"please read the case study carefully and answer the following tasks.
If you don?t understand or need to clarify about any questions please
don?t hesitate"
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Uxbridge properties- case study
Uxbridge properties is a small firm of estate agents in uxbridge. it
has three partners each specialising in one of the following areas of
the business:
1. property valuation
2. marketing
3. mortgage, insurance and conveyancing
The partner responsible for marketing has an assistant. in addition,
there are five sales negotiators who are directly responsible to the
partners. a potential buyer or vendor is assigned to one of the five
sales negotiators.
the office manager is responsible for two accounts staff, one
administrative clerk, and two secretaries. the secretaries have a
range of duties including general correspondence, and the production
of property description(including photographs).
the agency has the following operational functions:
property valuations:
when a client first approaches the agency with a request to handle the
sale of a property, the allocated partner visits the property to asses
its market value. the establishment of the selling price is a matter
of negotiation. the client normally has a minimum asking price in mind
which may coincide with the initial valuation price. if the valuation
price is less than the client's figure, the client is advised to lower
the figure. the final decision is however made by the client. the
asking price may also be reviewed depending on the response or
otherwise of potential buyers. in making the assesment, the agency
draws on its local knowledge and experience, regional and national
trends in the property market.
property sales:
once an asking price is agreed, fees are settled. charges vary
according to the value of the property. the agency takes a percentage
of the ultimate selling price plus costs of advertising. other charges
for conveyancing work are also made. the sales negotiator handles
routine inquires and correspondence to keep the client informed of
progress. if a client is not satisfied with progress and wants a
different asking price, as an example, he or she is referred to one of
the partners.
marketing:
this operation deals with the placing of advertisement in local and
national newspapers and property journals. it also organises the
window displays and property details leaflets which are given out to
interested buyers.
mortgage conveyance and insurance services:
the agency also acts as a broker. buyers of properties handled by the
agency are offered these services. many clients make use of these
services, particularly if they are first-time buyers. the agency does
not have independent financial adviser status and mortgages are
arranged with Uxbridge BUILDING SOCIETY, property, mortgage protection
and endowment insurance are obtained from the alton life insurance
company.
Finace accounting:
this section handles all the customer accounts and deals with receipts
and payments flowing between the agency, builiding societies,
solicitors and insurance companies.
A brief outline of the procedures involved in property sale is as follows:
1) the initial request from a client wishing to sell a property is
dealt with by the specialist partner, who makes an appointment to
visit the property. Details of location, type, asking price, number of
rooms and so on are recorded. photographs are also taken.
2) The property details are transcribed onto one of two standard
forms depending on whether the property is residential or business.
this process is carried out in the property sales section.
3) The staff categorise the property according to basic criteria such
as location, type, size, quality, number of rooms and price range.
these basic details are trancribed onto record cards, which are
initial point of reference when a potential buyer makes an enquiry.
4) to match prospective buyers with properties for sale, a buyer
clients file is maintained. details of suitable properties are sent
(using a mailing list) to potential buyers.
5) When a buyer expresses an interest in a property, a viewing
appointment is arranged between the buyer and the vendor (if the
property is empty, one of the partners will accompany the buyer)
6) if a buyer expresses interest, they are asked to make an offer,
which is then put to the vendor for consideration. apart from the
offer price, other factors are considered; for example, whether the
buyer has a property to sell.
7) Once a sale is agreed, solicitors take over the process of carrying
out the various conveyancing operations and agreeing completion date,
when payment is made and the property ownership changes hands, when
this is completed, the agency requests payment of the fees by the
vendor. buyers are not charged by the agency, although they do incur
conveyancing costs.
Tasks:
1.) In the past all computer projects followed the same traditional
systems life cycle. list the steps in the traditional systems cycle
and describe each step.
2.) relate the stages of the system cycle to the case study, or your
end user problem, to show a detailed knowledge of the stages of the
systems life cycle.
3.) You are a system analyst invited by the owner of the business to
discuss the possibility of computerisation. Prepare a suitable list of
questions to use in an interview with the owner.
4.) Undertake a feasibility study for computerisation. The feasibility
study will involve further investigation and an analysis of the
current system. Produce a feasibility study report. Your report you
must include the original outline problem definition. Your report
should also include an outline solution based on your analysis.
5.) within the report include full and detailed documentation in
support of the proposed solution to the specified problem including a
cost benefit analysis and justification of the selection including
analysis of its organisational impact. You should also include details
of alternative solutions to the problem.
6.) prepare a data flow diagram of the current system. (To level 1)
Prepare a data flow diagram of the proposed system (to level 1)
7.) At the end of the report include an evaluation of the system
investigation, describing what went well and what went less well,
suggesting how investigative methods could have been improved.
In the report documentation, use appropriate technical language
clearly and correctly. Include suitable graphical images to enhance
the written work. |
