The spreadsheet should also have data validation that organises the data into groups; a way of changing the currency of the payments due in, it must have the customer’s personal information such as their names, group number and their hotel name. Finally it must have the amount of money owed to the manager, by having a list of all the trips and activities that are available and whether the family is going on them, this should then include the type of payment which the customers wish to pay.
After the spreadsheet is made it gets sent back to the head office where they process the data and send it of to the tour guide so he knows exactly who is going on which trip and how much is owed.
Why should you use ICT?
This table shows the advantages and disadvantages of using a computer to design a spreadsheet. The main advantages of using the computer is that it is much quicker and easier to design spreadsheets, it is also much easier to distribute via email and other appliances.
The main disadvantages of using a computer is that it could crash and you could lose all of your data, however if you create backup files on a memory stick or CD this won’t be a problem. Using a computer regularly strains your eyes so it is a good idea to take regular breaks to prevent this.
The alternative of using the computer to make spreadsheets is to hand write them, this isn’t as affective as it takes a very long time to write it up and work out all the calculations.
Advantages and disadvantages.
- Much quicker and easier
- Cheaper to write them out
- Able to make lots of copies
- Don’t strain your eyes as much
- Have special programs designed for making spreadsheets
- Not that reliable as the computer could crash or you could lose your document
- Able to use data validation and spell check
- Easy to distribute via email
Design
Using computer software such as excel is a perfect programme for designing spread sheets, as it calculates all of the data for you and sorts it out into order. I would defiantly use excel to make spread sheets because you can use complex data validation to make the sheet how you would like, also excel can add, subtract, multiply information for you so you don’t have to use a calculator. Excel has another good option as it allows you to create fields of information which can then be created into a graph or table.
The design of my spread sheet was very important as I had to think about whom the audience was and how my design and layout would affect them. For my font I chose verdana which is a clear format and easy to read, I decided to have no background pictures or colours as this just puts people of the actual spread sheet.
After I put in the customers information I added the title of the spread sheet and put in the currency of pounds and euros so I could work out the exchange rate.
To get the currency right I needed to format the cells then change the number to currency which I then set to two decimal places in order for it to work out the exchange rate.
Once I got the exchange rate right I added another field of information on how much the customers had to pay and by what method of payment.
The basic design for my spread sheet was now complete so I decided to add some background colour on some parts on my design to highlight information. The font I used was verdana and I had it on a justified format.
I then needed to add the data validation on the family/group to make a list of all their names and group sizes, for this I made a list.
To get the total owned column I needed to use the SUMPRODUCT function, inside and IF function. I also had to anchor (using the $ symbol) the cost of each trip.
Once I had finally added all of the validation, Vlookup and sumproduct I had to password protect my document to prevent anyone tampering with the data.
Evaluation
Overall I think that my spread sheet meets the specifications set as it contains all the right information which is professionally set which contains the right formatting and validation.
My spread sheet designed on the computer is much better then simply writing it down in a sales book as it is much easier to distribute to the head office as it can send it by email via an attachment. Also it is much more uncommon that mistakes will occur as it is designed on a computer which checks for spelling mistakes and other common errors.
By introducing spread sheet making this will make the company look much more professional as you have it all organised and type up. This will also benefit the company by saving a lot of time and money as you don’t need to employ lots of people to write down the data by hand, because instead you can just type it up in excel which does most of the calculations for you.
Spread sheets are a critical must have in any business as they make it easy to distribute data from one place to another and they improve the development of any business as it saves time and money.
