System requirements analysis

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GCSE ICT [Year 10]

Task 1 System requirements analysis

My software needs to have a menu page with macros working appropriately, for example the macro taking you to the appointments page and/or posting appointments record appointments, store patient records, working dropdown menus/combo boxes which have a valid index form.

The health centre needs to have a booking software that is done on computer rather that by paper. This is because it Is quicker and more efficient. the booking software needs to have valid, up-to-date patient records with their doctors. It needs to have a valid date and time for booking an appointment. The software needs to also be protected to ensure that outsiders do not obtain these records and/or change details.

1.1 Identifying Problem and Solution

a) Identify the problem to be solved (A02.11)

                There are several problems, which need to be solved. The centre does not have the correct hardware of software that should be used. The health centre requires an electronic system rather than one on paper. The receptionist cannot keep writing out appointments, as it is very time consuming. It is hard to correct invalid date and the receptionist’s handwriting may not be legible. This is why computer-based software is better and more efficient. The software that will be used also needs to be a new one as it is difficult using the older, less developed software. The health centre do not have a lot of money, the directors has decided to adopt Windows XP as the operating system used. The centre has a deal for office 2003 for a 10-computer licence. The centre will need to be viewed from a local hospital computer system via a WAN of internet link. The centre also needs a high definition monitor that should be 19” minimum. It is better if the centre used a LED or a TFT monitor to reduce eyestrain. The centre also needs to have a printer that can print out prescriptions and is quite quick.

b) How does your software solve the problems identified above (A02.11, A02.15)

        The software that I have designed fulfils many of the centres needs. It is created using Microsoft excel 2003. This software creates appointments and is not handwritten. This ensures that everyone can read it. It is quicker and easier to book appointments. The receptionist can book an appointment whilst talking on the phone to the patient. The use of macros ensures that the receptionist can navigate easily from page to page.

1.2 Input, Processing and Outputs

a) System inputs (A02.13, A01.41, and A04.41)

        the patient records were imported from the database to the software. These records were put into a new tab/ excel worksheet which I then renamed to ‘patients’.

The names above are a few of the names that were imported from the database. This data includes, the medical number, the patient’s name(s), their doctor, their address and the telephone numbers. If a patient’s records need to be altered, the receptionist can easily change it, this process of changing details would have been very inefficient if the booking software was on paper.

This is an example of the data that will be put in. in the screenshot above there are nine combo-boxes/drop-down menus. The medical number, first name, surname, date of birth, doctor and the postcode of the patient all work according to each other. For example, if one was to change the postcode in the combo box, all of the mentioned would change accordingly. The day, and the date in which the appointment would be booked also works in the same manner.

        The screenshots below show how an appointment is made with the use of combo boxes and the concatenate function.  First the receptionist will need to put in the patients name, the receptionist will then need to put in the time and the date. After the he/she has done this they will need to check if there is a valid slot for that particular time. If there is, the receptionist will need to fill in this slot with the patients name. the receptionist will then need to book the actual appointment by clicking on the macro that is called ‘post appointment.’

b) System processes (A02.13, A04.41)

The processes that the system has, are the macros that are recorded, which takes the receptionist from one page to another. The macros also book the appointments and print the appointments. The macro that is found on the menus page takes the receptionist to the appointments page of the doctor he/she clicked.

        

The macros also post and print appointments. The ‘post appointment’ macro records the details that the receptionist inputted into the schedule page. This schedule page can be viewed by the doctors.

c) System outputs (A02.13, A01.51, and A04.41)

        The outputs from the system are the monitor which the software appears on. Certain aspects of the booking software may need to be printed out. The doctor will need to print out prescriptions and the receptionist may want to send a letter to a patient who has an upcoming appointment. in addition to this, the software can be built up more so that doctors and patients can receive letters informing them about forthcoming events. Later on when the health centre is more developed, they can even send out emails to the patients and doctors instead of sending them letters (which are time consuming).

d) Master or stored data (data which does not change very often) (A02.13, A04.41)

The data that the system needs to store in order to perform the processes required is the patient’s personal data such as their full name, their birth date, their personal history etc. Also the system needs to store the staff’s data such as their full name, their salary, their age etc. Also the system needs to store all the staffs and doctors that work in the health centre as well as any other links that the hospital has with any other health centres that are linked with the centre. The calendar that is shown above shows all the data that the system stores such as the data and the days etc. Also I can have data protection if I have more time. Data protection ensures that the data cannot be deleted and it cannot be viewed unless you have specific instructions to do so. Also data protection gives the patients privacy as well.

1.3 Alternative approaches to building the system

  • What software and hardware would be involved (A01.14)

  • The software and the hardware that could be involved in the system is Microsoft Access which is a database management system (DBMS) that functions in the Windows environment and allows you to create and process data in a database.
  • Another software that could be used is Microsoft Outlook. This could be used to communicate to the staff and patients via email. Outlook is a personal information manager; it includes additional features such as a calendar.
  • The health centre would need to also ensure that minimal damage (caused by the computer) is done to the receptionist. They should reduce eye strain, this would result in the centre purchasing more expensive monitors such as 19” LCD (liquid Crystal Display) monitor. The centre would need computers that worked quite fast and high capacity. They could also use a TFT monitor (thin film transistor) which is as effective as a LCD monitor.
  • A brief assessment of the advantages and disadvantages for the different types output devices which could be used (A01.53)

The different types of output devices that could be used are a printer and a monitor. There are many different types of monitors that could be used by the health centre to view the outputs of the system. Different types of monitors that can be used in the Howard Health Centre are two main types and these are LCD’s TFT’s and CRT’s

Before that, I shall be discussing VDU’s, which stand for Visual Display Units, and there are two ways in which they can differ from each other and this from size and resolution. The size is measured diagonally in inches and a typical PC monitor is about 17 inches. Laptop screens are 12 inches. The resolution is measured in pixels or dots and the main sizes are (800x600) medium or a low (640x480) or a high (1024x768) and the resolution for laptops are usually medium.

