Identifying Clients, Users and Audience for a company
Traditionally a client in terms of ICT systems is somebody or someone who requests a solution to an outstanding ICT system problem. An example of this would be someone who requests a solution for a dysfunctional spreadsheet, so contacts somebody to fix the problem. With reference to the task that I’ve been given the clients that I will be creating a solution for will be the managing directors of EVDOP Live- these would be; Miss. Kerry Lindop and a Mr. Peter Evans. In the above paragraphs I have pointed out some key issues which are surrounding the workings of EVDOP Live. The problems which I have pointed out need to be solved as soon as possible, so that business can expand. For my solution to the advertising issue which I have pointed out in the above paragraph, will benefit the client in many ways. The client will need my solution as it will bring organisation to the company. With this improved method its will significantly reduce costs to the business which is the main purpose- profitability. This will allow money to be allocated elsewhere. This alternative method as well will improve accuracy, this is because information can be checked as many times as needed and will not require construction of more leaflets. Doing this online will allow efficiency to be increased as it will allow information also to be sent out at a rapid rate compared to previously. It will also improve the business and benefit the client by increasing accessibility. Accessibility to this information will be done virtually. This allows the information to be accessed by a larger majority of people, as most people use e- products to view information. This will also alter the need for additional costs, due to mass production of leaflets. The second solution that I have offered in reference to the financial issues offers a more structured business plan to EVDOP Live. This will prevent costs from being increased, increase efficiency and also security. And also as the system will be computerised it will offer a greater deal of accuracy also. And lastly with the solutions offered for administration, the client will need my solution as it offers to improve their business by computerising it via a database. This would prevent any errors through using their current paper based system. Computerising allows for data to be backed up easily improving efficiency and accessibility. In terms of the user of the solution, a user is someone who will use the system designed by me – (The manufacturer/ creator) on a day to day or frequent basis. Within EVDOP Live there will be a select number of people who will be categorised as users; these will be the head of departments within EVDOP Live. The users of my solution will be;
Andrew Dufrain- Head of finance
Ellis Redding- Head of administration
James Whitmore- Head of marketing & Publicity
Each individual will be taking use of their own solution provided in their department. The head of advertising will make use of the new online features of advertising to help advertise the events that EVDOP live will be advertising. With the various online features that EVDOP live will offer in terms of advertising the user of the system will be utilising various forms of media to help advertising. The user will take an active role in using online blogs, radio adverts and even podcasts. This form of advertising will allow the user to expand the audience and improve business at EVDOP Live. They will use various forms of media to approach various members of the public to advertise key events. They will use podcasts to give key information regarding the dates time etc of events, likewise with radio adverts. The head of finance will use a specific spreadsheet to assist him in completing his job. The spreadsheet provided for the user will allow them to create various formulae to help them to calculate complex sums and work out vital information for the company. The head of finance will be able to alter the data within this spreadsheet as the business is not persistent and each event will bring a different outcome so he will be able to input new data and alter the spreadsheet to allow specific information to be included. He will also be able to organise data in an easily readable fashion. He can do this by changing the colours of certain cells to match certain data, or group certain cells together. This will all be included within the template spreadsheet. And lastly the head of administration will be able to make use of the software solutions in various ways. Since the system will now be updated to a computerised one, it will allow him- James Whitmore) to organise all of the company data into specific areas within a system. This will improve efficiency as all of the files will be located on one system, rather than on a paper based filing system. Also he will be able to keep extensive records of all of the company’s information in an easily accessible and affordable location- on the system. This will allow him if needed to access previous and present customers information to send them perhaps urgent information. Also the storage of this information on a system will be a safer location then compared with a filing cabinet as it will be all computerised, and improved preventative measures can be taken to prevent this information from being stolen. All of the solutions will benefit the user in terms of; Cost, Accuracy, Security, Efficiency, Accuracy and lastly convenience. Lastly I need to consider the audience of my solution and how they will receive the information conveyed to them speaking with relevance to ICT the 'audience' is the group of people for whom I am developing my work for. In this case the audience would be prospective “Gig” goers as the business is centred on the idea of events management etc. With this in mind I need to ensure that the information included within my system is appropriate for them, and will allow them to understand the information clearly and also accurately. Using in terms of advertising more media focused ways will benefit the audience as they will be able to receive more information about the events as it will be more publicised to them through these forms of media.
