Assignment - Read the case study overview document provided in this week's assignment folder. Then prepare a report that addresses the following:

*List the system requirements for the new fee billing system. Give at least one example of how to achieve more effective outputs, inputs, processes, performance, and controls as it relates to Willowbrooks requirements.

*Are there scalability issues that you should consider? If so, what are they and how do they specifically relate to Willowbrook?

*Draw a multi-level FDD for Willowbrooks billing system that shows the main operations described in the fact statement.

Case Study

Willowbrook School

Willowbrook School is a small private school that has retained you to assist in the

development of a new information system for the schools administrative needs.

Background

Willowbrook School has decided to proceed to the sy

stems analysis phase, based on the

findings and proposal you presented after the preliminary investigation. A summary of

your fact

-

finding is as follows:

Fact

-

Finding Summary

Billing and payments for Willowbrook School have two components, tuition

,

an

d

af

ter

care. Tuition is a fixed fee, set in the spring of the prior academic year.

After

-

care

fees have two components, a fixed fee based on the time

-

block of

after care

the student is

pre

-

registered for, and a variable fee based on any additional time that t

he student may

have used on a drop

-

in basis.

There are

several

different time blocks that students can

be registered for in

after care

, dependent on whether the child is in pre

-

school,

kindergarten

,

or primary school. For preschoolers, time blocks are no

on

1:30 p.m.,

noon

3:30 p.m. and noon

5:30 p.m. For kindergarten students, time blocks are 1:30

3:30

p.m. and 1:30

5:30 p.m. For primary school students the 3:30

5:30

p.m.

time block is

available. These time blocks are the time blocks available for drop

-

in

after care as well.

In addition, for pre

-

registered students not registered for the entire afternoon, the 1:30

3:30

p.m.

blocks and 3:30

5:30

p.m.

blocks can be utilized on a drop

-

in basis.

There are two payment options for t

uition a

nd the fixed component

of after

care

.

P

arents can pay the entire amount by August 1 prior to the start of the school year; or the

fixed f

ees can be spread out over a 10

-

month period, starting July 1 prior to the start of

the school year.

A discount

of 5

percent

is applied to fe

es for parents choosing the lump

sum payment option.

Parents who have more th

an one child enrolled at Willowb

rook are

eligible for a 5

percent

discount on tuition for all enrolled children.

Payment for

after care

used on a drop

-

in basis is billed monthly

, and is added to

the bills for parents who are paying in 10 monthly installments. New bills are generated

for drop

-

in care for those who paid fees in a lump sum.

Monthly bills for fees and drop

-

in care are due on the first of the month, and are

distri

buted to parents one week prior to their being due.

Parents who have more than one

child enrolled in Willowbrook receive a separate bill for each child.

Willowbrook has not

had a policy of charging interest on late payments, because it has not been a probl

em

except in one or two cases per year. These cases

are

handled on a case

-

by

-

case basis.

The billing

is done using Microsoft Excel. Susan sets up a new workbook for each

academic year. Each month Susan creates a new worksheet in the workbook. The

worksheet

maintained contains one line per student. Each line contains the following

billing and payment information

for the student

:

Name of s

tudent

Names of p

arents

Amount of d

iscount on fixed fees

Monthly fixed

tuition

fee

Monthly fixed

after

-

care

fee

Discounte

d fixed fees

Monthly drop

-

in fees

Total m

onthly fee (calculated field)

Payment received

Amount paid to date (calculated field)

Amount outstanding (calculated field)

The entry for each student is updated twice each month, once to prepare the bills

and on

ce to record payment. Entry for bill preparation requires the monthly statements

from

after care

detailing all drop

-

in hours for each student.

Currently the monthly

statements include a listing for each child, detailing date(s) and time(s) of drop

-

in hou

rs.

From this listing, Susan Brown enters a total charge for additional

after care

provided.

A summary monthly report is generated for the financial committee

from this

spreadsheet

summarizing fee collections for tuition and

after care

. The financial

commi

ttee also receives separate monthly reports detailing payroll expenses for all

employees.

Reports need to be ready for distribution at the financial committee meeting

which is scheduled for the third Monday of every month.

In light of the plan to expand th

e system to handle less sensitive administrative

tasks, and the fact that Susan Browns workstation is used by volunteers to assist in the

production of newsletters and calendars for parents, you have been asked to ensure that

the billing system be made se

cure somehow, so that volunteer workers cannot access

financial information.

Susan Brown has indicated that the most useful new feature that

could be added to the system would be the ability to generate one bill per family per

month, listing each students

charges separately, and an overall total. Also useful would

be the ability to generate a receipt

automatically

at the time payments are recorded. This

receipt should contain information required for reimbursement re

quests from different

types of dependent

c

are and tuition accoun

ts, including name, location

,

and federal t

ax ID

number of the school.

In addition, parents have asked for a separate statement

accompanying their bill itemizing all drop

-

in

after

-

care

hours

for that statement

,

including childs nam

e, date(s)

,

and time(s)

being billed fo