'A Chip off The Old Block-Bluster Essay\r'

'Background to the problem\r\nMr Something runs a small business called A Chip onward The Old Block-Bluster. Mr Something is the makes of Blockbusters son. He has further left him a little bit of inheritance and wanted him to plead a business that was just as serious as his. He soon has a fink in slough High Street. He only sterilises a few guests a day. He keeps pass across of people’s record manually and would the bids of to use his father’s money to localize up an electronic remains that only requires a few manual entries.\r\nThe Current System\r\nMr Something currently uses cards to manage his business. He has 2 types of cards. 1 card is his business card to hand bulge to people to show where his shop is, his call up, telephone, his email and his fax. The another(prenominal) type of card is a guest card. The customer card has the shop logo on it and the customers name on it. It is a card make turn up of card and is laminated to protect it from dama ge. If the customer does not impart a card, he issues one to them for a cost of 20p if they wish to rent videodisk’s again. He collects their name, address, DOB and home number. The card lavatory declare entropy printed on it with a permanent ink. It shows when the DVD must(prenominal) be returned by. The ink usher out be erased utilise a special spray and a cloth.\r\nThis is high-priced and takes some time. It can sometimes irritate the customer depending on how long it takes. He creates the card by designing it on Microsoft publisher and printing it mop up utilize a dot matrix newswriter and laminates it. He in addition keeps a paper record. It has a table with the same dilate as on the card and the name of the DVD rented and the date it must be returned by. He writes it by hand using a pen while the customer is letting the DVD. If the DVD is not returned by the date check for return, then he uses mail merge to turn on a letter to the customer saying that the DVD must be returned by 4 geezerhood after the letter has been sent and if not, there get out be a higher charge. If it continues then the police will be involved. Mr Something calls it the record sheet. The record sheets be stored in a briefcase that is locked and is stored in a cupboard that is overhead that is also locked. This veers the chances of burglars getting their hands on the customer’s details.\r\nProblems with the system\r\nThe current problems with the system are:\r\n* It takes time for Mr Something to enter in the customers details onto the record sheet.\r\n* The laminated cards that he gives to his customers are comfortably damaged by peeling away the laminated mould\r\n* The cleaning liquid is expensive to buy and thus makes little profit\r\n* The manual methods take rattling long which hold up the customer.\r\nThe end drug user’s requests\r\nThe end user would like:\r\n* a computerised system\r\n* a homepage that can navigate done the whole system easily\r\n* searches that can be easily use\r\n* a window that can search through records\r\n* something that can add records to the records file\r\n* something that can show the charges of overdue DVDs\r\nPossible Solutions\r\nA non-ICT solution could be to use cards. There could be three files, one for members, one for DVDs and one for loans. scarce this could lead to problems as cards can get damaged as easily as log books, and they aren’t very practical. separate can also get lost, and this solution is quite time consuming. Cards could also be quite expensive.\r\nWord process and presentation course of studys are unsuitable for this solution. Word processors couldn’t store the information properly, although a table could be make to store the files. Reports and queries cannot be made on a word processing document. The information could not be structured properly. Presentation software couldn’t be employ as they are made really for displaying information to an audience. Both of these solutions could not be apply to store structured information.\r\nA spreadsheet programme could be used. Rows and tables could be made to store the data. However, this could be quite repetitive. Three different tables would have to be made. Each DVD would have to be restate every time it was lent. This would be quite forbid and time consuming.\r\nUsing a relational database seems like the best solution for the DVD rental. It can be used to store lots of data and reduce the amount of repetition of it. Queries can be used to extract data right away and easily. This could be used to find overdue DVDs, solving the problem of unseen overdue fines. Separate tables can be made easily, which can be linked in a relationship. Wizards can be used to make queries and crosss quickly without mistakes. Databases also contain validation tools which stop gossip errors. Length check can be used on the fields to stop mistakes. Primary keys can be made to number DVDs and members.\r\nObjectives\r\nThe system should have the following:\r\n* it should be neat and tidy for escaped reading\r\n* There should be a report to show the overdue DVDs and their price.\r\n* Charges should be calculated automatically.\r\n* The seafaring should be easy with clearly labelled manipulate buttons.\r\n* The system should be able to save data on customers and DVDs without confusion.\r\n'