A Problem Statement Of Banking Systems Information Technology Essay

The Internal Audit System is the system that I will be working on. This system will be available through all the ICB buildings. A software system will be created to allow data to be easily accessed and changed by the users. To track and retrieve data, all changes will be logged through a version control system and various backups will be held. The system will cater for multiple users who access the same data at the same time. This audit system will protect any data by giving different rights to different users.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The International Central Bank currently conducts internal audits by using a manual system. The audit data is kept manually in files in the ICB headquarters’ main underground warehouse. For an employee to access a file, s/he must go to the warehouse and get the file. Data older than a year are moved in other warehouses outside the headquarters. This will take more time for an employee to access data. Moreover, warehouses are filled with huge amount of files and some of them are hardly ever used. These papers take a lot of space and are difficult to manage.

Furthermore, a file can only be accessed by a person at a time. If a file is already taken, the employee must wait for the file to be checked in. Also, sometimes it can be the case that a file is lost or damaged while checked out. Therefore a backup is kept by keeping an extra copy of the file. However, if a file is modified maliciously, the backup is useless as changes are not tracked and it might be too late to realize about the problem.

Therefore, the ICB is asking for a new computerized system to eliminate these problems. The objectives of the new system are:

The system will be easily accessed throughout all the ICB buildings, but cannot be accessed from outside the buildings.

A system software will be installed over the network to allow data about employees, customers, and accounts to be easily accessed and changed by accountants.

All changes done to all documents will be logged and different versions will be kept.

Multiple users can access a document at once, but only one user will have the right to change it.

New documents can be created and shared.

IMPACT ANALYSIS

Positive Effects of the new system:

Employees will access data faster and therefore clients will be served faster (audit reports).

The organization will reduce staff as no one will be working in the warehouses for check in and out of files.

A document will be accessed simultaneously.

No loss or damaging of files will happen while file is checked out.

Warehouses can be used for other purposes.

Negative Effects of the new system:

As the new system is computerized, some employees might need training before using the new system.

If the new system gets faulty or damaged, users will have to wait to access documents.

RELATED SYSTEMS

Related System 1 – MetricStream Audit Management

Description: MetricStream Audit Management software module is a comprehensive audit system designed to help companies manage a wide range of audit-related activities, data and processes.

Feature 1: Supports all type of audits, including internal audits.

Feature 2: Audit planning and scheduling.

Feature 3: Development of audit reports and recommendations.

Related System 2 – AutoAudit®

Description: Thomson Reuters offers a comprehensive governance, risk and compliance software solution that includes an audit component that is a purpose-built, paperless audit management system proven to reduce the time and cost associated with internal audit processes.

Feature 1: Risk assessment.

Feature 2: Planning and Scheduling.

Feature 3: Issue tracking and reports.

References:

MetricStream Audit Management -http://www.metricstream.com/products/auditmangmt.htm

AutoAudit® – http://paisley.thomsonreuters.com/website/pcweb.nsf/pages/CIRE-6LUMZU

Section 2: Analysis

Subsection A

TASK 1: Observation

Part i

The observation technique investigates the system in its naturally occurring settings. The observer joins the organization’s setting to record and investigate events that occur, together with the employees’ behaviors during their work. If the observer is participant during the observation, it will help to gather more specific observation results. This means that the observer gets close to the actions so that s/he can feel more for what things mean to the employees. Therefore with an observation, one can identify the tasks being performed by the organization together with the methods and tools being actually used. An important factor is that the observer ‘melts into the background’ and those not interfere with the occurring settings. The aim of an observation is to view the system at its natural occurrence. If not so, the observation will give a less accurate result, resulting into incorrect or loss of investigation data.

Advantages of the Observation technique:

The observer will get a more accurate result than other observation techniques as s/he is viewing the current system by himself/herself; therefore data gathered can be highly reliable.

Observation is less expensive compared to other techniques.

Disadvantages of the Observation technique:

If employees feel uncomfortable with the presence of an observer, s/he might not behave as usual; therefore this may give an inaccurate observation result.

Ethical issues.

Time consuming.

The observer will have to work hard if an activity happens in an odd time/situation.

What to take into consideration when conducting an Observation:

On observer has to take into consideration whether s/he will act as a participant observer or not. By being participant, the gathered data will be more accurate as the observer is directly interacting with the users of the system during the natural occurrence of the system. However if employees feel uncomfortable to work with a participant observer, results might not be reliable. On the other hand, by not being participant, an observer will not interact with the employees during their work, but will observe from the background. This might give less accurate results from being participant due to the fact that the observer is less near to the employees.

