Background
Loose Change (LC) offers an integrated approach to cryptocurrency services with an emphasis on low
cost as well as high security and superior service. This year, because of El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin
as legal tender (https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/el-salvadorans-have-become-bitcoin-pioneers),
entrepreneurs Tommy Jimenez and Debbie Gonzalez decided to combine their individual companies in
San Salvador to form LC. They wanted to create a technology company that would concentrate on the
most popular cryptocurrencies, as well as traditional Bitcoin. LC has competition from other firms, but
no other firm offers the same range of services. LC’s business has grown and now includes four auditors,
one cybersecurity expert, four accountants, one regulatory liaison, eight developers, and eight support
staff people. The firm currently has a customer base of 10,000 wallets from all major cities, many of
which provide insurance for cybertheft. Currently, LC accepts insurance plans from 10 licensed cyber
insurance carriers in these cities. LC is also considering opening another location in an outlying area.
MEETING 1: Tommy and Debbie recently decided that the firm needs a modern information system to
support its business information management needs. The new system would replace a mix of paperbased and legacy systems. Tommy asked you to design an information system called “Loose Change
Office System” that could support the firm’s current operations and future growth. In your first meeting,
Tommy provided an overview of the firm’s business processes and staff members. He told you that Alice
Delgado, who has been with LC since its inception, is the facility manager. She supervises the support
staff of seven people. Felix Ballesteros handles human resources and employee benefits. Kathy Salazar
reports directly to Felix and works with payroll, tax reporting, and profit distribution among the
associates. Sandra Gomez is responsible for the maintenance of customer records. Tim Guzman handles
accounts receivables and Tori Alvarez is the insurance billing specialist. Liz Limon is responsible for
managing appointments. Her duties include reminder calls to new and existing customers who need
additional help and preparing daily appointment lists. Cindy Juarez is concerned primarily with ordering
and organizing office and technical supplies. After studying this information, you start to prepare for
your next meeting with Tommy.
MEETING 2: Tommy had previously asked you to work with him as a systems analyst and help the group
develop an information system that will support current operations and future growth. You will explore
the possibility of a system for the scheduling, billing, accounting, and payroll functions of the firm as well
as a system to support the business applications of Electronic Cryptocurrency Records (ECR),
Computerized Customer Wallet Entry (CCWE), and a Business Decision Support System (BDSS). At this
meeting, Tommy explains what the firm partners have in mind in more detail. They are looking for a
secure facility software solution that allows each office worker to conduct their job more efficiently.
He explains to you what systems they are looking for from the perspective of a customer who comes
into the office. Liz Limon schedules a customer’s appointment, and the customer comes into the office
for the first time. On this appointment, an ECR is started for the customer that includes the customer’s
demographic information, financial history, and insurance information. A customer may be coming in to
see any one of the technical staff, including a developer, cybersecurity expert, auditor, or accountant.
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These staff members would enter any transactions into the ECR with the CCWE system. The staff
members who use the ECR and CCWE system are supported by the BDSS. Customers often schedule a
follow-up appointment before leaving the firm office. After a customer’s visit, Sandra Gomez, who
maintains the customer transaction records, reviews the records to ensure they are complete. Cindy
Juarez orders any supplies needed to replace items used by the staff. Tori Alvarez begins billing the
customer’s cyber insurance technical staff member for services that were rendered to the customer.
Tim Guzman follows up on the billing to ensure the firm is getting paid for all cyber theft claims. Tommy
also tells you that the system should also include modules to support Felix Ballesteros and Kathy
Salazar in HR and payroll. You explain to Tommy that you would like to conduct a preliminary
investigation that will give you the information you need to make recommendations about what system
they should pursue. Tommy agrees to your investigation, and you set a follow-up appointment in one
month.
