IGCSE ICT Project Candidate No. Centre No. 91516
I.C.T.
Project
Identify
Project idea 4: Keeping Accounts
Middle East Construction Company (MECC)
MECC is an U.S.A. company that sells properties, it was introduced in 1984, and it became one of the most important in the U.S.A., and in Europe, and now they are working also in the Middle East.
The owner is Mr. Jackson. The company makes villas and small buildings. They also produce desalination implants, which are very useful, especially in Dubai, where now the company has a lot of work.
The company also sells properties in Dubai. Many engineers, architects and laborers works for makes buildings, but in the company there are also people that have to takes the accounts and register the property selling.
There are 20 people that do this, they have to follow all the money transfers. For example when they have to buy the materials such as concrete, bricks and steel, invoices are sent to the company that produces these materials, and then when MECC purchase the materials, all the money spent are recorded. For the properties, they have to contact the customers interested on buy one and make an invoice and at same time keep
There are 2 people that follow the transaction for each material, 8 people that follow the management of the salary, and 5 people that record the entry of money.
The payment for a project is recovered into two parts: firstly, before starting building, the company receives 60% of the final price and the other 40% when the work is finished. But most of the time the company makes a building, and then they sell the property to a person, so they can earn much more.
All of these data are stored into folders, and only these 20 people can have access to them. Every week they make a balance of the company’s situation, to check how the company is working.
Questionnaire to the manager
- What’s your name?
- How old are you?
- Do you like your job?
- How long have you been working for MECC?
- Did you work in any other companies before?
- Why did you choose to work for MECC?
- Do you think that your work is important for a business?
- What will you do if a company is in trouble whit his accounts?
- How do you store the account?
- What do you store in the account?
- Is your account safety?
- How many times do you update the accounts?
- How many times do you check the account?
- How many people can access to the account?
- Do you have only one bank or more?
- Do you think that MECC is in trouble with is accounts?
- Do you work with other people for keeping the account?
- Do you think that MECC can have a better profit?
- Do you think that MECC can spend less money for purchase the materials?
Questionnaire to the end user
- Do you like your work?
- How do you take accounts?
- Do you think that using software for accounting is better?
- Did you take any course for learn how to store account data?
- What information do you store in the account folder?
- How many employers take accounts?
- Do you think that the account is safety?
- Do you make copies of your work?
- How many times in a week do you have access to the account?
- How many hours per day do you work?
- Do you work by yourself, or with another employer?
- How many people can access to the account?
- Can you access to the account anytime you want?
- What’s the annual net incoming in the company?
- Do you work with one bank or more?
- Does the company use one account or more?
Analyze
Current System
- Who was interviewed and why
- What are the results – what did you find out after talking to the manager and end user about the system
- How is the company currently using the system
- Discuss the problems with the current system, and why changing it would be beneficial
- Recommendations
I’ve interviewed, first, the manager of Middle East Construction Company, Mr. Jones, and I’ve find out that the system that the company is using is not safety, because all the employers can have access to it. He said also that they have lost many times the documents with the accounts, and this is a big problem, because you have to do the write down another time your work, and you lose time.
Then I’ve interviewed the end-user, and I’ve find out that they have to work for a long time during a day, about 10/11 hours, and with a computer it will be faster, and so they’ll work less hours in a day.
The company is now not using a system on a computer, but they keep tracking of the transaction by writing them on paper. Changing the system that the company is using is an important thing, because when you have to write by hand all the transaction, it takes a long time to do, and also it’s simple to make mistake.
Using an account system with a computer is more efficient, because you certainly spend less time, you can make copies of your work, so if the system is down, you have all your files on a cd.
The security of the data stored is another big problem, because now all the employers ca access to the data and handle it, and sometimes these data can be lost, or damaged. So installing a new accounting software on computer, will certainly make data more safety, first because only a limited number of people can access to it, using their own username and password, and data can be handled without risk of damage data or lose it.
Also with computer you can make calculus faster, without using a calculator, and another important thing is that you can make prediction of the work, how it’s going and if it’s improving or not.
I choose Microsoft Office Excel 2007 because on my project I’ve to make many calculi, make connections between sheets and insert a lot of data. It’s the fastest way to make invoices and calculus sheets.
New System
The objectives of the new system are:
- The system has to be easy to set up and to use
- The system has to be safety
- The system will be accessible from all part of the world, any time
- The system have to be fast
System developing
I will be developing the new system on my personal computer. My computer has Windows Vista Home Premium as operative system. It has as processor an Intel Core 2 Duo, with 2 Gb of RAM, and hard disk capacity of 750 Gb. I’ve the new Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, which includes Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and many other programs. Microsoft Office 2007 has to be keep up to date, an automatic update program of Microsoft, every week checks if there are updates available, and if there are some it download them and install them.
Hardware and Software
The new system will use Microsoft Office Excel 2007, because it is easy to use, and also one of the best way to manage the profit and loss account. There will be 6 desktop computers, all accessible from all the employee by using their own username and password. Every computer has a Hard Disk capacity of 500 GB, and 2 GB of RAM memory.
Users
There will be 6 users, 1 of them is Mr. Jones that can check everything about the system. While the other 5 employee will have a limited access, only for the program and the network. They can access every time to the system, from anywhere.
Design
The system will be using Microsoft Excel 2007, that is one of the best way for manage profit and loss accounts, and it is also easy to use. Another program that could be useful is Microsoft Word 2007, if you have to write a report.
Every computer will have an antivirus system, Norton Antivirus is one of the best antivirus software, it can protect your data from hackers and from others internet treats. Every week will be made a backup of all the work done, it will be made on another hard disk.
