Coastline Systems Consulting
The following is a copy of the transcript of an interview conducted by Anna Kelly with IT consultant Jeff Summers and receptionist/bookkeeper Kathy Gray of Coastline Systems Consulting. The goal of this interview was to obtain sample forms and to ask questions about them to discover data entities of the system.
Exhibit 1.1
Scene: The meeting room at Coastline Systems Consulting. Anna Kelly scheduled the interview to obtain instructions and sample forms for designing the data structure for the customer response system.
Jeff: Good morning, Anna!
Anna: Good morning, Jeff. Good morning, Kathy. Thanks for taking the meeting.
Jeff: You requested some samples of the forms we use now out on site. Here are copies of the main forms I think will be relevant.
Anna: Great! That will be a big help. I think you have received copies of the use case glossary, diagram, and narratives. The use cases and those forms you brought will be guiding our discussion in this meeting. What I want to accomplish is to get answers on some questions I have concerning the data requirements.
Jeff: The first form is the PC Configuration Sheet [Exhibit 1.2]. This is just a spreadsheet that we currently use to keep track of equipment in each PC. We build one of these sheets for each client where we service hardware and keep it in our disorganized binders.
Anna: OK. Are these columns all the pieces of information that need to be tracked for each PC?
Jeff: I don’t think this whole format works very well. A few years ago we had to change the name of the CD-ROM column to CD/DVD when DVD drives started getting popular.
Anna: Today, we may need a column for mouse as we are getting all kinds of specialty mice and other pointing devices on the market.
Jeff: We may need a column for web cam, also. But the point is that we don’t want to be restructuring the data every time there’s a technology shift. Also, we have a problem with this format in that it doesn’t allow for multiple hard drives or
Exhibit 1.1
Scene: The meeting room at Coastline Systems Consulting. Anna Kelly scheduled the interview to obtain instructions and sample forms for designing the data structure for the customer response system.
Jeff: Good morning, Anna!
Anna: Good morning, Jeff. Good morning, Kathy. Thanks for taking the meeting.
Jeff: You requested some samples of the forms we use now out on site. Here are copies of the main forms I think will be relevant.
Anna: Great! That will be a big help. I think you have received copies of the use case glossary, diagram, and narratives. The use cases and those forms you brought will be guiding our discussion in this meeting. What I want to accomplish is to get answers on some questions I have concerning the data requirements.
Jeff: The first form is the PC Configuration Sheet [Exhibit 1.2]. This is just a spreadsheet that we currently use to keep track of equipment in each PC. We build one of these sheets for each client where we service hardware and keep it in our disorganized binders.
Anna: OK. Are these columns all the pieces of information that need to be tracked for each PC?
Jeff: I don’t think this whole format works very well. A few years ago we had to change the name of the CD-ROM column to CD/DVD when DVD drives started getting popular.
Anna: Today, we may need a column for mouse as we are getting all kinds of specialty mice and other pointing devices on the market.
Jeff: We may need a column for web cam, also. But the point is that we don’t want to be restructuring the data every time there’s a technology shift. Also, we have a problem with this format in that it doesn’t allow for multiple hard drives or