I.T. System for a Newsagents

As in went into the first newsagents they verbalize that they had no Information technology Equipment such(prenominal) as com sayers in their cuckold so I went into the next newsagent and explained to them I was in year 10 and was in the middle of doing a GCSE Course march and was to update a trunk. I thence said to them I would wish to alleviate them and update their agreement, they said they would be to a greater extent than happy if I would do that for them beca do they did non crawl in how much hit they were qualification or even loss. I then went into an off-licence that was near to where I lived on Cranbrook road. I told them what I was doing and explained that I was doing an Information technology Project, I then asked them if they would let me update their system so it would save them time and m maviny on their business.They said, yes ok, as it would help me as well. Now that I had whizness choice I had then started to support my way to the Gants hill library, t hey said that their system was already up to date but said thank you for the offer. I still had 2 offers but unfortunately had to film. I decided by thinking of who would prevail the most benefit of the system and I thought in the end that a newsagent would not re t go forth ensembley need a system as much as an off licence, as an off-license has a dispense more line of credit and is much bigger than newsagents, I in like manner thought it would be more challenging than a newsagents and hope to let on extinct the emolument/loss made by my lymph glands and similarly hope they benefit from me. This was my final decision.Description of ProblemAn off-licence called Cranbrook Food & wines situated on Cranbrook road sells rootage of food, drinks and sweets and other grocery items. The problem is that my thickening knows if he is making a profit or loss but he doesnt know how to work it out on a P.C. As for the last5 years he has been doing it manually and Manual systems push asidenot keep up and they argon much slower than P.C.s. So he has I asked me to help him utilise the culture he provides me with such as Income and Expenditure.They chip in a system but were not development it for Microsoft outdo, they told me they have big(p)ly whatever idea how to routine Microsoft Excel, and said they used their com flummoxer only to redeem letters on Microsoft Word and use the Inter exculpate for e-mail. Now it is up to me to hand over them how to work Microsoft Excel and update their system by making profit and loss account and a cash flow surfaceing them their rates of profit so they now how much profit they exit make when they assimilate thither destruction balance.I allow also be using formulas and pedagogy them to use Microsoft Excel and exit also help them by showing them some strategies which will help them run their business better. One of their incomes is selling the stock and Expenditure is buying the stock. These will go into their p rofit and loss account using the figures that they supply me with and there will also be more such as, Electricity greenback, Gas bill, Water bill etc for Expenditure, and Photocopier etc for Income. I will use formulas to numerate each of them up and use formulas to find out the closing balance. I will set-up a cash flow for them, as it is in truth easy to use, as they atomic number 18 new users. I will also mold in formulas so if they wished to change e very(prenominal)thing such as change the expense of the photocopier it will also change all the incomes and outcomes as well as the closing balance.To find a bit more about my leaf node, I asked some questions so I could know how much knowledge he had about calculators.1) How long have you run a business?A) I have run a business for 5 years now.2) What do you do in your business?A) In my business I have to stand behind the counter-serving people for about 11 1/2 Monday-Saturday, I also have to send my married woman or sister to the cash and carry to buy our stock then I have to set-up all the stock and label the price on all the stock.3) Do you use you system for any record of your business or financial work?A) No, I only use the data processor for my e-mail and to write letters to people.4) Have you employed any staff?A) No, my family and me run our business.5) What do you now anything about computers, do you have any knowledge?A) Yes I know how to work on the Microsoft word processor and the Internet.6) Would any of your business unwrapners have trouble using the computer, and ar they all familiar with Microsoft excel?A) My business partners are my family and they have no knowledge of Excel but as soon as I learn I will be able to get word them it wont be a problem.General SpecificationMy client has a very commodity knowledge of Personal computers but does not have a straightforward knowledge when it comes to Microsoft excel. I had checked his computer and I could see he has windows 2000 and th is is good, as it is the la turn up out. As he has very little knowledge of Microsoft Excel I will have to make this system very easy to use and I will also be installing