Firstly I shall be discussing the advantages and the disadvantage of using an LCD in the Howard Health Centre. LCD’s are used mainly in laptops and desktops and PC’s. LCD’s stand for liquid crystal displays and it is made up of two polarizing transparent panels and a liquid crystal surface sandwiched in between. Voltage is applied to certain areas, causing the crystal to turn dark. A light source behind the panel transmits through transparent crystals and is mostly blocked by dark crystals.  

The advantages of using an LCD are that the image that is shown on the screen is perfectly sharp and clear and the brightness is very good as well especially for bright images. Also the screens are perfectly flat and use less electricity so the cost of the electricity is kept at a minimum. As it uses less electricity it also produces less heat as well.

The disadvantages of using an LCD however is that the resolution of various different images is not as good as different images need rescaling of resolution however LCD’s have a fix resolution that cannot be changed. Also another disadvantage is that when you view the screen from different angles then the image is not at all clear. Also another main disadvantage is that the cost of having an LCD is much more than having a CRT.

The next type of monitor that the hospital could use is a CRT. A CRT stands for cathode ray tube and the advantages of having a CRT is that you can view images of any resolution as the CRTs can operate at any resolution. They are also very good according to costs as they are much cheaper than LCD’s.

The disadvantage of using a CRT monitors are that they consume a lot of space and they are also quite heavy. CRTs are not as bright s LCD’s and are not as sharp. CRTs also emit electrical, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields, which are harmful for not only the patients but also the receptionist. It may also interfere with hospital equipment.

The next output device that I shall be discussing is the printer. There are three types of different printers and I shall be discussing advantages and the disadvantages of each one of them.

 The first type is the dot matrix printer (also known as impact printers). They are the cheapest printers both to buy and operate. The advantages of having a dot matrix printer are that they are cheap and they have low operating costs. They can also print continuous copies again and again. The disadvantages of having a dot matrix are that they have low resolution and they can be very low and they are very noisy as well and they cannot be used near a phone. The dot matrix is very slow and it can print less than 100 characters per minute, which is a very small amount, and it is very slow.  

The next type of printer that I shall be discussing is a laser printer and the advantages of this type of printer are that they have very high resolution and that are very fast and they are very quiet. However the disadvantages of a laser printer are that they are very expensive to buy and to repair and also they cannot be used continuously. It is very fast printing approximately 10 pages a minute and the resolution is very high being typically 600 dots per minute and this means they can print high quality documents.

The next type of printer is the ink jet printer. The advantages of an ink jet printer are that they have a very good resolution and they are small and cheap to buy as well. The disadvantages of having an ink jet printer are that they are quite slow and the cartridges are expensive to buy. The resolution is between 300 to 600 dots per inch and the cheapest ones are well under a £100 and also they are quite small. However they are quite slow printing 4 pages per minute and expensive to run.

  • Which output devices would you recommend and why (A01.54)

Intel Celeron D 351 Processor, 32MHz, 533MHz FSB, Genuine MS Windows XP Home Edition, 256MB DDR RAM, 80GB Hard Disk Drive, CD Rom Drive, Integrated Graphics, 6 USB Connections, 1 PCI Slot, 15" TFT Monitor and it is £150.

I think a 14.1” XGA ( 1024x768) TFT monitor with built in Ethernet capability and 56Kbps built in v.90 modem with I. LINK (IEEE1394) PORT. This has 800 MHz Mobile AMD Duron Processor with 128MB SDRAM and a huge 10 GB hard disk drive to save all the information about the hospital it’s patients and it’s doctors. For example it would need to be able to save patients’ personal data(there are many patients), which would include, birth date, their personal history etc. It would also need to store staff’s data such as their full name, their salary, their age etc.

HP Business Inkjet 2800 Printer, set-up roadmap, 4 ink cartridges [black (26 ml), colour (28 ml)], 4 print heads, getting started guide, power cord, driver CD HP Jet direct (EIO) internal print servers, HP Jet direct external print servers, HP Jet direct 802.11b wireless (EIO) internal print server, HP Jet direct connectivity cards £46,50

I think  a HP Business Inkjet 2800 Printer is most suitable for the health centre. The resolution is between 300 to 600 dots per inch and the cheapest ones are well under a £100 and also they are quite small. they are quite slow printing 4 pages per minute and expensive to run however the hospital does not need this as much as other things.

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Task 2 Interviews and research

2.1 Summary of research findings (AO2.12),

2.2 Interview and research notes (AO2.12)

The system that is used in the hospital does a number of things that make it more effective and easy to use as well as less time consuming. The system has a fairly big memory system to store number of things such as each patient’s personal details such as their full name, age, birthday, as well as their medical history. The system also stores each of the staff’s details a well such as their name and the job ...

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