7002 ICT System Analysis and Design Project: HRMS for Dixon Schwabl

This project details the system analysis and design of a Human Resource Management System (HRMS) for Dixon Schwabl. The project begins with a high-level architectural diagram, illustrating a multi-tiered architecture comprising presentation, business, data access, and database layers, designed for a networked client-server environment. User interface design is addressed through storyboards, showcasing the user interaction with key features like adding and viewing employee details, employee lists, and leave applications, while also considering user interface design principles such as simplicity, visibility, feedback, and structure. Security concerns are thoroughly examined, with discussions on access control, digital signatures, encryption, and secure transactions. The deployment section outlines the process of converting and initializing data, user training, and configuring the production environment. The project aims to provide a comprehensive plan for the successful implementation of an HRMS, addressing critical aspects of system design and deployment.

Running head: SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 1
System Analysis and Design
Student Name
Institutional Affiliation

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 2
Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Question 1: High-Level Architectural Diagram..............................................................................3
Deployment Environment............................................................................................................4
Question 2: Storyboards..................................................................................................................5
Story Boards.................................................................................................................................5
Design Considerations.................................................................................................................7
Question 3: System Controls and Security......................................................................................8
Access Control.............................................................................................................................8
Digital Signature..........................................................................................................................9
Encryption....................................................................................................................................9
Secure Transaction.....................................................................................................................10
Question 4: Deployment................................................................................................................11
Converting and Initializing Data................................................................................................11
Training Users............................................................................................................................12
Configuring the Production Environment..................................................................................13
Packaging Deploying and Installing Components.....................................................................13
Change and Version Control......................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................15

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 3
Introduction
It is essential to adhere to the design requirements of the system and have customization
scope of the user requirements in order to have a successful implementation of a human resource
management system (HRMS). HRMS implementation requires planning carefully, process and
system set up, clear objectives, and an integrated methodology (Williams, 2017). Dixon Schwabl
have been using the manual techniques in managing human resource operations for a long time.
This has decreased the productivity of the company and thus the need to develop a computerized
human resource system arose.
The manual system has no proper tracking capabilities, reporting, training, employee
motivation, human performance, and organizational development. This paper will focus on
designing a high-level system architecture, discussing the various user design concepts, security
concerns and controls, and the system deployment process.
Question 1: High-Level Architectural Diagram
The human resources management system will have three essential features which
include components, connectors, and collaborators. Connectors describe the communication
patterns between components while collaborators describe interaction patterns between
connectors and components (Shen, 2011). Based on the requirements given by Dixon Schwabl,
the HRMS system architecture will be a multi-tiered architecture. The multi-tier or N-tier
architecture has been described as an improvement of the 3-tier architecture and has more
benefits such as worldwide accessibility, load balancing, easy data generation, and cost
effectiveness. Figure 1 below shows the high-level HRMS architecture:

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 4
Figure 1: System Architecture
(Source: Shen, 2011)
The architecture is made up of 4 layers; presentation layer which contains the user
interface components and process component, Business layer which describes the business
workflow, records handling, utilities, and exception handling, data access layer which contains
service gateways and data access components, and database layer which has stored procedures,
database, and SQL queries.
Deployment Environment
This architecture will best work in a networked environment. The system will utilize the
client-server architecture in which the server and the client are two different computers
interconnected on the network. The system will be deployed on the server and the users will use
the client computer to access the system from a web browser like Google chrome, Firefox, or

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 5
internet explorer. The client basically refers to a laptop, desktop, or a portable computing device
like a smartphone or tablet.
The server will store all the shared data. As compared to stand alone system, a networked
application is easy to manage through updates, patching, and adding security features to further
improve the security and performance of the application. The networked environment enables
sharing of resources where users have access to complete and up to date information, easy
communication, high reliability to ensure high system availability and minimal downtime, and
speed where users will be able to access the HRMS quickly (Yaskevich, 2017).
Question 2: Storyboards
Story Boards
The following storyboards shows the user interfaces that illustrates how the user interacts
with the various screens.
Figure 2: Add Employee Details

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The Human resources manager feels that the design is very appealing is able to add
details of the employee with a lot of ease. The interface is very intuitive and the form is very
easy to fill.
Figure 3: View Employee Details
The human resource manager can be able to view the details of the employees. The
interface also provides the functionality to edit the details or add any missing details.
Figure 4: View Employees

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The human resource system will allow the human resource manager to view a list of all
the employees registered in the system. The user can be able to print the list or select and delete
the employees who have left the company.
Figure 5: Leave Application
The system will allow all the employees to apply for leave days when they need a break
or have other personal matters to attend to. Upon applying, the human resource manager will
approve or reject depending on the reason the employees have given.

