Lucy Kitching
TLA - 16447
Candidate no - 2090
Edexcel GCSE ICT
Project 3
Access
Part 1 - IDENTIFY
Statement of the problem
Mrs Dickinson is a proud owner of 'Lucy's Estate Agents', what is a well-known Estate Agent all over Britain. Mrs Dickinson owns ten different 'Lucy's Estate Agents' plotted all over Britain. The business is a family business that has Been up and running for about 6 years now. It has a good reputation to the public as it fits all of the public's needs. There is a variety of different customers starting with new home buyers going to business building buyers. Mrs Dickinson has set a target to achieve double as much customers as she has now for next year and in the companies total income have a 10% increase by next year. In order to achieve these targets Mrs Dickinson will have to find a solution to a large problem that she has recently had.
As said above Mrs Dickinson has a major problem with recording the information of properties, customers and viewings on a system for employees that work for Mrs Dickinson running the business. At the moment the employees record this information on paper what has recently got out of hand as there have been a lot more customers lately so they have lots of unorganised stacks of paper showing lot's of information that they need for the future. The paper could easily get chucked away, lost, stolen and also if there's a building fire all the information can be destroyed and there will be no back up copies. Also another problem is that if a customer comes in with a query about a property or if the estate agents have a query about a customer then they have to search through stacks of paper to find the information about the property/customer. Sometimes the Estate agents have to say that they can't solve your query to customers because they cannot find the information, this then gives 'Lucy's Estate Agents' a bad reputation to the public. So she has contacted me to find a solution and fast!
Consideration of alternative solutions
There are many solutions that we can take to solve the problem that Mrs Dickinson has. I have written three different options that can be taken to solve the problem:
. A first option would be to simply buy cheap organising folders that are all kept in one room of the business building with labels showing where to go for what. Personally I believe that this solution wouldn't work as effective as a computer based system. I believe this is because it wouldn't be able to accomplish simple tasks such as arithmetic, print outs for customer use and many more. Also another negative factor of having a paper based design is that it can easily get torn, stolen, easily be lost, can't be clearly updated, the employees hand writing may not be readable for other users.
2. A second option could be that using a standard computer with widows 98 or XP and Microsoft office. Using Microsoft word processor Mrs Dickinson can insert all the data and save it on the computer hard drive and also on a disk in case of a virus, or being stolen etc. I won't be designing this system as I believe that this is a workable solution but again will not accomplish simple tasks that Mrs Dickinson will need in order to have an effective system running.
3. Thirdly the most effective solution would be to use database access, using a standard computer with windows 98 or XP. Database access is an excellent option to take as it completes simple tasks such as query's, reports, tables, forms, macros and much more. This system is easy to work and won't need instructions. I will be designing the new system on database access as I do believe that it's the best of the three options and definitely has the potential to solve the major problem.
User requirements
Mrs Dickinson has given me some requirements that the new system must have:
* The system must have the companies logo appearing on every page
* The system must use the companies colour scheme what is blue, white and orange
* The system must use the companies font what is used on our slogan what is 'Century Gothic'
* The system must be simple to use and easily understood
* If possible the system should be designed computer based
* The system should be protected in some way such as password protected so only authorised employees can get onto the system (this will then stop and hackers)
* The system must be able to produce varies printouts of my choice
Part 2 - ANALYSE
Appropriate software and hardware
There is three different software's that I will be using in order to complete my design of the new system being made for Mrs Dickinson. The most important software that I will be using is Microsoft Access and will be opening a blank database on to it. I have chosen to design the new system on Microsoft access because you can do everything on it that Mrs Dickinson requires, and is simple to use and not too expensive to buy. Also I will be using the software paint to edit and crop the company's logo in order to fit onto the Microsoft access switch board/forms. Also I will need to use a image manipulation software such as Jasc Paint shop what you can simply download from internet or disc packages can also be brought. This software will be appropriate as photographs of buildings being viewed will need to be cropped and edited and I believe that Jasc Paint Shop can do this very effectively.
Appropriate hardware that is going to be needed for this system to run effectively:
- A C.P.U of a Pentium P3 or greater with a minimum 240 MB of RAM.
- A monitor- that would have to be a minimum of 15" CRT, so the users, can see the system clearly so there will be less mistakes.
- A Keyboard- In order for the user to type in customer/property and viewings information and to be able to search, edit different customers/properties. With out a keyboard this system will be useless.
