Project 1-Database

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Sean Okundaye

Mr Graoui

ICT Coursework        



Identify

Background

Mr Olusola is a pharmacist at Gbayomi Pharmacy. He sells and prescribes different drugs and keeps a record of all the prescriptions and when they need to renew their prescription. However, no matter how accurate and well organised his records are, he cannot easily get enough information out of the customers in time for their next prescription. For example, it would be useful if the renewal of their drug prescription was as a date as well as the day the drug should run out (providing that the customer has been taking his recommended daily dosage). Mr Olusola would then be able to send a letter to the customer whose next prescription is due using mail merge. It is often very time-consuming to manually write the letter and often unprofessional.

Problems with the Current System

  1. It is quite difficult to update a record using a manual system as the customer may change there phone number or move to a different address. Excel spreadsheets, user information is put into tables so the records are likely to lack consistency. It can also be quite problematic if there are several duplicates of people’s details in our records if the person is on more than one prescription.

  1. Another problem is that it takes to long to write a letter to the customer to remind them that they need to collect and pay for their next prescription. This is often too long too slow and often unprofessional.

  1. Errors often occur when Mr Olusola is trying to calculate the cost of the transactions. This can cause inaccuracies and could cause problems for the transaction of the drugs. There is also the possibility that the customers will end up paying too much or too little for their prescription.

  1. If someone has a very complicated name, there could many spelling errors this could cause embarrassment for Mr Olusola and could upset customers.

  1. It is also very complicated to be using the information straight from the database as this is simply time-consuming and not necessary. It can be difficult to read and finding specific details can be complicated.

Alternative Solutions

Mr Olusola is currently using a filing system to record the customer’s personal details and their prescription details as he is not fully capable of using modern technology. This method is very inefficient due to a number of reasons:

  1. Updating the data is sluggish and can eventually get to a stage where it is no longer legible therefore leading to the customer’s details being unrecognisable.

  1. Files could be lost or filed incorrectly.

  1. Searching for information is too slow; data does not last a very long time and can be destroyed if proper care is not taken.

  1. If the files are used when Mr Olusola is calling a customer and he needs to deal with another customer there are minor or even major delays.

An alternative is to use a database such as Excel. However a spreadsheet database is a flat file database and this does not allow you to create relationships between tables so that data can be shared. This causes repetition which makes the risk of errors much higher. Even though the software allows you t file through, validate or search data, it is not as efficient as a relational database.

Relational databases are far more efficient and are at a higher level of class than flat file databases as they allow you to store, edit, add, remove, search and sort data. It can perform the calculations that are required and can display a report of a particular person, in this case, the customer. With relational databases you can also share information between tables and queries, set a primary key in certain fields to identify records and one can specify the different data types.

The relational database is clearly the best option due to the fact that it can solve the current problem and can possibly reduce the time it currently takes to record keep.

Proposed Solution

 Mr Olusola has asked me to recommend a solution to the current problem using my IT skills. I have therefore chosen to design a typical Microsoft Access database so that I can fulfil Mr Olusola’s requests which are:

     

  1. To create four tables called customers, suppliers, medicines and prescriptions, which will allow Mr Olusola to enter and update data with ease.
  2. To create four forms called the customer entry form, overdue, supplier entry form and prescriptions which would allow Mr Olusola to look up an article and find out important information about it.
  3. To create a query that would allow Mr Olusola to find out which customer is on what medicine.
  4. Create a query that would allow Mr Olusola to find out which customers’ prescriptions are due.
  5. To be able to use reference numbers and relationships to eliminate the problem of the duplication of data.
  6. Design combo boxes that help avoid typing errors with things such as names and medicines.
  7. Print out customer information (using reports) in a quick and efficient method.
  8. To create and design a mail merge reminder letter which informs customers whether there prescription needs a refill (providing that the customer is using the required dosage) or if the prescription has expired.
  9. To design a switchboard; this allows the data in the database to be more accessible and easier to use.
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Address:

12 Kologhial Way

LONDON

SW12 7JK

Tel: 08007383773      Fax: 08009465787     E-mail:[email protected]

Monday, January 11, 2010

Mr Sean Okundaye

12 Kirtley House

Thessaly Road

London

SW8 4XX

Dear Mr Okundaye,

                        

                          I have received the design plan for the database and was very impressed. However, I was not fully satisfied with the overall layout and presentation of the database. Therefore, I would be very grateful if you acknowledge and consider these changes that I have suggested:

  • Instead of ...

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