Simpson &Co. estate agents - designing a computer based system

ANALYSIS

Background info.

Simpson &Co. estate agents are located in Brent. They have made a publicity deal with Flancrust Enterprises, another newly formed Business. Simpson and Co. Are known for their good service to the public and want to start branches all over Brent, however they do not have a system enabling them to record ever changing details of large numbers of customers.

Identify the Problem

Estate Agents have to sell the right houses to the right customer. They need to know what type of house the customer wants and the features it must have. Estate Agents need to price every house and have a record of all the prices. They must be able to change the prices as they go up and down all the time. Estate agents also need to have a record of the customer’s details and the type of house he/she requires. That way the estate agent can call the customer if a house with all the required features becomes available

Currently Simpson & Co. is using a manual System for recording these details. They record all the customer details in one book and the details of the houses in another.

The disadvantages of this system are:

There is only one copy of each book so a lot of problems will arise if it is misplaced.
Since everything is written by hand, the text could be illegible.
Once written the content of the books cannot be easily varied.
When details change, the database would be invalid
Handwriting all the details can be time consuming.
The files and books take space to store
It is difficult to find a particular piece of information without looking through all the files.
It is difficult to make copies of the files for both the estate agents and each customer.
It is difficult to have a wide range of advertising methods

Using a computer would solve many of the problems above because:

A computer can store a lot of information.
Many people can share access to the files.
Copies can be efficiently reproduced.
It is quicker to search for files.
The database can be changed easily.
Computers are faster and easier for both the Agents and the customer to use.
Mistakes can be easily corrected on a computer.
Personalised letters can be sent through mail merge to customers
Data can be stored and arranged in any order.

The Users Requirements

The two different users of this system are

The Estate agents who will have access to both, information about the customers and the houses
The customers who will have access to the information about the houses.

The workers will have unlimited access to all files if they have been entitled to the password. They can store details of both the customers and houses and the requirements of the customer. These details will be data like the features of the house, e.g. location, does it have a garden, etc. They will also have the details about the customers so that they could be contacted. There will be different files to make sorting easier for the users.

The customer will access files about various estates through the computer. The customers will also be able to access a phone number or an e-mail address to contact if they are interested in any of the houses on the market. Receptionists can help the customers look through the files if they require assistance. The receptionists would then know which customers are interested in which houses so that they can be contacted with any new information. They can either search through the database themselves or they can ask for assistance. The customer’s access will be limited, as the confidential files would have been protected.

If Simpson & co could post a website on the Internet. This could advertise the company as well as allow other Internet users to view the features of the estates available. This would be an easy option for customers as they could stay in the in own homes.

Collect Information from Potential Users

We are going to be collecting information through Questionnaires. . They will be sent to both users. They will ask questions concerning what details they need to know, about the property on the market and personal details. (Telephone number etc.) Using mail merge on ...