering are of any interest to the customer or not, and whether the customer’s needs are fulfilled by it or not. Multinational’s mode of entry, its strategies, and the implications are discussed. The research is given to empower the statements stated and support the fact related to multinational corporations worldwide. The entry of multinational companies is a common trend in many countries due to globalization all over the world. Many of the countries are following this ritual of entering another country after the success of their business in their own country. That needs expansion; expansion in every area of their business as that would lead them to earn greater revenues. The companies take into consideration many different aspects like what country to enter, what cultural, social, political and legal constraints they would have to face there, what mod of entry they should select and what business procedures they should conduct. There are also other considerations whether there is a need for the products that companies are offering in that country and what is the perception of that brand or company in the minds of consumers. All that is very important for the business to thrive in another country. Companies also have to find allies of the same host country so that they can help them know about th e consumers’ needs and wants more clearly as they belong to the same country and know better.

Role of Job Designs in Managing Human Resources Essay

Role of Job Designs in Managing Human Resources - Essay Example From the technological perspective, the workplace is defined through the production processes, which take place in a discrete area of production. Essentially, the hierarchy of managers, supervisors, and workers defines the workplace organizationally. The orientations of workers and managers to the particular area define the social limits of a workplace. Such a definition need not be limited to manufacturing. The workplace can also be a department in a bank or university or a school within an education system. What is important is that the work area is discrete, has some technological or production unity which marks it off from other workplaces, and it is recognized as such by workers and managers. Therefore, it is evident that the field of Human Resource Management has evolved into a strategic, technical, and measurement-oriented area in the past few years. Predictably, this field will continue to grow in sophistication and complexity as a reflection of the world in the 21st century, presenting solutions to difficult dilemmas that could affect the workplace massively. An organization's core values are manifested by its culture; that is, in the basic ways that business is handled, such as how decisions are made and how rewards are distributed. Employees learn these ways of doing business through observing co-workers and leaders. If no expectations are established and effectively communicated, employees will "make it up" as they go along when faced with ethical dilemmas. Thus, management strategies are essential in human resource management, organizational behaviour, or organizational design because it could specify its own model or framework of the key elements. In determining the appropriate job designs for a specific company, all models and theories could be deemed as one consolidated set of behavioural elements. In building the working framework, four elements had been identified to underlie most work behaviour models: 1.) Capability - The skills, knowledge and abilities necessary to execute an action associated with the objectives of the organization. 2.) Opportunity - When individuals are provided or encounter situations in which actions can be executed with the desired effect. 3.) Motivation - The drive to execute those actions, created by a perception that they are linked to desired outcomes and rewards. 4.) Understanding - Knowledge of how an individual's actions affect the system and overall goal achievement. The first three components are derived from a long research tradition suggesting that individual performance is a multiplicative function of ability and motivation (Cummings and Schwab 1973), critiques of the simple model (Campbell and Pritchard 1976) that suggest that the environment determines the expression of ability and motivation (Dachler and Mobley 1973), and recent work suggesting that situational constraints and opportunity (e.g., advances in technology and changes in the political, social, and economic environment) are key to a theory of work performance (Campbell 1999, Howard 1995, Ilgen and Pulakos 1999). The fourth component was incorporated to help describe organizational management and HRM practices. These and other human issues have the potential to "move the needle," that

