POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Lately, I have bought my brother a laptop computer, as a birthday present and he has not been using it very much, so I suggest the use of an IT solution to help them out. But my brother’s friend is quite old-fashioned and is not very familiar with today’s modern IT systems and encourages us to think of a manual solution before considering an IT solution. So we start making suggestions on how to improve or to make a new method of recording loans.
The first suggestion is that the current method should still be left except that since mistakes can be made when doing all calculations in their heads a calculator should be used. But this still does not solve the problem of there being no back up to the system and calculation still take a long time to do on a calculator. Also, things like spelling mistakes or unreadable handwriting can still be made.
I make a suggestion that another employee could be hired. This would mean that two people could be in the ice cream van at the same time and one could sell ice creams while the other records the details of business. But my brother and his friend think this suggestion may be helpful. Although another employee would mean less profit for them both they both have said they want to spend less time on the ice-cream business and more on their part-time jobs. They think another employer will help because they could run for longer shifts and even sell ice creams during the weekdays. But this still doesn’t change the problem of the method being unsuitable and we agreed to discuss talk of hiring another employee after deciding upon an improved method. The next suggestion is the use of a tape recorder. My brother and his friend would record all details of business by voice into the recorder onto a tape. Later on they would go over the recordings and make necessary calculations and recordings. Although this method saves a lot of time and may improve business, it does have faults. Recordings could be inaudible and this system has no backup to it if the recorder breaks. My brother and his friend also don’t like the idea of spending time listening to the entire recording and writing everything down to make calculations, so this suggestion is also dismissed.
So after these manual solutions failed to offer a suitable new method I announced it was time to start discussing the use of an IT based solution. My brother and his friend agree and we set about discussing the types of software we could use. Being an IT technician for Packard Bell I am familiar with the types of software available from Microsoft, which could help out my brother and his friend. I narrow it down to three types of software; Microsoft Word, Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel. Microsoft Word is a word processor but also has the ability to draw tables. The tables could be drawn out before hand, for example, for selling ice creams a tally chart table could be used and every time a specific ice cream is bought, a letter could be typed next to it. The customary calculator from Windows can also be used to make the calculations. But typing out things will take a long time and this particular software is not the most convenient to the system being used by my brother and his friend. Microsoft Access is a database. A database can be used to record all information, it may take some time to build up but it will be easy to access and navigate through and information can be easily stored. The customary calculator from Windows will be used to make the calculations. Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet, which means there are tables and formulae can be recorded so calculations can be automatically done. When the information is typed in using the formulae calculations will be done instantly. So when discussing these three software’s it was very obvious that we chose Microsoft Excel. Its function of doing equations and storing data suits the system my brother and his friend use perfectly. Using the spreadsheet thing like the average amounts of ice creams sold on a particular day, the most popular ice cream and the totals earned can be worked out instantly. This system will have a suitable backup because a floppy disk will be used to save the data. Frequent saves will be made after new information is inputted. Three other backup disks of the spreadsheet will also be made and kept securely (one kept by me, one by my brother and one by his friend). These disks will be updated every two weeks. Security will not be needed but nonetheless a password system will be needed to access windows.
We then discussed bringing in another employee. It was agreed that a timetable would be drawn up and it must be followed. They also agreed that if you worked longer shifts than the others you would be paid more money, as it was only fair.
