Information System for Western & Conventional Medical Systems (Group 09)

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Summary of project

System Iterations

Class Diagram (with class narratives)

Sequence Diagrams

Entity Relationship Diagram

Use Case Diagram With Flow of events

Our Use Case Diagram

Feasibility Study Report

Assignment01

Project Proposal

SUPERVISOR'S SITE.

SAD CALENDAR

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Feasibility Study Report

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction. 3

2.0 Problem Definition. 4

2.1 What is the current state?. 4

2.2 What is the desired state?. 5

3.0 The System.. 6

3.1 The functional requirements. 6

3.2 Nonfunctional requirements. 8

4.0 The solutions. 9

5.0 What is Feasibility study?. 10

6.0 Internet based Information System (recommended solution). 12

6.1 Operational feasibility. 12

6.2 Cultural feasibility. 13

6.3 Economic feasibility. 13

6.3.1 Cost Benefit Analysis. 14

6.4 Technical Feasibility. 15

6.5 Schedule feasibility. 17

6.6 Legal Feasibility. 17

7.0 Stand-Alone Information System (alternative solution). 18

7.1 Operational Feasibility. 18

7.2 Schedule Feasibility. 19

7.3 Economic Feasibility. 19

7.4 Technical Feasibility. 20

7.5 Cultural Feasibility. 20

7.6 Legal Feasibility. 20

8.0 Feasibility Analysis Matrix. 21

8.0 Conclusion. 22

Group Members: 23

1.0 Introduction

One of the most important parts of System Development Life Cycle is System Analysis. After gathering
and analyzing the requirements, we have to start the System Analysis. There are lot of different analysis
include in the system analysis phase. Feasibility Analysis can be identified as one of major part under the
system analysis.

There can be number of different alternatives that will be available to address end users potential
problems. Therefore, we have to make sure that we are selecting the best option. It is not an easy task to
select the best option and if we could not select the best option, we will end up with wasting lot of
resources.

So, how can we select the best option? To answer that we should do a feasibility study in the main areas,
such as operational, technical, economical etc… with the identified different alternative options.

So, purpose of this document is to identify the available alternative solutions to address the problem
definition, study about the different feasibility criteria, carry on feasibility studies from the various
feasibility angles for those identified options, rank the alternative options with respect to different
feasibly scopes and finally to select the best option or solution which will address the identified
problems and end user requirements optimally.

2.0 Problem Definition

2.1 What is the current state?

We can define current state of an Information system as the present state or position in which
Information system belongs or in which range of level it provide services to users. So in a current state of
an Information system if the ultimate end user satisfaction was not meet then there will be a definite gap
of potential end user satisfaction and the current state. So any new Information system, which is built to
address the potential problem, should make sure that it would fill the gap, which exists between current
state and the desired state.

For our project, we will be building an Information System for indigenous and western medical system to
provide wide scope of health and medical information from both the western and indigenous medical
system point of views in a flexible and comparative atmosphere.

So these were the key points of current state which we identified by analyzing the existing systems.

· Lack of readily available medical information on different medical systems on a comparative

platform.

· Absence of a forum for the discussion of professional issues on health care industry.

· Not having a proper interface for the medical researchers to conduct their researches through
sudden pop up questionnaires.

· Lack of interactivity & user friendliness of the existing articles providing medical services.

· Lack of public awareness of the innovations in both the medical systems.

· Less motivation for the indigenous medical innovations.

· A surface that communicates the current medical needs of the general public needs to be
established.

· Difficulty of reaching the medical resources due to unawareness of the physical location.

2.2 What is the desired state?

Desired state of an Information System is the future state where the system will be able to gain the
ultimate user satisfaction and will address to all the potential problems. It is the state where there will
not be any gap between ultimate customer requirements and the Information System.

Therefore, in our Information system we will hope to address the problems, which exist in the current
system and to provide the solutions mentioned below through the system.

· Maps directing the hospitals clinics indigenous medical centers & other medical recourses locally.

· Facilitating the researchers to reach the interested crowd to direct their questionnaires.

· Out of box medical scope covering a vast area on both of the medical systems.

· Users will be able to participate the improvement of the site & flex the site according to their
needs through their suggestion as well as their complaints.

· Facilitating the promotions of special medical functions organized around the country through the
site.

· Maintaining a quick response question & answer forum.

· Facilitating the users to direct their suggestions & complaints regarding the site & use them in
subsequent site development.

