Assume you have been assigned to analyze the admissions process at Torchers University. Torchers is an exclusive Midwestern liberal arts school. Recently ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best in the Midwest, the university's administrative systems are in disarray. At an interview with the admissions director tells you: "The admissions process that we're interested in automating here at Torchers should be fairly straight forward. Students that apply are required to do three things. First, they fill out an application form and mail it to us, along with a check for $50. 

Second, they arrange for their high school (or other college if transferring) to send us an official transcript. Third, they arrange for two references to send in recommendations. When all of these are received, one of our clerical people reviews the material for completeness and consistency. Clerical staff return incomplete or inconsistent applications immediately to the applicant, along with a note explaining the shortcoming. Verified applications are stored in our admissions file. Periodically, a review committee takes all applications in the file, reviews them and issues admissions decisions. 

These are mailed to students, who reply to our admission offers by sending in an acceptance form. Acceptances are also forwarded to our Business Affairs, Registrar and Financial Aid offices. Unfortunately, things don't work very well. We have frequent complaints that admissions decisions are delayed. This is especially critical since we are in a competitive battle with several other colleges in the area. We've lost students by not sending them an acceptance letter promptly! I'm not sure where the bug is, but I think it has something to do with the manual filing system we use and the way we divide up clerical tasks. One clerk handles incoming student applications, another handles the transcripts and another handles the references. It surely isn't how hard our clerical staff works - we've turned over five clerks in the past year. We also have a problem in that students with most, but not all inputs are never notified of what they are short. 

The review committee frequently meets with few applicant packages to review even when we know there should be several. When admissions decisions do get out, we don't seem to communicate well within our university. Our registrar is often months behind in entering student information in their system. So is financial aid and business affairs. When this happens students get frustrated as they try to register at a supposedly prestigious university that doesn't even know they exist. The president pulled me into his office the other day and made things perfectly clear - fix this nightmare or else!" Note: Consider the review committee, offices that receive acceptances, high schools and references as external to the system. Assignment 

Part I 

1. Create a list of problems Torchers is facing. 

2. Draw a context diagram for Torchers (AS IS) 

Assignment Part II 

1. Draw a decomposition diagram that decomposes the system into 2-7 high level processes. 

2. Draw a high level process diagram (level 1 diagram) that models 2-7 high level processes complete with data stores. (AS-IS logical).