Power Point Presentation.

PowerPoint Presentation

Identify

Statement of the problem

My family and I are big fans of Manchester United, we all have season tickets, and therefore I am always going up to Old Trafford for the home games. Last week, when I was there for a match against Blackburn, I went into the Manchester United Megastore. The shop was full of them teams merchandise, and as big as the shop was, there was nothing there about the team itself and the history of Manchester United. I spoke to the manager and he got me in touch with Alex Ferguson, the team manager. I mentioned to him, my thoughts on the shop and ideas that I had and he asked me to make a presentation on the history of the team. I agreed and told him I would get back to him with the initial designs.

The presentation will include history on the team from the year 1878 up until the present day. There will be information on the different managers through the years, the various cups they have won and the players themselves.

It is recognised that the actual users of the system will in fact be the Manchester United fans that are shopping in the megastore. Since they are not easy to get in contact with, Alex Ferguson will be the user as far as this project is concerned.

Consideration of Alternative Solutions

A booklet of the history of the team could be produced in a word processor and copies issued to all the teams fans that shop in the megastore or there could be a leaflet holder outside the shop after closing. Here, all the information would be available but the leaflets might end up littering the stadium. The cost of production would also be incurred each time the information was updated.

A database could be used to create a series of forms that are connected using menus. This would be very good for such a guide as the fans could search through the information available to them by following the menus on each screen. Databases are very powerful programs, however, and it may seem like an overload to try and use such a system for a problem such as this.

A presentation package would be very useful for producing an interactive information system about the team and its history. Several different features can be incorporated to add interest. You can animate different objects on the screen – for example text blocks can fly in from the top of the screen, of pictures can flash. This would be very good for an information display and even catch the attention of those who were not necessarily seeking information at the time. This type of system would have links to other pages, similar in operation to a website but less cost efficient.

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A presentation package would be very useful for producing an interactive information system about the team and its history. Several different features can be incorporated to add interest. You can animate different objects on the screen – for example text blocks can fly in from the top of the screen, of pictures can flash. This would be very good for an information display and even catch the attention of those who were not necessarily seeking information at the time. This type of system would have links to other pages, similar in operation to a website but less cost efficient.

Presentation software could also be used to create a self-running presentation by going to the next screen automatically at timed intervals. This would loop back to the start once it came to the end.

After consideration of each method I believe that the presentation package offers the best solution to the problem as it provides a great deal of flexibility in design solutions, is cheaper to buy than database software, and would be much easier for Alex Ferguson to maintain once I have finished this project.

Both the kiosk-style presentation, which loops over and over again, and a menu-driven system are better than a simple printed leaflet. Being able to animate screen objects would be a great addition to any information system and is also much easier to implement using presentation software rather than a database.

The user would prefer a menu-driven system to make the system interactive, so it will develop this type of software rather than a kiosk –style presentation.

User Requirements

I have spoken with the user, Alex Ferguson and he has specified several elements which he would like to see in the system and after discussion we have decided upon the following objectives:

The system must be interactive.
The system must use a system of buttons in order to navigate through the slides.
Each slide must contain a clear title.
Each slide must contain a button that will take the user back to the start.
The system must contain photographs of the team members and the managers.
The team name and logo must appear on at least the title slide.
The system must include the following:

General team information.
Information about the megastore.
History on the team.
History on the managers.
Information about Old Trafford.
A title screen or ‘Home Page’.

Slides must include some animation effects.
The system must include transition effects when one slides changes to another.
The slides must be in colour.
It must not take more than 5 seconds for someone new to computers to learn how to use the system.

Analyse

Appropriate Software and Hardware

The package that I will be using will be Microsoft PowerPoint. This is the only software that will be needed, other than MS Windows in which it runs.

PowerPoint is the leading presentation graphics program and comes wit MS Office, which Alex Ferguson already owns.

A graphics program will also be used to manipulate the pictures image once they have been scanned in or copied from the Internet.

The hardware required would be a scanner with which to scan in some of the photographs that have been taken of the team, and a digital camera, which I can borrow to take some pictures of the stadium. These can be imported into PowerPoint directly from the camera using the Insert, Picture, From Scanner or Camera command on the menu.

A scanner will also be required to scan in pictures of the team, managers and stadium so fans can identify players/managers by picture and not just by name.

A good monitor will be required since this information system will be running shop hours. With this in mind it will also be necessary to use a screen-saver built in to MS Windows in order to preserve the screen. A custom screensaver could be added at a later date.

Lastly, a good mouse will be required for fans to navigate the system by clicking on the buttons.

Data Required

The manager of the team will be able to supply me with information on his team. More details about the team can be found on the Manchester United Official Website. There are also a lot of books and magazines on the team and its history. Pictures will also need to be either scanned in or copied from the Internet.

A chart showing the information that I will need and where it will come from is shown on the next page:

Data Manipulation

The scanned/copied from the Internet, photographs and pictures can be imported into a Paint package and a text box added telling the fans what the picture/photograph is showing.

Information gathered about the team will be typed in and formatted with appropriate fonts and colours.

Data Flow

Updating site information

Alex Ferguson updates the team information whenever it changes. The new information is then stored in the application file.

Dealing with customer enquires

There will be a menu system with option buttons. A fan requests information from the system by clicking on a button. The system finds and displays the information for the customer.

Format of information and graphics

There will be around 13 slides in order to display all the information and the team history of each decade. Each slide will contain at least one picture or animation to keep the interest of the fan.

The user requirements state that there should be a clear title on every slide. This should be in a larger font and in a different colour from the rest of the text.

All buttons used on the slides should be kept in the same place on every slide. This will ensure that the viewer will always know where to expect the ‘Back to Start’ button to be on the page, making it easier to use.

The interface should not use too many colours. A uniform look should be chosen and adhered to. Likewise, the selection of animations and transitions must be restricted so that everything does not look all jumbled together. These constraints will all add to the system looking more professional in the end.

Output

The system will be permanently displayed on a computer monitor. The monitor should be fairly large and of high resolution. This means that photographs will be displayed properly and that detail can be seen.

Alternative forms of output could include an interactive screen in which fans can see the information on a big screen and still have the facility to make an input.

Ideally, a touch screen would be good. This would be expensive but would do away with the need for a mouse. This is something Alex Ferguson can look into in the future.

There will be no speakers attached to the computer because sounds can become very annoying when they are played over and over again in a public area.

A printer is not required since all the information will be displayed on screen. Fans can write down any information they want to take away with them. A printer would add extra cost to the implementation of the system.

Backup / security strategy

The computer file containing the presentation must be backed up onto floppy disk each time the system is updated. This copy should be kept at a different location from the computer hard disk that the presentation is stored on, in case there is a fire or flood at the premises. A backup copy also needs to be made when the system is first installed on Alex Ferguson’s computer hard drive.

Since there can be many different people in the megastore at a time, some of the main computer hardware needs to be protected from vandalism or tampering. The CPU and keyboard should be locked away from the fans because they will not need access to these pieces of equipment. Only the mouse will be needed to operate the system.

A password could be added to the system to make it read only. This way the presentation can be loaded but not changed without the password. Alex Ferguson should use a password that is personal to him and not too easy for someone else to guess.