Design Specification for Dream Tours.

Design Specification for Dream Tours

I am in employment with Cambridge systems limited I have been given the prospect to utilize a system enabling dream cruises to boost their overall performance. Dream Cruises have come within reach of my organisation, they specialise in cruises ships that sail in the winter periods. Numerous cruise ships will be drifting from Dover to Madeira and the Canary Islands, calling at Spain, Portugal, Lanzarote, and Gran Canaria, at each port of call, tours are arranged for passengers. Dream cruises legislative body give booking information to tour Officers, which are accountable for organizing the tours. I’m expected to utilize a system to correspond with the dream cruises arrangements, allowing the tour officers to produce various outputs which will support them in their obligation of controlling the excursions booked.

The main objective of the organisation is to process specific data in an automatic way which will speed up and simplify the method of booking a reservation. This will create many benefits to the tour operators, as the system will be easy and fast to use with hyperlinks and assigned macros, which will generate graphs and charts which in turn makes movement around the sheets easier. This can influence the worker as they are given more authority and responsibility to carry out their task. Every sheet would contain hyperlinks to all pages of the countries and to the front page. The system will be able to update automatically with new data such as calculations. These calculations are used to work out the amount of profit/loss made from Dream Cruises with each tour. This is hugely useful as it will make them more organised as they will be able to see if the tours are fully booked or not. The data the user enters into the system should be validated using appropriate and rigorous validation checks. An error message should be displayed, when invalid data is entered, that they have entered invalid data and advice on their next step.

When the business develops there will be supplementary cruises to each countries, I the systems developer can explain you how to insert a new row/ column for a country devoid of remaking a new spreadsheet. Around the sides of the spreadsheet rows and columns heading are displayed. On the X axis the alphabet is displayed, and numbers on the Y-axis. Basically when inserting a new row or column you simply right click on the number where a new row or column needs to be inserted. When you right click a drop down menu will appear, commencing here you are able to delete and insert rows, this also applies for the columns. Now the tour operators can merely enter the data obligatory and all calculations can be copied by clicking on the cell with an existing formula inserted already. This is done by going to the bottom right of the cell until your curser alters from a point to a cross and then basically drags the formula down into the nearby cells the tour operator would need the worksheet to be protected from unauthorised users and so passwords and protection keys are set.

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The user will expect the spreadsheet to look attractive and professional additionally it must be easy to use. This will be done by adding a specific colour coordination which will be attractive to the eye. Also the cells must have a standing out border line for tables, which will suite the background colour of the spreadsheet. Many eye-catching images and headings are also inserted from the internet so the spreadsheet doesn’t only surround text and colour. All the entered data must be clear and easy to read as well spread out. The buttons which are assigned to the macros are used so the user can go back and forth from pages. Also the effectiveness of hyperlinks are applied on every page so all the information can be accessed from the front page. The spreadsheet will be demonstrating Dream Cruises so the sheet will look imaginative and creative.

The data which I have been provided for this spreadsheet are the countries name and tour references and the destination. The fees for the Adults and children are also given along with the maximum number of passengers allowed. I have also been provided with the form of transport along with the price and the maximum number of people on that specific transport, such as Minibuses and coaches. Contacts are supplied as well which need to be added on the spreadsheet. I have to use and apply a lot of functions and calculations as I need add the number of adults and children. The spreadsheet can automatically calculate subtotal and grand total values in a list. When you insert automatic subtotals, the spreadsheet outlines the list so that you can display and hide the detail rows for each subtotal. To insert subtotals, you first sort your list so that the rows you want to subtotal are grouped together. You can then calculate subtotals for any column that contains numbers.

I also have to enter dates for every tour. The ‘IF’ Returns one value if a condition you specify evaluates to TRUE and another value if it evaluates to FALSE. In my case the ‘IF’ statement is used for the status this tells the user if the transport is full, overbooked or if are still spaces remaining, the system will automatically be updated when changes are made.

The spreadsheet will have to be carefully validated as the tour operators will need to enter all the variable data. Due to this I must add validation checks so that the tour operators will know when they are entering invalid data into the cells. If invalid data is entered a message will appear on the screen. The message box will hold a large red circle with a cross. This is expressed so that they what type of data should be entered instead.

I am going to process my data in formats such as text, geometric and graphical. I will also disperse Macros to buttons which will link charts and graphs with precise data such as total profits. Including ‘IF’ statement to renovate data to equations.

I will be using numerous varieties of charts and graphs which can be outputted to show the data in diverse formats. I will also add buttons which will be produced to run Macros that produce reports and charts to show profit/loss for tours within each country it can also find the most profitable and the least profitable tour. The Macros can also compare costs and total revenue for each tour making it easier to identify the more profitable tours. The Macros can also display the average income per tour.

You can navigate around the spreadsheet by using hyperlinks attached to the text and images. So that pages are linked directly. A hyperlink is a link from a document that opens another page or file when you click it. This makes it easy to go back and forth form pages. Also buttons, which are assigned to Macros, can move you from one page to another. A hyperlink had been used on every page so you can access all pages from the front sheet to make it easier for the user.

I think the spreadsheet would be easier to do if it was created on Microsoft Front Page Editor instead of Microsoft Excel, as the pages will look more eye-catching and animation can be applied. The spreadsheet will have many special features such as hyperlinks, and buttons, text, images assigns to Macros. A lot of statements will be used so when the data changes so will the statements. This is very like a website as there are very similar features compared to a website. If this was to be published many users can view this information.

There are many complex functions that can be used on a spreadsheet which will make everything easy to create and use.

Sorting - In an ascending sort the numbers or alphabet is placed in order. In a descending sort, this sort order is reversed. I will use the sorting option to place the dates in order of earliest date, so that the operator can see which country tour is first.

Subtotals – the spreadsheet can automatically calculate subtotals and grand totals which are placed in a . To insert subtotals, you first sort your list so that the rows you want are grouped together. At the bottom of the column enter the formulae =sum (then high-light the cells u want to be calculated then close the bracket ). Once you hit enter the formulae is complete and the cells are calculated. I will use these subtotals to calculate the sales, costs and profits for each tour, which will help to make a summary of all costs. Also it’ll be helpful to the operator as all the totals will be added and they’ll know how much profit and sales will be needed to break-even.

Conditional Formatting - You can identify cells, which have formulas in, or if you want to monitor the cell values by placing a Conditional Format. E.g. I have added a shade of blue so that the cell will change colour if sales exceed forecast or the sales fall short. If the value of the cell changes and no longer meets the specified condition, Microsoft Excel provisionally suppresses the formats that highlight that condition. This is important as it high-lights the values that are below a certain range, so that then the operator can act upon on it.

Macros - If you carry out a task continually in Microsoft Excel, you can computerize the task with a . A macro is a succession of instructions and functions that are stored in a Visual Basic module and can be run whenever you need to act upon the task. When you record a macro, Excel provisions information in relation to each step you take as you complete a series of commands. You then operate the macro to reiterate, or "play back," the commands. I have used this in a way that it can produce graphs and charts at a click of a button, so that the user can simply click the Macro operated button to complete the specific task.

Nested ‘IF’- I have used the ‘IF’ as it returns one value if a condition you specify evaluates to TRUE and another value if it evaluates to FALSE. In my case the ‘IF’ statement is used for the status this tells the user if the transport is full, overbooked or if are still spaces remaining, the system will automatically be updated when changes are made.

Validation - Data validation is premeditated to display messages and avert invalid entries only when users type data directly in a cell. When data is imitation, filled, or calculated by a formula, the messages don't appear.

Karthik Manthena