a help wizard, which he does not have so if Im not there he sack up rely on the help wizard to help him. The system I will input will also be flexible and quick so he wont bolt any time. I am very confident(predicate) that the software I will install will be fully compatible with my client Computer as I checked all the system files in their CPU. I have to also install Microsoft excels on his computer as his computer only came with Microsoft word, works, money and autoroute. My targets are benefit both of us, me by being successful and getting a good grade and my client, by helping his business by making it easier for him and much more efficient.When my system is completed it will be time saving, which will allow my client to either do personal things or expand on his business more. So my targets are to help my client have a better and more efficient business. By creating spreadsheets, which will show him the profit, he is making and will allow him to see what to decrease on, e.g. if Electricity bills are 500 then he will know to turn of light and save electricity. This will also save a lot of his time. The new system I will be installing must be able to mechanically change the corrections as my client is unfamiliar with excel. It must also be very easy to use, and must have a help wizard to guide my client. The information that he would destiny to store, would need to be stored in an organised way-I could do this by using tables to present the information in a more clearer way to my client I.e. A spread sheet.The system would also have to be user friendly as I was saying before and needs to be able to adhere simple instructions so that everyone could use it easily and effectively.Specific SpecificationAfter I had discussed some things with my client, we had both decided to include* Prof it and Loss- To show if he is making enough profit or not.* Formulas- so if he changed one of the outcomes e.g. water bill is 200 to 500 the total outcome will also change which will save quite a lot of time.* Validation checks- to check a computer to carry out when data is input.* Security- to make convinced(predicate) no one can tamper with the information, which is inputed with the exception of my client, and people who he wishes to share his password with.* The system is easy to use- to make sure my client can use the system with no trouble so he can change information and input it easily and so he can understand the system.We has also acknowledged that my client does not know much about spread sheets so he would like me to make it an easy system. The information I am qualifying to use should be put under suitable heading I have made some up for my client Stock Photocopier Selling Price Retail price ExpensesThe system must allow the information to be organised into certain ord ers e.g. the Stock could be put in numbers and the quantity sold could be put into alphabets.The system must also be able to save the information. As my client is loss to need to store a lot of information on his system it will need to be stored efficiently. The new system must also be able to perform accurately so the system will need to be able to do many important calculations by using formulas if needed. The system must perform rapidly- the system must be able to calculate all the different prices when the quantity sold is changed. This will prevent my Client of having to waste time and tired of it. My client has not just started his business in fact he has been running it for 10 years now. He has also asked me to put a password on all the systems as it will save him from his files being deleted or being viewed by any other person which he doesnt want to no.Design of SolutionI have now got to choose which software my client would want to use and which is most suitable for this assignment, we can choose any of the following choices Data base package (Microsoft Access & Microsoft Pinpoint) Word Processing package (Microsoft Word & Microsoft Word perfect) Microsoft background signal Publishing (DTP)(Microsoft publishing house & Adobe PageMaker) Presentational package (Microsoft PowerPoint) Spreadsheet Packages (Microsoft Excel & Lotus 1-2-3) Graphics Package (Corel draw & Microsoft paint) Computer aided design (CAD) (Auto CAD)After thinking about the problem, I decided we could definitely not use all of this software so I have narrowed it d own by choosing to use Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. I did not choose The Data base packaging as my client had no access to it as he did not have the software installed on his computer, but this did not matter as Microsoft access is one of the schedules we could do without. We did not use the Presentational or Graphics Project as this is a GCSE project and we will not need a lot of presentation in our work. We al so did not use it as the presentational package is not very confidential and all the information I will be storing for my client will have to be confidential so no one can change it without him knowing. These are also the same reasons why we did not use Microsoft Desktop Publishing.I chose the word