Hire Shop - creating a database.

Communicating and Handling Information Projects for GCSE Information Technology.

Benn Harlow 11G.

Hire Shop

Description of task.

I’m going to make my shop a musical hire shop. I’ll base the project on a local shop that hires out musical instruments, PA systems, lights and amplification systems. The database will be for the owner of the musical hire shop. It will tell him what has been hired out, who has hired it and it will also identify if someone has still got hired out equipment although there time has ran out.

At the moment the shop does use a computer which stores the information about what is hired out and who has got it. It’s stored as a list, not as a database. I think a database is a lot easier to use and information is easy to access. It will help run the shop more efficiently and information will be shown quicker and easier.

Analysis

I interviewed the owner of Faversham’s local musical hire shop to find out what the shop does and how everything is stored on its computers. I asked if he would benefit from a new database system designed specially for his shop. He told me that a database system would be a lot faster and easier for him to gain efficient information about the customers and what they have hired from the shop. For the full conversation please see appendix A.

I e-mailed a questionnaire to the shop, which mainly included what the users of the system want from the database. It showed that the users want an easily accessible system that isn’t too hard to operate. The manager of the shop strongly needs the system to be able to hold at least fifty names. At the moment the existing system doesn’t tell the shop owner many details about the person hiring out the equipment and the equipment itself. In the system I’m making for the hire shop will make sure that details about the equipment and the person hiring it are easily displayed. For full information from the questionnaire see appendix B.

I’m hoping that by changing the shops system, more efficient information can be accessed easier. I visited the local library, to see if they had a system like one I’m trying to make. Co-incidentally they did. They had a database that was like one we made before starting this GCSE project. It contained information on the book, like the title, the author and the publisher. The database also contained information on the person who has rented out the book. This was information like their name, address and what book they have rented out. Because the two databases had one field that was the same (the book being rented out) the two could be linked. The music shop would benefit from a similar system, which involves a fast accessible database or databases

Another option, which could benefit the shop, is to store all the information in a word document and then mail merge the information together. I’m hoping to include the following fields in my database to make it successful in giving all the information needed.

Name

Surname

Address

Telephone Number

What has been hired?

How long has it been hired for.

Price

The alternatives to lotus approach could be flexidata, which is another well used database type software. The only problem with using this software is that you can not join two databases together like you can with lotus approach. Another alternative is that all the fields can be made on excel and the data can be searched through manually. Once again the data can not be ...

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Name

Surname

Address

Telephone Number

What has been hired?

How long has it been hired for.

Price

Specification

I have decided that a relational database would be the best system for the musical hire shop. The reason why I have chosen to use a database is because it can handle and will be able to do the following: -

The system will consist of two databases, which can be linked so that all the information can be accessed easily.
One of the databases will contain information about the equipment which the music shop is hiring out.
The second database will contain information about the person who is hiring out the equipment.
The database will need to be customised so that it looks good and has a professional finish.
The specification will be used to analyse the finished database when it is finished.

It will have two hold at least 50 records.

It has to be easy to operate.

Information has to be easy to get at.

It will have the shops logo at the top of the page.

It will identify what hired out equipment is over due.

The fields that will be included are: The name of the person hiring out the

shops equipment, the equipment that has been hired out, how long the equipment has been hired out for etc.

Why the system will need what is above is for the following reasons: -

The only way for so much information to be accessed via another part of the database is two make two databases and link them together.

The shop is a very popular company and can have up to 50 pieces of equipment been hired out at one time.

The shop employs young workers who might not have very good computer skills therefore the system will have to be reasonably easy to use.

The shop is often busy so information will have to be accessed quickly to save people waiting for ages.

The reason why the shops logo is going to be at the top of the page is simply to make the database look good.

The fields I have chosen above I think are very reasonable. It gives the shop owner all the information he needs about the equipment and the person hiring it out with going into too personal details.

I will be able to tell if the database is successful if a full set of results is presented at the end of the search.

Design of system

The software I think will be best to use for my relational database is Lotus Approach. It is very easy to use and change so will be suitable for the musical hire shop. I have chosen to do a relational database because the operator can access the information on the shops equipment or access information about current customers and find out what they have hired, for how long at what price etc.

The output of the database will be in the form of a list or on the screen. I think this would be easier to understand and see what information is needed. The list could be displayed on the screen but also printed if necessary.

The final fields that I have chosen to include in my databases are: -

I have designed the layout of the two databases on power point and put them in the appendix C and D. These lay outs also show a brief idea of what the data capture form will look like. The colour scheme I have decided on is blue with pictures of products that the shop hires out. There will be links on the page to turn to the other part of the database and to go back to the person displayed on the screen and a button to turn to the next person on the database.

Hardware resources

The hardware needed for my system to work would be: -

Mouse – A mouse is essential, as the operator will need it to click on what boxes they want to fill in and to choose options on the screen.