MEETING 3: In your role as an IT consultant, you are helping LC develop a new information system. LC
asked you to perform a preliminary investigation for a new business support system. You had two prior
meetings with Tommy to discuss office records and accounting systems. Alice Delgado, LC’s facility
manager, participated in those meetings. You also completed a project management plan for LC. Now,
you are ready to develop a system requirements model. In the preliminary investigation report, you
recommended a detailed analysis of four key areas: customer scheduling, billing and accounts
receivable, human resources, and payroll. Because these areas are highly interactive, you suggested that
an integrated system would provide the greatest benefits. Tommy and the partners agreed, but they
also expressed interest in a technical firm-wide support system and asked whether your system could be
expanded. After research and analysis, you concluded that technical firm support should be a separate
system to be considered in LC’s long-term strategic plans. Because future integration would be very
important, your system design should be compatible with a future technical firm support system. In your
meetings with Tommy and Alice, you stressed that IT projects are much more successful when users
have a sense of ownership, and the best way to create that “buy-in” is to get them involved in the
development process. In your view, joint application development would be ideal method to develop
the new system, and everyone agrees. Your next task is to form a JAD team and conduct the
requirements modeling process.
MEETING 4: After studying this information, you began the systems analysis phase by conducting
interviews, reviewing existing reports, and observing office operations. Your additional findings are as
follows. The LC technical team performs services and regulatory procedures, which are coded according
to the International Cryptocurrency Association’s Crypto Processing Terminology (CPT). CPT codes
consist of five numeric digits and a two-digit suffix, and most cyber insurance carriers require the codes
to be included with billing information. LC’s information system must interface with 10 licensed cyber
insurance carriers. The new system represents an opportunity for significant cost saving for LC, and
more convenience for customers, who will be able to go online to update financial information,
schedule appointments, and request transaction records. During your fact-finding, you learned that the
office requires various reports, as follows:
• Daily appointment list for each technical staff member. The list shows all scheduled
appointment times, customer names, and services to be performed, including the processing
code and description.
• Daily report call list, which shows the customers who are to be reminded of their next day’s
appointments. The call list includes the customer name, telephone number, appointment time,
and technical staff member name.
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• Weekly technical staff member report that lists each of the technical staff members and the
weekly requests generated, plus a month-to-date (MTD) and a year-to-date (YTD) summary as
well as profit distribution data for the partners.
• Monthly customer statement, which includes the statement date, name and address, previous
month’s balance, total payments MTD, and the current balance. The bottom section of the
statement shows activity for the month in date order. For each service performed, a line shows
the customer’s name, the service date, the processing code and description, and the charge. The
statement also shows the date and amount of all payments and cyber insurance claims. When a
cyber insurance payment is received, the source and amount are noted on the form. If the claim
is denied or only partially paid, a code is used to explain the reason. A running balance appears
at the far right of each activity line.
• Weekly Cyber Insurance Carrier Report.
• Monthly Request Status Summary. In addition to these reports, the office staff would like
automated e-mail and text messaging capability for sending reminders to customers when it is
time to schedule an appointment. Data also needs to be maintained on employers who
participate in employee crypto literacy programs. This information can be used for marketing
purposes throughout the year. Finally, the new system needs to track employee schedules,
attendance, vacation time, and paid time off. Now you are ready to organize the facts and
prepare a system requirements document that represents a logical model of the proposed
system. Your tools will include DFDs. Complete the following tasks, after considering the hints
provided for each.
Questions:
(you can use MS Visio for developing your models. Save your models as images and insert them into a
Word>PDF file under each pertinent question).
- Prepare a context diagram (level 0) for LC’s information system.
Hint: In the requirements determination phase, you determined five (external) entities that
the system should directly interact with:
• Customer: to receive Appointment Reminder and Statement from the system,
and provide Customer Data, and Cyber Insurance Data to the system.
• Cyber Insurance Carrier: to receive the Cyber Insurance Claim from the system
and provide Payment to the system.
• International Cryptocurrency Association: to provide CPT codes to the system.
• Technical Staff Members: to receive Cyber Insurance Carrier Report, Request
Status Summary, Appointment List, and Technical Staff Member Report for a
Customer from the system, and provide Fee and Crypto Servicing Data as well as
Technical Staff Member Information for a Customer to the system.
• Office Staff: to receive Call Lists and Mailing Labels for the Customers from the
system.