processor as it can be used in letters, essays, projects, CVs etc. In my list I wrote Projects and as Im doing one right now I thought it would be a good idea to use word. I also chose word as there is a very big advantage to it, it can be emended if mistakes have been made and can also be formatted in many ways such as, Letters can be Bolded, made Italic, and underlined. The word processor also gives you the advantage of making a word art, as you can see I have used this a number of times, and you can also choose between a ranges of clipart. I will mainly use this program to write out my GCSE coursework project and say what how and when I did to help my clients business.Microsoft excel is a spreadsheet made up of a grid into where numbers are entered. The program it self is used for mathematic calculations, statistical and financial calculations. I mainly chose it for the financial calculations as I am overtaking to help my clients business. Even though my client does not have access to Microsoft excel, kinda he has Microsoft works spreadsheet, I reduce that Excel is better so I have a disk, which has Excel on it, and I will be happy to install it for him. I will use excel to put all of the Income and cost (PROFIT & LOSS) into a table, this will show howMuch profits my client gets and how much of it he spends.FIELD fall uponDATA TYPEREQUIRED DATA ENTRYREASON orifice BalanceThe opening balance of cash flowFormulaNoOpening balance is brought over from the closing balance at the end of the month the number is produced by formula so you do not need to graphic symbol it manuallyRevenueThis is the sales that the company receives when selling their productsNumberYe sThis is a figure and changes from month to month so it needs to be typed in manuallyOverheadsThe utilities in this are the Electricity, gas and water bills.Another overhead is the raw materials, this is when they buy the products that they are sellingNumberYesThis also varies from month to month so it will need to be typed in Manually.Total OverheadsFormulaNoThe Total Overheads are brought from the overheads so at the end of the month if the overheads were changed the total overheads would also change automatically.Systems Flowchart.RESOURCESI have now installed the help wizard on his computer, which should be able to help him, whenever I am not there to assist him. I have also installed Microsoft excel. I am now going to show you the hardware and software I am going or not going to use.HardwareThe hardware that I am using to create this system are Intel powered Pentium machines which have PII 266 systems, containing 2 GB of hard Drive, 32 Megs of RAM and a 8 Meg Video Card. The se rver that windows use is NT. My client Pc is very different it is a Gateway PC, Intel privileged Pentium 3 PC with Windows 98. It contains 32 Megs of RAM, 20 GB of Hard beget, DVD and 20 Meg video drives.SoftwareThe software packages that I am going to use are Word Processing, Desktop Publishing and Spreadsheet.A Word Processor can be used to write letters, reports, essays, projects, memos, curriculum vitae, theses and basically any form of written work. When text is entered at the keyboard, the characters and words are displayed on the screen and held in the computers memory. This work can be saved to hard drive or disk and can also be printed out. The advantage of using a Word Processor is that the text can be changed or edited onscreen and reprinted if mistakes are made. I will be mainly using Word Processor to do my project, which is listed preceding(prenominal).A Desktop Publishing Program allows users to look at the page of he document as a whole and design the layout by ma rking areas for text and graphics. Text can be typed directly into the Desktop Publisher package or it can be imported from a word processing package. The text can be arranged in columns with biggish titles or headlines heading the columns. Images can be imported from graphics packages, scanned or taken from clipart. I will mainly be using this program to do my user documentation.A Spreadsheet is a computer program which is designed to display and process numbers. It is made up of a grid to which numbers are entered. The program contains many mathematical, statistical and financial calculations, which can be applied to the numbers. Many Spreadsheets can also show the numbers in the form of graphs. I will be using this program to show my profit and loss and cash flow for my client.The software packages I am not going to use are Presentation, Database and Graphic packages.A Presentation Package allows users to prepare and give presentation to using the computer. The information being presented is made into a set of skids. Each slide can contain text, clipart, graphics, video, sound and animation. A salesman might use the program to demonstrate a new product a teacher, to give a lesson or lecture a pupil might use the software to prepare a talk or a school assembly.A Database is a sight of related data items, which are linked and structures so that the data can be accessed in a number of ways. A simple database consists of only one set of data. This is called a flat file. An example of a flat file is pinpoint or Microsoft works. A relational database is more complex. Relational Databases are very powerful as they allow the data to be accessed in many different ways. An example of a relational database is Microsoft Access.I am now going to show you the advantages and disadvantages of a manual system (File base system) and see which one I chose and why?ADVANTAGES* Do not have to waste electricity when using CPU* The financial cost for a file base system is not a round 1000 where as it does to buy computer* If the electricity goes out you wont have to worry about your business, as you would have it all on reputation.