The drawback of this system is that my brother, his friend and the new employee will need to be trained to use the new system because they all have no experience of it. This means they will have to be sent on course about spreadsheets to help them understand it better. This also means a loss in business for the time lost that my brother and his friend are on the course and not selling ice creams. Another drawback is that it will take some time to design and create the spreadsheet, which will be done by me and the employment process may take a long time. Also an electrical source will need to be installed in the ice cream van to power the laptop, which will cost a lot of money. But the benefits of this system means that more time will be saved leaving my brother and his friend to sell more ice creams and another employee means they can run the ice cream shop for the whole week and more money will be made and the business can grow. Also, virtually no mistakes or problems should arise in the future.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
So after deciding upon hiring another employee and using a spreadsheet program on Microsoft Excel, I set about on designing the creation of the spreadsheet. I ask my brother and his friends to come up with a list of demands (system requirements) of the new system. Their demands are:
- The spreadsheet must be basic and straightforward to use by someone who has just taken a beginners course in the program
- It must store the number of sales of every single type of ice cream so the most popular type can be determined
- The laptop used in the business must be very compact and cannot get in the way. It must have the latest ‘Windows’ software installed. It must contain all necessary items
- The laptop must be a portable one
- The laptop must have the following pieces of hardware: Standard keyboard, touch sensor mouse in the laptop – not an external one, a compact printer that will not get in the way or take up much space, speakers built into the laptop, floppy disk drive built into the laptop, built-in moniter and a built in modem
- The laptop must have at least the following pieces of software: Microsoft Excel, which will contain the spreadsheet program. Norton Anti-virus 2003, which is virus checker software that will be used as a safety precaution. Also, a quick game software installed for pleasure purposes if the worker gets bored – such as Solitaire, Minesweeper or Hearts
- The software and hardware being used must be suitable and professional in look as well as performance. It must also be purchased from a reliable retailer and be made by a popular and dependable brand
- An up to date, precise clock and calendar must be available and displayed on the windows desktop
- The moniter must be clear and the screen format must be variable – brightness, length, width can be varied
- The floppy disk used in the business must be the standard one, containing 1.44 MB (megabytes) memory
- All formulae must be correct and double checked by using mathematical resources
- All designs must be approved of before starting to create the spreadsheet
- It must show statistics on all the most popular times, days, locations and conditions to sell ice creams
- Information must be easily accessible within the spreadsheet program and mistakes must be able to be corrected easily
- Macros must be recorded on the spreadsheet to make it more easy to work with and to navigate through
- The spreadsheet must have a basic look and be in standard black and white colour. It must also be aesthetically pleasing but in a professional way
- Calculations must be made accordingly to the correct formula and must be done very fast It should take 2 seconds maximum for all calculations
- Suitable security measures must be taken. A password must be used to access windows
- The system must be accurate when doing calculations and do calculations according to the formulae
- All language must be in (UK) English
- Suitable backup systems must be available; all the information must all be stored to a disk, which will be used as the backup disk. This must be updated regularly
- Fonts can be in a special type, size and colour but must not be unsuitable or unprofessional
- There must be no spelling mistakes or errors in the spreadsheet and before the system is ready to be used it must be double checked thoroughly for any errors
- My brother and his friend must have the exact same settings but the new employee must have his individual settings with higher security and certain inaccessible features, such as the inability to vary the validation rule. This will only be until my brother and his friend are fully trustworthy of the new employee
- A timetable of the shifts of each worker must be available on the computer
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The system must be able to calculate the wages for a worker, based on the hours they have worked within a second of inputting the data
- The system must be able to calculate the total income by adding together the total sales.
- The total income from sales for each month must be calculated by multiplying the price of each ice cream by the amount of that ice cream sold and then adding all the results together.
- The system must be able to calculate the net profit by subtracting the incomings by the outgoings within a second of inputting the data
- When working out the net profit the monthly sub-total should also be displayed. Any loss in profits (minus figures) should be in red.
- The system must be able to calculate the gross profit within a second of inputting the data
- The system must be able to calculate the total annual amount spent on insurance
- The system must be able to calculate the total outgoings by adding the total insurance, bills and wages costs
- The average price of all the ice creams must be displayed for information purposes.
- The total outgoings from sales for each month must be calculated and displayed.
- The employee of the month must be calculated every month based on the total number of sales by each employee
- The total amount of each ice cream that has been sold must be calculated so that the user can make an informed decision when purchasing stock.
- Line graphs must be produced to back up the data and emphasize the information. There should be a graph for income, net profit and outgoings. The net profit graph should plot the incomings against the outgoings. The two lines should be a different colour to add emphasis (i.e. red for incoming and blue for outgoings).
- Calculations must be double checked during the creation of the spreadsheet using a reliable mathematical resource.