- Search for members, and Cars:
This requirement was less difficult to achieve. I set up the search fields in the Cars, and members form. The Cars will be searched by their model. The members will be searched by their member ID instead of using their names because for example some members may have the same first names, surnames or even sometimes the same address, so the only unique field (i.e. ID field) was the only ideal field to use. This is straight forward, fast and efficient compared to the old system, where staff had to manually search for the records before they can view it.
Searching for members:
- View member, and Cars details:
Details of Cars and members can be viewed in their forms. This can be accessed from the main menu. It has been purposely presented in a user friendly way including all the fields of the table in the form, which makes it easy to view details and make it less time consuming when looking for details of Cars, or members.
The details of all Cars or members can be viewed from their forms. These forms can be accessed from the main menu through the click of the related buttons.
- Print out member details:
This was in a form of a report that can be printed in the reports menu. This is easily used as they only need to enter the member ID of the member wanted and it will be printed. The report was designed in a way that it easy to read and understand. All the fields of the member field have been included as all of them were needed.
Cars rented should be stored:
I achieved this target by creating the rentals table that keeps all the rentals and their details. Using the fields from this table I created an account so that their rentals can be stored.
The table on the left is the Rentals table before a new Car was added in the Rentals form. The form below shows the data that has been entered in the Rentals form.
After the data was entered in the Rentals form, it was automatically updated in the Rentals table. This will then be stored on the table until it is deleted.
- Cars rented by a member should be shown on their account:
The account that was created, allows each member’s rental to be shown on their account. All the fields that are required have been included to make it easier for the staff to view rentals that have been taken rented by members. The Cars rented by Member ID 7 are shown in his account. The Cars can also be viewed by clicking on the Cars tab on the form. This is evident in the image above.
- Reduce the bureaucracy and storage space:
This was one of the main problems that were faced by hatch end cars, due to the paper based system that was used. Achieving this specification was hugely based on the success of the end system and the decision of Mr. Ghultaham to implement it. From the meetings and the letter that has been sent, I can conclude that this specification has been successfully met.
- The use of password to ensure security and preventing data loss:
This is essential that there is a sense of security within the system. Even though there is a password set that will prevent unauthorised users from accessing the system, I wanted to set access rights to some parts of the system to restrict access to these parts. I could not achieve this due to the degree of my expertise. However, from discussion with Mr.Ghulraham, he appears to be very pleased with the password that I have created. Having a password was something that was not available on the old system as this was paper based.
After the valid password is entered and OK is clicked on, the system will opened and the main menu will load up.
The system should be form based:
Due to the fact that Mr. Ghulraham wanted the system to be easy and straight forward to use, I recommended to him that the system should be formed based. The user interface of forms provides what he wants (i.e. easy and straight forward use). Each form has buttons to allow them to navigate through the system.
All the queries, macros and reports can be executed or viewed in the forms. Each section of the form has different colours to make it easy to recognise. There are button provided on each form to allow the user to also navigate their way through the system without fewer or no difficulties.
- The system should have different colours for each section:
Since forms were recommended to be used, Mr. Ghulraham thought that having different colours for each section of the system will make it easily recognised. I also feel that this will make the screens more user friendly and very pleasing. Initially the colour schemes were decided by me and I then discussed it with Mr. Ghulraham, who accepted of them.
- Use of buttons due to users’ degree of skills:
Due to the users’ degree of skill, I decided to use buttons instead of command languages as this will prove much easier especially for new employees. I also decided to make the buttons self explanatory instead of using images. For example, to add a new record in the Members form, the user will have to click on the Add Record button.
There should be helpful error messages displayed where appropriate:
This objective was not fully achieved as the error messages that can be displayed were not available in some aspects of Access, which is one of the limitations of Access. However, the most important parts where data entry was critical, validation rules and validation text were set to display helpful error messages. All the error messages have been written in a way that it informs that user on what they have done wrong and how they can fix the mistake.
When data entered into a field does not obey the rules that have been set in the field properties for that particular field, an error message will appear and tell the user what they have done wrong and how they can fix it.
The specifications described below are ones that were later set by Mr. Ghulraham after I showed him the system that I created.
- Preview all reports before they are printed:
New buttons were created in the reports menu to allow reports to be previewed before they were printed to ensure that the report being printed is the correct one. I feel that this was successfully achieved.
- Date display in the rentals screen:
I feel that this specification was fully met as it is evident that the date is displayed in the Rentals form. This is important for when dates are been entered to help the user know the date at that particular time.
USER RESPONSE TO SYSTEM
(eii) From the last meeting I had with Mr.Ghulraham, he appeared to like the system and thought that all the specification was met. He sent me a letter of acceptance to show his final decision on how to implement the system. During the creation of the system Mr. Ghulraham and Mr. Uness at Car Rentals were very helpful as they did not hesitate to provide all the information required for the system.
During the investigation and analysis stages, I carried out two interviews with Mr.Ghulraham and Mr. Uness. They were both friendly and gave suggestions on what could be done to make the system satisfy their needs.
I then provided designs of what the system will look like and presented it to them to get their feedback. In response to their feedback I redesigned some parts of the system until it was suited to them. I feel that this process will give them confidence in using the system as it will be more suited to them.
In the testing stages, I carried out tests only based on the Mr. Ghulraham (User testing) and they gave me feedback on how to further improve the system.
After a couple of meetings, he sent a letter to thank me about the system that I have created. This therefore reflects his satisfaction to the system.
To conclude with, I can say that I am very pleased with the end system despite the limitations stated on the previous page. This is because all of the requirements were met as agreed. In the letter of acceptance, Mr. Ghulraham said that he will start to implement the system on the 1st of May and use the parallel method of change over for 2 months and then evaluate the results against the old system. This therefore shows the success of the entire project and has made me proud of the work that I have done.
