Highfield video store currently Essay

Highfield video store currently uses a paper system to perform all the functions required for this business. Before I reach a decision on how to produce an advanced and improved system to the existing system it is imperative to choose the correct software to overcome this situation. I will need to evaluate and consider the factors that need to be tackled on producing this system by evaluating the end users requirements and expectations f the system to ensure the software chosen has the capability to overcome these requirements successfully and competently. As the company is looking for a more flexible data management system, so a database system is likely to be the right solution. Using Microsoft Access as a solution Advantages: o Microsoft Access is a relational database management system which allows a one to many relationships between tables. Thus greatly reduces data inconsistency and data redundancy. o Uses a familiar interface to perform a range of tasks such as; setting up tables, forms, queries, macros and reports. o This software allows complex procedures such as querying, report and form creation, filtering to be produced and mastered by inexperienced users via the use of wizards. o Access can provide a variety of user friendly forms for different functions through the toolbox features of this software which include list boxes, command buttons, check boxes, labels etc. This allows forms to be customised and concurrently have a familiar look and feel of the forms. o Contains advanced features such as queries which can answer complex requests which the user may have and provide a combination of data from multiple tables and place specific boundaries on the data retrieved. Report features have the capacity to produce attractive professional formatted summaries of data contained in more than one table. Also macros can also perform complex or numerous operations with a click of a button/icon. Disadvantages: o This software package very large and complex piece of software. Therefore, it requires a lot of patience and perseverance to familiarize and learn the vast number of features available in this database package. o Microsoft Access is designed to manage small number of database records and the performance of the system will reduce with an increase in records as the software is a low capacity database. Using Microsoft Excel as a solution Advantages: o Numerous functions are available to perform a range of diverse tasks. These include VLOOKUPS which looks for a value in the leftmost column within a table and then returns a value in the same row from a column you specify. Other functions include COUNTIF, DCOUNT, MATCH etc. Also contains macro which can automate a series of commands and functions. o Excel forms can also be customised to satisfy the users requirements with different methods of data entry and appearance of the forms. o Graphs can be created to summarise data in a number of different graphs to allow the data to be more understandable to the user and also produces a professional outlook. Disadvantages: o The recording of macros can be problematic as it is easy to make a mistake and the whole process needs to be repeated again. This requires an experienced person with sound knowledge of macros and formulas to perform this task. o Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet package and doesn’t features such a relational database which are available in Access. Therefore data and tables need to be entered again leading to unnecessary data redundancy and data consistency. o Creating and editing macros needs to be done via Visual Basic Editor program in Excel. Users of this program need to be experienced in using this program as the macros commands need to be programmed by the user. This requires a sound knowledge as it requires commands to be written in a specific way and have the ability to remember the language to execute these commands. Solution using Lotus Pro Chosen solution From a detailed analysis of the Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, and Lotus Pro software I have decided after discussion with the end user to use Microsoft Access to produce the system I will create. Database packages are used for storing and retrieving information or data. With this type of software the user can set up table with relationships, set up queries, set up macros and make reports. The wizard features on certain database packages allows the complexity of administration tasks to be greatly reduced. The system I will produce will be created from using the Microsoft Access database package because of the following reasons: o Microsoft Access has the capacity to produce relational tables. This leads to a reduction in data redundancy and data inconsistency as data doesn’t need to be entered again due to the relationships which can be imported from one table into many other tables if needed. o The system can be customised to provide the end user with an interface which he requires. The forms can be customised to look and allow data entry in the method which the user requires. The toolbars can also be customised to allow the system to be even more user friendly. o A number of tasks which require a series of functions will be repeated a number of times when the system is in use. These series of function can be automated with the use of macros which Microsoft Access has. o Microsoft Access can provide customised reports to summarise a set of data. Access allows data to be brought together in a report which can be tailored to the user choice. So a professional output which is in line with the companies image can be produce whereas as other software such as Microsoft Excel would not have the capacity to do this. Data would need to be summarised into graphs and is difficult to suit the companies image so the output and interface of a system using this software would need be as professional compared to the software being use to created this system. o Access has the capability to update records in any table by setting up queries to update the necessary records. This will lead to more consistent data is it is more likely to be update and accurate. o Data and information that needs to be stored can be done so more easily due to the set up of the system. Tables are clearly defined and related, which is not the case with other software such as Microsoft Excel as relationships between tables cannot be emplaced.