- An ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Appropriate hardware that is going to be needed for this system to run effectively:
- A C.P.U of a Pentium P3 or greater with a minimum 240 MB of RAM.
- A monitor- that would have to be a minimum of 15" CRT, so the users, can see the system clearly so there will be less mistakes.
- A Keyboard- In order for the user to type in customer/property and viewings information and to be able to search, edit different customers/properties. With out a keyboard this system will be useless.
- An optical mouse- In order to click through the system as a 'switch board' will be the main system running on the database. I believe that an optical mouse would be best as it won't need to be regularly cleaned.
- A digital camera- The digital camera holds all the photographs of properties that need to be uploaded onto the computer so the estate agents have photos of the properties to show the customers.
- A printer- A printer is necessary as the system will be designed with different macros that print out information for the user that they may want to print.
Data required
The information required in order to construct the forms that hold the information are:
-I will ask Mrs Dickinson for all the different photographs of properties that need to be included on the system. I can upload these pictures using the digital camera that she took the photographs with. I can simply do this by using a USB cable to plug into the computer.
-I will also ask Mrs Dickinson all the details that need to be put into the system for customers, properties and viewings. For example for customers you will need the details such as name, Customer I.D, address, price wanting to view etc.
-I will also have to ask Mrs Dickinson what different query's she usually gets asked about so I can add a variety of queries on my design for Mrs Dickinson.
Data manipulation
I am going to design three different tables for the database and I am going to label these Customers, Properties and Viewings. I have designed what I am going to have in each field for each individual table. It shows this down below:
Customer- [Customer I.D (primary key), Surname, First name, D.O.B, Address 1, Address 2, Town, County, Telephone no., Mobile no., Email, Fax and Price wanting to view]
Properties- [Property I.D (Primary Key), Price, Area, Address, Type, Bedrooms, Garage, Garden, Bathrooms, Extras. Facilities, Central heating, Double glazing and Picture]
Viewings- [Customer I.D (Primary Key), Property I.D (Primary Key), Surname, Telephone no. and Date]
I am going to design three forms showing this information what I am going to put in my tables. I will be including the Companies logo and colour scheme in the form as said in the user required in section 1. It's easier to read off of the forms as there simple and clear to understand.
In order to produce a set of reports needed to run 'Lucy's Estate Agents' I am going to have to make a set of queries. I have asked Mrs Dickinson and she states the queries that are most often asked about from both customers and employees are:
For customers I am going to make query's to enter the- enter county, customer I.D, Customer surname, customer telephone number, First name, price wanting to view and type.
For properties I am going to make these queries:
Enter the area, bathrooms, bedrooms, type and price.
I am going to design enter queries, I will do this by going onto new query and onto design view and I will design it by myself. I will also design some And/or queries as sometimes you might need two pieces of information to find out what you are looking for.
Once I have produced my queries I can design my reports. I can do this by using report wizard what runs through with you how to design your own report. The reports will show me information what I have designed the report and query to ask me. The user will have the option to print out any reports.
Data flow
Data flow for the property table.
Property details
Properties
Data flow for the customer table:
Customers Customer details
Output
The new system will work on a standard PC. The user of this system will see the data up on the screen. Reports can be seen on screen and the user would also have the option to print out any reports. The user can choose if they want any reports printed out or not. Also a projector would also be necessary for staff training although it Is not essential.
Security
To make the Microsoft access secured so no hackers or viruses from the computer can damage or steal the system I am going to make a list of security actions we can take so this can never occur:
* Each night once the company has finished one day's work then Mrs Dickinson or any member of staff can save the data on a floppy disk and put the floppy disk in a completely different building from the computer. This will be in case of a fire/flood or someone stealing the computer or the computer being damaged.
* Also I am going to design the system so there is a password to get into it that only company members will know. This will prevent hackers. I will make the password easy to remember, but also a variety of numbers and letters so it is hard for a hacker to guess the password. Also I will remind Mrs Dickinson to regularly change the password in case anybody starts to guess the password.
Part 3 - DESIGN
User feedback on initial designs
I have asked 20 students of my ICT class to see what design of the three are the best to use in an estate agent. I am going to be asking a variety of questions. The design that has the best outcome of results I will be using to design for the estate agents.
Questions
Design 1
Design 2
Design 3
) What Design is the clearest to understand overall?
2
5
3
2) What font is the clearest to read?
5
2
3
3) What colour scheme is the most simple and not too over done and matches the companies colour scheme white, blue and orange?
8
7
5
4) Which buttons of all three of the designs are the best sizes?
