Assignment

Project Overview

For your course project, you will be working on a case study. The details are below.

The Client

Inisope, Inc. is the market leader in disposable dog rain coats. They come on a roll like baggies and use tabs (like diapers) to attach to the bottom of a dog's legs. They come in a variety of sizes. When you get back from the walk, you can simply throw it away with no smelly mess.

The Project

Inisope was founded by Austin Fichtner as a single person business run out of an apartment but has grown to over 2000 employees. However, their I.T. and internal processes have not kept pace with this growth and as a result are a patchwork of different systems and workflows. There are several opportunities for improvement but you'll need to talk to the client to find out just what they need.

The Team

Each team will consist of two members, the architect and the developer. The architect is the project lead and is responsible for project planning, budgeting, high-level design and direct contact with the client. The developer works with the architect on design details, converts functional requirements into a workable design and builds the system. As project lead you will be hiring a developer in Week 1.

Your goal is to produce a pilot system for the client so they can decide whether to go to production. In addition to producing the desired functionality, you will need to estimate time and costs for a production system as well as hardware and software budgets.

NOTE: The architect bills at $150/hr. and the developer bills at $100/hr. You need to track the time each spends on project work so you can present the client with an itemized invoice upon completion.

Further Notes

Your instructor will be taking on the role of the client. With that in mind, when you email them any messages that are for the client should have a subject line that starts with #INISOPE to distinguish them from course-related emails. In addition, a portion of each week's Live Classroom will take the form of a weekly client meeting.

You will need to meet with your team at least once per week. This can be by phone, text messaging, video chat or whatever method works for you both as long as it takes place in real-time (i.e., not email).

Module 02 Course Project - Architect - Setting a Baseline

Before you can create a solution, you need to fully understand the problem. In technical architecture, this is known as the "as-is" model. In other words, you work with the client to determine how the system currently works, then build a model (using an Architecture Design Language for your diagram) to create a document establishing a baseline from which you will create your solution.

With input from the client, create an "as-is" model of the Inisope company directory service using Archimate. Include a 1-2 page document to support and explain your model.

NOTE: Updating a company directory involves more than just changing a record. For example, if someone is fired they are taken out of the payroll database, removed from the employee directory and if their position isn't going away, Human Resources will have to post a job ad for a new employee. Give this exercise a lot of thought.