Database Section

Jess Kimber “Analyse Section” Jan 07

Software

For my database project I am going to be designing a computer system, which will be able to handle data. My user owns and runs their own DVD rental shop called “DVDs-2-Rent”. At the present time, all customers are stored in a filing cabinet kept on individual cards.

To solve this problem I could use a Spreadsheet, Word Processor or Database programme. I am going to use a Database software package called ‘Microsoft Access’, as I think this is the best possible solution to the problem am trying to solve.

By using ‘Microsoft Access’ you can keep a large amount of information stored on a database that is related to a particular topic and would become unmanageable in Spreadsheet form (i.e. I am going to use a database to hold information about DVDs and customers). Also another advantage is that data can be altered and changed easily. By using this software I will also be able to run queries for different information about DVDs for both the user and the customer. This means that if my user needs to search for a particular type of information about DVD or customer details (i.e. DVD Genre, DVD Certification or DVD playback time) then by using this search method and it is a quick and efficient way of doing this.

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Even though you could use word processor software to produce a database system, I don’t think it would be appropriate as it consists of basic functions and does not enable you to produce forms and reports, therefore you would have to enter it manually on screen.

b) Hardware

There is no special hardware, beyond the usual parts of a computer system (i.e. Scanner) that will need to be used for my database project.

I am going to use a black and white laser printer, as it is fast and cheap to use. A black and white ...

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b) Hardware

There is no special hardware, beyond the usual parts of a computer system (i.e. Scanner) that will need to be used for my database project.

I am going to use a black and white laser printer, as it is fast and cheap to use. A black and white printer rather than a colour inkjet printer will be the most practical. Using a colour printer would be a slow, expensive and unnecessary way and as i will need to print out weekly/monthly reports and invoices in reasonably large quantities and as the customer will not see these printouts, colour is not necessary.

The printer needs to be fast, cheap and economical. The quality of the printouts is not really important, as the standard of them does not need to be that high. The customers are not going to see them.

c) Output

I will need to produce at least 5 printouts from my database that’s will be needed in the day-to-day operation of the system.

A list of all customers created by a report

A list of all DVDs created by a report
A list (report), which displays customers with DVDs that are overdue, this will be created by a query.

I will also need to produce two onscreen forms, which allow the user to enter details about what the user is trying to find out:

Find all DVDs of a certain genre (i.e. Find all the romantic comedy DVDs)
Find all DVDs of a certain certification (i.e. U, PG, 12, 15, 18)

Information for each of my user’s customers will need to include:

Unique Identification Code
First Name
Surname
Date of Birth
Address

1st Line – House Name/Number
2nd Line – Street name
3rd Line – Town
4th Line – County
5th Line – Postcode

Contact Number(s)
Proof of Identification (Passport, Driving License)
Email Address (Reminders, Special Offers)

Information that must be held about each DVD:

Individual/ Unique ID number for the DVD
Name of the DVD
Certification (U, PG, 12,15,18).
Genre of the film (Horror, Comedy, Romantic, Drama Action etc).
Date of release

Information that must be held about the loan transaction:

Holder of the DVD (ID/Name)
DVD (ID or Title)
Date on loan
Date due back
Amount due (£)
Returned date or tick box (Boolean – Yes/No)

d) Input

I will need to use 3 tables in my database. I will link them together by using a relational database. A relational database is a group of tables linked together by using the same field. This means that if one of the tables is changed, then the other table is automatically altered. An example of using a relational database is that you are able to create one table (loan), which draws information from the other two tables (customer and DVD). This means that information only needs to be entered once into the database and not replicated. Also the other advantage of this is that information can be edited just as easily.

Each table will need to contain the following fields:

Fields for my customer table:

Unique ID Code
First Name
Surname
Gender
Date of Birth
House name/Number
Street name
Town
County
Postcode
House number
Work number
Proof of ID
Email Address

Fields for my DVD table

Unique ID number
Name of DVD
Certification
Genre
Date of release

Fields for my DVD loan transaction table

Holder of DVD ID
DVD ID
Date on loan
Date due back

You can you a validation rule to specify requirements for data being entered into a field or record. For example in the customer table, I could use a validation rule for the gender field. This means that instead of the user typing in ‘Female’ or ‘Male’, they could just type in ‘F’ for female and ‘M’ for male. When data is entered that violates the validation rule, you can use the validation text setting to specify an error message to be displayed to the user to state the required data that must be entered. Using a validation rule reduces user input error.

Fields I will need to validate to reduce input error:

Customer table:

Gender - (“M for male, “F” for female)
Date of Birth – (Input mask – 00/00/0000)
Post code – (Input mask - >LL00\ 0LL)

The user will need to update information in this table when new customers complete the membership forms supplied by “DVDs-2-Rent”. A new record will need to be inserted into the table by going to Insert =>New record and once it is entered the customers will then need to be sorted into ascending order. When a customer ends their membership, the user will need to delete the member’s record by clicking the arrow on the left of the table => delete record on the correct record to be deleted. The user will need to alter the data in the record when, for example, the customer changes their address or contact details to valid information so if the user needs to contact them then they can refer back to the database that should display the updated information for the customer.