Report for Mary Gaffey, Leisure Centre Manager.

Candidate Name: Zahid Akhtar Candidate Number: T196863

Task 3 - Report for Mary Gaffey, Leisure Centre Manager

Details of Current ICT used in the Leisure Centre

The ICT used currently in the Leisure Centre is one standalone 486Pc at the reception that has an out of date Word processing package and other software installed on it, it is not connected to a Printer. The Admin Office has two standalone Pentium 100Pc’s that share an ink jet Printer. Both of these machines have Word Processing software installed but just one of these machines holds Personnel details. The Finance Office also has a 386Pc that is not connected to a Printer.

Details of the problems with the existing system

The problems occurring with the existing system are of a number of different types e.g. when the receptionist takes down the bookings on a booking form. The problem arises when the receptionist sometimes forgets to enter the data onto the table or even make the booking for the wrong/time as the booking table is put way under the desk until the end of the day, from when the booking is made. This is not good for the Leisure Centre as it gives the company a mark of inefficiency and unreliable which has led to a number of complaints.

Recommendations for improvements to the Existing system

I think a PC is required in every department within the Leisure Centre; they need a machine with good speed so I recommend that they get;

A Pentium 4 processor because Intel Pentium is the most efficient and reliable company which rarely has any faults with they hardware; the machine should be at least 900 MHz.

The memory on that should be 128Mb or 256Mb would be better as this will allow them to view more files at once with out the system being slowed down with having ...

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Recommendations for improvements to the Existing system

I think a PC is required in every department within the Leisure Centre; they need a machine with good speed so I recommend that they get;

A Pentium 4 processor because Intel Pentium is the most efficient and reliable company which rarely has any faults with they hardware; the machine should be at least 900 MHz.

The memory on that should be 128Mb or 256Mb would be better as this will allow them to view more files at once with out the system being slowed down with having so many files open.

The hard disk is also essential so I think this should be at least 20 GB so they could save more files, financial information, and stock level onto the hard disk of the machines.

I recommend that they should get with their machines an internal Zip drive because one Zip disk has a capacity of 100Mb; Zip is the best source of back up. They could store all they back-up of Financial Information, Personnel details, and even Customer details on Zip disk(s).

The price of all the hardware on the machine would be estimated at about £900 each machine; this is the maximum I think they should pay for a machine with all this hardware in it.

The software the Leisure Centre requires I think is the latest form of Databases that are in the Microsoft Office XP, this is the latest edition of the office package as it is recommended for business use.

This software has Microsoft Access that is Databases; this could be used for putting all the Customer details in when they’ve joined the Centre, as it will store all confidential data of the customer.

Microsoft Excel is used for Spreadsheets; this could be used for putting all the Personnel details and the financial data as it will workout all the wages, salary and supplies out for you.

The price of this Office package would be estimated at about £350, but they will only require one package as they can install that one CD on every machine with paying for one and getting it on every machine in the Centre.

I strongly recommend that the Leisure Centre should have a network system in the Centre to link up all the computers used within the Leisure Centre. If all the computers networked together then they can share useful information on the machines for e.g. customer details, bookings, and payments made by customers you can view from any machine.

I also recommend that the Leisure Centre should have Internet access on all the machines in the Centre because this could benefit on a number of things for e.g. they could use email to send a notification of payment to the Swimming Club or any other company they have an account set up for, they can even send emails to customer of offers and payments, customers could email the company if they have any queries or complaints of the Centre. The advertisement could also be done via the Internet.

I think Printers should also be installed in every department in the Leisure Centre as this is compulsory equipment and is required in this kind of organisation where print outs are required in every department, every day.

Conclusions

Possible benefits from making these changes

The benefits from making these changes are that the Leisure Centre

Will get an impression of giving a better service which they will be because the changes will make them answer enquires more quickly and efficiently that will be by email.

The computer will produce print outs faster and professionally presented than hand written which will improve the system’s internal and external flows within the Leisure Centre as this will speed up the information flow.

The Information going externally will be faster and versatile to other companies that have used the Centre, the external information tot the supplies will also be generated automatically by the computer once it recognises that the stock level is below minimum required.

Possible drawbacks from making these changes

One of the possible drawbacks from making these changes is that not all the staff are familiar with using computers so they might struggle using this format as they are used to paper work.

Using I.C.T., the leisure centre could face the loss of vital information if the users use the system incorrectly.

Computers have always been linked to fraud and viruses, so the company will need to spend some money into the security of their system in order to avoid hackers putting viruses into their system and also to avoid their sensitive information being looked at.