Software Engineering

Project 5: Good Neighbors Campaign

Project Description:

Develop a database to keep track of 20 data points for each of USC's 10,000 employees for the past 10 years (and years to come). This database would need to have the ability to generate reports based on various queries in order to answer questions about donation trends among the University employees.

Team Members:

David Stark

David Jeng

Steven Cao

Jamal Madni

Contact:

Aggie Afarinesh

Campaign Finance Manager/Program Specialist

Office of External Relations

University of Southern California

(213) 740-7400

afarines@usc.edu

CSCI 477Ð'--Project Deliverables

Operational Concept Description

1.1 Summary

The Good Neighbors Campaign (GNC) is an annual giving campaign for the staff and faculty of the University of Southern California. Funds raised by this campaign are granted to nonprofit community organizations located in the University Park and Health Sciences Campus neighborhoods. These funds go toward community development, economic development, health education and support, arts education, and after school programs for children. The University Of Southern California Office Of External Relations (USC OER) is looking for a database that can store all current and historic donations. They would also like a program or system that can streamline data collection as well as generate reports to track campaign effectiveness. Long-term goals include an easy user interface for the donation process.

The system is being built because over the past ten years, the OER has collected a plethora of data and needs an efficient method of interacting and analyzing donation trends. They also would like to have this system implemented for the next campaign drive in fall 2005. At the moment, all data entry is done by hand by a single person. Also, the only way to interact with the database is through one administrator's computer. The current process also poses a large potential of human error that could significantly compromise the database's integrity.

The new system will reduce the error and time of data entry. It will generate reports more easily and flexibly as well as inform department heads about the donation of their employees. It will also provide this functionality through a user friendly web interface.

1.1.1 Original Description from Client

The OER is looking for a database that can integrate all of the donation history for the past ten years. This would include data points for each employee for each of the past ten years. All employee information must be accessed through the payroll department.

1.1.2 Organizational Goals

Goal Identifier OG-1

Organizational Goal Increase donations

Measurable Since donations are pledged annually, donations will be measured with respect to previous years.

Relevant Increased donations will provide more funding towards nonprofit organizations located in the University Park and Health Sciences campus neighborhoods that are involved with community development, economic development, health education and support, arts education, and after school programs for children.

Goal Identifier OG-2

Organizational Goal Better Understanding of Demographic Factors

Description Being able to categorize donation trends based on a single or combination of factors.

Measurable Since donations are pledged amongst a variety of faculty and staff, demographic factors will include key components such as department, job title, age, salary, tenure, etc.

Relevant Having a better understanding of demographic factors will aid the Good Neighbors Campaign in planning for future campaigns/projects toward better success in funds raised for nonprofit organizations.

1.1.3 System Capabilities

Our client needs a fast and efficient database and system that can integrate all of the donation history for the past ten years. Our proposed system will allow for easy data entry and manipulation, user login through a web-interface, report generation, and detailed analysis on donation trends. Unlike the current system in which our client is using, our proposed system will be faster, more efficient, easily maintained, and user friendly.

1.1.4 Key Stakeholders

Doris Gallan (System Administrator)

Campaign Director/Director of Local Government Relations and Strategic Planning

Office of External Relations

University of Southern California

Aggie Afarinesh (System Maintainer)

Campaign Finance Manager/Program Specialist

Office of External Relations

University of Southern California

Developers

USC Faculty and Staff (Users)

1.1.5 System Boundary and Environment

1.2 The Proposed System

1.2.1 Project Goals and Constraints

Project Goal PG-1: Easy to Use and Maintain

Description System is user friendly and does not require a lot of time to troubleshoot if a problem occurs.

Measurable Count the number of times user must refer to manual to complete certain operations.

Relevant Easy for user to analyze donation trends based on demographic