Creating a Travel Planning ICT System Essay Example for Free

Creating a Travel Planning ICT System Essay In this project I will be creating a system to help plan the costs, amount of people and which people are going on the overnight trip. Here you will be taking the role of Sana, who is helping her French teacher (Mr Campbell) work out the costs of the week long French trip as he was experiencing some difficulty. On a day to day basis Mr Campbell has to create a letter about parent evenings for the trip, permission slips, dietary and medical requirements and remaining money. He also needs to work out the total in goings and total outgoings and make sure that the school doesnt make a loss but doesnt need to make a profit. He will also need to create a record of data about which pupils are going and arent going and how we will put this in and use this to help create letters As Mr Campbell was experiencing some difficulty working out the costs using a calculator and paper and you had suggested that you would create a system that helps him work out the cost very easily and is a very user friendly design (maybe a user guide to help those who find this system hard and need some help) and you should ensure that anybody with little knowledge of computers is able to change certain amounts e.g. amount of people to see how this affects the overall costs. Sana has also offered to create a system in which Mr Campbell can enter a pupils data, how much they have paid (deposit and other monies) and if he/her has brought in the reply slip, this system must also be able search within this data and pick out what you are asking to see. As well as creating a system that does this you must create a system that links to the list of names and using the information that you have searched for I should be able to create a letter to be sent to parents about reply slips, remainin g money etc. My user for this system is Mr Campbell and Mrs Mccloud and could be the deputy head, head teacher etc. As anyone who needs to know how many people will be missing school and how long for, other teachers will need this information to ensure that all important work is given before and after (this information could be presented in queries or reports). Many people will need to access this record or receive information about the trip so I should be able to send out pieces to teachers e.g. form, lesson etc about which dates will be missed. At the moment the business is run by Mr Campbell and he runs it by collecting information from letters and from pupils then writing it down into a log book but this way is too long and too hard so I will be creating a system which will significantly decrease the amount of time wasted by sifting through handwritten data. Sub problems involved In this task there are 4 different sub-problems within the system they are shown on the next page in the diagram with the problem being at the top and the sub problems being shown below and also how these sub problems are linked shown on the diagram. My first sub problem is my costing sheet which will work out all the separate and total costs of the trip. For this sub problem I could use Microsoft word and Microsoft excel. There are advantages and disadvantages of all of these problems and there are all listed below these will all help me to decide which would be the best method of working out these costs. I have chosen these two programs because in each one I can create tables. Different methods of tackling the problem In Microsoft word I can * Create a table * Merge cells * Change the page layout (portrait and landscape) * Change the background colour of the cells * Change the text colour of the cells * Change the justification of the cells * Make cells bold, italic or underlined * Auto fit the cells * I can sort the data * I can add formulas * Use a table auto format But using Microsoft word also has its disadvantages * Harder to change formulas * Harder to use * If something needed to be changed if would be harder for the user I think that Microsoft word isnt a very good program to use because even though you can do a lot of things with making the table and changing things within the table I dont feel that this is the right program to use as I would like a program specifically designed to do things like costing sheets as I have more experience with those so I am able to make them more user friendly and use more features on it. In Microsoft excel I can * Create a table * Merge cells * Change the page layout (portrait and landscape) * Change the background colour of the cells * Change the text colour of the cells * Change the justification of the cells * Make cells bold, italic or underlined * Auto fit the cells * I can sort the data * I can add formulas * Use a table auto format * Create graphs with data * Do auto sum * Use conditional formatting I can also do many other things that would be useful to the sub problem. The disadvantages of this is * it might seem hard to use the only problem I have with this program is that it could look hard top use but with a user guide and a colour coded system I think that that is over come easily and because I am able to do many different things with this package as I am more familiar to it and I think that that would benefit the user. Any methods of doing this would be better than handwriting it because then I would have to work everything out for each little change and keep writing out the results and this can be very time consuming so the best option is to use a computer with maybe a program