Information Systems Analysis: Flood at Australian National University

This report analyzes the impact of a flood at the Australian National University (ANU), focusing on the damage to the library, equipment, and disruption to academic operations. It utilizes the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) to identify root causes, concerns, and potential solutions. The report employs rich pictures to visualize the problem and its impact, CATWOE analysis to understand the stakeholders and their perspectives, and a conceptual model to outline a proposed system for flood prevention and recovery. The analysis highlights the importance of proactive measures, stakeholder collaboration, and robust crisis management strategies to mitigate the effects of future incidents.

Information Systems Analysis
Case- FLOOD AT AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................2
A. DEVELOPMENT OF RICH PICTURE DESCRIBING THE PROBLEM STATEMENT AND IMPACT...............3
B. DEVELOPEMENT OF RICH PICTURE DESCRIBING CONCERNS OF ANU...............................................3
C. CATWOE ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM...............................................................................................4
D. DRAFT OF ROOT DEFINATION OF PROPOSED SYSTEM......................................................................6
E. CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM............................................................................7
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................8
References.............................................................................................................................................9
List of Figures
Figure 1: Rich picture describing problem statement............................................................................3
Figure 2: Rich picture describing root causes and concerns..................................................................4
Figure 3: View of prevention measures and analysis by CATWOE.........................................................5
Figure 4: DRAFT OF ROOT DEFINATION OF PROPOSED SYSTEM............................................................6
Figure 5: Conceptual model for proposed system.................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
Case of Flood at the Australian National University (ANU) has been analysed in this report. The flood
has caused serious damage to the library books and Redev machinery. The books have been lost and
the heavy equipments have been submerged according to the report. The cost of the damage may
be high due to loss of infrastructure. Here several issues have been generated such as rescheduling
of the classes, exams and events that may cause the extension of the course duration. This report
contains the rich picture of the problems, impact and the root. CATWOE technique of Soft System
Methodology has been used for the analysis of the prevention and measures generated for the case.
Later the draft diagram of root definition of the proposed solution will be developed which will used
for the development of the conceptual model.
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A. DEVELOPMENT OF RICH PICTURE DESCRIBING THE PROBLEM
STATEMENT AND IMPACT
Food caused at the ANU affects the whole university in every part of studies and events. The rich
diagram given below shows the impact of the flood. This picture is responsible for generating the
situation so that stakeholder should understand each. It is an easiest approach to explain the
impacts of the flood on the university (Sánchez and Mejía, 2008). Here the picture given below
explains the firstly about the effect on building infrastructure and how it gets affected by electrical
system and other attached equipments. The college operations are also affected such as regular
classes, exams and other events. The affect is also on the proper schedule of classes that directly
impacts the university student’s scores and high scores. This case has made the authorities to
reschedule all the classes, exams and events. The loss of books and other study resources also
effects the students study and extend the yearly duration of the course sessions.
Figure 1: Rich picture describing problem statement
B. DEVELOPEMENT OF RICH PICTURE DESCRIBING CONCERNS OF ANU
The damage caused by the flood requires analysing the concerns that are responsible for the impact
that has been described in the above picture. The root cause or concern affects different parts of
the university starting from the building to the students and the staff. The building of the university
is affected might be due to bad infrastructure which is unable to handle the flood caused. Similarly,
the electrical system at the building might be improper and is unable to handle the flood. With this
there are several stakeholders that are associated and got affected with the happening of the flood.
The loss of books and study material has affected the time for study and the resource availability. If
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the classes are not available properly, the students have the loss of studies as exam may be
approaching after the incident (Bjerke, 2008). With this, there are committee named as ‘Student
Service and Association’. This helps in organising the safety training sessions for the students with
the help of staff members at the university. But for this, they also require some time which will also
affect the duration of the whole session. Other factors are non-availability of the training programs,
awareness regarding the flood.
Figure 2: Rich picture describing root causes and concerns
C. CATWOE ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM
CATWOE is the technique used for the analysis of the problem used in soft system methodology. This
approach helps in finding the possible solutions or the prevention measures for the issues that has
been extracted from the case study of the flood case. In this methodology, C stands for customer
which has direct impact of the case arise (Basden and Wood-Harper, 2006). They are recognised in
the form of the positive and negative or in the other hand they can be treated as the victims of the
issues. Secondly, ‘A’ Stands for the actors who are responsible for the doing the activities at the
company which leads to the transformation of the systems (Karve, 2010). Thirdly, T stands for the
transformation of the input and the output of the issues which are accomplished with the steps
involved for prevention in the diagram given below. W stands for Weltanschauung which is
responsible for representing the view of the prevention in the picture below. Later, O stands for the
owner which is the university here and it has several functions that have to be involved legally into
the system for prevention of such insurance policy which will help in recovering the financial issues
(Nayab, 2013).
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Figure 3: View of prevention measures and analysis by CATWOE
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D. DRAFT OF ROOT DEFINATION OF PROPOSED SYSTEM
Figure 4: DRAFT OF ROOT DEFINATION OF PROPOSED SYSTEM
The above figure explains the draft portion of the proposed system. This diagram explains the
functionalities of the system that will provide help in different aspects and also helps in every issues.
This draft will provide the rough estimation of the functions done by the system to help in the ANU
from the incident of flood. It involves various stakeholders to function properly so that damage can
restrict in happening the damage of similar case in future.
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E. CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM
Figure 5: Conceptual model for proposed system
This model is the extension of the draft solution that has been developed above. It explains the
activities performed for the accomplishment of the functions that has been described for the
proposed system . The activities described in this picture are important as they will help the system
to manage the whole case in an effective manner and makes the university to recover from the
damage. These activities should be performed in accordance with the stakeholders to manage the
system. The ANU crises management is the associated partner in accomplishing the functions of the
proposed system.
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CONCLUSION
This report has been developed in context to the Australian National University or ANU where
incident of flood has been caused and created a serious damage to library and equipments. For this,
problem description and has been described in terms of rich picture for the flood caused at ANU.
Later, the root cause has been described in terms of rich picture for the damage. Thereafter,
CATWOE analysis has been done for generating the problem solution and can help in restricting the
similar case if happen in future. Later, a root draft solution has been developed for the proposed
system that is for the rough estimation of the system. Lastly, conceptual model for the proposed
system has been created which explains the activities that have to be performed for system.
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References
Basden, A. and Wood-Harper, A. (2006). A philosophical discussion of the root definition in soft
systems thinking: an enrichment of CATWOE. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 23(1), pp.61-
87.
Bjerke, O. (2008). Soft Systems Methodology in action: A case study at a purchasing department.
Department of Applied Information Technology. [online] Available at:
https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/10551/1/gupea_2077_10551_1.pdf.
Karve, V. (2010). ROOT DEFINITION & CATWOE MODEL - Ethics Based Soft Systems Approach. [Blog]
karvediat. Available at: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2010/10/root-definition-catwoe-model-
ethics.html [Accessed 18 Mar. 2018].
Nayab, N. (2013). What Is a CATWOE Analysis?. [online] Brighthub Project Management. Available
at: https://www.brighthubpm.com/methods-strategies/105917-catwoe-analysis-how-amp-when-to-
use-it/ [Accessed 18 Mar. 2018].
Sánchez, A. and Mejía, A. (2008). Learning to support learning together: an experience with the soft
systems methodology. Educational Action Research, 16(1), pp.109-124.
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