Creating a Database System.

Creating a Database System

ANALYSIS

IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM

Background & Identification of the problem.

Computers have many applications in the 21st century. Specific software such as databases and spreadsheets are designed to help, improve, speed up and reduce the workload of certain tasks. I am currently studying computer studies as well as accounting. One thing I noticed while completing many accounting tasks is that the general format remains the same the only thing that changes is the figures. (See appendix-III for an example of the layout for an account.) This can mean that completing several accounts can become, a long monotonous process, which can result in several simple mistakes occurring.

The system of calculating the accounts for a student’s purpose could easily be converted to a computerized system, thus reducing the workload and creating a more efficient system.

Purpose and scope of proposed solution.

The purpose of my project is to design a system, that will automate the process of calculating, Partnership, Limited Company, Manufacturing accounts and act as a teaching aid. The system must be easy to understand and use, so that any accounting student with no computer knowledge could easily make use of the system. There are many other types of account that students must cover on the a-level accounting course, but to create a system that could easily calculate and deal with all of them would take too much time and so I will not attempt to include them in my system at the current time. The three accounts I have chosen are the main ones, and form the basis for others, so I feel they provide an adequate and challenging project.

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While there are many accounting packages available such as sage, they are very expensive costing over £100 and are not suited to an a-level students requirements. I propose to create a system that will calculate the three types of account. It will follow a set of instructions, which will form an algorithm to calculate the accounts when provided with the necessary details. I have included in the appendix-III the general layout of these three types of account. They all follow a relatively similar layout. Because of this I should be able to create one algorithm and then adapt it three different ways to achieve my goal. The layout and form of input will require the most attention, as it must be adaptable to which ever way the data is given, be it straight figures or percentages. The system must also be able to take into account or include a way to input additional notes that are often provided with accounting questions.

I have several options to create this system. The most obvious occurred to me while I was reading through the layout of an account. Part of the layout read: -

ADD opening profit

LESS closing stock

This reminded me of pseudeocode and the programming language BASIC. It would be easy to replicate instructions such as the ones above and create a program in BASIC taking input, processing it and giving a output. However BASIC as the name suggests is basic, and so also looks very basic. While it could be used to create a effective program, it would be hard to produce a attractive and appealing interface, thus making it difficult for many people to use and operate. My second option is Microsoft access. This is a 4GL, a fourth generation language. A 4GL basically means that it is a purpose built program that asks you what to do, but not how to do it. I would choose Microsoft access over other 4GLs such as Star Office, and Corel Office as it also allows Visual Basic code to be included in the program, thus making it very flexible. My final option would be to use another suitable programming language to code the system from scratch. The most obvious choice would be Visual Basic, like BASIC it is easy to use and create programs with, however it also has the advantage of providing tools to create a very attractive interface, for a user to interact with, thus enabling most students to be able to operate a program with ease. Other programming languages such as Delphi and C++ could also be used to create a similar system, however these languages can be more complicated and difficult to program in which results in difficulty when it comes to debugging. The advantage of using Visual basic rather than MS access is that it would do away with a lot of Accesses features which are not required and will only complicate the system. However in this case I feel that MS access would be the most suitable option as it retains the flexibility of Visual basic, while doing away with the timeless task of coding and debugging a program from scratch.

Objectives of the proposed system.

As with all projects there are certain objectives I expect my system to be able to meet.

The accuracy should be improved dramatically as the computer will be responsible for carrying out all calculations. This is a top priority as early mistakes can lead to others due to one calculation relying on the result of another.

The system will provide a better way of storing accounts done by students for future reference, as it will all be the same format. This will help make revision easier as well as searching through the accounts for adjustments or mistakes.

Much time will be saved as the computer will automatically set up the layout and the student will only have to input the required data.

With the use of features in Ms-Access reports/graphics could be extracted from completed accounts, showing the financial state of a company. This is not a requirement but is useful, for writing reports on the company which accounting students must do.

Hardware, software and media requirements.

My proposed system, will require both the developer and the user to have the following pieces of software:-

∙ MS Access 2000

∙ Windows95/98/2000/ME/NT

The system itself will be developed in MS Access. Access will also be required to run and use the system. The developer/user must have running a version of Microsoft Windows 95 or later. Unfortunately Microsoft dominates the software market and MS-Access will not run on other OS such as Linux, Unix, and Solaris etc. However in this case the system in question is aimed at the average student who will only be using a MS Windows environment.

The hardware requirements must meet those set by Ms-Access and Windows 95+

∙ IBM compatible PC

∙ Pentium 100, K6-2 100 or above

∙ 32Mb of RAM

∙ 1GB Hard Drive space

∙ Printer

The above requirements or those required by both Access and Windows 95 or above. The printer is required in case a hard copy of the programs output is required.

Justification for the proposed system. etc. etc.