Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The lack of logical design also creates problems, as the process is not documented, and
students tend to get lost in the process and not understand what it is they have created. The
unfortunate loss of a file through poor backup procedures leads to much distress for these
students, as they have no documentation to fall back on to recreate their physical design.
Physical Design Issues
Although much discussion through lecture and tutorial sessions focused on good
design characteristics of input and output screens and user-friendly interfaces, some
students still chose to implement multicolor or fashion color screens without any thought
to the amount of time the user may spend looking at these screens. Occupational health and
safety issues were discarded in favor of “a unique look.”
Those students who communicated with the business tended to produce more user-
friendly interfaces. A large number of students, however, chose to make assumptions about
many of the design issues (e.g., report layout, data entry procedures, and workflow issues),
and therefore, their applications lacked the features required by the business.
Testing and Implementation
Misuse of or lack of validation and GUI controls were the major weaknesses across the
assignments. None of the databases proved to be totally robust and user-friendly, however,
several achieved a good level of development.
Finally, students experienced problems due to the lack of testing of the application. In
the production of the database, students tended to enter test data after the construction of
the tables and, therefore, did not test the input screens for functionality and user-friendly
design. Applications were not tested for validation techniques, meaningful error messages,
usability, and effective macros. A number of the students commented that the wizards were
not capable of achieving the full requirements of the users; however, the case studies were
all tested prior to the delivery to ensure that the wizards were sufficient for the development
of these applications.
COMPARISON OF EXPERIENCES
Understanding the Business
The case studies used in this course exposed the students to the problems faced with
not knowing or understanding the business type they are assessing. The lack of knowledge
of the business processes, particularly in the manufacturing industries, initially causes the
students major concerns, as they not only have to understand the nature of the business but
also the problem necessary to be solved. At the completion of the course, many students
commented about what they have learned, not only about problem-solving issues and the
use of the software application but also about the business they were assessing.
Time Management and Information Gathering
The students do not tend to experience the problems inherent in the information-
gathering phase of the process, as most of the information is disseminated through the case-
study documentation and the discussion board. One way that students might experience this
problem would be to remove the discussion board from the available facilities, thus making
