ITC548 System Analysis: Auto-Parts Warehouse Management System

Desklib provides solved assignments and past papers to help students succeed.

ITC548 - System Analysis PG
Student id:
Student-name:

Introduction
The scenario of this report is based on the case study about an “auto-parts warehouse management
system” that is based in australia. The system vision document covered the problems, benefits, and
capabilities of the system. This report shows the advantages of using cloud-based solutions for the same
to avoid the problems that are arising in the present. This report includes the potential advantages and
disadvantages of cloud solutions. This document is reefed to assignment 1 and 2. It also includes a
comparison of the different agile methodologies to propose a suitable methodology for the warehouse
management system. This includes the comparison of the unified process and scrum methodology.

Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Cloud-based solution...................................................................................................................................4
Cloud computing.....................................................................................................................................4
Strength of cloud solutions......................................................................................................................4
The weakness of cloud solutions.............................................................................................................4
Warehouse management system on the cloud.......................................................................................5
Agile methodologies....................................................................................................................................6
Agile methodology..................................................................................................................................6
Scrum methodology:...............................................................................................................................6
Unified process........................................................................................................................................6
Suitable methodology.............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8
List of figures
Figure 1 Warehousing in the cloud..............................................................................................................5
Figure 2 Scrum methodology.......................................................................................................................6
Figure 3 Unified process..............................................................................................................................7

Cloud-based solution
Cloud computing
The cloud-based solution generally refers to cloud computing. it is a technique to deliver computing
services over the internet. It allows the user to access all the computing services and features over the
internet only. The services offered by cloud computing are divided into mainly three broad categories
that are “software as a service”, “platform as a service” and “infrastructure as a service”. A cloud
solution can be public, private or hybrid. Public clouds are less secure with minimum management
hurdle, whereas, private clouds provide high security with a lot of management burden.
Strength of cloud solutions
 It delivers the services on-demand
 It is elastic; it allows easily increasing or decreasing the number of required computing services
 In the case of a public cloud, services are fully managed by the service provider which reduces the
burden of management of the service user.
 Services are easily accessible from anywhere, anytime; the only thing that is required is a good
internet connection.
 It increases the collaboration
 It is helpful in disaster recovery and high availability of services.
 It gives automatic software updates, so the user doesn’t need to purchase the license of the
software.
 It ensures sustainability
 Cloud services are available 24*7 depending on internet connectivity.
 This provides solutions at minimum cost
 This eliminates the need for hardware and reduces the burden of managing the resources
The weakness of cloud solutions
As every technology has its pros and cons, cloud computing also has some weaknesses that are
described below:
 Security is always a concern while using cloud solutions
 Downtime is also one of the biggest disadvantages of cloud computing as the services are based on
the internet.
 These solutions are highly vulnerable to attack. As everything is connected to the internet, attackers
are able to hack the data and perform security breaches.
 Next problem with this is that most of the people are unaware of this technology
 Vendor lock-in can cause a serious issue during migration (Larkin, 2018)

Figure 1 Warehousing in the cloud
Warehouse management system on the cloud
In the past couple of years, cloud computing became a good choice for warehouse owners because of
the speed, lower cost, and easy accessibility. The warehouse management system can be deployed
using cloud solutions. Such as, the data of the warehouse can be saved on the cloud. This prevents the
loss of data in case of any system failure or natural disaster. The warehouse system can be deployed to
the cloud so that to handle the dynamic procedures at a low cost. Instead of configuring a number of
wireless devices with the proposed system, the use of cloud computing solution allows accessing the
services and data from anywhere, anytime. Cloning of the warehouse management system on the cloud
allows to easily handling the workload. The characteristics of the cloud-based solution provide real-time
visibility to influence. Once the network is connected, analytics, smart apps, etc. can give the exact
information for decision-making (Anton, 2017). The cloud-based warehouse management system allows
for gaining better control over the inventory. Implementing the cloud-based solution for the warehouse
management system will minimize the requirement of hardware support and maintenance. Moving to
cloud allowed easy documentation of warehouse data and activities.
To implement the warehouse on a cloud solution, investment is required for instance to purchase the
subscription plan and for internet connectivity. Human resources are required who are able to
understand the concept and process in order to use the facilities. Some technical resources are also
required such as a device to access the cloud facilities, internet connection, etc. Cloud computing also
supports the recording and capturing of the inventory moment (Patil, Shah, Rokade & Kukreja, 2018).