that is able to create costing sheets For my second sub problem I am creating a poster to advertise this trip to France I am going to use Microsoft word, publisher or paint. I will be listing there advantages and disadvantages to help me to decide which one is more appropriate and suited to this task. Microsoft word is good because * can insert picture * can insert text * can make text boxes * can change colour, background and type and size and justification of text * can change colours etc of background * can insert tables to display data * can insert diagrams You can also do many other things with Microsoft word sop it would be a good program to use but I dont have as much freedom with the text etc then what I would have with another program in which I am able to do many more things. Paint is a good program to use because * I have a lot of freedom within this program * Can create my own lines and shapes and copy and paste parts easily * Can insert text boxes Microsoft paint also has many other good points but I still think I that this program isnt the most ideal because: * I dont now how to make it fit the whole page * Cant use word art, would have to copy and paste it There are also more problems with it and they wouldnt really influence my decision as I think that using paint is already to tedious from the above two problems so it isnt the most desirable solution. Microsoft publisher is good because * I have freedom * can insert picture * can insert text * can make text boxes * can change colour, background and type and size and justification of text * can change colours etc of background * can insert tables to display data * can insert diagrams I can also do other things with Microsoft publisher but they do not need to be stated as I dont feel that that has any tedious or major problems with it so feel that for this task it is the best piece of software to use. Using a computer and its software to tackle this sub problem rather than using a computer because it would take me a long time as well as designing it I would them need to draw and stick anything on then I would need to colour each drawing in staying within the lines and making sure the colour is even this isnt a very good thing because it would take vary long time and wouldnt look professional so for this task it is better to use a computer. For my third sub problem I am creating a record to store all the details about pupils and teachers going on this trip I will be using either of these two programs as I can use tables in both Mycroft access and Microsoft word. Microsoft word would be good to use because * I can make a table * I can sort the data * I can give the data titles The rest of what I can do with Microsoft word is irrelevant and there are too many problems to list with it because I count do much with this program and there is no use in listing it but I know for definable that I will not need to used this program as I cant even make forms or use queries. Microsoft access would be good to use because * I can create queries * Create forms * Search for and sort data * Create definite field headings for the record * Be able to mail merge this data There are also many other good points but I do not need to state them because of what is above and concerning this sub problem there arent any bad points of using this piece of software for this sub problem. Using a computer is much better than using a hand made system because in a hand made system you would have to write each one out and if any changes needed to be made I would have to re-write the whole sheet and finding data and taking parts of that data would also be very hard as I wouldnt be able to do it in a short period of time so using a computer would save time and frustration. For my fourth sub problem I am creating a letter which will need to be mail merged so I can do this quickly and efficiently. I can use two programs for this task Microsoft word pad and Microsoft word. They bother have there advantages and disadvantages and stating them will help me to decide which program is better. But I already know as I cannot mail merge in word pad and retyping this letter would take too long so I already know that Microsoft word is the best option as I can mail merge here. Using computer I much better than writing this letter out again and again or writing it out and leaving gaps for details because it is less time consuming if I do it this way sop using a computer is the much better option. Reusability Each of my sub problems can be used again. The first sub problem (costing sheet) is reusable because it is not just for one year because it can be used for later French trips or even other overnight trips because if anything needs to be changed like a cost for any one thing you can without changing any of the formulas as this costing sheet will be totally user friendly. The second sub problem (poster) will also be reusable because if you just change maybe the title and dates you will have a poster for another overnight trip or a poster for the same trip for a different year. The third sub problem (record) will also be reusable because if you were to delete the fields you would be able to reuse the system for a new year. The last sub problem (letter) will be reusable because if you were to use the record system to do this you would just need to delete previous records and put the new ones in and use it for next years and the years after trip. Testing For sub problem 1 (costing sheet) testing is needed. For sub problem 3 (record) testing is