Robin Hood Strategy Essay Example for Free

Robin Hood Strategy Essay Please find my summary for the pre-assignment tasks in this memo. The assignment was to read three chapters of Robert M. Grant’s â€Å"Contemporary strategy analysis, read two articles and answer the mentioned questions: Mini-case: Robin Hood. Does Robin Hood require a new strategy? What should Robin Hoods strategy be? Why? To start with, let’s give a bit of a background for Robin Hood and his band of Merrymen. The organizational structure of the Merrymen is a typical top-down management, with Robin Hood as the leader and a few lieutenants reporting to him working in intelligence, discipline, finances and provisioning. The growing organization and Robin Hood’s personal vendetta are the basis for many of the problems the Merrymen are facing. Merrymen’s strategy is simple: take from the rich and give to the poor, which differentiates the group from its major competition who does the opposite, making Robin Hood’s â€Å"customers† love the product they have to offer. Therefore one could say that Merrymen’s competitive approach is based on differentiation. What has made them successful so far? It has all started with Robin Hood’s unique leadership skills, Robin is a very strong and appealing leader. The organization would not have been born without him. What makes Merrymen succeed today is their vast resources (they have scale) and talent (unique expertise in robbing people). Another factor is quick knowledge transfer for the new recruits, transferring the robbing skills to newly joined members and getting them to be productive quickly after onboarding. Their image/brand is such an attractive one that they are not facing major challenges in recruiting new people. Word of mouth carries the message quickly and there are lots of potential new comers joining the Merrymen. The work force is low cost, all they pretty much need is food and shelter. One of the major weaknesses is Robin’s personal grudge with the sheriff. It is a key risk for the leader potentially not being able to see the big picture and focus on what is good for the whole organization. Even though this seemed to be the starting point for the organization to be formed the goals for the organization are now much bigger and the strategy must evolve accordingly. It is not uncommon that the strength of an organization is also their weakness. In order to build scale, Merrymen had to change their recruitment strategy. Merrymen used to be quite picky in selecting the candidates but now they are welcoming almost anyone to join. This has led to several challenges, one of them being that they are exceeding the resources for food that the nearby forest provides leading them to spend lots of time and energy in risky ventures looking for food and having to use their finances to purchase food. The second issue is the change in recruitment policy which has led to a decline in discipline and vigilance. Naturally the space is becoming an issue as well as the group expands continuously. The financials are hit also because of looting becoming more challenging. The merchants who previously traveled the woods are now avoiding them, keeping the Merrymen from looting their goods leading Robin Hood wondering what can their new funding strategy be, could it be taxation? Should they take a huge risk and try to free King Richard, risking the fact that they might go against not just one sheriff and his men but also Prince John and his army? Recommendations for the Merrymen I would not recommend Merrymen to do major changes to the current strategy, such as freeing King Richard or trying to kill the sheriff. Merrymen should continue building on their strengths and the focus should be in executing better and starting with changing their recruitment and training policies. They shouldn’t recruit just anyone but focus in acquiring talent. If food is an issue they should recruit skilled farmers and start building a self-sufficient ecosystem to the woods, as it used to be. Their organization has also grown rapidly and seems that a re-org would be needed. They will need more structure and better management to their org to bring back the discipline and to ensure successful execution. They should introduce more specialized teams with their own leaders (such as farmers, special ops, archers etc. ) and focus more on better training and knowledge sharing inside the more specialized teams. Their financials are going down and that has to be fixed by saving money (potentially letting some of the Merrymen go? ) and going where the money is i. e looting further away from the forests, creating new â€Å"sites† for the Merrymen in different woods might be a good idea to ensure continuous cash flow. To manage the external threats they must invest into spying what the sheriff is up to and where the next raids might be happening. To conclude: don’t change the strategy, keep calm and improve the execution. Case Study: Husky Injection Molding Systems. Why has Husky enjoyed greater profit margins than its competitors? Is Huskys profitability currently threatened? The primary reason for Husky’s success is the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) industry niche and focusing to it at the right time, exactly when soft drink makers started to use plastic bottles and here Husky had the first mover advantage. Husky was clearly a differentiator and innovator in this market. Husky provided its customers with the complete and comprehensive manufacturing solutions by producing both products and services. The products were innovative, long lasting and efficient. Husky also provided its customers a worldwide professional service to ensure the customers get the best out of the products. Husky managed to make competitors entry to the market very challenging for a long time because of their high performing products and excellent service. Now the challenges faced are the shortage of resin and new entries coming to compete in the market. The shortage of PET resin has led to decreasing demand for injection molding systems hurting Husky’s business. This is likely a temporary situation as resin makers are increasing their capacity. It’s also good to note that all companies in the same business are facing this same challenge. The main challenge is the new competitors trying to make an entry to the PET preform business. These are low-cost competitors who apparently are able to modify â€Å"mainstream machines to suit the preform application† as the article says. The competitors will be an attractive option for customers who focus more in lowering costs. The new competitors will threaten Husky’s profitability and it is clear that they need to react to it, perhaps by trying to produce different sorts of machines : both for the customers interested in low cost but at the same time keep producing the high performance machines. Producing high performance machines would be important to build the brand and would help selling the low costs machines as well, comparable situation to mobile phones business where many vendors produce high end devices to build the brand while they actually make the money from cheaper products that are sold in masses.