Staff Member Details Of Items example essay topic
(Fitness Equipment Shop). My role is to create an electronic database which will help my client in renting electronic items to the customers (e.g. Dual action Bike, Fitness Walker, Wilma Belt Massager, etc). Problem Definition The purpose of this database is to be used by an electronic shop that sells and allows renting of electronic items such as for e.g. (Radio Rentals). Where people can rent items or they may even buy them. The client who would be using this system is any staff member who is working at the Electronic Rentals at any particular time. I have been specified for the role of creating the system electronically on computer that using a special program that is Microsoft Access (any version) in order for the record keeping's to keep clean, written quicker and is easy to navigate or search.
This database relates to information technology in the fact that is being used with the help of a computer to find record neat, effective and is useful to find information quickly as commands can be entered and results are displayed on the screen which should be easy to follow. 1) Objectives Recording information of customers / members, staff details, hiring of each accessory etc. It will also record about when a particular item was hired and who hire it and when is it suppose to be due back. It will also record whether that particular item was overdue or not?
If it was overdue then who hire it and how much fine do they have to pay? This database will also keep the record of the new member and will also keep the record of the current members. 2) Elements All details of customers / members are currently Electronic Rentals in a book or in a folder that is later on kept in a drawer and is locked by a staff member. Every staff member has a key to that locker so they can access it at any time. Each and every item and a member have been given identification in form of number and / or letters.
The reason why they have been given identification is so they can easily be identified and for e.g. if someone walks into the Electronic Rentals who is a member of the Electronic Rentals without having some sort of identification how is the staff member going to find out that the customer is really a member? So if identification has been given to the member they can easily figure out there details. At present all the information about customers / members, loans and items is recorded on a piece of paper and all the information is written by hand and then later on is kept in the locker for future use. For e.g. a staff member will record details of a customer who hired laptop for 4 weeks.
The staff member will write that details of a customer who hired laptop for 4 weeks. The staff member writes that on a piece of paper and will keep it in a safe place. 3) Processes Firstly the staff member /'s who is roster ed on that day will sign in using the sign up register. He / She will then wait at the counter in order to serve any customer /'s that walk into the Electronic Rentals. There could be many customers in the Electronic Rentals at the same time for many different purposes for e.g. There could be many people in the Electronic Rentals who would like to be a member or there could be people who are already a member and would like to rent something or there could be people who are just looking and browsing in the Electronic Rentals. It is the duty of each staff member to serve any customer regardless of why they are there.
A customer will walk into the Electronic Rentals and the staff member will have to ask them if they can help them. If a customer says that they would like to rent an item the staff member will ask them if they are a member of there Electronic Rentals or not. If they are not a member then the staff member will tell them that they have to be a member in order to rent anything. One of the restrictions that do apply in order to b a member is that the customer must be over 18 years of age.
If is this requirement is met the staff member will give a registration form to the customer which must be filled by the customer and identification must be showed to the staff member usually driving license or maybe passport. The customer will then get an ID number and they will also get an Identity Card which is unique and states that this person is a member of this Electronic Rentals, after that they will get their ID and card will now be a member. After that all the details will be forwarded to the manager who will keep that in a file. Once all the necessities have been cleared the staff member will ask that customer which particular item they would like to rent and for how long. Customer will then select an item and the staff member will go to the back of the Electronic Rentals where all the items are kept and staff member will bring to the front and will record all of the customer details and item details on a piece of paper and will keep it in a safe place for further use.
When hiring items, the member will give his / her details (Full name, Address, phone number etc) and will also give staff member details of items they are hiring i.e. Item Id and it details (hiring cost etc). Then the due date is set and if the customer returns that item late then customer has to pay the fine. A calculation will be done in order to calculate the fine. Fine will be calculated like this: Number of days late Fine per day 4) Constraints and Problems The current system is very obsolete when it is compared to computer record keeping. In the case where It is very important that a person can write properly and neatly to ensure that someone else can read his or her handwriting and they must also know how to spell. One of the problems with that is that if someone has a bad handwriting or has a spelling error or hasn't written neatly than it could be very hard to read that for someone else and they could make an error when its not there fault.
Other problems that could occur is that the Electronic Rentals should expect to have 100's of people becoming member on day and if say for example 20 people came to be a member on each day of the week then they need at least 120-140 forms for each week. This will be a waste of paper and time (it may take up to 30 minutes to fill a form) and this will also require lots and lots of space. It is also very important to ensure that whenever a staff member comes to start work they must remember to sign in. This is important as if they haven't signed in then basically they are not working there at that time and therefore they may not get paid for that day. 5) Feedback At the end of the day of a staff member's day, they must check the members who hire items; they must also check which members have returned items and which members haven't.
