Business Systems Analysis for Nexus Distribution

Business Systems Analysis INFS 5093
SP2 2018 Systems Planning Assessment
Introduction
This document extends the instructions on the course website. Read the instructions on the course
website in addition to this document.
This assessment consists of
 A case study that requires you to apply your learning from the systems planning module.
 An ethical analysis which requires you to apply one of the readings provided on the course
website.
 A conceptual development section that requires you to consider how systems planning tasks
impact on a systems development project.
 A peer review/learning reflection section; students who are working in teams are to answer the
peer review questions; students working independently are to answer the learning reflection
questions.
The feedback sheet lists the assessment criteria. Look for it on the assessment’s webpage. Take note
of which sections carry the most marks.
Note that this document’s word count is 2881 without any answers, so
 Don’t worry if the final word count seems high.
 Also, there are some diagrams in this assessment so don’t worry if the final word count seems
low.
Draw the diagrams by hand, photograph, and insert the photographs in this file. If you prefer, you
can use Word’s drawing tools (or some other drawing or modelling software) but you may find
working with pen and paper is faster, easier to amend, less cumbersome, and more reliable with
respect to layout.
When referring to the exemplars on the course website, read the old assessment specifications
carefully because the assessments differ every study period.
Instructions
In the previous study period, teams spent an average of 26 hours on this assessment.
 Pace your team accordingly.
 For best results
o Do not attempt to complete the whole assessment in one session.
o Work slowly and carefully.
In addition to the instructions on the course website
 Do not overlook the ‘Why?’ questions.
 Read the case study carefully.
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 Keep track of the hours you spend.
Make assumptions where necessary. Scope for assumptions has been deliberately included in this
assessment because it is often necessary to make assumptions openly when dealing with a client
who is under-informed with respect to information systems. Label assumptions clearly. Here’s an
example from a previous study period,
Assumption: As the passengers of Titanic II may be from any nation, we
have assumed a currency converter is required for the ticket-purchasing
function.
Case study: Nexus Distribution
Nexus Distribution is a small film distribution agency that focuses on limited release art-house films.
It has been in business for a decade and has an existing information system for administering its
business processes. Joy Moody started Nexus with her long-time professional contact Deane
Jackson. Joy has a leadership and marketing role and Deane manages operations. Louise Taylor and
Elizabeth Page are spotters who attend film festivals (eg Sundance, Cannes, Sydney, Toronto,
London, etc), identifying films that align with the Nexus Distribution focus, bidding for, and often
signing, those films. This team of four work closely to sign 15-20 films each year, optimising the
distribution of each film so that returns for Nexus and for their clients (the film-makers and the
theatres) are maximised.
The existing information system consists of three databases.
 Catalogue
 Distribution Network
 Travel
Louise and Elizabeth do most of their work while travelling and they communicate with Deane via
email, text messaging and phone calls. Louise and Elizabeth attend only the largest film festivals
together; usually they work independently of each other. When they are at a film festival, they work
highly irregular hours and, in addition to the tasks outlined above, their work includes socialising
with, and occasionally entertaining, potential and existing clients. Clients are entertained when the
film they have made is of such high quality that more than one distribution agency is competing for
its distribution rights. In these cases, Elizabeth and Louise take the clients out for dinner or to a bar
in order to build robust working relationships and to create an opportunity for uninterrupted
discussion of why and how the client’s interests are best served by Nexus. Louise and Elizabeth are
consummate networkers; they are confident, good-humoured and charming in all social
circumstances, building relationships with and between people working at all levels of the
international art-house film industry.
However, the communication practices between Nexus staff are not up to date and this has led to
inefficiencies and wastage of Louise and Elizabeth’s talents and efforts. As their time at film festivals
is expensive (flights, accommodation, registration fees, entertainment costs, etc) it is desirable that
their time is not wasted. For example, a new film may be shown at several film festivals
simultaneously; if Elizabeth has already seen it at Toronto and passed on it (or bid for it and signed
it), when Louise is at the Venice film festival, she does not need to waste her time viewing that film
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and can focus on other films. There are many other instances in which their communication
practices fail to optimise the (mostly asynchronous) day-to-day collaborations between Louise,
Elizabeth and Deane.
While Louise and Elizabeth work on building Nexus’s catalogue, Deane builds its distribution network
(in addition to his significant administrative role). This entails signing various distribution service
providers (both independent and chain) to the Nexus distribution network. A distribution service
provider might be a VOD (Video on Demand) provider, a chain of theatres, an independent theatre,
etc. Deane spends about half of his recruitment effort approaching providers that do not already
screen art-house films. The other half is spent on providers which already adopt an art-house focus.