· Prioritizing the offered articles to the viewers based on their age, sex, & the locality information
extracted from the user accounts.

· Gathering user needs & suggestions on both the medical systems & draw the attention of the
medical board to assess the viability of implementing those, which could lead to successful medical
innovations.

· Providing users with the option of rating an article & directing those articles that are with least
ratings to the medical board for further modifications.

Through our Information system, what we are trying to achieve is to merge the gap that exists between
the current state & the desired state.

3.0 The System

As we identified the main requirement is, to develop a medical information system, which will provide
medical information in both western and indigenous medical system point of views in a comparative
platform. Therefore, at the requirement-gathering phase we identified the main requirements, which will
address end user’s potential problems. The identified requirements can be categorized into functional
and non-functional requirements.

3.1 The functional requirements

· The system should be able to provide general details about a particular diagnosis such as an
overview of the diagnosis, the symptoms, causes for the diagnosis etc…

This is one of the main functionality of the system. A general user or a patient should be able to get all
the details related to a particular diagnosis from the system. Users will be able to get details for the
diagnosis, which they are interested on via indexing method or users can get information for a particular
diagnosis from querying the system database.

· The system should be able to provide medical treatments and available drugs for a particular
diagnosis from both the western medical system and conventional medical system point of view.

The major objective of the system is to provide medical treatments and available drugs for a particular
diagnosis from both the systems point of view to the patients. Moreover, the information should be
comparative to the user. This should include many details such as the drug name, available places, cost
etc… In addition, for some particular diagnosis the system should not suggest the drugs, because those
medical drugs should not be obtained without a prescription from the doctor.

· The system should be able to provide general health details which will be required by public such
as details about healthy life styles, details about various health issues, various health related articles
etc…

Implemented information system should provide latest news in health and health related industry and
various newsletters, articles on health related topics.

· The users of the system should be able to provide health related articles to the system and they
should be able to comment and modify those articles.

Apart from the articles, which are available in the system, users also will be able to provide health
related articles to the system and they can comment and rate those articles too. From the rating system,
users will motivate to provide articles to the system. The users will be able to provide modifications to
existing articles as well. Those modifications will update to the system after it will approved by medical
specialists of the institution.

· The system should be able to provide spaces to publish the health related questions of the public,
they will be able to get answers for those questions from medical specialists, and they will be able to
carry discussions forward through the system.

And also users should be able to provide their personal experience regarding particular medical
treatments which they used.
3.2 Nonfunctional requirements

For any information system, non-functional requirements will also play a major role of the success of
that information system. These non-functional requirements will provide the atmosphere and
environment to achieve success of functional requirements. We identified several non-functional
requirements, which will be essential to our Information System.

· User Friendliness

User friendliness is one of most important part of our proposed system. Because in our system many of
end users will be general public and patients. So it is essential to provide maximum user friendliness
because those end users will not be that much technically expert people. Our ultimate goal is to provide
an information system, which will be very comfortable to use and very flexible.

· Secure

Security will play another major part of an information system. Without proper security
implementations, we cannot provide the information system product to the end users. We are hoping to
develop User levels, user logins, user authentications, system logbooks and many other features to make
sure the developed system is fully secure.

· Accuracy

In addition, the developed information system should be very accurate because at the end of the day, it
is a matter of life. For example if we could not provide accurate information for a particular diagnosis,
user may end up with trouble that is more serious. Therefore, we hope to put our maximum focus on
this and we are expecting to provide 100% accurate system at the end of the project.

· Reliability

The reliability of the system is also a crucial matter. The system should build up its reliability gradually
along with the system maturity by providing truly accurate solutions & details that enhances user
satisfaction.

· Availability

The system should be readily available & freely accessible at any given moment to all the users

4.0 The solutions

There are many different ways available to implement an information system and as a development
team we have to make sure that we are choosing the most feasible solution. We can identify several
alternative methods to develop an information system,

Ø Internet based Information System.

Ø Intranet based Information System.

Ø Stand-alone Information System.

Ø Customizing available Information system to meet client requirements.

We are developing a Medical Information System, which will provide up-to date information, latest
news, articles, newsletters, with the opportunity to provide articles, comments, questions, personal
experiences, to the system. More importantly, the end users of the system will be general public.
Therefore, our client requested us to develop a public Internet Web site, which will address the potential
problems.