Identifying Client/User Requirements
In order for me to create the most accurate and appropriate solution for my clients problem I will need to get an accurate idea as to what they would like the system to be like. In order for me to do this I will use a series of data capture methods to gain the most appropriate answers to allow me to filter the solution to their requirements. The first method that I will use will be the form of an interview with the two managing directors of EVDOP Live- Kerry Lindop & Peter Evans. Interviewing the clients of the company who have asked for my solution will have various benefits. An interview will benefit me greatly in identifying the client’s requirements in a number of ways; firstly it will allow me to get a form of direct feedback from my client. This will occur as the answers being given I can ensure that they are from the clients in question. This will allow me to gain an idea as to what they exactly want from their solution. This could be considered better than a questionnaire as they will be allowed to elaborate on particular questions, with a questionnaire they will not be able to. With regards to an interview as well it can improve the relationship with a client as interviews are highly personal, and require some degree of personal interaction. This can be viewed as a pro in terms of usefulness as it will indefinitely assist me in creating the correct form of solution to their problem. Also an interview can allow me to gain a solid set of answers compared to other methods. As in an interview there are typically no questions written down, it can give the client a chance to elaborate on an important point where in a different scenario they may not have been able to. This may give me some important information which I may not have been able to obtain any other time. Also in terms of an interview it allows for a greater deal of flexibility between the client and me. Compared to a questionnaire, a set time can be organised which will then in turn improve the client designer relationship as a correct solution can be created. Although with pros come cons. There are quite a few cons in terms of an interview. Firstly with me interviewing the client, it will take a considerable chunk of time. This reduces efficiency as I will need to dedicate time to interview both the clients and users to create the most accurate and best solution to the problems. Also in interview environments it may be difficult for me to analyse the answers that are given either from the user or client. An answer which cannot be regulated may prove difficult to understand even with explanation. Aside from an interview though alternative methods can be used to obtain information. Aside from an interview I will use an observational method of the client to gain an insight of what they have to deal with. Observing my clients user will allow me to gain valuable data, observations also have a lot of positives. An example of the positive aspects of observation is that it would allow me to view the user in their normal working environment. This will give me a good impression as to what they will be dealing with on a day to day basis. Also observing the user will give me an accurate impression first hand as to the problems that they occur when using their current system. This will allow me to create my solution in the most accurate way possible. Although observing the user many have some issues. Firstly what I may observe on the day may not be relevant as to what they cope with in daily usage of their software. This may disrupt the creation of the solution as it may not be accurate or relevant to their problems. Also with a observation I may not record key aspects of issues they may be having, this will affect the solution creation process as I may miss out on something which may be regarded as a issue and not include it with my solution. Another method I will use to gather the clients and user requirements will be a questionnaire. I will give this questionnaire to both client and user. The questionnaire will contain a set of closed and open questions in which the client/user will be able to answer some questions I have regarding what they would like within my solution. Using a questionnaire contains many positive aspect, one of which being I can filter the responses received from the responders. This makes the system more efficient and accurate in terms of the information I want to receive. Although a negative aspect of a questionnaire could be seen that if a respondent wants to respond to a question in more detail they may not be able to as the space provided for an answer is limited. And the last form of data capture that I will use is, I will analyse previous paperwork and documents. I will look at previous forms of data produced by the user and see what type of data they produce. This will allow me to see what they are dealing with on a daily basis similar to observations. Although doing this process may not be effected in a certain way, due to the modernisation of their systems. This can lead to inaccurate data being recorded as a result.
