ANALYST Hi, I’d like to discuss how memberships

are managed and how exercise programmes for

members are prepared.

MANAGER Sure!

ANALYST For a start, how does someone become a

member?

MANAGER We’re approached by a prospective

member and we get them to fill in their personal

details on our form (see Section 3 on page 8).

ANALYST So what details does that form include?

MANAGER Oh, names, phone numbers, date of

birth, gender, and so on. In fact, that’s the same

information we keep about staff, except we don’t

bother with membership type for staff, and we

need to record their IRD number. Now that I

think about it, we would probably need some

way to add and change staff details as well.

ANALYST Right, got that. Before we continue,

what do you mean by “membership type”?

MANAGER Oh, each member is classified either

as “full” if they’re employed, “student” for students, “senior” for senior citizens, or “special”

for anything else that doesn’t fit into those types.

Anything other than full membership requires

proof of eligibility, like a current student ID card.

ANALYST Thanks for that. So what happens next?

MANAGER The new member pays the joining fee,

we record the joining date, then process the payment, assign them a member ID, and issue them

with a gym card. I guess with a computer system we could just enter all those details straight

into the database? Like details of any payments

and whether or not we’ve issued them a card.

ANALYST Correct, good point. I assume you’d

want to record the usual payment information

like the date, amount, and type of payment

(cash, EFTPOS, credit card, internet)?

MANAGER Yes, and link it back to the member.

ANALYST OK, that all sounds fairly standard then.

Are there ever any problems?

MANAGER Sure. Sometimes the member doesn’t

have enough money or they can’t provide evidence that they’re a student or similar. In these

situations, we record their details anyway, defer

the payment, and only issue the gym card once

they provide evidence of eligibility and/or pay.

ANALYST Who manages that process?

MANAGER The office staff.

ANALYST What other staff roles do you have?

MANAGER There’s me, then there are the trainers

who prepare exercise programmes for members.

ANALYST Ah, good, I wanted to ask about exercise

programmes next.

MANAGER Sure, what do you want to know?

ANALYST Well I’m pretty ignorant when it comes

to exercising so pretend I’m a new member and

I’ve just paid.

MANAGER OK, the first thing we do is assign you

to an individual personal trainer and record that

on your form (Section 3). The trainers are kept

pretty busy as they’re usually assigned to lots of

different members.

ANALYST OK, what happens next?

MANAGER The trainer and member spend some

time getting to know each other, so that they can

develop some goals for the member to work towards. These goals are also recorded on the form

(Section 3).

ANALYST Right. What about the exercises?

MANAGER Well, your trainer will prepare a personalised exercise programme by selecting a

suitable set of exercises based on your goals.

ANALYST So things like star jumps and push-ups?

MANAGER Yes, that’s right, and lat pull-downs,

bench press, squats, and so on. For each exercise your personal trainer records the weight (if

applicable), the repetitions, and any additional

notes. Notes are usually only added if you need

further clarification on an exercise or your personal trainer wants to follow up on something

later on.

ANALYST Can the same exercise appear more than

once in the same exercise programme?

MANAGER No, that doesn’t really make sense.

ANALYST Excellent, that’s everything I need.

Thanks!