For that reason, any other viable alternative methods to develop the system could not be identified
other than developing a public internet site. So, we are mainly focusing on that. Apart from that we also
focused on measuring the feasibility of a stand-alone system as an alternative solution. This stand-alone
system will include all the information from both the western and conventional medical system point of
views and it a will also have various articles, answers to common questions and other implementable
stuffs. But, this system will not offer the opportunity to provide articles, comments, questions, personal
experiences of users. This stand-alone system can be obtained from our client and after developing the
complete system, they will be able to publish updated versions like, once 3 months.

In the rest of this report we will analyze the feasibility of these two solutions from different feasibility
analysis methods.

5.0 What is Feasibility study?

Feasibility is the measure of how beneficial / practical an information system will be to an organization.
A feasibility study looks at the viability of an idea with an emphasis on identifying potential problems
and attempts to answer one main question: Will the idea work and should you proceed with it?

When assessing feasibility of a project following criteria can be identified.

1. Operational Feasibility

2. Technical Feasibility

3. Economic Feasibility

4. Schedule Feasibility

5. Legal Feasibility

6. Cultural Feasibility

Operational Feasibility

· A measure of how well a solution meets the identified system requirements to solve the problem.
· Take advantage of the opportunities identified during the scope definition and problem analysis
phases.

ü Will the solution fulfill the users’ requirements? To what degree?

ü How will the solution change the users’ work environment?

ü How do users feel about such a solution?

Technical Feasibility

· A measure of the practicality of a technical solution & the availability of technical recourses and
expertise

· Addresses these major issues

ü Is the proposed technology or solution practical?

ü Do we possess the necessary technical expertise? (Hardware/Personnel)?

Economic Feasibility

· A measure of the cost-effectiveness of a project

· Will address three major issues

ü Is the solution cost-effective?

ü Whether the solution will pay for itself?

ü How profitable the solution is?

Schedule Feasibility

· A measure of how reasonable the project timetable is.

ü Can the solution be designed and implemented during the acceptable time frame?

ü How much time is available to build the new system?

ü When it can be built? (Mandatory / Desirable deadlines.)

Cultural Feasibility

· A measure of how well the solution will be accepted in a given organizational climate

ü Deals with how the end users feel about the proposed system.

ü Evaluates whether a system will work in a given organizational climate.

Legal Feasibility

· A measure of how well a solution can be implemented within existing legal and contractual
obligations.

· understands potential legal and contractual ramifications of the system

ü copyright law

ü code ownership

6.0 Internet based Information System (recommended solution)

Internet based system seems to be the most feasible solution & because of that will be considered as the
recommended solution to continue in to the implementation stage.

6.1 Operational feasibility

· Considering the security of this solution this will be the most insecure system. Since anybody in the
world can access the system through the internet. The security aspect will have to be strictly dealt with.
Users will have to log in to the system using their user names & passwords. Authentication of the user
will limit the ability of unsecured entrance. However, that does not solve the entire problem.

· The system can be updated easily online & the users will always experience an up to date system.

· No additional troubles to go through complex installation processes. Will work through the usual
web browser.

· No platform dependency. Any user can access the web site using their existing web browsers

· Availability of the system will depend on the availability of the internet facility.

· The speed of the internet facility will also be a very important factor when determining the speed
of access of a particular user.

· The general users need not to have technical expertise to use the site.

· Traditional patients may be rather comfortable going to their usual doctor due to customized
treatments. So the resistance to change might affect the system usage.

· Modern users on the other hand may prefer the ease of reach.

· The demanding quality required in the article maintenance, created by the intense competition
from the available sites will have to be addressed.

· The medical board will have to comprise of experts covering all the relevant areas in both the
medical systems.
· System administrators in accordance with the functional policies of the institute will do granting
access levels.

6.2 Cultural feasibility

· Physical absence of the patient may confuse the traditional patients. Both the medical systems
demand a lot of physical evidence being examined prior to the medical prescription.

· The language barriers will not be material. The user friendliness of the system & the high level of
interactivity will eliminate the need of the language fluency.

· The different medical practices in different parts of the country will be respected evenly when
preparing the articles & recommending the solutions.

6.3 Economic feasibility

· The cost of medical servicing will be considerably low compared to the normal consultation
process.

· But, the maintenance costs of the system will demand a certain level of income from the site.

· Once the system creates its audience, the system will be in a position to recover its expenses
through publishing various advertisements on the page.

