In order to complete Assignment
1 Task a, you need
to describe the problem in detail.
You can read the
Modern Carpets Case
Study tutorial if you want to look at a different example.
Now lets concentrate on this company's
problems. Here is a the company scenario:-
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The Lawnsword Garden Design
Company
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Scenario:
Lawnsword Garden Design specialises in
designing and producing lawns and old-fashioned
hay meadows for clients.
Hay meadows, which contain mixtures of grass
and wild flowers, are always produced by sowing
seed.
Lawns may be made by laying prepared turf or
by sowing seed. It is the seed sowing which
causes a problem, since different types of seeds
cover different areas. Ms Jane Lawnsword, who
is the proprietor of the business, spends many
hours calculating the amount of seeds required
for each job and she now feels that she should
be able to enlist the help of a computer to
ease her workload.
You have volunteered to attempt to solve the
“seed sowing problem” and Ms Lawnsword has passed
you details of one of the pending jobs.
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The scenario describes the company, what
it does and the problems the company is currently experiencing.
What you need to do is to describe the
company and its problems in your own words.
You might wonder why you need to restate
the problem. This is to ensure that you understand
the problem. We restate thing all the time in real
life. Consider your mum asking you to go down to the
shop to buy a "pint of milk" and a "loaf of bread".
You would probably repeat that list back to her before going.
When you restate the problem with a company,
the client reads the restated description of the problem
and lets you know if you have described the problem correctly
or not. It is vitally important you understand the problem
because your job will be to try and fix the problem by developing
a computer application. The last thing you want to
happen is for you to misunderstand the problem and develop
an incorrect solution; in such a case arguments about who
pays for the incorrect solution will be inevitable between
yourself and the client.
So, what is the best way to restate the
problem? One thing to avoid is just copying the company
scenario. Copying means you still may not understand
the problem. One way of restating the problem is to
read the scenario and produce a list of phrases.
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Phrases
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- Garden Design Company
- Produces Lawns
- Produces hay meadows
- Hay meadows are created by sowing seeds
- Lawns are created by sowing seeds or
by laying turf
- Seed sowing causes biggest problem
- Different types of seeds cover different
areas
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You can then create your own problem
description by referring to your phrases, without looking
at the original scenario.
I produced these phrases by reading one
sentence of the company scenario, then writing one or more
phrases that covers the sentence. I did this for each
separate sentence. I have not included all the phrases,
I stopped at the sentence - "It is the seed sowing which
causes a problem". It is up to you to carry on
and produce more phrases for the rest of the sentences.
~~Activity~~
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Activity
A
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Produce your own list of phrases that covers
all the sentences in the scenario.
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Are there any words you are not familiar
with? Do you know what a hay meadow
is?
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Here is a picture of a hay meadow showing many
a variety of different wild flowers.
You can find out more about creating hay
meadows by reading this article by
Richard Burkmar
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~~Activity~~
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Activity
B
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Search the Internet and read some descriptions
of hay meadows. Perhaps you can find your
own picture of a hay meadow. If so, you
can add it below your problem description.
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There may be other parts of the problem
you don't really understand. Have you ever done any
gardening? Have you ever seen a seed packet? The picture
below shows a seed packet and information you might find
on the back of the packet.
Using your phrases, produce a half-page
word processed document that states the problem with the
the Lawnsword Garden Design Company. Try not to cheat and
look at the original scenario because you will find it difficult
to resist copying.
Please ensure you write your name
in the document header. The structure of your document should
be as follows:-
Assignment 1: Investigating
the Problem:
Task a: Description of the Problem
Here you should
state the problem