* The computer may crash and you could loose all your data if not saved.DISADVANTAGES* Computer saves time as writing takes to long* It is easier to work out profits more easily* If you need to change something, the computer will counterbalance the changes to everything else it affects automatically* If you make a mistake the computer would detect it and notify you by underlining it or correct it automatically.* You can produce graphs and charts by using the favourite Microsoft Excel whereas you would have to spend time calculating and drawing it if you had no computer* You can store up to hundreds of pages on one simple disk.The above argument tells you that you would benefit more from having a P.C Computer system than you would with a manual system. I will go with the results of this argument and use a computer to do my proj ect.I am going to use a spreadsheet over a database because for this particular coursework, a spreadsheet is more appropriate than a database. This is because the information I will be inputting is not relational or linked e.g. Library books are linked in some way therefore it maybe put into a database. A spreadsheet is also good for financial use as it is good with mathematical equations this is another reason why I am using it instead of Database.Data Collection, Data Capture and input signalThe data that my client wishes me to put into his system are sales from stock sales from photocopier electricity bill Gas bill and buying stock, other than that my client does not mind what information I input. The information will be given to me by my client which he will get from his Bills and from his invoices that he holds which has a record of his shops sales records and how much he spends to buy the stock.Input DevicesThe input devices are will be using are as followsKeyboardThe most co mmon way of entering data into a computer is through the keyboard. Modern Keyboards often have a support at the front of the keyboard as a rest for the typists wrists and some manufacturers have designed keyboards with a more curved key layout in an tackle to make typing hot and more comfortable, even though this maybe, the keyboard is very slow even for todays typing experts.MouseThe cursor on the screen is called the snarf you may move the pointer by the user moving the mouse, which will move the pointer. Under the mouse is a ball, which rolls as the mouse is moved. When the screen pointer is over an icon or a menu selection the mouse can be double-clicked to activate the program. This is a standard device like the keyboard.The Input devices I will not be using areScannersScanners enable both pictures and text to be input to a computer. Scanning text in order to recognise the words and letters requires special software. The most common type of scanner is the flatbed but smaller and cheaper hand-held scanners, which are turn over the document/picture, are also getable. Although the scanner is available to me I have no need to use it.Touch screenA get together screen is when there are beams of infrared light just in front of the glass on the computer monitors. When a user touches the screen or glass with their finger, the infrared light recognises it and co-ordinates the points. The computer can detect the position of the finger and respond accordingly. I am not using touch-screen because it is not available to me.ProcessingValidation and verificationI will need to have some validation checks as a mistake may happen and this prevents this, a mistake that could happen and is very likely to is writing in the number with text rather than numerical symbols, that is eight instead of 8. The range checks are very liable to read editing with time as the company grows. So they too should be easy to modify. However it is important not to over use the validation o nly but to only have the item in suitable areas, as people find going error messages very annoying.Verification is the checking of a mistake manually. It involves either printing of your work to look at it or looking at it on the monitor screen, another way is double-checking your work twice or you may make a mistake such as writing the instead of the or in figures such as 394 instead of 934.There are certain types of validation they are Picture check, Character count, Range check, Presence check and file lookup. Presence check means the cadre or field cannot be empty, if there is nothing inside the cell