When exploring the economic feasibility of the system a cost benefit analysis would evaluate the
benefits of the system against its costs.

6.3.1 Cost Benefit Analysis

BENEFITS

• Less cost compared to the normal individual consultation.

• Higher flexibility with number of alternative solutions.

• Very high levels of readily available information.

• Providing information on solutions from both the ends.

• Rare comparisons among solutions.

• Very interactive user experience.

• Providing articles enhancing the public awareness on health related issues.

• Ability to direct the doubts to experts

• Providing a professional platform for health discussions.

• A forum to share the individual viewpoints & experiences.

• Innovations in both the medical systems will be communicated.

• Providing maps directing the hospitals clinics indigenous medical centers & other medical
recourses locally.

• Facilitating the researchers to reach the interested crowd to direct their questionnaires.

• Out of box medical scope covering a vast area on both of the medical systems

COSTS

DEVELOPMENTCOSTS

· Hard ware Costs -

No need to purchase new hardware. Existing resources in premises & the Personal hardware of the users
will be used.

· Software costs -

Free & open source software will be used in the development

· Initial implementation Costs

No initial installation cost. (Free hosting)

OPERATIONAL COSTS (to the client when using the site)

• Payments to the expert medical board

• Salaries of the administrative staff

• Expenses of the physical location

• Other over heads.

• PCs and other technical equipment costs

• Software costs in development.

It is evident that benefits of the system clearly outweigh the costs of the system.

Since most of the benefits mentioned above are intangible & non-monitory, an estimate cannot be
prepared with a reasonable level of accuracy.

6.4 Technical Feasibility

Technical feasibility considers main 3 factors.

Ø Is the proposed solution practical?

Ø Do we currently possess the necessary technology?

Ø Do we have the expertise needed to develop the solution?

Technologies used in the project

For an Internet based system there are lots of available resources today.

· Web development :

ü Client side scripting : HTML

ü Server side scripting : PHP, ASP.net, Perl

· Web servers : Apache, Microsoft IIS, Google web server

· Database management systems : Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft SQL server, MS Access

Freely available technologies will be exhausted in the development process. The technologies we are
supposed to use in this system are

· Web development :

ü Client side scripting :HTML, XHTML, VB Script

ü Server side scripting : PHP and other related technologies

· Web servers : Apache

· Database management systems : MySQL

Ø Is the proposed solution practical?

All the technologies mentioned above which we propose to use in our project are very matured and
open source technologies. Because of their maturity it is enough to build up a stable web system well
known among technicians.

Ø Do we currently possess the necessary technology?

All the technologies that we proposed to use are free and open source, so they are easily obtainable and
available for almost any software platform. Therefore the possession of the technology is not a problem.

Ø Do we have the expertise needed to develop the solution?

All the members in the group are familiar with these technologies. Members share the technical
knowledge among each other. So expertise is not a problem. Members of the group will employ their
effort & time to the project within their maximum capacity.
6.5 Schedule feasibility

Schedule feasibility will look at whether it is possible to build a successful solution to the given problem,
within the time frame given. The Gantt chart shows the mandatory deadlines that we are expected to
achieve. We have created our project plan considering the given time line.

6.6 Legal Feasibility

Legal feasibility involves in verifying the legal validity of the proposed system.

Ø Copyrights Issues

We are using free and open source technologies and tools in developing our system. Therefore, there is
no violation of any laws. If any articles or images from any other publication used in the site, we will
exclude the liability by indicating their respective reference sources.

Ø Government Constraints

Since the proposed system is implemented in a government institute, it may be subject to rules &
regulations imposed & even funding constraints.

7.0 Stand-Alone Information System (alternative solution)

Stand-alone system will be the alternative option incase if the recommended option (internet-based
system) goes unviable.

7.1 Operational Feasibility

Ø Will the solution fulfill the user’s Requirements?

· The system is supposed to provide enormous details to the general public. But, if the system is
going to be a standalone one it is doubt full whether the system will truly be able to achieve this
functionality. Because the audience that will be benefiting is going to be very low with a standalone
system.

· If the system is going to be a standalone one it is difficult to provide real-time details through the
site. As an example if there is a dangerous virus spreading through the environment, we cannot
acknowledge the users how to protect themselves through the system. So, keeping the system up to
date is going to be exhaustive.

· Users will not have the opportunity to provide articles, comments, questions, personal experiences
of users.