References:

Observation Technique – http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/evaluation/evalsed/sourcebooks/method_techniques/collecting_information/observation/description_en.htm

Part ii

An observation in the ICB organization may start in one of the warehouses, preferably in the main underground warehouse situated in the ICB headquarters. This observation is to be observed in a time when an employee goes to check out a document. Also another observation is done while a check in of a document. By this, the observer will be able to investigate the system being used to check in and check out a document. The employee(s) in charge of the warehouse will be observed and view what methods and tools use to check in and check out a document.

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Another observation will take place in the ICB headquarters during an internal audit. The observer will observe an employee while currently using/editing a document. This data will be useful to analyze the current audit system. This observation is preferably done to more than one employee in different times of the day.

TASK 2: Questionnaire

Part i

The question is not a good question to be added in the questionnaire since the question asked does not specify which duties are referring to. An employee might have more than one duty, and the question does not cater for specific duties. The current system might be inadequate for a duty but adequate for another.

Also, the question’s provided answers are too vague in their meaning. What is ‘Occasionally’? Does it mean once week or once a month? The answers should show a time spam so that the user can answer the question in more detailed and accurate manner.

All of this will provide a more reliable data from the questionnaires.

The question may be modified as follows:

How often is the current system inadequate when checking out a document?

Often (at least five times per week)

Occasionally (from one to two times per week)

Rarely (from twice to five times per month)

Hardly Ever (once per month)

Never

Other Answer (Please write down below how often)

Part ii

The goal of this questionnaire is to analyze the current system by asking different types of employees in the organization about different duties and activities which happen in the system. With this information we will be able to find the downfalls of the current system so that we will solve them when implementing the new system. Also, we will take the positive things of the current system, possibly improve them, and include them in the new system. As all of the employees will answer through their individual opinion and experience, we will gather a vast range of data throughout different employees in the organization.

The following question will be included in the questionnaire and is intended for all the accountants. Its goal is to see whether these employees are willing to take training if the current system is computerized.

Are you willing to take additional training (if needed) if the system is computerized?

Yes

No

This question will be added to the questionnaire for the simple reason that it is important to know whether employees will cooperate if the system is computerized. As this question has a Yes or No answer, we will be able to quantify how many employees will be willing to take computer/software training.

Subsection B

TASK 1

The current system uses a manual system throughout all the ICB buildings. The goal of the system is to make audits i.e. evaluate documents which are mainly done by the accountants. The organization stores number of documents and employees can collect these documents for work purposes. These documents can be modified and for safety reasons, a copy of the document is kept. Also, accountants create new paper documents and then store them in warehouses.

The SCOPE of the system include:

System Boundary

The employees (accountants and auditors) are a system boundary. There is no control on the employees’ performance with the system. It is a system boundary due to the fact that it does not depend on the system but on external entities.

System Constraint

Budget is a constraint. A lot of money will be needed for both the development and maintenance, but it is limited. This is due to the fact that files are always increasing, together with their backups.

System Objectives

By this software, employees will be able to access documents and track any changes that have been made to these documents.

The client also expects that the system/servers will be accessible throughout the ICB buildings by internet.

Permissions

The Director of Internal Audit gives permissions to auditors to access files with sensitive data.

The Project Manager is responsible for the supervision of the project.

Overall, the current system works in quite a good condition and all of the employees can finally do their job. However, this system has some problems, including the time consuming when accessing a document, and the few protection offered to a document. This system also has some limitations, including:

Once a file is checked out, no other employee will be able to access that same file until it is checked back in.

If a file is modified maliciously, there is no way of realizing about the problem and tracking to a previous version of the file until it is too late.

TASK 2

Job-Role 1 – Accountant

Description: This employee is the most common employee found in the organization and does the accounts of the company.

Responsibility: An accountant is responsible for creating and editing accounts.

Permission: An accountant will need permissions to access accounts data which is of a high importance to the company. Also, s/he will need permissions to access files regarding customers of the company.

Job-Role 2 – Auditor

Description: This employee does the internal audits of the company.

Responsibility: An auditor gets the file (accounts) from the warehouses and is responsible of checking and analyzing them.

Permission: An auditor will need permissions to access invoices, and files which are of a high importance to the company.

Job-Role 3 -Warehouse employee

Description: This employee works in an ICB warehouse which is found either in the ICB headquarters (main warehouse) or in other ICB buildings.

Responsibility: The warehouse employee is responsible for checking out a document by taking the document details together with the person’s details who is taking the document. The warehouse manager is also responsible of checking in a document and stores it back to its place.

