Without any major changes to the system certain modifications can improve the working system and jobs can be done Funer, and solutions to the problems of staff members can be overcome. The existing system could be improvised by the following ways:
There could be division of lab our as each staff member can specialize on one particular task rather than doing different tasks and wasting time.
- More Staff Could Be Employed
If there are more people employed the workload may decrease. Fewer errors would be made. This would mean that additional staff would make the entering of data easier; less time would be wasted on entering data.
- Cabinets Could Be provided
Cabinets could be made to help store the many records. The files can be sorted in a more organized way. This would make it easier to locate previous records of the dealers. Less time would be wasted in searching for the past records.
Computerization would be very helpful to the organization because it reduces the workload. It is also very effective and makes a lot of tasks easier to do. With the help of computerization the information about suppliers and dealers would be stored in a more organized manner. If the organization is computerized additional staff would not be required and there wouldn’t be any need to increase the company’s expenditure by fixing up cabinets. A lot of data can be stored onto discs and floppies. Copies of forms and invoice can be done quickly with the help of computers as when done manually it took a lot of time. Forms can be printed this would decrease the workload.
The best solution to solve these problems is by introducing a computerized system in the company. Even considering this solution there are two options to help with tasks that are performed in the organization. One option would be for the company to invest in a tailor made software. This is a program that is specially designed to solve the problems in “The Fun Drive Company” It would be a perfect application but there is a negative side to this as well and that is that the solution is quite expensive. Therefore the next best option would be for the company to purchase a ready made package such as the Microsoft Access.
The different programs that would be available in this software are Microsoft Word, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft Excel.
- Microsoft word is a word processor and so is helpful for designing documents it is also appropriate for carrying out simple calculations it can also be used to make tables. Microsoft word consists of various options and tools that can be helpful in organizing the data.
- Microsoft Excel can be used for analyzing information, manages lists in spreadsheets. Microsoft Excel can be used to create formulas so that you don’t have to keep on finding solutions to the questions repeatedly. Information is recorded in rows and columns, which make the data more organized.
- Microsoft Access provides features to create new tables right from scratch as suitable to the application .It also support the display of data as a form to show it in a form of more clarity. This database package provides tables, queries, forms and charts. It is package suitable for designing documents.
User Objectives /Requirements
- Forms could be made from the data stored on tables.
- Queries could be generated from forms as well as tables.
- Reports could be made from the tables, queries and forms.
- Data could be printed in the form of graphs and bar charts for e.g. the company’s net profit could be shown on graphs.
- Sales and Purchases reports could be prepared.
- Raising invoices when sales are made by the Sales Department.
- Summary Reports can be prepared easily with the help of the computers.
- Large amounts of information such as the supplier’s information, dealer’s information could be stored on tables rather than maintaining numerous ledgers.
To help the “Fun Drive Company” in making it computerized I suggest the use of Microsoft Access which is included in the Microsoft Office Package. The operating system used to run Microsoft Office is Windows 2000. Microsoft DOS cannot be used to run the package because it doesn’t have a graphical user interface. Macintosh is another operating system but it cannot be used to run Microsoft Office because it is mainly used for advertisement purposes.
Windows 2000 is easy to use. It is extremely user friendly and it has a graphical user interface.
The following are the packages in the MS Office
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Power Point
- Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Word is a word processor and is mainly used to create documents and to carry out simple calculations. Microsoft Power Point is only used for presentation purposes. Microsoft Excel is mainly used for calculating wages and is referred to as a spreadsheet. It is a package used for carrying out complex calculations.
Therefore I suggest the use of Microsoft Access, which is a database package, as it is suitable for designing documents .It is appropriate for creating files or tables in which related data can be store. Microsoft Access has several features, which make it extremely user friendly and simple to use. The staff would not have to be trained to use the software, as it only requires basic computing skills. There are tables, queries, forms that could be created by the user. This would be useful for the company because it would make the work easier for the staff. This software can also be useful to write details about the owners, managers and the staff. Microsoft Access provides features to create tables and apply validation rules and format of data entry as suitable to the application. It also supports the display of data as a form to show it in a form of more clarity. The ‘Cut’ and ‘paste’ feature helps to insert a logo or a picture into the form to make it appear more professional. The most convenient features are the ‘Save’ and ‘Open’ functions which allow to save the data in Ms Access and retrieve the data when required. The ‘Print’ feature enables the user to obtain a hard copy of the data that is displayed in a form of a table. This software is ideal to use in the company, where storing of data in an easy way is required.
The problem in the working of the company as I have mentioned before is the manual system, which gives rise to a lot of errors. The objective of the use of the computer is to reduce wastage of time, effort, paper and space. Since there are various documents to be generated, their contents would vary so the necessary data has to be obtained.
In the company a lot of work has to be done. These include calculating wages of the employees, updating of employees details. If all these calculations and records are done manually then mistakes can be made. Doing all these things on the computer system will not even take quarter of the time. By using this software the company will be able to produce records and databases about customers and suppliers quickly and accurately. This will also enable them to become more efficient.