This is important in order to ensure that there are no missing items in the store and if any customer has returned anything late then they must calculate the fine for that particular customer. The staff member has to count up their money earned for the day for the hiring of all the items. If in case they have more money then the number of items hired or they have less money then the items hired then there has been a mistake made by the staff member, so they must take precautions next time when someone rents anything. (3.1) Aim: The new system will be really helpful to the Electronic Rentals. One of the advanced changes that have occurred is that now electronic rental will be using technology; previously all the records were kept manually i.e. manual forms filled by hand and then kept in a locker / drawer. Where as now electronic rentals will bee using electronic database where they can just enter data accurately and efficiently, and if they make a mistake it won't be hard to erase it and re-enter it.
The application electronic rentals that will be using are Microsoft Access. One of the reason they will be using this is that access is the application program that is currently used world wide being used in every kind of business, no matter if you are doing small business or large business access can help you in all of the way. Access can be very hard to learn and can be costly but once it's learnt it's very easy to maintain the data. The new information system will perform the following tasks. o Carry out the previous recording of the current system efficiently and straightforwardly e.g. entering and retrieving of data. o Make it easier to find a member who has not returned an item. o It will be easier to find a member who hired anything for a particular day. o If anyone wants to register, he / she don't really have to fill manual forms, they can still become a member but only this time they are going to have to tell their details to one of the staff member who will enter their details and they will become a member. o It will be easy to calculate the fine and other charges e.g. registering fees and or fines.
(3.2) Outcomes This system has four outcomes i.e. Main Outcome, Processing Outcome, Complex query Outcome and Statistics Outcome. As the entire outcome has different names they all are designed to do different but related tasks as follows: (3.2. 1) Main outcome In my main outcome I will develop / design a data entry screen which will record the hiring of an item. (3.2. 2) Processing Outcome In this outcome I will print a list of all the overdue items & then I will find out who has what item, when was it suppose to be returned and if its late or not? (3.2. 3) Complex query Outcome In this outcome I will print list of all the overdue items and then arrange them in order of lateness of each member / customer.
If any of the customer has returned any item late then I will calculate fine for each of the member. (3.2. 4) Statistics Outcome In this outcome I will print the total number of overdue items and then I will calculate the amount of fine, which must be paid by the customer who hired that particular item. I will also count total number of members and how many products do I have in the store. I may also calculate the average of all the fines that customers have to pay. (3.3) Elements: (3.3. 1) Data Processing: Main Outcome Data: Member details (e.g. Sur Name, Given Name etc) and Items information Processing - The staff member will select a member from the list.
Then the staff member will select the item the member would like to rent, all this information is entered using the data entry form. Sort - Member's surname Processing Outcome: Data: Member ID & Item information Processing - The staff member will open report then he / she will type the type ID number of an item and then the results will be displayed on the screen as a report, which can be printed. Sort - Name of the items Complex Outcome Data - Item Information and hiring information. Processing - The staff member will open the report, then he / she will have to enter the ID of the item, then she will find out that how many times an item had been rented. The staff member will then be able to calculate the average of the item that has been hired. Sort - Name of the items.
Statistical Outcome Data - Member information, Item information and hiring details Processing - The staff member will enter the Member ID, all the history of that member will be displayed on the screen. Through that the member will be able to figure out if that member has any overdue items, if there are any then the staff member will calculate the fine, which will be notified to the member. Sort - Member's surname (3.3. 2) Software Used: Database is best because there are several sets of data that need to be stored in separate tables. These tables then need to be brought together in a transaction table via relationships.
A relational database is needed to achieve the outcomes, as the table need to be linked in such a way that they form one to many relationship. The relational database I chose was Microsoft Access as the client already has this software on their computer network. Other reason why they are using Microsoft Access is because Access is a type of application software that collects data then it can organises in a logical manner that allow Access, retrieval and use of data is very easy. It can also create forms and reports using the data within the database. In computerised database data is stored in an electronic format on a storage medium (e.g. Floppy disks or Zip drives). Access allows users to create a computerised database where a user can add, change delete data.
It also allows user to sort the entire data in a manner, which can be very easy to understand, on the contrary this really depends on once knowledge about Access. Access is a very powerful and sometime very complicated, however this really depends on the user i.e. how much they know about it and how quickly they can learn. (3.3. 3) Hardware: Computer / Processor: Computer with Pentium 133 megahertz (MHz) or higher Processor; Pentium 3 Recommended. Memory: RAM requirements for Access 2002 depend on the operating.