ANALYSIS OF THE END SYSTEM
(iii) Benefits:
The system that I created, poses as a significant benefit to Hatch End Cars Rentals as it helps them to effectively carry out their day-to-day activities with few or no problems faced.
From the interviews that were carried out, I found out that Mr. Ghulraham thought that the main problem with the old system was that “the paper system that is currently used is very ineffective because there has been an increase in the information that is stored since there are more customers, and Cars than there were before”.
The system created greatly reduces bureaucracy as it is only based on computer. Since bureaucracy is reduced the storage space needed to keep all the paper work can be used for other useful purposes.
In addition during the interview I found out that one of the customers felt that “looking for information takes a long time...” This was a problem that had to be resolved as it “therefore takes more time to serve customer.” The provision of drop down menu in the Cars, and Members form resolves this problem as they do not need to manually search for records anymore. All they need to do is type or select the record that is needed to find that particular record. This solution will allow the Mr. Ghulraham to serve customers much faster and there reduce complaints about services.
In the old system, when a customer no longer wants to continue their membership, “their file is shredded as it can not just be placed in the bin because of the Data Protections Act.” This was a task that had to be done by Mr. Ghulraham himself, so if he was not in the office a customer cannot cancel his membership straight away. On the other hand, the new system allows anyone to delete member details through a simple click of a button.
In the old system there was no form of providing membership cards and from observation, this therefore made it difficult if a customer came in to rent Cars. The Member card report that is printed off for a new member will make the renting process less complicated since the member will only need to show their membership card and rent the Cars they want. If a member loses their card they will simply go to the shop and they can get another one printed out.
The paper based system that was used, was very ineffective when it came to finding out customers with overdue rentals. This is because the members with overdue rentals had to be manually searched for and a member with an overdue rental can be easily missed out. However, the new system that I created overcomes this problem as a report is used to find members with an overdue rental. The report is updated in real-time so all the overdue rentals produced are up-to-date. This report can be printed and the members can be phoned to inform them about the overdue rental, which I is a much more efficient and time saving procedure compared to the paper based system.
On the old system anyone could access the data that had been stored as there was no sense of security used. This was very risky as details of members were opened to unauthorised users. The new system created allows a sense of security, which prevents anyone from accessing the system without the use of the valid system.
The new system created allows the archives of old rentals to be stored and later printed out. This can be used to calculate trends to find out what car is rented at the most.
Since backups can be done on the new system the loss of data will not greatly affect Hatch end cars in any way since there is always a backup copy of the data that has been stored. However, they have to bear in mind that this will be the case if the backup procedure is done every day.
In the old system, new members are manually “given an identification number” so the staff had to be careful that they do not repeat the ID number of a member as this will lead to confusion. However, the new system does not require the staff to manually enter the member ID as this is done automatically. The validation rules that have been set also make sure that the members IDs are not duplicated.
(eiii) Limitations:
Even though the end system allows Hatch End Cars to effectively carry out their day-to-day activities, there are few problems that can be faced by the end system that can cause risk on their everyday activities that they do.
Due to the simplicity of access, the deletion of a record means that it is completely lost and cannot be retrieved. For example, if a particular member’s details are deleted, it is impossible to get back the data. However, backing up the system on a daily basis will prevent the potential problem of data loss.
When the delete rentals macro is run to delete rentals that are more than three months old, delete is shown on the Rentals form where the old rentals were deleted. Even though this might not pose as a big threat, there could be inconvenience when the office is busy. So it will be advisable to run this macro at less busy times or maybe at the end of the day when the office is going to close.
Details of records can be easily edited; this might come across as a benefit, however, if this it is mistakenly done it will be difficult to retrieve the data that is needed. So staff will need to be careful when handling records as they can be easily edited.
The current size of the database is 6.97 MB including the sample data used to test the system. The sample data used is not as much as the data that will be stored by Hatch end cars in the future. So it is important that Mr. Ghulraham realises that the computer that is to be used for the system has enough storage space to successfully hold data. The size of the database will increase during the time its use as more and more data will be held and will require more storage space. This potential problem can be overcome if the hardware and software requirements are followed as stated.
Further Improvements:
Due to the time limit that I had, I was restricted on the functions that I could have made better; these functions have been described below:
There could have been a drop down menu in the Rentals table to allow staff to quickly search for data. This would have made serving customers much easier and convenient. The function could have been done the same way as the combo box button was done in the members, and Cars tables to search for the records.
Without instructions, the staff will not no what the preview button is for as it is not self explanatory. These buttons were not named as there was not enough space so icons were used instead. If there was more time I could have added captions to describe what the buttons do when the cursor is pointed on the button.
The calculation that fines members for overdue rentals provides a minus fine if the rental is returned early and provides a positive fine if it is late. Even though the specification was still met as it fined members with overdue rentals, I would have preferred it if a fine was only displayed if the rental was overdue. This would make it more effective and convenient to use.
Some function within the system will need to be only performed by Mr. Ghulraham, so having access rights would have been more effective. This could not be done due to my limited expertise in using Access. However, since this was not stated in the specification, I have little doubt if this will come at a cost to Mr. Ghulraham.
Extendibility:
In the future the following additions can be made to the system to make it more efficient:
- Create a website to allow members to order rentals online. This function can be done in Access by linking and creating a webpage, where members can register on online application forms etc.
- Linking the database to a spreadsheet to calculate weekly takings of the business. This will aid the finance aspects of Hatch end cars. This can also be done in Access by adding up the Cars rented and presenting it in a spreadsheet where calculations can be made.
- Produce mail merge in Word Processor to allow letters to be sent out to members. This can be done by exporting details of members and the Cars that are overdue to a standard written letter in Word Processor. These letters can be printed off and sent to individual members.