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 8
Design Considerations
User interface elements are tied together by consistency of predictable and
distinguishable actions which offer a great experience to the users (Fitzgerald, 2018). Some of
the user interface design techniques that will be employed in system design include:
Simplicity: when designing the HRMS it is important to facilitate doing simple and
normal activities easy and simple to do by ensuring the interface communicates using the
language of the users and offering good. Additionally, the users should be provided with
shortcuts associated with long processes.
Visibility: focus on the needed information and the users should not be overwhelmed
with a lot of information on the interface that can confuse them (Juneja, 2015). The needed
materials and options for a particular process should be clearly visible.
Feedback: the user interface should be notifying the user on the process that he/she is
doing. It should regularly inform the users of the interpretations and actions/processes, condition,
errors, change of state, and exceptions that are of interest to the user through concise, clear, and
familiar language to the users.
Reuse: the HRMS interface will be able to reuse external and internal behaviors and
components while keeping consistency with purpose minimizing the users’ effort to remember
and rethink.
Tolerance: when designing the system, it is important tolerance and flexibility of the
design to allow the users to undo, redo, and minimize the cost of misuse and mistakes, and
ensuring that errors are prevented where possible through sequence and input tolerance.

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Structure: the user interface should be design and organized purposefully in a useful and
meaningful way depending on consistent and clear models that are identifiable to the users and
grouping related items together and separating items that are not related (Porter, 2018).
Focus on user design research: quality research on the user requirements is very crucial in
order to have a consistent experience. This should never be abstracted or done in a hurry.
Question 3: System Controls and Security
Access Control
This is a security approach that is used in regulating access to resources in a
computerized system. This concept is fundamental in reducing the risks that Dixon Schwabl may
face. There exist two categories of access controls; logical and physical. Logical access control
describes the techniques that are implemented that restricts the connections to the information
system or computer networks, data, and system files. Physical access control restricts access to
data centers, physical IT assets, and computer rooms. Dixon Schwabl should implement
electronic access control system that depends on access card readers, user credentials, reports,
and auditing to monitor how employees access proprietary locations and limited business areas.
Access control can be implemented by using authorization and authentication aspects
such as personal identification numbers (PINs), passwords, security tokens or biometric scans
(Kumar Behera, 2016). There are several types of access control such as discretionary access
control, mandatory access control, Rule-base access control, role-based access control, and
attribute-based access control. Dixon Schwabl can adopt all or some of this access controls to
ensure that the new Human Resource management system is secured.

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 10
Digital Signature
Digital signature is a security technique that uses mathematical approaches to
authenticate the integrity of data, software, message, or any other digital file/document. The
objective of this security techniques is to address the problems of impersonation and tampering
in electronic communications. Dixon Schwabl will benefit from the added assurances of identity,
source evidence, and document/file status, message, transaction, and the signer’s consent can be
acknowledged. Digital signatures depend on asymmetric cryptography or what many people
refer to as public key cryptography (Zafar, 2013). One can be able to generate public and private
key that mathematically connected from RSA, which is an example of public key algorithm. This
is a very effective security control technique because it employs the use of two cryptographic
keys that are mutually authenticated.
Encryption
Encryption is a security technique that is used to transform plain message into an encoded
format during transmission to prevent cyber criminals from getting hold of the meaning of the
encoded message (Choi, 2017). The message can only be decoded by the target user with the
decryption key in order to read the message. Dixon Schwabl can employ this security technique
because it is one of the most effective in enhancing data security specifically for point to point
data protection sent over a network. This technique is commonly employed when transmitting
user information through the internet such as payment details, login credentials, or other private
and personal information. The figure below describes how encryption works:

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Figure 6: How Encryption Works
(Source: Choi, 2017)
Modern encryption algorithms help in validating and authenticating the sources of the
message, ensure integrity, and guarantees confidentiality.
Secure Transaction
This is a security technique that is used to guarantee security of financial transactions
conducted over the internet. Credit card issuers provide the users with digital certificates that will
be used together with digital signatures to verify transaction between the merchant and the
purchaser. Secure transactions employ the use of secure transaction technology (STT) from
Microsoft, secure socket layer (SSL) from Netscape, and secure hypertext transfer protocol(S-
HTTP) from Terisa System (Astakhova, 2015). This will aid Dixon Schwabl in case it integrates
payment gateway to the human resources management system.

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Question 4: Deployment
Converting and Initializing Data
The following tasks has to be carried out in order to convert and initialize data to be used by
the new HRMS at Dixon Schwabal:
 Critical data validation
 Collection of more data needed for the new system to operate
 Defaults should be ready and correct for migration to the new HRMS
 Data should be transferred incrementally to the new system
 Validate the results of the conversion process
Data conversion strategies make sure that the process of building the sure that process of
building the database is limited and efficient (Ambler, 2014). Additionally, it should be
responsive and flexible to meet the distinct requirements that may arise during data conversion.
The following should be considered when conducting the process of data conversion:
 Only valid and comprehensive data should be converted
 Have a conversion schedule
 Develop conversion procedures
The following methods will be used for data conversion:
 Automated conversion techniques
o Automated client data conversion
o Automated external system data conversion
o Automated editing and data validation methods