Some of these calculations can be complex and errors arise. In order to aid efficiency and ultimately save time, the owner of the company would like an automated system whereby quotes can be issued to clients via a PC system through a printed quote.

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Section 1:        Specification        

  1. Description of the Problem

CL Performance Car Insurance Ltd. is a growing specialised sports car insurance company. It deals with exotic and high performance sports cars and has a loyal customer group and has built up a good reputation. At this moment in time, the firm’s records are kept by hand, and all calculations etc. are done using a calculator. Some of these calculations can be complex and errors arise. In order to aid efficiency and ultimately save time, the owner of the company would like an automated system whereby quotes can be issued to clients via a PC system through a printed quote.  

  1. Input, Output and Processing of the Task

INPUT

  • Customer details, including; Forename, Surname, Address, Gender etc.
  • Insurance details, including the Insurance Group (1-20) for the brands of cars.
  • The multiplying factors need to be allocated for the gender, risk, age and the type of insurance the client requires. The multiplying factors are the numbers used and multiplied to calculate the insurance quote for a customer, e.g.: a multiplying factor in this quotation system requires the computer to multiply the age group 17-19 (value: 4.95) by the gender; for example male (value: 1.35). These values are purely estimates.

PROCESSING

  • Details of Insurance Groups need to be looked up from a table.
  • Details of the multiplying factors also need to be looked up.
  • Cost of quote needs to be calculated with and without any no claims bonus.
  • Details are to be stored for future reference, i.e. the addresses of clients etc.

OUTPUT

  • Quote details are to include customer forename, surname, address, car details and cost of insurance with and without any no claims bonus.
  • A customised formatted printed invoice. The invoice will contain the date of issue, expiry date, the company address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address and the quote details. The invoice will also contain the company logo and it will be signed by a member of staff for verification purposes.

  1. End User Requirements

The following criteria need to be met in order for the quotation system to fulfil the end user requirements:

  1. User must be able to move freely between worksheets.
  2. To issue an accurate insurance quote. This involves details such as customer gender, age and car model all being correct e.g.  All the factors that influence the price of a quote.
  3. Must be user friendly, e.g. be as easy for the user to use as possible.
  4. Completed quotes need to be stored for future reference; these contain customer details and the actual quote details e.g. the car etc.
  5. The quote’s invoice must look professional.

  1. Design

Hard copy output design

  • The printout that will need to be produced is the invoice. A mock example of what this may look like is shown at the rear of this section on blank A4 paper labelled fig 1.1.  
Screen output design

The following worksheets will need to be produced:

  1. Front Page: a simple opening to the system.
  2. Insurance Groups/Cars Worksheet: containing cars, and insurance group costs, which are always subject to change due to fluctuating insurance premiums.
  3. Quotes Worksheet: the interface that the end-user will be working with in order to make quotes.
  4. Multipliers Worksheet: used to make the calculations for a quote, again subject to change.
  5. Customers Worksheet: stored quotes used for further reference.
  6. Data Worksheet: a temporary store of quotes.
  7. Customer Details: a sheet containing the details of prospective clients. This is purely for sample use in the project.
  8. Quote to Print Worksheet: displaying the quote to be printed.

Pencil drawn layouts of each of the sheets mentioned above can be found overleaf on the squared paper. The number next to each sheet corresponds to the numbers above.

Processing design

  • The LOOKUP function will be used on the quotes sheet in order to call up data from the groups/cars worksheet. The data on this sheet will be spit into 2 ranges which will be named to aid calculation.  
  • Details of the multiplying factors also need to be looked up.
  • Cost of quote needs to be calculated with and without any no claims bonus.
  • The customer details that need to be entered into the quotes worksheet will be looked up from a customer number.
  • Details are to be stored for future reference, i.e. the addresses of clients etc.

  1. ICT Skills of the User

The intended end user of this system will have had to have some experience in computer literacy and therefore be fairly fluent in the programs the database uses. So in this case, a sound understanding of Microsoft Excel is essential.

The layout of the worksheets must suit the skill level of the end user. Therefore the layout must be as user-friendly as possible. This means that the layout has to be clear, and simple to understand.

  1. Resources Available
  • To save time and money, a specific printer setting could be saved to enable each quote to look the same as the last one printed.
  • For back up purposes, zip-drives drives could be used as they have more storage capacity than floppy disks and are more durable. A fire proof storage facility would need to be put in place in case of such incidents.

Section 2:         Implementation 

  1. Hardware & Software to be Used
  • Hardware that will be required to run the system will be a Windows PC with the minimum requirements being: Windows 98 browser, Pentium 2 Processor, and 32MB RAM. Other requirements include a suitable visual display unit (VDU monitor), a keyboard, a mouse, a 3½ inch and a CD-Rom drive. To prevent eyestrain, a screen filter should be attached to the monitor. In order to aid efficient printing, a printer with approximately a 12 pages per minute (ppm) printing speed should be used. A high quality printer should be used for presentation purposes.  
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  1. The implementation Process

2.1        

  1. Front Page
  2. Insurance Groups/Cars Worksheet 
  3. Quotes Worksheet 
  4. Multipliers Worksheet 
  5. Customers Worksheet 
  6. Data Worksheet 
  7. Customer Details 
  8. Quote to Print Worksheet 

        

The screenshots below show the worksheets in their final format. The number next to each screenshot corresponds to the numbers above: (The subsections are labelled with Roman Numerals, e.g.: i)).

1.

 As you can see, the front sheet of the system has been formatted to improve its appearance. The whole sheet has ...

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