Specification and Analysis - The aim of this section is to investigate the user's requirements and draw up a set of working objectives.

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Minor Coursework Draft 1                21/01/01

SECTION A – ANALYSIS


Section A – Specification and Analysis (13 Marks)

The aim of this section is to investigate the user’s requirements and draw up a set of working objectives. This involves a feasibility study and analysis of existing systems (both computer and/or paper-based) to determine what user requirements (objectives) could be addressed by the introduction of a database system.

Preparation

After finding an organisation on which to base your project you need to get in touch with them to discuss it in more detail. A three-step approach is recommended:

1. An informal discussion to establish the problem. You should then complete appendix A and discuss it with your teacher before agreeing to tackle the problem. Remember that the project has to have enough scope to gain you good marks and that you have a limited amount of time in which to complete the project. Under no circumstances take on a project that is too big or too small without consulting your teacher.

2. A formal investigation. This could take the form of an interview, observation or questionnaire. Try to get hold of any original documents (order forms, invoices, receipts etc.) for inclusion in your appendices. These will help to identify what data will need to be stored and any processing that will have to be carried out.

3. With the end-user agree set of objectives for a new system.

Paperwork

You could use the following outline plan to write up your specification. This is not prescriptive and you may choose to include more headings:

1.        Introduction

1.1        Background

Describe the organisation in very general terms and give some brief background information about it. Nature of its business; Is it a big/small organisation; Number of transactions per day etc.

1.2        Statement of the problem

Give an overview of the problem you intend to solve using the example format below for guidance:

“XYZ Ltd deals with 30 telephone orders per day. At present these orders are recorded manually on a carbon pad and then passed on to the warehouse for processing. If ordered items are in stock the warehouse will process the order and complete an invoice and delivery note using a word processing package – total values are calculated by hand. One copy is despatched to the customer and another sent to the Accounts department. The system generally works well but as this side of the business has expanded Mrs. Smith feels that the current system has major flaws. She has three concerns:

  1. On busy days there can be a delay in processing customer orders. The telephone operator has some idea of which items are in stock but their information is based on the previous days stock levels. If an item has run out of stock they will only find out when the warehouse has attempted to process the order. This can lead to the embarrassing situation where customers have to be phoned backed and told that their order can’t be processed immediately.
  2. The manual calculation of order values can lead to mistakes being made. This is particularly true as product prices change on a regular basis. Customers are often quoted one price and then invoiced for a different one. This has led to customer dissatisfaction and even threats of court action!
  3. The present system seems to generate unnecessary amounts of paper! Communication between telephone operators, the warehouse and accounts department is by printed copy.

Mrs. Smith feels that the introduction of a computer database system could tackle some or all of these problems. She is hoping for a system that can process customer orders faster and more accurately. She also wants to reduce the amount of paper generated by the system and feels that a “centralised” system could improve communication between the 3 departments.

In your statement avoid phrases such as “up-to-date” and “modern system” as they are meaningless. Try to identify what the user wants that databases do best – store large volumes of data, which can be accessed and processed quickly and accurately based on user-defined criteria.

  1. Investigation

2.1        The current system

This should be a summary of the main points of your investigation/ research. Describe how the current system operates with the aid of data flow diagrams and flowcharts. You need to identify tasks being performed and data flows. Refer to the questionnaire/interview transcript and any original source documents in your appendices.

2.2        Problems with the current system

What problems exist with the current system? You need to try and be specific here. Orders take too long to process leading to customer dissatisfaction. It is difficult to find out if an item is in stock. Invoices have to be calculated manually leading to the possibility of mistakes being made.

The more problems or potential problems you can identify the more scope you will have to exploit the features of Access.

  1. Requirements of the new system

3.1        General objectives

Describe the user’s requirements and your aims in very general terms. This might include, for example holding details about customers, products and orders or calculating the value of invoices. The specific objectives outlined below will act as performance criteria for your project

3.2        Specific objectives – quantitative

Prepare a numbered list of your quantitative objectives. These are objectives that can be measured i.e. it should be possible to find a customers details in 10 seconds; an order should take no longer than 1 minute to process; stock levels should be automatically updated when an order is processed.

3.3        Specific objectives – qualitative

Prepare a numbered list of your qualitative objectives. These are objectives that can’t easily be measured (e.g. the system should be user friendly) but are important for the project to be successful. On completion of the project the end-user will need to be involved in the testing to show that you have met these objectives.

Get the end-user to sign and date your objectives to show that he/she agrees with your assessment of the problem and what needs to be achieved.

This part of your paperwork is VERY important, as you will need to refer back to it in your design, testing and evaluation. Objectives should be numbered so that you can refer back to them e.g. “Objective 3 was met by…” Unless you can link these sections of your coursework to specific objectives you may score badly.

  1. Constraints

4.1        Hardware

Describe the hardware available to you at the end-user’s organisation, at school and at home.

4.2        Software

Describe the software available to you at the end-user’s organisation, at school and at home.

4.3        User’s IT skills and knowledge

Give an indication of the end-users IT skills (novice, intermediate or expert?) and identify what effects this may have on the design e.g. will the user interface need to be intuitive?


SECTION B – DESIGN


Section B – Design

Really this section should be entitled analysis and design. In an AQA minor project there is no specific mark section allocated for design. However both Specification (13 marks) and Implementation (20 marks) require you to show evidence that you have carefully considered the end-user’s requirements and ways of tackling the problem before embarking on implementation.  According to AQA “The ultimate goal of these sections is for the candidate to produce an effective solution to the problem stated”. You can’t do this without considering alternatives and planning thoroughly.

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Good design work shows that you have analysed the problem in detail (gaining good marks on the Analysis section) and makes you consider the “advanced” Access features you could use to implement a solution (gaining good marks on the Implementation section). Effectively, your design contributes towards over a third of the marks available.

In this section of your project you are trying to take the end-user’s specification and produce a workable database solution on PAPER. A relatively competent 3rd party should be able to implement your ideas from the paperwork alone. This part of your project will involve you:

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