In a library all orders and details are recorded on paper and not every need is catered for on the forms given. As a result of this the librarian has asked me to do a spreadsheet to make it easier for her to record all the details of finance.

Output

The output shown is the date each shipment is received, the overall price, a checklist of each order to cross off received ones, and the resultant balance after the transaction has gone through. When she sends of the order she notes down the overall price to deduct from the total sum of money she has left in the budget. When an order comes through she can then write down the date received and cross that order off the checklist

Processes

When the librarian has input all the data she has got she then starts to work out the overall prices of the goods. The orders have got to be sent through to the publishers through an order sheet, which she has got. There is a certain amount of research done in the way of seeing what are the more favoured genres in the school and then choosing more books of this type for the pupils to read.

Data Flow Diagram

Summary of Diagram

This diagram shows the current system of the library, if a pupil wanted a book that the library didn’t have then the librarian could put that certain book in the next list of books sent off to a publisher.

So what would happen is that the pupil or teacher would ask the librarian if she could order a certain book, the librarian would then go and check firstly if the book is in the library in the book file. Then she would go and write out the order in the order sheet and send off the order.

Specification

General Criteria

• The system must be easy to use
• The owner is computer literate but it would be more preferable for her if she had a straight-forward system that will cause little problem for her
• The program should be easy to install

Specific Criteria

• The computer must have validation checks for things like spelling errors.
• It must be able to calculate the additions and expenditure of the library budget
• There should be formulas in the system that can be used by the librarian for working out budget calculations

Specification

• It will be a spreadsheet on Microsoft Excel 97
• It will deal with maths formulas
• There may be problems if I design any of it at home as I have got Microsoft Excel XP
• The system has to be clear and easy to use
• I should not have to keep going to the library because the librarian doesn’t understand a certain part of it. That would show that the system is too complex
• The ultimate aim is to make sure that the program will calculate the income and expenditure of the library.

Outputs

The librarian would like to receive the budget details after each cash transaction. For instance after a further cash injection from the school the budget should be able to increase in amount. After an order has gone through the spreadsheet should remove the amount of money left in the library budgets. The librarian will also have to tick off those orders that have gone through to the publishers; and also when an order has been delivered

Inputs

The name of the publisher, order numbers and the prices of individual transactions will be input into the spreadsheet. The librarian wants to be able to input this via a computer, as she is computer literate she would prefer to type instead of write. The librarian will input the details, as she is the only one working on the computers in the school library.

Processes

The spreadsheet will process the amount of money being spent on books. It will have to have a specific formula to calculate the cash depletion from the budget as a result of an order made by the librarian for the school. I think that the system that I am designing will be better than the current one used. For one thing the librarian is already fairly computer literate, so by putting the whole system on computer she will have an easier job in the way of inputting the information. Writing out the orders, the budget and the other things that are concerned may cause a few human errors. The only way she would be sure of mistakes is if she was going over the sheets. Using a computer program will mean that she can use validation as well as verification checks. Which will mean that the orders will have considerably fewer mistakes being made.

Design

Implementation

Resources

The computer in the library is in the same network as the rest of the computers in the school and linked up with all of them via a bus network. The specification of it is the following: -

Pentium 2

32 Meg ram

8 Gigabyte hard drive

10 – 100 Meg net cards

2 Meg Video card

CD ROM drive

Keyboard

Bubble jet printer

On the network there is file, Internet and printer sharing. There are 2 computers in the library, however the librarian uses one and the 6th formers who help her and other students use the other.

Test Strategy

It must be ensured that the initial design of an ICT system works, as it should. The system must process and output values correctly, and must also help the user to avoid unintended input by applying validation rules.  

The test strategy will involve the input of a variation of values, to test if the validation checks are functioning correctly.  Faulty values will be input and it will be observed whether the user is prompted about these.  It must also be checked that the user is not prompted when correct values are input.