Edexcel GCSE ICT Word - Identify

The current stationery is used as follows:

• The memos and faxes are created by hand as and when they are needed.

• The membership information form has been typed out with a table hand drawn and inserted under the text so that the member’s names can be hand written in. The original form has been photocopied many times and the copies are kept in a filing cabinet.

• Memos to inform staff of meetings etc. are written out by hand and then photocopied when they are required.

• The overdue membership letters are currently typed on a word processor with spaces left to write in the member’s details e.g. name and Address, thereafter the basic template is photocopied many times.  

• The invoice is a standard hand written document with a table drawn within the document which has been photocopied. The items are entered into the invoice and then calculated and totalled by using a calculator.

• All flyers, brochures, and other marketing material are at present hand drawn and then photocopied (very unprofessional) or pre-printed at the local printers (This is very costly).

Problems with the current system:

• Faxes & Memos: All faxes and memos that are sent out from the club look rather unprofessional as they are all hand produced and therefore extremely untidy. There is no consist style as they are produce when and if need. This method is messy and does not enhance the image of the Club.

• Customer relations:  As there are no proper record or database of existing members or potential members (just a handwritten list). Bucks hockey club is missing out on retaining and attracting new members through lack of comunication.

• Accounts & Invoicing: For invoices and accounts a calculator is used to work out the amounts to be invoiced. This is very laborious, slow and unreliable as it’s open to errors. (Someone could easily press the wrong key resulting in miscalculations). Particularly important for membership renewal.

• Storing documents: As the recorded documents are stored (not always) in a filing cabinet they are very hard to find (especially when customers are on the other end of the phone), file management is sloppy as records are badly managed

• Correspondence: All letters and membership forms appear to have no particular style. They are just made as when they are needed, without the consideration of the appearance and professionalism. They are either handwritten or typed; basic templates are made and photocopied many times, the text over time loses its sharpness therefore making it hard to read. Hand drawn table on membership forms are too small making it difficult for people to fill in details

• Marketing: The marketing material looks unprofessional. Most of the documents are pre-printed or created on an ad-hoc basis.  This method is unsuitable for any business that wants to give a professional appearance. Logos and themes are non-existent. Therefore the Bucks Hockey Club has no identity or recognisable branding.

The End User Requirements

Having chatted to the owners of the Bucks Hockey Club I have found out what they want for the new computerised system.

• User friendly: Mr. Fielding would like all of the documents to be easily accessible from his computer therefore should be a homepage (launcher menu) where all the documents needed are attached to it using macro buttons. Therefore they are easily accessible on the computer

• Accounts & Invoicing: A self-calculating invoice that has fill-in fields, therefore you can’t miss any vital customer information and would also ensure against any calculating errors.

• Eliminate errors:  All document templates are required to be easy to fill in and their format should reduce the possibility of input error.

• Consistency: Mr. Fielding would like me to produce a series of high quality templates to replace his current stationery: a memo, a fax, a membership form, an invoice and a standard membership renewals letter. All stationery will also carry club Logo. This will ensure there is a consist style and enhance the image of the Club

• Marketing: They would like to be able to produce their own marketing material in house.  All marketing material should have a fixed colour scheme and a logo. Therefore establishing Bucks Hockey Club with a recognisable theme and brand image. The logos will be used throughout their correspondence, stationary, and all marketing material e.g. flyers, posters and etc.

• Cost effective & labour reducing: All letters and correspondence should be mail merged, document automated and be changed to templates. All this will save time, save money, it also would look professional and be environmentally friendly as they won’t have to waste paper on photocopying.

• Filing & storing documents: All documents should be saved in a safe place on the computer. So it will be quick and easy to find rather than in a filing cabinet. 

• Security: Also they require some sort of security measures put in place against fire, theft accidental loss of data and access to personal files from unauthorised persons.

Possible Solutions

• A non-ICT solution might be to type all of the documents and leave spaces for he personalized details like name and address, then photocopied. All invoices can be handwritten or typed and have hand drawn tables and thereafter would have to be photocopied. But this does not meet Mr Fielding’s requirements as it looks unprofessional, is time consuming and costs too much money to do and increased photocopying with ruin the master copy. Filing of these documents might be less organised after some time. Thus Mr Fielding will have to look into a ICT solution.  

• A desk top publishing package could be used to create many of the templates like the fax, memo and flyer. But desktop publishing does not allow you to do automatic calculations and this facility will be required for the invoice. Also Mr Fielding has requested that all documents should run from either a tool bar or main menu, DTP this facility is difficult to implement.

• Bespoke can be specifically designed to meet Mr Fielding requirements. Although this is ideal for Mr Fielding it is very expensive.

• Another option is to use a database. This could perform the simple calculations required for the invoice and recording club member details. But would not really be suitable for this mainly text based solution and you can not put pictures on a database which you need for the flyer.

I have made the following suggestion which I believe to be cost effective, easy to learn and quick to implement. A word processing package would appear appropriate.  It contains many tools that would assist in realising many of the end-user’s wishes:

• User friendly: There could be a homepage where all the documents needed, such as the invoice and letters are attached using macros so all you have to do is press a button to open the document needed, therefore you won’t have to waste time searching for all the documents and templates.

• Customer relations: Customers are kept informed and updated on offers and major events at the Hockey Club. E.g. social evenings and Fundraising events.

• Eliminate errors: Use macro buttons, fill-in fields, document automentation etc can be used as it reduces input error.

• Database: A database with all the members should be used, you can filter all the people who haven’t paid, and then the fields can be used in a mail merged letter informing them that their payment is overdue and when the deadline is etc. is would be good if there was a password put on the database for security, so unauthorised users (hackers) cannot access private information.

• Marketing: For this area I suggest that all posters and flyers can be created by word processing, advertising special offers and etc. Additional advertising can be done in newspapers.

• Time saving: All documents can be turned into templates; these hold the same formatting, layout and design. Making all the documents look the same.

• Labour saving: templates can be used as they keep the basic layout for each document, they will always be ready, and with only a few additional details need to be added.

• Automation: A spreadsheet be embedded into the word document for the invoice making all the calculations automatic.

• Security: The documents should be saved on the computer as it will be safer there and easier to find than in a filing cabinet, it also takes less room.

• Software: A word processing package contains a tool called the mail merge.  This allows data from a source such as a list of customers to be merged into a standard document.  Each record in the data source would create a separate document thus preventing the need to load a new document each time and add the specific details.  This would be ideal for the payment deadline/overdue letter. You can embed and link other files into a word document. This would be ideal for a self calculating invoice.

• Staff & training: Existing staff need to be trained on how to use word processing software.  

Conclusion: A word possessing package would be most appropriate for the solution of this problem.

Objectives

• The invoice must calculate automatically

• Documents must be easy to access via a main menu

• Letters must be mail merged

• Data entry into all of the documents must be made easy with document automentation, fill-ins and etc, and enable the inputted data to be placed in the correct location without user input error

• All documents should be turned into templates so the same design and layout is used in all the documents

• All documents should have the same logo and colour scheme.

• There must be a homepage and all the documents required, e.g. invoice, letter should be attached using macros and can be easily accessed with the click of a button.