Keyboard – The operator will have to use the keyboard to type in the customers’ information and the necessary information about each piece of equipment.

VDU – The visual display unit will show the operator the screen so that he/she knows where to click, type in and will show a list of customer records.

CD Drive – For the system to work the operator will have to install all the appropriate software via the CD drive.

Internet connection – If the operator needed to get more information then the Internet is always a good way of obtaining information about anything.

Memory – Memory (main store) is the name given to a group of chips inside the processing unit where data is held temporarily whilst processing takes place. The data is then is instantly available from the memory unlike backing storage which has to be accessed on a disk or tape. Memory is used to hold programs, input data, working area and output data.

Printer – When the person operating the computer has found what he needs then he/she might want to print the results page.

Software resources

The operator will need to have the following software to let the database run properly: -

Lotus Approach 97 or a newer version of it: - I have chosen to use Lotus approach as it is a reliable piece of software and it is very easy and quick to set up and run.

Windows 98 or later: - This is needed to run the computer in an efficient way, obviously the newer the program is the quicker and easier it will be to run lotus approach.
Word or Publisher: - Word or publisher will be need to make data capture forms so that the shop can get all the information needed to put an entry into the database.

You will need the above to run the system as that is what the database is based on.

Data capture and input

The information needed to collect the data for the database comes from a data capture form. Some of the information in the database was collected from the Internet, such as the statistics on each item which is being hired out. The data capture sheet is set out in an orderly fashion so that it is easy to see where to put each bit of information. To view what the data capture form looked like then please see appendix E and F. The data is simply typed in on the screen and is then entered straight into the database. The data will come either from the internet, if it is equipment, or from a customer in person. This way no data can be wrongly stated.

Verification/Validation

Verification is check that is done by the operator of the computer with out the aide of the computer itself. Basically this means the person operating the computer has to go through the records and check them by looking over them and changing anything that isn’t right. On the other hand validation is a check that is done by the computer on its own. A validation will check to see if you have kept to the rules, so if you have put in the field definition ( appendix G ) that you only want a date or a 12 digit number then the computer will check to see if you have entered either a date or a number no bigger than 12 digits long.

Both verification and validation are very important to the database system. It is essential that the operator checks though he files him/her self as some information could be wrong although it can pass the validation check. For example if the person who has hired out the equipment comes from mars or is two thousand years old. Still you need the validation checks as the operator may have made a mistake and entered something in wrongly.

Program Structure

To make the whole database work the first thing that is needed is to create field definitions so that the computer can validate the records to make sure there is not any mistakes. The list of fields, size, and type can be found in appendix F. In the section design of system I have stated all the reasons why I have used each field and their definitions. I have set it out the way I have as I think it not only looks good but it is easy to read off.

I joined the name of the personal data form to the name of the person who has hired out the equipment so that when you type in either a name or the equipment a list of person details about the person who had hired out the equipment will be shown. See appendix (G)

Output Format

The output for my database will be displayed on the screen of the operators’ computer. This will allow him and/or her to see who has hired out the shops equipment, for how long and where the person who has hired out the equipment lives etc. By filling in selected boxes all of the other data about the equipment and the person hiring it can be displayed simultaneously on the screen. See appendix H.

Testing

I am going to test my database by filling in boxes on the screen incorrectly to prove that they can only be used in a specific way. For example to check that the validation of the field condition doesn’t accede 50 characters, I will try to type in 51 to prove that the field validation works. To see a list of all the tests that I performed on my database please see appendix (I).

Evaluation

My database was made up of two databases that were linked so that more information could be shown about particular situations such as who had hired out the 50watt Marshall amp etc. The operator will only need to open the first database as all the information boxes have been dragged onto to screen from the other database.
The database has 50 records all together. There are 27 records of people who have or is hiring out the shops equipment and 23 records of equipment hired out by the shop. Appendix (J)
The database is very easy to operate as once the information is stored in the database all that is need is a name or a item from the shop etc. to access all the other information about the equipment or the person hiring it out.
The information is very easy to access as once you have found the information (above) then all the information that is needed is displayed as an output on the screen of the computer.
The owner of the shop wanted the database to look good, and wanted the shop logo on the top of the page a long with other art work relating to the shop. Unfortunately the shop owner didn’t give me a sample of their logo so I added more artistic pictures relating to what the shop sells
By accessing the data about the date the equipment is due back you can see weather the equipment has been returned or not. If a person is hasn’t returned the equipment then the computer operator can print off the page and use the personal details about the person who has hired the equipment to get in touch with them.
All the fields which I stated earlier are included in the database so that all the information needed to get information is displayed on the screen.
The database could be improved by having a newer version of lotus approach and a newer system as the current system is quite slow.