Permission: The warehouse employee will need permissions from the warehouse manager to access certain important documents.

Section 3: Non-Functional Requirements

Subsection A

SYSTEM RELATED REQUIREMENTS

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

1

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Document Searching

Requirement Type

Performance

Description

The searching of a document should show the result within 10 seconds from the time the user presses the search button.

Requirement Details and Constraints

The searching response time applies to all types of documents i.e. employees, customers and accounts.

Criticality

Should

Why it is required

This is required so that the employees does not have to wait and waste important working time before accessing the needed file.

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

2

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

System Stability

Requirement Type

Reliability

Description

The system must not crash down when servers are loaded with less than one million documents and be used by 200 employees at the same time.

Requirement Details and Constraints

Criticality

Must

Why it is required

This is required so that the system does not stop working as this will have a negative impact on the organization.

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

3

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

System Restart

Requirement Type

Robustness

Description

The system must restart in less than 10 minutes after failure.

Requirement Details and Constraints

Criticality

Must

Why it is required

This is required so that the employees will be able to reuse the system in a reasonable time.

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

4

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Protection of Documents

Requirement Type

Security

Description

The system must provide security for documents with high priorities.

Requirement Details and Constraints

Criticality

Must

Why it is required

This is required so that important documents can only be accessed by users who have rights to do so.

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

5

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Loading of Document

Requirement Type

Performance

Description

The document should load within 3 seconds from the time the user opens the document.

Requirement Details and Constraints

Criticality

Should

Why it is required

This is required so that the employees do not have to wait long for a document to load and be ready for use.

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

6

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Ease of Use

Requirement Type

Usability

Description

System must be user-friendly so that every employee will be able to use it after 2 weeks of training.

Requirement Details and Constraints

Criticality

Why it is required

This is required since most of the users will be not IT employees.

PROCESS RELATED REQUIREMENTS

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

7

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Development Cost

Requirement Type

Process-Related

Description

System expenditures must not exceed €10,000 per month during the first 6 months.

Requirement Details and Constraints

Criticality

Must

Why it is required

This is required because the ICB has a restricted budget due to other projects.

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

8

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Development Time

Requirement Type

Process-Related

Description

The system must be complete in about two years, but it should be usable in less than 7 months.

Requirement Details and Constraints

Criticality

Must

Why it is required

The ICB wants to be able to take advantage of the new system as soon as possible.

EXTERNAL REQUIREMENTS

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

9

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Legal

Requirement Type

External

Description

The system must meet the government regulations.

Requirement Details and Constraints

Criticality

Must

Why it is required

This is required since we want a legal system.

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

10

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Ethical

Requirement Type

External

Description

System should cater for different languages.

Requirement Details and Constraints

Criticality

Should

Why it is required

This is required since some of the employees prefer other languages rather than English.

Subsection B

PERSONNEL RELATED REQUIREMENTS

User 1 – Accountant

Function 1: Create new accounts.

Function 2: Access accounts from database.

Function 3: Modify existing accounts.

Skill 1: ECDL certificate.

Skill 2: ACCA.

User 2 -Auditor

Function 1: Access (read-only) accounts from database.

Function 2: Print documents.

Function 3: Access previous versions of files.

Skill 1: ECDL certificate.

Skill 2: ACCA.

Developer 1 – Database Administrator

Task 1: Design and implement the database.

Task 2: Keep regular maintenance of the database.

Skill 1: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certificate.

Skill 2: Strong communication skills.

Developer 2 – Programmer

Task 1: Code the system software.

Task 2: Test for bugs.

Skill 1: Excellent knowledge in JAVA.

Skill 2: Communication skills.

Section 4: Functional Requirements

FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

11

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Document Searching

Requirement Type

Functional

Description

System will display all documents that meet the search condition.

Requirement Details and Constraints

Criticality

Must

Why it is required

This is required so that users can find their desired document by simply writing the document name and system displays all documents that contain that name.

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

12

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Create new document

Requirement Type

Functional

Description

Users will be able to create a new document on the system.

Requirement Details and Constraints

The document can be used by themselves and shared to others.

Criticality

Must

Why it is required

This is required so that users will be able to create new documents rather than only accessing already existing documents.

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

13

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Modify documents

Requirement Type

Functional

Description

Users will be able to edit documents according to their needs.

Requirement Details and Constraints

Since a document can be accessed by multiple users at the same time, this function must be only allowed to one user. All the other users will only be able to view the document.

Criticality

Must

Why it is required

This is required so that users will be able to modify existing accounts and the document will be updated in the database.

Requirement

Details

Requirement Reference

14

Revision Date and Review No.

