Developing a business information system : case: Work practice placement management tool for Oulu Vocational College, Department of Social and Health Care, Kontinkangas Unit

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a Business Information System and record its creation process. The main focus of the thesis is to develop a tool for managing information about student work placements. This thesis was commissioned by the Oulu Vocational College (OSAO) and its Department of Social and Health Care in Kontinkangas. The knowledge base of this thesis will define key concepts used in the thesis and consider current software development lifecycle frameworks. The practical part of the thesis developed an operational information system that fulfilled the requirements of the commissioner and the aims of the thesis.

Developing a new system or application can represent a major investment of time and money for an organisation. Often, such systems are driven by business process reengineering to achieve improvements in cost, time, service, and/or quality. These projects require careful planning and clear communication. Development frameworks for new software have moved away from the waterfall framework towards agile development. Software development lifecycles can be considered as an abstract representation for the process of creating software and provide an overall strategy for development and project planning.

The developed system matched expectations and offered the commissioner viable solutions to a variety of challenges. The methodology selected for developing the system proved to be well suited to the task. The changes that were required to the Agile Scrum framework made it more suitable for a single person development team, while the sprint cycles allowed the work to be divided into manageable parts.