· The user interactions with the system will reduce. Because users cannot access the system at any
time that they want.
· If the system is a standalone, one the general public will not use it as much as we expected. So, in
this case people won’t be interested to edit articles even if they are published.

Ø How will the solution change the users’ work environment?

· If this is a standalone solution or a web based one, In Sri Lanka people are used to consult a doctor
when they are suffering from some kind of a diagnosis. If we introduce a standalone, system that habit
will not change as we expected.

Ø How do the users feel about such a solution?

· Users of this system especially traditional general public will pay less attention on this system
because they might feel that consulting a doctor is easier than using a system like this due to their
technological unfriendliness.

7.2 Schedule Feasibility

Ø Can the solution be implemented during the acceptable time frame?

· As we are concerned on a stand-alone solution, it should be more perfected & completed than a
web based solution. Because we cannot update the system daily. So, a standalone solution will take
more time than a web based solution.

7.3 Economic Feasibility

Under those questions we have to concern on

· Hardware cost - Hardware requirements we must use for a stand-alone system usually
higher than web based system because the all the features should be included in to the system when we
implement it.

· Software cost - We can use freely available software to implement this.

· Personal cost - Cost of programmers, salaries of other workers, when considering the stand-alone
system may be high because a programmers are expensive than web designers.

· Maintain cost - When standalone system maintains cost is high. We have to introduce new things
to the systems as different versions of the systems.

7.4 Technical Feasibility

Ø Technologies

For the implementation of these systems, we can use free and open source software. They are easily
obtainable and available for almost any platform.

· C++ , Java
· MYSQL

· Apache

Ø Is the propose technology or solution practical?

As a stand-alone system, this has to be updated manually. To update the system it needs more case
tools and expertise. It is extra expensive for Institute to maintaining the system.

Ø Do we possess the necessary technical expertise?

As a result of updating the system manually Institute needs expertise team to updating process.

7.5 Cultural Feasibility

· Users feel good about our system because it is going to make their work easier.

· But, the system is run in one place. So general users have to go to the place where the system is
held. Because of that, the system affects the existing culture of the user.

· And it is a time waste. It can also be a reason to avoid this system.

· People do not have a method to compare western and conventional medicine. The system provides
this facility to users.

· After releasing the system it will give good impression to public about the institute.

7.6 Legal Feasibility

· Users will have to obey the rules and regulations of the Institute.

· All the information is under the authority of the system administrator. So all the information is
secured.

8.0 Feasibility Analysis Matrix

WEIGHT

STAND-ALONE SYSTEM

INTERNET BASED SYSTEM

OPERATIONAL FEASIBILITY

30%

• Low number of end users.

• High security.
• Cannot provide up-to date information.

SCORE - 40

• High number of end users.

• Security problems.

• Up-to date information.

• Easy to use.

SCORE - 80

TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY

30%

• Easy to implement.

• No network connection needed.

SCORE - 75

• Easy to implement.

• Internet connection needed.

SCORE - 70

ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY

15%

• Less implementation cost.

• Updating cost may high.

SOCRE - 50

• Less implementation cost.

• Less maintenance cost.

SOCRE - 80

CULTURAL FEASIBILITY

10%
• Lots of diagnosis needs physical treatment.

• May not use because not up-to date.

SCORE - 45

• Lots of diagnosis needs physical treatment.

• Will use because up-to date information.

• Familiar with internet.

SCORE - 65

SHEDULE FEASIBILITY

7.5%

• Implemented with available time.

SCORE - 80

• Implemented with available time.

SCORE - 80

LEGAL FEASIBILITY

7.5%

• Illegally can duplicate.

• Government rules and regulations will apply.

SCORE - 60

• Government rules and regulations will apply.

SCORE - 70

RANKING

100%

57

75

8.0 Conclusion
According to the above descriptive feasibility analysis report and the feasibility matrix, the most feasible
solution from the candidate solutions seems to be the internet based system. Therefore, the
implementation will be carried forward with this option. But, in case if this preferred option is unviable,
we will have to continue with the next best alternative solution mentioned. We have analyzed the
feasibility of that option as well. However, that does not seem to be that much a feasible solution. So,
our expectation is to implement the web based internet site which optimally meets our client
expectations. The users will be able to access the system through internet, which is already available to
them. The system will be available to the users at any time at any place, where they have access to the
internet

FeasibilityAnalysisReport(GROUP09).docx (165k)Mohamed Sabith, Oct 14, 2010, 10:40 PM

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