- Model
- Brand
- Processor Type
- Memory Size
- Memory Type
- Hard Drive Capacity
- New or old
- Number of laptops in the stock
- Colour
- Speed of search
The users need to be able to find out what customers ask for such as; do you have any Sony laptops? He needs to be able to answer this question without leaving his desk and quickly. For each laptop he needs to see list of these:
- Model
- Brand
- Processor Type
- Memory Size
- Memory Type
- Hard Drive Capacity
- New or old
- Price
- Colour
- Contact customer
The users need to be able to see a list of details of customer who wants particular laptops in order to inform then that their order is in the stock to collect them. For each customer they need to see a list of information about customers:
- Title
- Name
- Address
- Home telephone
- Mobile telephone
- Order date
- Laptop ordered
Use Methods of Collecting Information [4 Marks]
Information Collected [1]
This is the letter I sent to the owner to arrange an appointment
Questions used in the interview
How and where do you store information?
What information do you store?
What experience of using computers do you have?
How many people are working in your shop?
What common problem do you usually have in your shop?
How do you deal with them?
What do you except from the new system do to?
Results of Interview
Mr Philip told me that they find it difficult to organise their work as this shop is growing than before as a result he decided to look into better methods of organising the work and keeping it up to date. The first question I asked him was “what problem do they have and how do they deal with them?” He has mentioned a list of problems he and the shop assistant are facing at the moment. Some of the problems he mentioned were:
- A number of the documents regularly get lost because we write details on piece of paper when we run out of forms.
- Customers cannot know what laptops we have because simply we do not have a catalogue to show to them.
- Finding out what the costumer wants usually takes long time because they have to go through each laptop in order to find what the customer want.
- Finding customer information in order to contact them is not the way I want as it is not profession way to contact our customers because letters are written by hand.
My second question was “what do you want the new system to do to organise your business?” He said to me that he needs a system which is simple to utilize, need as little training, speedy to use, easy to keep information, easy to add, change; delete details and accurate.
At the end of the interview I had the chance to look around the shop, see how they work and look at some document to know what they keep on their documents.
How Information was Collected [2]
To have a clear idea of what my system will be like, I decided to get in touch with the owner of laptop4u Mr Philip at his shop so that I could find out about their current system they use, what problem they have and what they want the new system to do. I thought that the quickest way to make plans for a meeting was sending a latter to his shop because I could easily find his address in an address book. As soon as Mr. Philip got the latter he phoned me to let me know when he is available. Before the meeting I have prepared some questions to ask him during the interview.
As well as interviewing the owner I had the chance to see how they work by looking at their current system.
Alternative Methods for Collecting Information [3]
Another possible way of collecting information about their current system is to design a questionnaire and give it to the users or the owner.
Choice of Method for Collecting Information [4]
The reason why I have chosen to interview the owner to know about their current system and what problem they have was that I could talk to him face to face, I could see things for myself, I could ask to see the paperwork they keep and finally I could add more in-depth questions to find more.
I did not choose to use the alternative methods because by using a questionnaire I won’t be able to understand the problem deeply because the owner will only answer the questions I ask and I cannot ask other questions to have a clear understating. Another reason why I did not choose to use this method to obtain is that questions need to be careful planned.
Identify the Inputs, Outputs and Processing Required [4 marks]
Input, Output and Processing Requirements [1-2]
The users need to be able to print an update price list easily.
Input: Query – Brand = Toshiba + prices
Output: The users need to see all Toshiba laptops with their prices. Information need to be shown on screen include:
- Model
- Brand
- Processor Type
- Width
- Height
- Memory Size
- Memory Type
- Hard Drive Capacity
- New or old
- Number of laptops in the stock
- Price
- Colour
Processing: The users need to find the price that need to be changed in a card box where cards are kept and usually they just change the price with a pen.
The users nee to be able to find out what customers ask for, such as; do you have any Sony laptop? They need to be able to answer this question without leaving their desk and quickly.
Input: Query – Model = Sony and Colour = black
Output: this list of information must be shown on the computer screen:
- Model
- Brand
- Processor Type
- Width
- Height
- Memory Size
- Memory Type
- Hard Drive Capacity
- Price
- Colour
Processing: The users ask the customers to hold on, go to the box that the details cards are kept and go through each card.
The users need to be able to see a list of details of customer who wants a particular laptop in order to send a letter to customer about his/her order.
Input: Query – details of customers
Output: The users must see this information on the screen.
- Title
- Name
- Address
- Home telephone
- Mobile telephone
- Order date
- Laptop ordered
The letter must content the following things:
- Company logo
- Company address
- Company telephone number
- Customer address
- Customer name
- Date
- A little text telling customer about his/her order
Hardware and Software Requirements [3]
Reasons for Choice of Hardware and Software [4]
DESIGN [TOTAL: 12 MARKS]
Produce Designs for the Data Structure [3 marks]
Data Structure [1]
Alternative Designs [2]
After making changes
Changes
- I added a new field call collect date and make the field type date.
- I changed the title field to gender and applied validation rule “M” or “F”.
- I changed the address field so that it includes house name and postcode separately.
- I changed the order data field type to date field and its field length to 6.
- I changed the validation rule of the condition field to “N” or “O”.
- I made all fields required.
Reasons for Alternative Designs [3]
- I added a new field call collect date because this can tell us when the orders need to be ready.
- I changed the title field to gender and applied validation rule “M” or “F” on it because this would ensure that the gender entered was either M or F.
- I changed the address field so that includes address and postcode separately because using separate address an postcode fields means that the user can search for postcode separately from the house name.
- I changed the field type of order date to date field and its field length to 6 because I want to avoid data entry error.
- I changed the validation rule of the condition field to “N” or “O” because by using coded data users are unlikely to make mistake when entering data because there is less entry data and it saves the users time when entering data because less data are storing and it saves space as well in computer memory. After these changes I had to change its field type and length.
- By making the field required this mean the users cannot leave it blank, it could lead some difficulties if the users are unable to make an entry so I would prefer to not make the field required.
Produce Designs for the User Interface [3 marks]
User Interface [1]
I have attached it with this project
Alternative Designs [2]
Changes made to the laptop details form
- I made the space for processor type wider.
- I put a box around the title and made it in capital letter.
- I separated the model field from the rest of the field.
Changes made to the customer details form
- In the second form I made the space for gender field narrow.
- I made the space for first name and surname field wider.
Reasons for Alternative Designs [3]
Changes made to the laptop details form
- I made the space for processor type wider because I want to have enough space to type data.
- I put the title in capital letter and put a box around it in order to show that it is the title of the form.
- I separated the model field from the rest of the field because this can make it clear that this field are different from each other and it can be used as primary key.
Changes made to the customer details form
- I made the space of gender field narrow because this field only need to hold one character.
- I made the space for first name and surname field wider because these fields may require having longer name in them.
Produce Designs for the Output Formats [3 marks]
Data Structure [1]
This output report showing list of Toshiba laptops prices including their details. The query is Model = Toshiba.
Finding information quickly by searching query Model = Sony and Colour = black
This output report shows customer details who ordered laptop.
GCSE ICT - Coursework Task 2 Page of