needed. For sub problem 4 (letter) testing is needed. Performance criterias Performance criteria sub problem 1 Must be able to merge cells Must be able to use formulas Must be able to do auto sum Must be able to do conditional formatting Must be bright Must be colourful Must have an interesting but easy to read font Must be able to make IF statements Must use absolute cell references Must be able to work out total income Must be able top work out total outgoings Must be able to work out the balance All the text will be aligned left It will be in times new roman It will have a font size of 12 In the title there will be a picture of the Eiffel tower The text must be in blue The title will have a blue background and white text. All titles must start with a capital letter. I will be using this to decide on the venue depending on how the transport costs It has to tell me if the trip can go ahead using an if statement It should fit onto one page I should ensure that there isnt a loss made I should be able to work out the minimum amount of people and use this in conditional formatting I should be able to limit the amount of people by using data validation I must be able to make a complicated IF statement Must be able to work out total costs Must be able to work out single costs e.g. travel, hotel, food, etc Performance criteria for sub problem 2 Must be bright and colourful Must use interesting fonts Must attract attention Must give dates of trip Must give price of trip Must give contact number Must give teachers name Performance criteria for sub problem 3 I must be able to link the tables Must be able to use these links to insert this data into the linked table Must be bale to create queries Must be bale to create reports Must be bale to create forms I musty be able to give a description of the fields I must be able to limit the field size I must be able to assign a key field I must be able to have a foreign key I must be able to change the data type to: * Text * Number * Auto number * Currency * Yes/no * Date and time I must be able to create a permanent field name Must be able to store data about each pupil and teacher attending the trip Must have a surname field Must have a forename field Must have an address field Must have a home phone number field Must have first deposit, second and third yes/ no fields Must be able to use this data to mail merge Performance criteria for sub problem four Must be able to mail merge in data Must be able to say which deposit has gone unpaid Must be able to say if we havent had a permission slip Must be able to give money remaining Must be able to give date Must be able to give total cost of trip Must say when next parents evening for the trip is Below I am stating the performance criteria for the whole system with headings to show which it is for so there will be no confusion Performance criteria for the whole system Performance criteria for first sub problem Must be able to merge cells Must be able to use formulas Must be able to do auto sum Must be able to do conditional formatting Must be bright Must be colourful Must have an interesting but easy to read font Must be able to make IF statements Must use absolute cell references Must be able to work out total income Must be able top work out total outgoings Must be able to work out the balance All the text will be aligned left It will be in times new roman It will have a font size of 12 In the title there will be a picture of the Eiffel tower The text must be in blue The title will have a blue background and white text. All titles must start with a capital letter. I will be using this to decide on the venue depending on how the transport costs It has to tell me if the trip can go ahead using an if statement It should fit onto one page I should ensure that there isnt a loss made I should be able to work out the minimum amount of people and use this in conditional formatting I should be able to limit the amount of people by using data validation I must be able to make a complicated IF statement Must be able to work out total costs Must be able to work out single costs e.g. travel, hotel, food, etc Performance criteria for second sub problem Must be bright and colourful Must use interesting fonts Must attract attention Must give dates of trip Must give price of trip Must give contact number Must give teachers name Performance criteria for the third sub problem I must be able to link the tables Must be able to use these links to insert this data into the linked table Must be bale to create queries Must be bale to create reports Must be bale to create forms I musty be able to give a description of the fields I must be able to limit the field size I must be able to assign a key field I must be able to have a foreign key I must be able to change the data type to: * Text * Number * Auto number * Currency * Yes/no * Date and time I must be able to create a permanent field name Must be able to store data about each pupil and teacher attending the trip Must have a surname field Must have a forename field Must have an address field Must have a home phone number field Must have first deposit, second and third yes/ no fields Must be able to use this data to mail merge Performance criteria for the last problem Must be able to mail merge in data Must be able to say which deposit has gone unpaid Must be able to say if we havent had a permission slip Must be able to give money remaining Must be able to give date Must be able to give total cost of trip Must say when next parents evening for the trip is