Data Inputs
Calculations
Profit:
This will be calculated by subtracting the expenditure for each individual product from the income for each individual product. This is the money made from each product over the past week.
Total Profit:
This will be calculated by subtracting the total expenditure form the total income. This is the money made from all the products over the past week.
Income:
This is calculated by multiplying the selling price by the no. of units sold. This is the money made from a product over the past week without subtracting its buying-in price.
Total Income:
This is calculated by the sum of the income gained from the sales of the individual products. This is the money made from all the products over the past week without subtracting the total buying-in price.
Expenditure:
This is calculated by multiplying the buying price by the sum of the units sold (which is the same as the no. of units bought) during the week. This is the money spent on buying a product from the distributor which is then sold at a higher price during the week.
Total Expenditure of Products
This is calculated by doing the sum of the expenditures for each of the individual products. This is the total money spent on buying products from the distributor which are then sold at a higher price during the week.
Units Sold
This is calculated by using the random feature which generates a value from a certain range. This is the number of products sold during the week.
Outputs
If I use colour in my spreadsheet then it will help the more important values in it stand out and highlight the significance. If the sheet is colour coded then it will be made much simpler for the workers who could be given a copy. Conditional formatting can be used if I use colour in my spreadsheet and this feature would immediately highlight any losses I am making. If graphs were to be used then colours would be very important as they would be a means of distinguishing between 2 sets of data. Apart from the stated reasons I feel colour would also make the sheet look more appealing.
On the other hand I feel that for people who are colour blind having colour would be useless and an unnecessary expenditure. Printing in colour would also cost more as the cartridges are more expensive than that of a black and white printer. Colour printers themselves are quite expensive and having a black and white one would cost less. In conclusion I think a colour printer would be the best option as it offers certain aspects which are extremely useful to the spreadsheet.
How the Data will be Input
The data will be input into the system using just a keyboard and mouse. The system will probably be updated on a weekly basis however that may change. The inputting will either be done by my end user or a colleague of his. Sales will be the main thing that will be entered, however should they choose to add a new product to their range or encounter an increase in overhead costs such as Gas bills then it will have to be added.
Flow of Data
Product sales will be taken weekly over the course of one month. The expenditure is subtracted from the income to make the profit. From then on the profits for the different products will be weighed up against the expenditures, therefore coming to the grand profit for the month.
Backup and Security
Security
I will use protection on my spreadsheet which means there will be a User ID and password which will be needed to change and edit the spreadsheet. This information will be given to my end user Mr. Robert so he can update the spreadsheet as well as me. There may be some changes that will need to be applied to the spreadsheet quickly which means Mr. Robert can make those changes without consulting me as he will have the ID and password. I will use Mc Affee Anti-Virus 2008 in order to make the spreadsheet safe as well as a firewall. The end user will change the password every month and will notify me. He will keep a copy of the ID and password in a safe. By doing the above processes like using a password and anti-virus software I will be sticking to the Data Protection Act.
Backup
As far as the backup is concerned my end user will store the spreadsheet (which is approximately 30 KB) on my 1 GB memory stick. My end user will take the backup every time a sheet is updated and he will keep it in a locked drawer in his room which protected from burglary. It will probably take 2 minutes or so to perform the backup. This time includes logging on, loading Excel, accessing the spreadsheet and saving it on my 1GB memory stick.
