The aim for this coursework is to design a new system for an estate agent called Mr Hall, who currently is the manager at Central Estate Agents.

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GCSE COURSEWORK

Name:                         Mohammed Hasnat                       

Candidate number:   8081

Centre number:         14328

Subject:                      I.C.T

Exam:                         December 2002

Contents

Introduction:

The client and the problem:

Solution: An Access Database

Plan

Interview with Mr Hall

Final solution

Evaluation

Report

Introduction

Introduction

The aim for this coursework is to design a new system for an estate agent called Mr Hall, who currently is the manager at Central Estate Agents. The database will be designed to hold information about the properties such as number of bedrooms, garden size, price etc. Currently the company is using a filing cabinet to keep the current data, this takes up a lot of space and it is hard for the workers to access or amend the information.

The company currently files all the information about the houses that are for sale or rent. They are all organised by the area that they are in. If any customer inquires about buying a house but doesn’t specify the requirements are but sets other criteria then all the files have to be studied to find a house meeting the criteria set. If information about the area is given then it is a bit easier because only houses in that area have to be searched. Searching for the right houses can take hours because a lot of files have to be searched. House prices are constantly changing and it isn’t possible for the company to manually change the prices for each house. When inquires for a house which has to be between a certain price range is made, many houses cannot be made available because the current price hasn’t been updated and the latest price may be out of range. The company is losing a lot of business because it takes a long time to find the right properties for the buyers; the company also needs to employ many extra staff because excessive manual work is required. 

I will need to design a solution for this problem, my system has to be fast and easy to use, and the information should be clear and easy to change. I will need to find out how the workers are currently using their system and I will need to see if the new one will be easier and faster. The filing cabinet is in a suitable alphabetical order and is well organised, but the time taken for my client to search for a particular house takes time and however wastes his work time as well

ADVANTAGES OF A COMPUTER - BASED SYSTEM:

  • Computers are very accurate.
  • Computers can work continuously 24 hours a day. 
  • Less paperwork involved, it is all stored and easily accessible from the computer.
  • Low risk of data being erased as it can be stored on various backups. 
  • Not a lot of energy is needed to get data; this saves time and is efficient.
  • Data can easily be presented in tables, graphs etc.
  • Changes and corrections can be performed at the touch of a button. 
  • Validation check minimises the chance of any errors.

DISADVANTEGES OF A COMPUTER – BASED SYSTEM:

  • The hardware and software can be very expensive.
  • Employees will need to be trained regarding usage of the computer.
  • If the computer crashes or there is a power cut, access to data in the computer is lost.
  • The data may be changed by purpose reasons
  • You cannot back-up the data which has been lost
  • The computer may have a power cut which causes the lost of data
  • The data can be recycled very easily.

The Client And The Problem

My client Mr Chris Hall is an Estate Agent manager. As part of his job he is required to organise his filing work. He wishes to place a suitable solution to help him to organise his work alphabetically therefore he is able to use the filing cabinet to put the files and papers, and very important documents inside it to keep everything secure and tidy.

The major problems, which Mr Hall is facing, is the fact that it is difficult to retriever information when required, and to update the information of clients.

This can also cause problems to the estate agent because if he hasn’t got a computer he may need to buy one or there could be a power cut, which means he couldn’t work. So he could keep the filing cabinet in emergencies but in specially chosen categories e.g. Walthamstow then put them in order of price with the cheapest on the top of that category. He can still use the computer to type the house review and maybe add a picture of the house.

These are the problems that Mr Hall has been experiencing for the past two years of his job:

  1. Takes up lot of space in the filing cabinet.
  2. Searching for records takes too much space.
  3. The data that he has filled may get lost or misplaced.
  4. Only one person at a time is able access the data.
  5. Reports can be written – but only after looking at each relevant record and transferring Information by hand.
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This can also cause problems to the estate agent because if he hasn’t got a computer he may need to buy one or there could be a power cut, which means he couldn’t work. So he could keep the filing cabinet in emergencies but in specially chosen categories e.g. Walthamstow then put them in order of price with the cheapest on the top of those categories. He can still use the computer to type the house review and maybe add a picture of the house that he intends to sell.

The client wants a working solution to solve ...

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