Imagin8 Inc.

To: Design Team (16 Jan 1997)

Re: Implementation of Time Management System for Imagin8 Inc.

Overview

Imagin8 Inc. is a world leader in the manufacturing of game pads for video gaming platforms. Due to the recent resurgence in the video game marketplace, Imagin8 Inc. has undergone dramatic growth and expansion of its facilities. To cope with problems associated with expansion, Imagin8 Inc. is currently searching for a design team to construct a group diary and time management system. The system should support the timetabling of meetings and appointments across groups of co-workers.

Requirements

The ideal system we require should be composed of two separate yet related subsystems. The first is the Employee Management Subsystem (EMS). A secure system, the EMS should allow access only to those individuals in the human resources department (i.e. only the human resources department can access personal information). The second subsystem is the Timetabling and Diary Subsystem (TDS). The TDS is a global system accessible by each employees from his or her workstation.

 

EMS Subsystem

The EMS should enable adminstrators to add, delete, modify, and view employee information records. Each employee record contains the name of the individual, that individual's unique login identification, as well as a comment field (The comment field is for personal information about the individual eg. address, position etc.). The TDS should have access to the EMS database.

 

TDS Subsystem

In order for an employee to use the system the user is required to log into the system. The TDS should enable all employees to add, delete, modify and view his or her personal diary entries. An entry will include the following: start time, duration, location, people requested, and comments. Entries can be scheduled to occur daily, weekly, or monthly. The system will be run on a twenty-four hour timetable. If the people requested field is empty then this is a personal entry and no other people will be contacted. That block of time will be no longer be free. When the people requested field includes other co-workers, an attempt will be made to set up a meeting. Valid meetings only occur between employees of Imagin8 Inc., so the TDS must check the EMS database for current employees. If there is no conflict with the time of the meeting and the schedule of each co-worker, the meeting is arranged and the co-worker is notified. If there is a conflict with the co-worker, a list of commonly available times is generated from which the originator can choose. Should there be no commonly available times from which to choose, a message is sent to the person whose schedule needs to be rearranged so that the next time that person uses his or her personal diary, it will inform the user to attempt to free up that time and allow the user to add, delete, or modify their diary to do so. Only the originator of an entry or meeting can change that appointment. In the case that a person cannot attend a meeting, a message needs to be sent to the originator of the meeting in order for him or her to modify that meeting and remove the name of the person who cannot attend.

The user of the personal diary system should have the ability to view their diary including all of their personal entries and business meetings. The user should also have the ability to obtain detailed information about the meeting including the start time, duration, location, originator, as well as the other co-workers attending the meeting.

These are the informal specifications for our project. We hope that this will be adequate for your needs. Thank you for your time,