Design a computer system for a video hire shop Essay

I have noticed that keeping customer records on paper can be time consuming and neither practical or easy to use. The aim of this project is to create a database for a company or an organization; I have chosen Vinnie’s videos. My database will include customer information to make organization and customer relations simpler; the new system will be more practical. An electronic database will make life easier as it will be superior to a card filling system and will save time and money. A computer system is better than the old card filing method for many reasons. Example, searches can be carried out instantly rather than many manual records being waded through, customer information for a hundred people can be copied almost instantly to a standard letter. Vinny will be able to keep customer information lists, detailing contact information, stats on the customers videos, lists of regular jobs that need to be performed i. e. check who has videos out; in order that notices can be sent using mail merge. This will help Vinny keep up to data and on top of customer relations and business. A search function for my database will make it simple for letters detailing special offers which are customer specific to be sent out easily. After considering the pros and cons of the two systems I have decided that it is definitely more practical to use a computer system over a card filling system. Strengths and Weaknesses of current system: Vinny currently has a very primitive filling system, It has a lot weaknesses. It takes a long time to find records, as they are stored in a filling cabinet. When editing a record you must remove the entire card and rewrite it, it is time consuming to add new records. To re-sort the records would take a very long time as it would obviously have to be done manually. To search for information is also time consuming, especially if you are looking for a number of customers with similar records for some purpose. However the database is comprehensive and does contain all the records needed. What I need to do is design and makes a new database with all the information from the old one transferred into it. There are also a number of programs that I could consider using, they are Microsoft word, Microsoft excel or Microsoft access. I will need to use a database creation package like MS Access, Fox Pro, DBASE II or IV or Borland Database Explorer to create my database tables, queries, forms, reports and macros easily and also program them with the Visual Basic programming script to make my database into a professional running program. According to the user requirements MS Access is the best one also because it is mostly familiar to people. I will need a word processing package like MS Word, Notepad, WordPad and Word Perfect. MS Word is the best one to use because you can use word art and insert pictures or print screens into the document and also is mostly used by people. Hardware needed: I need a computer that can run Microsoft Access and Microsoft Word just in case I need to use the mail merge. For this I will use a QWERTY keyboard for the manual input of data and the commands for the computer. I will need a mouse or trackball to design the database forms, to navigate the GUI of the OS and to move copy and paste data. I will need to use a 31/2 inch floppy disk and drive or a CDRW disk and drive in order to save my database and to make backups of my database. I will only use a CDRW if the database exceeds 1. 38-1. 44 MB. CDRW’s can hold from 500-700 MB of information. I will need a printer to print out the design of my database of for word documentation of the database. The system should have at least 300 MHZ hard drive speed, and 5 GB memory, it should have at least a 128 MB RAM. Problem1: a system management to put the videos in order Form of output: a database Information to be output: video title, video director, main actor, year released, length and genre, how many copies are available and how many are on loan. Data needed to produce the output: video title, video director, main actor, year released, length and genre, which will be provided by Vinny. Desired outcomes and performance criteria: It has to be sorted so you can see a certain type of genre or year. Testing: To see if all the correct records are in the right query. Problem 2: needs a system to store all the members’ names and addresses Form of output: a database Information to be output: name, address, user number, telephone. Data needed to produce the output: name, address, user number, telephone. This is provided by Vinny. Desired outcomes and performance criteria: member’s details available so we can contact them if needed. Testing: not needed Problem 3: I don’t have a system to see who has what video checked out and who has videos that are over due. Form of output: database Information to be output: name, user number, video rented, date taken out, date due back Data needed to produce the output: name, user number, video rented, date taken out, date due back. This will be provided by Vinny, anyone that rents a new video will be entered into the database. Desired outcomes and performance criteria: a list to see which videos are on loan. When somebody rents a video out all I want to have to do is click on the film name and type their name in. The rental time allowance will be 3 days and automatically entered Testing: see if the people who have taken a video out have a book due on the database Analysis of Strategies for Backup and Security. The system will be backed up on CD-RW’s daily and on hard disk drives and a server. The database will have an encrypted modification password and it will be write-protected so it cannot be deleted. If a staff member needs to access the database to modify it, then a staff password is needed. It will not open until the password is correct Information Flow Error Checking To ensure that the information is correct the staff will send the members an invoice with their details they have inputted and attached is another form to fill in the correct information and then collect it and update the database. For the videos the staff will do daily checks on the database to see any obscure looking information in the database and will edit this info by getting the video and re-entering the video data again. Or the staff will do two copies of information identical to each other because the information will be inputted twice and if they are not identical then one or the other or both are changed with the correct information. Skills The user is a competent pc user and will not need any sort of training, he would like it to be user friendly though, so if any new staff join, it will be easy to pick up.