Justification of the required system
AT present the current system that EVDOP Live use is highly inefficient and is not allowing the business to expand as it should. The present system which EVDOP Live use to complete all of their business associated tasks is very slow and highly inefficient. This causes a lot of unneeded expenditure due to these mistakes that the system make. With reference to the old system which EVDOP Live used, there were a large amount of problems in terms of the system performance. The old system offered a number of possible errors in terms of performance and calculation which had a negative impact on EVDOP Live. This led to inefficiency within the business. With reference to inefficiency the old systems form of advertising could be described in this way. This is due to the fact that it operated solely on leaflets. In terms of finance and business costs, the old system of calculation these central aspects was defunct. This was because it was worked out in a manual paper based way without the use of a computer. This led to many mistakes being made which then in turn had a negative impact on the business resulting in increased expenditure. This system was also highly inefficient again due to the large amount of time consumption that this procedure required. Lastly in terms of the administration system used, there are many issues with the majority focusing on the use of a hard based system compared to a soft. The fact that the whole administrative procedure was done on paper led to many mistakes which then impacted the business as a result. Furthermore this was time consuming and highly inefficient. Also there was a lack of accuracy within the business this was as it was controlled manually rather than automatic. This can also be applied to the financial aspects of the business as well; the accuracy was low due to human centralisation.
Introducing a new system can bring in many positive elements and benefits to the company – EVDOP Live. In terms of costs, a new system across all boards within the company would drastically reduce expenditure therefore increasing the businesses revenue. This can be done through the modernising of this system, which in turn will prevent mistakes occurring on a system, which will then save money as a result. Secondly in terms of accuracy, modernising the system will ensure that this is fulfilled. Modernisation will bring accuracy due to advancements in technology. For example allowing a computer to handle mathematical problems will provide better accuracy rather than a human doing it manually. This can also be seen in terms of administration and also publicity. Using a modern system to advertise and also control the paperwork aspect of business will improve accuracy. This is because the solution will be computerised so therefore will yield a higher success rate. Coupled with this also this will reduce efficiency across the company board which is essential for EVDOP Live.
Proposed System
With the introduction of the proposed system into the workings of EVDOP Live it will bring a large majority of benefits into the company. These benefits will come from the changing of the system into a more accredited and functional one. A example of one of the benefits which will come with the introduction of the new system will be a massive decrease in company expenditure. This will come directly as a result of the new system. The new system is removing the cost of printing in various areas of the business. A prominent example of this would be the removal of the printing costs due to the removal of the leaflet printing costs. As a result of this reduction in costs from printing it will have a positive impact on the company. It will have a positive impact on the company in many ways. Most prominently would be that it will allow EVDOP Live to retain more money as they will not need to spend it on printing. With this newly accumulated/saved money the managing directors at EVDOP Live will be able to reinvest and re-circulate that money back within the business. This money being invested within the business can prevent money being spent on other aspects in return again increasing profits. A example of how this will work could be seen again using the example of the leaflets. Say for example EVDOP Live spend 20 pounds per 50 leaflets and purchase 1000 leaflets for a event they will save 400 pounds from one event. This money can then be re-invested back into the business to pay for merchandising costs for example. Another benefit that the new system will bring into the company will be the massive quantities of waste reduction as a result of the new system. At present the new system relies upon leaflets predominately to advertise their venues. As a leaflet cannot be edited upon despatch it causes massive financial strain and massive quantities of rubbish if a spelling mistake is made on one of the leaflets. As the new system does not rely on leaflets and uses various forms of e media to advertise such as twitter, if a error is made on a aspect of a advert it can be easily and quickly edited to prevent the mistake form being shown to the public and damaging the business and reputation of EVDOP Live. This will also save on money which can again be reinvested into the company and also can save on wasted time spent. This again can be focused on a more important area within the business as a result. And lastly in terms of a benefit, the new system can bring the benefit of a more accurate chance of reaching EVDOP Lives target audience. This is essential to the company and in actual fact the company wouldn’t be able to function properly if this couldn’t be met. As a result of the new system it can be assured that the target market will be met. The target market for EVDOP Live is primarily teenage music fans and music producers. It’s no secret that they use various forms of social media to convey messages. With EVDOP Live using twitter the level of attention received by the target market is increased and they will become aware of the events which EVDOP Live advertises. This impacts the business again positively as a larger influx of customers will become aware of the events which EVDOP Live have to offer.