While it is a key facet of the Nexus business model, building the distribution network does not
consume anywhere near as much effort, money and time as spotting films. Deane estimates that for
every dollar spent on building the distribution network, a hundred are spent on spotting films.
Deane is directly responsible for accounting, travel arrangements and reporting. Also, he is indirectly
responsible for contracts, which he outsources to a legal firm specialising in contracts for this type of
work.
Joy’s role is largely centred on vision and leadership. However, prior to starting Nexus she built a
reputation in film marketing and her practical skills in this area are an essential ingredient in Nexus’s
success. Every time a new film is signed to Nexus, Joy, Deane, Louise, Elizabeth and the film-makers
have a four hour meeting. Occasionally, these meetings are in person, but more often they are held
online. These meetings can be hard to schedule because participants are very busy and in different
time zones.
During these meetings, in order to design the film’s marketing strategy, they leverage Louise or
Elizabeth’s observations of the film, Deane’s knowledge of the Nexus distribution network, Joy’s
marketing expertise and the client’s vision. A marketing strategy includes artistic vision, media,
release windows and release schedule.
Artistic vision is primarily driven by the client and Joy with input from Louise or Elizabeth. It is
actioned by Deane, who reviews the artists who have worked with Nexus in the past, considers the
artistic vision, and prioritises the artists according to how well their unique talent, reliability and
experience match up with the marketing strategy’s artistic vision. After the meeting, Deane
approaches the artists one by one to discuss their availability and to eventually establish a contract.
Media (film, video, television, DVD, VOD, etc) is negotiated between Joy, whose mission is to
optimise returns, and the film-maker, whose mission is exposure. With input from Louise and
Elizabeth, who have viewed more films than anyone else in the meeting and who therefore have the
most comprehensive view of the international market, a binding consensus is reached and
documented.
Joy and Deane, who aim to maximise the size of the audience, are largely responsible for
determining release windows and schedule, however the client’s needs are taken into consideration.
This is achieved by application of market intelligence and expertise. In most cases, a film is screened
in theatres on a schedule that will maximise the audience (eg avoidance of major cultural events,
avoidance of similar films, knowledge of forthcoming films, etc). Also, films are screened in theatres
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(primary distribution service providers) prior to being released via secondary distribution service
providers (eg VOD service providers, DVD runs, etc). The duration for which the film is screened in
theatres depends upon various factors (audience, the film’s performance in other markets, the
agreement between Nexus and the film-makers, the agreement between Nexus and the theatres,
etc). For most films, the theatrical release date is preceded by four weeks of postering and trailers,
wherever possible working with the film-makers in order to leverage the social profiles of those who
worked on the film (eg the actors and crew). For highly anticipated films, these four weeks may
extend to six or eight and may require Deane to schedule interviews for the film-makers or actors
with local media.
Although the existing IS meets Nexus’s administrative needs, the ongoing daily communication
problems and the difficulties of scheduling and running online meetings need to be addressed.
Deane thinks Nexus needs its own app so that database updates can be done by anyone at any time
and he has contacted your workplace, IT Foundry, to enquire further. You have been allocated the
task of systems planning for the development of an app for Nexus.
Also, although they are very talented, experienced and respected in their fields, the entire Nexus
team are inexperienced in systems analysis and design. They are confident you will come up with
relevant ideas, they anticipate your suggestions and they expect you to catalyse and drive all
technical aspects of the project. These clients are very much open to suggestion.
As you have never worked in this field before, you begin by reading about film distribution on
Wikipedia. Then, you move forward with systems planning.
Recall: you can make assumptions in this assignment (as noted in the instructions above). Also, you
can use the course forum if you have any questions.
1. Develop a business profile for Nexus Distribution. The profile must include mission, functions,
how the organisation is organised, products, services and customers.
Mission – The mission of Nexus Distribution is to capture more part of the film distribution
market by distributing high quality art films and also promote newcomer artists and film makers
by publicizing their movies.
Functions – The function of Nexus is to meet new film makers and artists at large film festivals
and gain distribution rights for the new art films.
The company is generally well organized with experienced and well mannered staff and
management team members. Nexus deals with the distribution of new art films in various media
and always ensures business with high profile clients that produce good quality films with good
marketing prospect. There is a good customer base for the company who watch the films in
various media like cinema hall, video on demand and others. However, in terms of information
system, the company has not been able to update itself till now.
2. List four of Nexus’s business processes. Aim to identify business processes that are related to the
proposed Nexus app.
Four business processes of Nexus are listed as follows.
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