by
Julie E. Kendall
Kenneth E. Kendall
Allen Schmidt
Richard L. Baskerville
Raymond J. Barnes
Systems analysts must routinely sift through an organization's explicit, tacit, and institutionalized knowledge in order to discover essential information requirements. We developed HyperCase as an original application of hypertext in order to provide students of systems analysis and design with a means to become immediately immersed in organizational life. Students interview people, observe their office environments, analyze their prototypes and the documentation of their existing systems. Student reactions have been very positive.
HyperCase as an Alternative Approach
Conventional written case studies and role-playing simulations necessarily distill the topic into a guided, linear re-enactment of a single, correct view of a systems project. Alternatively, real-world systems projects are difficult to control; students must learn techniques and simultaneously apply them in organizations. There is no satisfactory way to learn analysis and design while applying those principles without risking a great deal.
Our use of highly graphical hypertext as a case study medium makes HyperCase unique. We embedded in HyperCase a rich fabric of links among multiple aspects of the subject. This offers a high degree of realism in the students' experience in applying the concepts of systems analysis and design.
Navigating through the Organization
Our non-linear approach to HyperCase means that students explore, rather than read, the case study. Highly graphical hypertext screens depict the offices of a fictional company, Maple Ridge Engineering (MRE), based on real-life problems from the authors' consulting experiences.
The MRE reception area is shown in Figure 1. In order to begin the case, students click on any object with the mouse. By clicking on the framed building plan hung on the wall, a student brings up a close-up view of the layout. On the table in the reception area is a computer. Students may want to click on the screen display to visit the MRE web site. Alternatively, students may click on the phone directory laying on the table. When they do they will find a list of company employees, their positions, and phone extensions. By clicking on an employee's name, students can visit them.
 |
Figure 1: The MRE reception room resembles a typical corporation. Clicking on the screen brings up the MRE Web site.
|
Visiting all of the offices and public areas may help a student decide where to go next. They can return to offices to examine existing systems, data flow diagrams, data dictionaries, memoranda, and reports. In Figure 2, we visit Col. Daniel Hill's office.
 |
Figure 2: Hidden clues can be found in executive offices.
|
At first Col. Hill's office seems somewhat bare (no papers on the desk, no file cabinet, etc.) but there are many other items to examine (the computer, the white board, and the books on the shelf). One of the books is Penrose's The Emperor's New Mind, which gives students a clue that Col. Hill may really be interested in Artificial Intelligence. In searching offices this way, HyperCase requires students to develop their own strategies for the various tasks that the professor assigns.
The Organization as a Hypertext Network
Just as in actual systems projects, students explore myriad possible approaches to learning about the problem situation. Some approaches (such as trying to interview everyone without planning ahead) may be a complete waste of time. In Figure 3, we explore another office whose occupant has two computers. As the student examines the software that is running on them, more is learned about the decision maker in the office.
 |
Figure 3: Clicking on the computer screens and the blackboard provides more insights into the decision maker.
|
Students can look at reports, memos, and screens. Some of these include examples of data dictionaries, data flow diagrams, or prototypes that MRE is considering. Exercises suggest that students redesign some of these examples.
 |
Figure 4: HyperCase features several prototyping screens for students to work with. |
HyperCase is enriched by many details, some of which are "red herrings," included to lend realistic noise to the organizational picture. Inattentive students will be thrown off of the track by these distracters, but thoughtful students will consider, and finally, reject them.
HyperCase is available on the Web to adopters of the textbook Systems Analysis and Design, Kendall & Kendall, fifth edition.
Selected Readings about HyperCase
[1] Kendall, J. E., K. E. Kendall, R. Baskerville, and R. Barnes, "An Empirical Comparison of a Hypertext-based Systems Analysis Case with Conventional Cases and Role Playing," The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems,Winter 1996, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 58-77.
[2] Kendall, J. E., K. E. Kendall and R. L. Baskerville, "HyperCase: An Interactive Hypertext-based Microcomputer Case for Teaching Systems Analysis and Design, Proceedings of the Decision Sciences Institute, edited by R. T. Sumichrast, November, 1992, pp. 12-14.
[3] Kendall, J. E. and P. Kerola, "A Foundation for the Use of Hypertext-Based Documentation Techniques," Journal of End User Computing, Vol. 6, No. 1, Winter, 1994, pp. 4-14.
[4] Kendall, K. E. and J. E. Kendall, Systems Analysis and Design, sixth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2005.
Credits
Original Concept & Design:
Kenneth E. Kendall ,
Julie E. Kendall
Richard L. Baskerville and
Raymond J. Barnes
HyperCase® 2.50
Design Coordinator:
Allen Schmidt
HTML:
Images:
Peter Schmidt Jason Reed
HyperCase®
is a registered trademark of Raymond J. Barnes, Richard L. Baskerville, Julie E.
Kendall, and Kenneth E. Kendall
© 1992,1995,1999 , 2003, 2005 by Julie E. Kendall, Kenneth E. Kendall, Raymond J. Barnes,
Richard L. Baskerville, and Allen Schmidt