User/Skills of system
With the introduction of a new system within a company, it will become obvious that members of staff will need some level of skill and some level of training to operate the new system I have implemented successfully. Now that EVDOP Live will be using a website in terms of marketing, it can be said that perhaps not many members of staff have had experience with using a moderating a website. In terms of the web aspect, after asking the staff none of them have experience with the image sharing program; FLICKR. As a result I may need to go into the business and give the members of staff who will be actively using the program a helpful demonstration so they are fully aware of what they are doing in terms of the software and that they are using it successfully in a way which will benefit the company. Although this may not be needed as the software itself has a introductory guide built into the coding itself, this may help the user and prevent me from helping them as they won’t need it. Again with focus on the social media aspect of the company, it can be said that not many members of staff have had experience with the creation of a podcast/ Creating a podcast requires knowledge of use of special media such as; Audacity or SAM BROADCASTER. These are very specialist software products which require a element of training. As a result the company may need to download some web tutorials in order for them to fully grasp what they care doing in terms of the use of the software. With reference to this level of training the tutorials which the company may need may not be free. This is common with some online tutorials, and as a result will need to pay the cost for the guide. Without this they will not be able to use the software properly therefore the business cannot run to standard. The same again can be pretty much said about the blog aspect of EVDOP Live. A my new system will implement the use of a b log it is essential that key members of staff have training to maintain the blog and keep it up to the standard which the company require. There is only one person in the company who has experience of using and maintain a blog; this is a Mr. Andrew Dufrain. He cannot take part in this task though as he is head of marketing and this doesn’t affect his area of work. Therefore it is essential that the company ensure that a member of staff within this area- Marketing and publishing are fully aware of how to use the software. For a blog I may need to go in to give somewhat of a tutorial in how to create setup and run a blog for EVDOP Live. Failing this I may need to offer some level of literature which can educate them with the blog aspect of the website. As EVDOP Live would like a database for their company booking system, it can be said that there will be some level of training required with the software which will be sued: Microsoft Access. Mr James Whitmore- head of administration would be in charge of this. Mr Whitmore has had experience with some other Microsoft products before such as word and excel. Due to the structure of Microsoft’s software it offers a look and feel aspect to all of its products. As a result the same level of training which would be needed for one member of staff may not be needed for him. In relation to the company’s modernisation of finance, a new spreadsheet system will be in operation to cope with the financial aspects of the company in a accurate manner. The introduction of the spreadsheet using Microsoft excel may leave the member of staff finding themselves uncomfortable with the new software and unable to use it. The member of staff is Mr. Andrew Dufrain. He has relayed to me that he has no experience with the software so as a result will need to attend a course to allow him to use the software properly. As a result the company may need to pay the cost for him to attend this course; otherwise he will not be able to use the system therefore affecting EVDOP’s lives’ business and profitability due to the inaccuracy of calculations.
Data Capture
Within EVDOP Live there are many problems in terms of data capture. Examples of which would be the capture of customer details which is essential in the ordering of tickets and the photography of events which EVDOP Live play a key role in. Firstly the photography of events. After much research it was decided that the highest quality of data in terms of photography would be form a high quality camera there on the night of the event. The data in effect then will come from a high quality camera with a large pixel density. This will allow for a high quality resolution of pictures which can then be used on the company website or perhaps on a poster for future events etc. As a result the company may need to hire someone who can act as principal photographer on the night of the event; they will then be in charge of taking pictures through and then rendering and uploading them. Additionally though the company may ask the band to take the pictures in order to obtain a sense fo realism as to what it is like form their perspective. The data will be digitally stored then to ensure security and portability and then relayed onto a computer which can then be used to upload the pictures onto the company website. After much discussion it was concluded that the format of these pictures should be in JPEG Format. This is to ensure that the highest quality of image is displayed for the customers of EVDOP Live. As they will be coming from a camera it can be said that these images will be small in size as a result. As a result of the above process it can be said that new data will occur subsequently after every gig which EVDOP plays a part in.