or field it will read error. Character count would make sure there is only a limited amount of characters that can be typed into a cell. Range check, checks the range of numbers that is typed. E.g. the number can be cope with to, less than, greater than or between parameters, picture check, checks that the data entered in this field is as expected, i.e. TTTNNTTT (where T=text and N=number) so it would be something like this, GFD77GGG. Finally File Lookup,V PATEL, here the persons code (first three characters) and the subject code, (last three characters) can be checked by opening separate files and ensuring the codes do exist in a valid list.Output FormatOutput DevicesThe output devices I am going to use areMonitorThe computer monitor screen or VDU is the most common output device. The most common size of monitor screens are 15 inches, others are 17 and 19 inch, which are much bigger. Computer monitors are similar in many ways to the television. They use a device called cathode ray tubes which contains an electron artillery unit at the back the tube which fires electrons at phosphor dots coating the inside of the screen.Laser PrintersLaser printers work on the same principle as photocopiers. The toner, which is powered in, is transferred to the paper where it is fused by the action of heat and pressure. Lasers are very quiet printers and give high quality p rint. Laser Printers can print 8-10 pages per minute, which is much faster than other printers.The output devices I will not be using areLiquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)Liquid Crystal Displays utilise tiny crystals which, when a charge is applied across them, polarise the light passing through them. Used in combination with special filters, this means that light will not pass through when an electrical charge is applied. LCDs are also used in watches and calculators.Thin Film Transistor ScreenA more mature type of display, giving a full colour and high quality output, is the TFT active matrix screen. Each pixel on the screen is controlled by its own transistor. This provides a higher resolution and more contrast.I am now going to show you how my cash flow works and also show you part of a cash flow.As you can see in he highlighted section is the revenue, the formula I had inputted in the total revenue cell= sum up (B4B5) pending on which total I wanted. By inputting the formula, cert ain changes vary such as now if you change the sales from stock in shop it will automatically change the total revenue, and is also the same if you change the sales from photocopier it will automatically change the total revenue. For example if you higher your price of the photocopier you will make more money, so my client will need to change the figures in the photocopier section. For instance if he changes it from 300.00 to 400.00 the total revenue will automatically change to 2.400.00 that would not happen if the total were typed in manually.As you can see, there is a formula to work out the total revenue it does this by adding the cells B4 and B5 together.I have several formulas and different formulas are used for different things. For instance if I wanted to know the total revenue I would use a formula which looked something like this =SUM (C3C4), and then it would give me the total of the two cells. This is the same for total expenditure, but if I wanted to know the net cash f low I would have to minus the total revenue from the total expenditure, it would look something like this =SUM (C5-C6), then it will give me the total amount left over.The formulas used in the spreadsheet above are as follows=SUM (B4 B5)This formula adds up the total revenue for the particular month, it does this by adding up all the revenues. This formula varies throughout each month, as business may be better or lower.=SUM (B9 B11)This formula adds up his total expenditure or expenses for the particular month. The expenses vary throughout each month.=SUM (B6-B12)This formula shows the net cash flow by subtracting the total revenue from the Expenditure resulting in the profit/loss.=SUM (B16-B17)This formula works out the closing balance by subtracting the Opening balance from Net cash flow resulting in the closing balance.IntroductionNow that I have finished creating a system I have to test it, to see if there are any problems. schemaThere are to different ways I could test my syst em. interrogatory1- I could test it with the current figures. Check if the formula works and see if the validation is accurate.Test2- I could test it with last years figures, and see if the totals agree. I will then again see if the validation checks are accurate.I have chosen to do test 1 and I will do this by doing it in a Test plan & results table. The results able will consist of three columns the first is Test for what Im going to test e.g. If the Validation works. The second is Prediction e.g. if I put the validation check in Cell C4 that 9500, it would print error if there was more than 500. The last column is the Results. It is where you put in he results of your test and to see if your predictions are correct.