0
2
8
5) What layout is the clearest to look at?
9
8
3
As the survey states Overall design 1 is the best design.
Overall out of all three designs I believe that design 1 is the most appropriate to use in an estate agents. From the questions I asked the majority of people choose design 1 as the best of all questions. This shows that design 1 is the best and most appropriate. Look above at all pie charts and you will see this.
Menu structure diagram
Data flow of switch board:
Final designs - justification
Test plan
Test
Purpose of test
Test method
Expected Result
Check Programme loads up
Double click on the Microsoft Access icon.
Microsoft Access loads up.
2
See if file opens
Click on the open icon on the top toolbar (It is a yellow folder) and see if your work is saved on there by browsing through then double click it to open once you have found it.
File loads up.
3
Save function
Click on the save icon on the top toolbar to save your work.
Work saves on Microsoft Access.
4
Check if buttons work.
Follow through switchboard to see if all buttons are going to the correct places.
The buttons take you to the correct place.
5
Check there is a logo of the company on each new page.
Browse through every page of the switchboard to and see if there are logos on each page.
There is a logo on each page.
6
Check there is a password protecting the database.
Open Microsoft Access and open the file.
Once the file is opened on Microsoft Access before being able to access the database a window appears asking you to type in password.
7
Test the customer and property buttons on the main switchboard page.
Click on the property/ customer buttons.
A new page will appear showing different options to load up.
8
Check that all queries work.
Double click on queries and select a query. There should be a selection to choose from in the customer and property queries. Double click a query.
A new window will load up asking you a question, answer the question with an appropriate answer and it should come up with a number of properties/ customers you are looking for.
9
Check that all reports work.
Double click on reports and select a report from the list and a new window will appear asking a variety of questions, answer the questions that appear.
A report will appear.
Part 4 - IMPLEMENT
Finished design
My finished design was a database that was many pages long. It is clear and easy to follow for Mrs Dickinson and staff to use. The final design flowed well and worked excellent. Each page flowed easily having a return button and each button was labelled clear. Each page includes a logo with the companies' name written by it. The design fits all of Mrs Dickinson's needs and will hold so much detail of customers, properties and viewings. It is password protected and has a password that all users can remember. It matches the company's colour scheme and looks very well organised. Below you can see the final design in more detail.
My designs
Here is a print screen of entering the database password
Here is a print screen of what happens when the incorrect password is entered
Here is a print screen of the main page:
Here is a print screen of the customer page:
Here is a print screen of the customer add page:
This is a screen shot of the customer edit page:
This is a screen shot of the Customer search page
Here is a screen shot of the new window that appears once the user double clicks on the customer surname search button.
Here is a print screen of the report that appears after typing in a surname
Above shows what happens Once the user single clicks on the customer search button for the customer surname. It comes up with a query asking what the customer surname is then a read-only report appears telling you the details of that customer. By clicking on any of the other options would do the exact same as above, except with the different information that needs to be typed in. Some of the buttons e.g. the 'county' search button comes up with two different queries to allow the user to be more accurate with their search. It comes up with a new window asking the user to, 'enter county' and after that has been entered, 'enter town'. If the information queried applies to two or more customers then a report will appear showing 3 different customers details on each page.
Here is a print screen of then property page
This is designed the same way as the customer page, which is annotated above.
Here is a print screen of property add page
This page allows the user to add property details of a new house that is up for sale.
Here is a print screen of the property edit page
Here is a print screen of the property search page
Here is a screen shot of the new window that appears once the user single clicks on the bathrooms search button.
Here is a print screen of the report the appears once the user has entered in details of 2 bathrooms
Test results
Test
Purpose of Test
Expected Test Result
Actual Test Result
Check Programme loads up.
Microsoft Access loads up.
Microsoft Access loaded up every time it was double clicked on.
2
See if file opens
File loads up.
The file loaded up.
3
Save function works
Work saves on Microsoft Access.
My work saved onto Microsoft Access.
4
Check if buttons work.
The buttons take you to the correct place.
The buttons on all pages took me to the correct pages.
5
Check there is a logo of the company on each new page.
There is a logo on each page.
The company's logo is on every page.
6
Check there is a password protecting the database.
Once the file is opened on Microsoft Access before being able to access the database a window appears asking you to type in password.
A new window appeared asking me to enter a password.
7
Test the customer and property buttons on the main switchboard page.
A new page will appear showing different options to load up.
A new page appeared giving me different options to load up.