Microsoft Access has many options and they are as follows:
- A report is an effective way to present data in a printed format. Because you have control over the size and appearance of everything on a report, you can display the information you want to see. Most of the information in a report comes form an underlying table, query which is the source of the reports data. Other information in the report is stored in the report’s design.
- You use queries to view, change and analyze data in different ways. You can also use them as the source of records for forms and reports. The most common type of query is a select query. A select query retrieves data from one or more tables using criteria you specify and then display it in the order you want.
- You can use forms for a variety of purposes. Most of the information in a form comes from an underlying record source. Other information in the form is stored in the form’s design.
This software is ideal to use in the Purchases, Sales and Stock Departments of the “Fun Drive Company” as it makes the task of calculations very easy. The software makes it easy to produce outputs with adequate features.
The hardware components used for the computer are:
- 2.40 GHz
- 512 MB DDR RAM
- 80 GB HDD
- CDRW
- 56K Fax Modem
- LAN
- 17inch CRT Monitor
- HP 845C Printer
- Scanner
I think that this computer would be very useful to the “Fun Drive Company” because the large hard disc capacity would enable the storing of large volumes of data. Pentium 4 is a Fun processor and has more memory capacity. The CD ROM is needed for making backups of data. Any Data could be retrieved quickly. It’s an ink jet printer, which prints documents very Fun.
The Data Flow diagram of the checking of stock in the company for the ordering of tyres, batteries and spare parts.
Item Codes Quantity
In-Hand
Stock
Details
Stock
File
Stock
Details
Re-Ordered
Items
QUESTIONNAIRE
NAME: _____________________________
CONTACT NO:
DEPARTMENT YOU WORK IN? _______________________
JOB DESCRIPTION? _______________________________
HOW DO YOU RECEIVE INFORMATION?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What OUTPUTS ARE GENERATED AND WHERE ARE THEY STORED?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEMS FACED? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
METHODS OF IMPROVEMENT? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AVERAGE HOURS WORKED IN A WEEK?
SIGNATURE ___________
Once all the required data has been collected and verified and also approved by the manager of the “Fun Drive Company”, the changes would be put into action. Firstly, the data would be sorted into tables. I would create a Main Menu to access forms, reports and queries. The tables that would be created in order to organize the data are as follows: -
Dealers Table: - The fields in this table would be Dealers Id, Dealers Name, Address, Contact Number and Email. And the Primary Key is the Dealers Id.
The use of validation would be necessary in the Dealers Id and Contact Number. The Validation Rule for the Dealers Id would be <>0 and the Validation Text would be Entry Must Be A Nonzero Value. The Validation Rule for the Contact Number would be <>0 and the Validation Text would be Entry Must Be A Nonzero Value.
Input Mask:
Name --- >L<?????
Dealers Id --- 999
Suppliers Table: - The fields in this table would be Suppliers Id, Name, Address, Contact Number, Item Name, Quantity and Email. The Primary Key in this table would be the Suppliers Id.
The Validation Rule for Suppliers Id would be <>0 and the Validation text would be Entry Must be A Nonzero Value. The Validation Rule for Contact Number would be <> 0 and the Validation Text would be Entry Must Be A Nonzero Value.
Input Mask:
Name --- >L<?????
Item Name --- >L<?????
Suppliers Id --- 999
Quantity --- 999
Employees Table: - The fields in the employee’s table are Employees Id, Name, Telephone Number, Wage Rate, Hours Worked, Basic Salary and Address. The Primary Key in the table would be the Employees Id.
The Validation Rule for the Employees Id would be <>0 and the Validation Text would be Entry Must Be A Nonzero Value. The Validation Rule for Telephone Number would be <> 0 and the Validation Text would be Entry Must Be A Nonzero Value. Validation would also be used for wage rate, hours worked and basic salary. The validation Rule for Wage Rate would be <>0 and the Validation Text would be Entry Must be A Nonzero Value. The Validation Rule for Hours Worked would be < 52 and the Validation text would be Less than 52. The Validation Rule for Basic Salary would be >0 and the Validation Text would be Greater than 0.
Input Mask:
Employees Id --- 999
Name --- >L<?????
Wage Rate --- 99.99
Basic Salary --- 9999.99
Purchases Table: - This table would contain fields such as Dealers Id, Name, Item required, Quantity, Date Of Purchase, Price, Discount Allowed and Item Code. The Primary Key would be the Dealers Id. The Dealers Id would be looked up from the Dealers Table.
Validation would be used for Dealers Id, Date of Purchase and Price .The Validation Rule for Dealers Id would be <>0 and the Validation Text would be Entry Must be A Nonzero value. The Validation Rule for Price would be <60 or > 1000 and the Validation Text would be Not Less Than 60 And Not Greater Than 1000. The Validation Rule for Date of Purchase would be >= Date () and the Validation Text The Date Should be Greater Than Equal To Today’s Date.
Input Mask:
Dealers Id --- 999
Name --- >L<?????