Version 1.0

Title

Version Control

Requirement Type

Functional

Description

System will keep track of different versions of each document.

Requirement Details and Constraints

The system will have a version control unit by keeping logs of different versions.

Criticality

Must

Why it is required

This is required so that if a document is modified maliciously, the document can be restored.

Section 5: Comparison of Life Cycle Models

Life Cycle Model 1 -Waterfall

Feature 1: The development process is divided into phases and stages, and this makes it easier to manage.

Feature 2: The process is done sequentially by doing a phase at a time.

Feature 3: One must move to the next phase after that the phase is complete and perfected.

Feature 4: There are 6 phases in this model; Planning and Selection, Analysis, Design, Implementation, Testing, Operation &Maintenance. Documentation is provided through every stage.

Advantage 1: A definite starting date and ending date of the system will be given and this is a benefit for the ICB as it wants a deadline of about 2 years.

Advantage 2: The waterfall model is easy to explain to the user/client.

Disadvantage 1: If the requirements of the ICB change during the development of the project, this model will not cater for these new requirements.

Disadvantage 2: The waterfall model those not offer a working model, therefore this is a great disadvantage for the ICB as it wants to be able to use the system before the deadline.

Life Cycle Model 2 -Spiral

Feature 1: The phases in this model are done in iteration until the system is perfected.

Feature 2: A combination of designs and prototypes are done through stages.

Feature 3: Combines the features of the prototyping model and the waterfall model.

Feature 4: Software engineers get their hands in and start working on a project early.

Advantage 1: Estimated budget become more realistic as work progresses, therefore the ICB will know if the system will incur their intended restricted budget.

Advantage 2: If the organization’s requirements change during system development, spiral model is better to handle for the changes (rather than the waterfall model).

Disadvantage 1: There is a risk of not meeting the estimated budget of the ICB.

Disadvantage 2: There is a risk of not meeting the estimated deadline of the ICB, which is 2 years.

Life Cycle Model 3 -RAD

Feature 1: System is developed quickly.

Feature 2: Problem is analyzed rapidly.

Feature 3: Users and developers cooperate a lot with each other.

Feature 4: Tasks are done in parallel with each other.

Advantage 1: Since the RAD completes a system quickly, the ICB will see a fast change in their system, from manual to computerized.

Advantage 2: RAD is flexible to changes that may run during the system development.

Disadvantage 1: The ICB does not need to have a complete system rapidly, but only wants a part of the system ready earlier than the deadline to be taking advantage of.

Disadvantage 2: The system’s cost will rather be unknown, and this is a disadvantage for the ICB as they have an estimated budget for the system.

Disadvantage 3: Quality is not much guaranteed, and we must provide a quality system for a bank organization.

Life Cycle Model 4 -SCRUM

Feature 1: An agile software development by which the process of the development of the system is iterative and incremental.

Feature 2: Contains a set of practices and predefined roles.

Feature 3: The three main roles in a SCRUM are the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and the Team.

Feature 4: A lightly controlled method which insists on frequent updating of the progress in work through regular meetings.

Advantage 1: SCRUM requires continuous feedback from the user, therefore the ICB requirements can be reached more easily.

Advantage 2: It is ideal for giving a quality system in a scheduled time.

Disadvantage 1: As the ICB project is not a small project, the project team will consist of a large number of members, and this may cause difficulties in communication and understanding.

Disadvantage 2: This agile method runs a higher risk of failing than other life cycle models due to lack of firm direction or inexperience in the team.

Life Cycle Model 5 -V-Model

Feature 1: Phases are divided into smaller parts and a relationship between the development and testing is created.

Feature 2: Every phase has a corresponding test (validation and verification).

Feature 3: As testing is done at the end of each development, bugs and defects of the system can be tracked before it is too late.

Feature 4: Each testing does not take too long as it is not done at the last of the system development.

Advantage 1: A very good understanding of the project is developed at the very beginning, and this ensures a quality result for the ICB.

Advantage 2: The V-Model is time saving because the testing activities start as soon as the ICB gives the requirement and therefore project deadline is ensured.

Disadvantage 1: However, if requirement changes occur from the ICB during the process, lots of time will be wasted due to the updating of stages.

Disadvantage 2: This model is very expensive and might incur the ICB expenditures before the first 6 months.

Chosen Life Cycle Model – SCRUM

Reason 1: Since it is an agile method, SCRUM is based on discussions between the team and this will give the ICB a system which will possibly meet all their requirements.

Reason 2: Moreover, the ICB deadline of 2 years will be reached and the delivered system will be of a high quality, and this is what the organization wants.