1st year project

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Rani Sanghera-Warren

Set 4

 

Foresters Solicitors

ICT Project

Rani Sanghera-Warren



1. Introduction

The End User

The end user for this project is a solicitors firm called Foresters. There are four solicitors working in the office, one trainee solicitor and a receptionist, they all have access to there own computers and they all need access to the diary/log book, filing cabinet and other information. They require a scheduling piece of software to be used by all the staff. It will be used to look up information on clients, staff and prisoners and will also work out the release dates for individual prisoners.

The system in place

The system the company currently have in place is a simple paper based system, so, for example if a the company took on a new client they would have to rite the clients details on a ‘client form sheet’ and put it in the companies folder in the filing cabinet, all the records are then sorted alphabetically. A lot of time is spend ensuring this is done correctly, and this system has a lot of room for error, if the staff are tired or in a rush mistakes are easily made and this then causes great difficulties in the future when that member of staff is looking for the clients records.

The possible systems that could replace the old one are:

1. A spreadsheet where the end user will be able to input and view data.

2. An interface where the end user will be able to input and view data.

3. A user form where the end user will be able to input and view data.

The problem with the current system

There are clear disadvantages to using this system, for example:

  • Information can be easily lost or misplaced

If this happened it could result in problems such as missing release dates etc.

  • It may be difficult to read of members of staffs handwriting

This could stop the staff from being able to contact clients

  • Information could be misread or mistaken for something else

  • They might run out of space in the diary

Why ICT is the best solution to the problem

 The most obvious reason why ICT is the best solution is that it is a much faster way of storing and inputting data; computers take a much shorter time to perform tasks than humans. They can record and process a lot more data in a much shorter space of time. By putting all the information on to an Excel program which everyone can access from their local network, it would be a lot less complicated way for everyone to do their jobs. I have chose to display the company’s required information in a user form, the reason being is that it will be the most effortless way for my end user to view stored information, it will look attractive and be a lot faster and easier to use.


2. Specification


Requirements Specification        

Research:

The main purpose I carried out research was so I could create a user form that specifically fitted to the needs of my end user, the reason for this was to make the staffs jobs at the company that my end user works for a lot more efficient. Creating a user form for the will allow the staff to continue to perform every day tasks such as viewing clients records a lot more manageable. Although their current system does not have a user form, and the staff haven’t used a system like this before I feel that with clear instructions that will be placed in my user guide they will be able to adapt quickly. Other than being able to input client details and view them, the end user will also be able to view staff details, search for all of their clients that are serving sentences in prison as there will be all four prisons that the company use on the system and the user form will also calculate when the prisoners are due to be released.

 

Some of the problems with the current system are:

  • It is difficult to find out client information quickly.  
  • By having a paper base system the problem is, the paperwork may get lost or get missing, meaning the end-user will loose vital information.
  • Calculating that date that the prisoner will be released, doing this manually is not always accurate and efficient. Therefore having a spreadsheet system that does this automatically will make the tasks much easier.

General Objectives

Specific Objectives - Quantitative

Specific actions performed by my software …

Specific Objectives – Qualitative

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Constraints:

Software

I will be using Windows XP to create the spreadsheet this is because both my home computer and the college computer operate on this system.

The software available for Foresters the end users company is Excel 2003. this version is of Excel is also accessible from my home computer and the computers from college, ...

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