Date Of Purchase --- ##/##/####
Price --- 999.99
Discount Allowed --- 99.99
Item Code --- 999
Item Table: - The Field in this table would be the Item Code and Name, which would also be the Primary Key. And this would be looked up from the Purchases Table.
The Validation Rule for Item Code would be <>0 and the Validation Text would be Entry Must be a nonzero value.
Input Mask:
Item Code --- 999
Name --- >L<?????
Stock Table: - The Fields in this table would be the Item Code,
Quantity-in-hand, Item Name and Suppliers Name. The Primary Key would be the Item Code. And the Suppliers Name would be looked up from the Suppliers Table.
The Validation Rule for Item Code would be <>0 and the Validation text would be Entry Must Be A Nonzero value.
Input Mask:
Item Code --- 999
Item name --- >L<?????
Suppliers name --- >L<?????
Forms, Queries and Reports would be generated from these tables.
I would create a form from the Employees Table. This form would store Employees Id, Name, Wage Rate, Hours Worked and Basic Salary. Other form created would be from the Purchases Table, Dealers Table and the Suppliers table. The form created from the Purchases Table would store Fields such as the Dealers ID, Item Required, item Code, price, Discount Allowed, Date Of purchase, Quantity. The Form created from the Suppliers table would contain fields such as Suppliers Id, Name, Quantity, Item Name, Address and Contact Number. The form created from the Dealers Table would store information such as Dealers Id, Name, Address, Contact Number and Email. A sub from would be created so that the user can update the Dealers Table and the Purchases Table simultaneously.
Switchboard Manager
The Switchboard Manager is a user interface to access the different options available for example repots, queries and forms. It is easier to search for any option. It is very convenient as you can view the queries, forms and reports quickly. The purpose of a Switchboard Manager is to make-work Funer and to save time. The switchboard Manager would benefit my company, as it would save a lot of time.
Reports would be generated from the Employees form, Dealers Table, Stock table. In the Employees Report the data would be classified, as the Employees Id would be in ascending order and the Employees Name would be in Alphabetical order. The Data in the Dealers Form would be classified as the Dealers Id would be in ascending order and the Dealers Name would be in Alphabetical Order. The data in the Stock Table would be tabulated, as the Item Code would be in ascending order and the Suppliers Name and Item Name would be in Alphabetical Order.
Graphs and charts can be generated from the data provided in the table. This makes the data more presentable. Graphs could be implemented for more clarity of data.
Queries would be originated from the Dealers Form, Item Table and Purchases form. These queries would sort the data in alphabetical order in an organized manner. Queries are used to display certain information on tables depending upon a certain criteria specified.
Command Buttons would also be implemented for each of the forms. The command Buttons would be:
PRINT
ADD NEW RECORD
Go TO NEXT FORM
DELETE
EXIT
Some of this data would be screen-based such as the employee information. But other data such as the Dealers Form and the stock reports could be printed out for convenience. The user could do this by applying the ‘print’ feature in MS ACCESS.
Mail Merge
This feature will require the need of Microsoft Word. In Word we will first go to the Mail Merge Feature in the Tools Menu. This is very simple, to carry out Mail Merge by opening an existing Data Source in Word. The only difference is that when the Open dialogue appears I will change the File Type to Microsoft Access Database. The Mail Merge Feature helps to print out a vast majority of letters. For example the company if wants to print out notices to the dealers if closed on a weekday etc. it may use the help of the Mail Merge Feature.
All this data would need backup and security. The different possible backups would be storing data on floppies on weekly bases and monthly on CDs. Storing data on CD’s would be more appropriate for databases. Data would be stored on floppies as it’s a cheap medium. The Security Strategies would be password protected files and a power on password. Security Strategies would also include Anti hacking programs, which would be prevent files from being hacked. The Anti Virus Program would protect the data from any virus. Read-only passwords could be put on certain files so that a person would be able to view the file but won’t be able to make any changes to it.
Interview
An Interview was conducted with John Ibrahim, the manager of “The Fun Drive Company”.
Q. What is your job description?
Ans. My job requires a lot of attention. There is a lot of paper work to do. I have to make sure there is enough staff to satisfy dealer’s requirements. I have to see whether my company stands out in terms of quality.
Q. How is information Received?
Ans. I receive information about all the dealers from the questionnaires handed to them at the beginning of the transaction. I also receive information by conducting a general survey every 2 months. Through these surveys we find out the status of the company in the market and the level of customer satisfaction and popularity.
Q. What accounts do you prepare?
Ans. A Trading And Profit And Loss Account is prepared and also a Balance Sheet is prepared. These Accounts are primed in order to find out the profit of the company.
Q. What outputs are generated and where are they stored?
Ans. Reports are generated from the data stored on the stock, dealers and employees files. These reports are then stored in cabinets. The Dealers report is generated from the Dealers File and it contains the Dealers personal information. The Stock Report is originated from the Stock File and it contains detailed information about the products in stock. The Employees Report is procreated from the Employees File and it contains meticulous information about the employees salary, wage rate, hours worked etc.
Q. What are the problems encountered?
Ans. The data entered might not be accurate. It’s time consuming and the reports generated may not be clear and professional.