Agile methodologies
Agile methodology
It is a method that development and testing throughout the software development cycle. Agile
methodologies focus on the team and individual interactions over tools and processes, customer
collaboration, responding to change, and working software. It proposes an iterative and incremental
approach for software development. This allows for fixing the error in the middle of the project. Agile
methodologies are fast and flexible which helps in continuous improvement in quality. There are various
methods that present in agile methodology which are scrum, FDD (Feature-driven development), crystal
methodologies, extreme programming, and unified process.
Scrum methodology: It is the most popular way for agile implementation. This is a software model
which follows a set of responsibilities, roles that never changes. It is useful to manage complex product
or software development. It offers more project visibility and transparency. Because of daily meetings,
everyone in the team knows everything which helps to eliminate conflicts and confusion. It allows
finding the issues in advance. With the help of constant feedback and short sprints, it is easy to
accommodate changes. But if the task is poorly defined then it can lead to inaccuracies.
Figure 2 Scrum methodology
It is also able to increase cost savings. To work with scrum methodologies it is necessary to have Scrum
methodology is able to improve the accountability of the team. This methodology can be applied to any
project. This is mainly suitable for such projects which are continuously changing. It requires that
estimation of cost and time should be accurate. Scrum methodology does not work efficiently for large
projects.
Unified process: It is use case driven approach that is architecture-centric. The unified process is
applicable to various software systems, various levels, and various domains. It is a risk-focused

approach. This help to enlarge and refine the system using multiple iterations. This mainly divided into
four phases which are inception, elaboration, conception, and transition.
Figure 3 Unified process
This is a web-enabled methodology for program development. This methodology focuses on clear
documentation. But this process is not easy to understand and complex to implement. This is able to
solve the project risk. In the unified process, development process follows a series of the use-case has
driven workflows. This only supports the developing process. This is not sufficient for the complex
systems (Osis & Donins, 2017).
Suitable methodology
After the comparison of the scrum and unified process, it is recommended to use the scrum
methodology for the warehouse management software. As the scrum methodology is applicable for any
type of software. Daily meetings allow the project manager to measure the performance of the
individuals. It is suitable as it easily allows making a change at any stage of the project development. The
warehouse management system also needs changes at various stages. This also improves the speed of
software development with the use of iterations (Baez, 2017). Another reason behind the selection of
scrum technology is that is simple to implement. Scrum allows responding and reacting quickly to new
requirements, strategic initiatives, and competitive forces. This is also helpful to improve the
productivity of each member of the team. This also allows delivering the quality product within the time
limit.

Conclusion:
The warehouse management system is software that is responsible for the management of the
warehouse and staff. Cloud computing is a technique which provides computing services over the
implement. For developing a warehouse management system, a cloud solution is an effective way. Cloud
computing reduces operational cost and improves the speed of work. It improves accessibility and
flexibility. But it also has some disadvantages like security and vulnerability issues. Agile methodologies
are a way to develop the software which includes scrum and unified process. These methodologies have
their own set of advantages and disadvantages. These methodologies can be used according to the
situation. Use of cloud computing solution and agile methodology can be helpful in easy implementation
of the warehouse management system.

References
Anton, C. (2017). What cloud computing and SaaS WMS can do for your warehouse.
Retrieved 24 July 2019, from https://blog.snapfulfil.com/what-cloud-computing-and-
saas-wms-can-do-for-your-warehouse
Baez, E. (2017). What Warehousing CIOs Can Learn from Agile and Scrum. Retrieved
24 July 2019, from http://blog.decisionpt.com/what-warehousing-cios-can-learn-
from-agile-scrum
Larkin, A. (2018). Risks & Disadvantages of Cloud Computing - Cloud Academy Blog.
Retrieved 24 July 2019, from https://cloudacademy.com/blog/disadvantages-of-
cloud-computing/
Osis, J., & Donins, U. (2017). Unified Process - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics.
Retrieved 24 July 2019, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-
science/unified-process
Patil, A., Shah, A., Rokade, O., & Kukreja, P. (2018). Cloud Based Warehouse
Management Firm. International Research Journal Of Engineering And Technology
(IRJET), 5(3), 695-697. Retrieved from https://www.irjet.net/archives/V5/i3/IRJET-
V5I3157.pdf
Scrum Methodology. (2016). International Journal Of Engineering And Computer
Science, 5(6), 16792-16799. doi: 10.18535/ijecs/v5i6.11