8
Check that all queries work.
A new window will load up asking you a question, answer the question with an appropriate answer and it should come up with a number of properties/ customers you are looking for.
A new window asked me a question, I answered with a correct answer and it come up with a selection of properties and customers I was looking for.
9
Check that all reports work.
A report will appear.
A report appeared.
Part 5 - EVALUATE
Evaluation of initial objectives
In section 1 there was a number of requirements that Mrs Dickinson gave me to make sure that the new system had. Now I will be discussing how I acted upon these requirements and made sure that they have been included in the new system.
Objective 1- The system must have the companies' logo appearing on every page.
On the system there is the companies' logo on every page. Up above on the annotations you will see this. They have been put at the top of every page so it's easily seen by everyone.
Objective 2- The system must use the companies colour scheme what is blue, white and orange.
The system uses the company colour scheme on every page. Every page has a white background, and blue and orange boxes or writing. You can see this on the above annotations of the database. Also earlier on I carried out a survey that asked this question, 'What colour scheme is the most simple and not too over done and matches the companies colour scheme white, blue and orange?' As stated above in the survey design 1 has matched this and I used design 1 in my final design.
Objective 3- The system must use the company font what is used on our slogan what is 'Century Gothic'.
The font 'Century Gothic' is used through out the database; You can see this in the above annotations. In the above survey I carried out I asked this question 'What font is the clearest to read?'. Design 1 has the clearest font what was 'Century Gothic' sized 11 what I have used on the system.
Objective 4- The system must be simple to use and easily understood.
The database is easily to follow through. Every button is labelled; there is a return button on every page. No instructions would be needed in how to use the database as it is that simple.
Objective 5- If possible the system should be designed computer based.
The system is computer based as shown in the annotations and I felt it was necessary to be computer based as it fitted all the needs for the company. All the solutions were considered in section 1 under Consideration of alternative solutions.
Objective 6- The system should be protected in some way such as password protected so only authorised employees can get onto the system (this will then stop and hackers).
The system is protected by a password. As shown I have annotated a print screen of when the user has to enter the password. The password has been made with a variety of numbers and letters so it's difficult for hackers to guess but it is also easy for users to remember.
Objective 7- The system must be able to produce varies printouts of my choice.
If at any point in the new system the user would want to print a page all they have to do is click print at the top of the page.
User Feedback on solution
Email Address: www.Lucy'sEstateAgents.co.uk
Telephone No.: 01206 584965
Manager: Mrs Dickinson
Dear Lucy Kitching,
I am writing to you to congratulate you on the superb database system you designed for the Lucy's Estate Agents company. We are very grateful for the effort you have put into the new system. We are willing to give you an award and a bonus payment for your excellent effort. We have discussed as a company and would like to tell you what you can do to improve and what the best qualities of the database are.
We would like to start off by giving you a list of improvements that could be made to the database that would make it a better quality.
o Firstly we believe that have a print here button on each page would be an excellent feature to have and it would make the system itself so much simple and would be easier to follow.
o Secondly we also believe that having a larger text would be more helpful as we do have staff that have problems with seeing small text. Also some staff have problems constantly using a computer at work and would prefer to have larger text to help there eyes from straining.
o Lastly we believe that the buttons could be larger so its easier to just click through the database.
Except from a few improvements that could be made overall we believe that the database is fantastic. There are lots of great features that have made this database a great success. Down below we have listed a few favourite qualities of the database.
o We believe that the colour scheme is excellent as is matches our companies colour scheme exactly.
o We also believe that the forms layout is great and fits onto a page well. We do not have to scroll down or up to get to what we want.
o Lastly personally I believe that the queries that are asked are just what we need. We will be able to find a customer/property very fast.
We would like to thank you so much for the effort you have put into the database, we are so pleased and would like you to design future plans for us. This has solved our problem, Once again thank you.
Yours Sincerely The Lucy's Estate Agents Company
Mrs Dickinson
Further ideas for improvements
There are many factors that could be further improved with this database. I will be listing them down below.
o Firstly I believe that by putting a print macro on every page would be easier for Mrs Dickinson and staff to print off reports.
o Also I believe a great improvement would be to make the text larger on reports and forms so it makes the users work a lot easier.
o Lastly I believe that a wider range or queries should be on the database to make Mrs Dickinson's work a lot easier.
I cannot think of any more major improvements that can be made to this database. I have put a lot of effort into the new system and hopefully Mrs Dickinson uses my design.
