The aim of this task

Essay, Pages 7 (1538 words)

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The aim of this task ,is to improve the existing system that southall illustration use, which is paper- based system that use to produce invoices and tracking customer's orders, and all financial information by the introducing a database system .

I need to justify the use of a database system by comparing Access with at least one other package such as; Excel.

Excel can be used as a database but it has severe limitations. In Access, southall illustration can do complex searches called Queries, produce quality Reports and suitable data entry forms.

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The company can also improve the database by making it relational. Excel is more suited to performing calculations functions.

A relational database application such as Access is better than Excel because it can mean the employee can spend less time on data entry and fewer errors.

Access saves files in MDB (Microsoft Database) format. It compresses all your tables, forms, queries and reports into a single file.

Sometimes it will be enough for southall illustration employee to see information on the screen but, on other occasion, they may need a printed report.

Complicated queries such as a duplicates query so they can produce a graph of how many customers etc there were in the total database - much easier in Access because there's a wizard for it.

Reports are probably easier in Access because of user friendly wizards. In Excel, all is possible using pivot tables

charts and graphs are easier in Excel - In Excel, the graphing and charting wizard works whereas there are many problems getting exactly what you want using the wizards as the starting point in Access.

If southall Illustration Company needed to ensure for example validation of data then validation function is just as good in both Access and Excel.

A simple data entry form for example that show customer details can be entered is probably easier and quicker to in Excel but if the company want to customise it then access is a better choice because of the wizards and design tools available.

Finally, if the southall illustration company wanted a customised data entry form, needed to produce a range of graphs and reports and do some specialised searching - so Access would be the perfect choice.

The consolation of my decision that Microsoft Access is the best application that suite the company need because this system will reduce the need of carried out some task manually such as producing invoices, tracking customer's orders, and all financial information

System equipment

* Needs to run on existing PC.

* Approximate budget of ï¿½300 for purchase of software and development costs.

What is database system?

A database is a collection of data that is organised so that its contents can easily be accessed, managed and updated. The most common type of database is the relational database, a tabular database in which data is defined so that it can be reorganised and accessed in a number of different ways.

Why did the company introduce it?

The company introduced databases so that information can be easier to access by workers and so that all the info and customer details can be stored in the system and be found quicker. Introducing databases is a good way of storing records and is very convenient for a company size of southall illustration as one advantage of having databases is that you can change and obliterate records if you need to.

Benefits of introducing the new system (Database system) to Southall Illustration Company

* Southall illustration would benefit from using database system because it will take up less space to store information on database than on paper

* Finding information is quicker than searching through paper records for example if southall illustration wanted to find a particular customer details they can use the quires function in database system to find it out.

* Information can be sorted into a particular order - this would be difficult with paper records, by using the sort function in the database southall illustration company would be able to sort particular details in ascending or descending order.

* Data can be moved easily into other applications e.g. a mail merged letter so the company could save time in managing their business.

* More than one computer can access the data at the same time that could save time for employee to do their work.

* It is easy to add/change information.

Southall illustration make use of the database system to store the detail of customers, employee, design templates, invoice and order details, I had produced five tables and entered different types of information.

How did I design the Tables?

* I Select Tables in the Object bar

The purpose of each table in my database design

Customers detail table - this will hold details such as the name and address of existing customers

Design table - this will hold details such as the design Id, font and the colour of the design templates

Employee table - this will hold details such as the employee firs name, last name, DOB, address and so on

Invoice table this will hold details such as the invoice Id, order date, quantity, ship name, and ship address

Order table -this will hold details such as the customer Id, invoice Id, design Id, employee Id, quantity and unit price

Relationship

Relationships used to prevent the duplication of information in a database by repeating fields in more than one table, table relationships can be established to link fields of tables together through the use of primary keys.

In the example below, the customer table and order table were related because every order a company receives comes from a particular customer that have a unique customer number this unique number identifies each customers and that show one-to-many relationship because one customer can make many order

The same rule apply to order table and employee table because one employees can take many order, there is other type of relationship called one-to-one relationship as shown in order table with the invoice table that mean one order can have one invoice The same rule apply to order table and design table because one order can have one design.

Query

Queries mean selecting records from one or more tables in a database so they can be viewed, analyzed, and sorted on datasheet

In the example below Southall illustration used queries to find some specific information in the database such customer Id and customer names begin with the letter A

How did I design the Query?

* Select Queries in the Object bar

* I add Customer details table to the query and select all fields to be included in the output.

Customer ID query

In this example, in the field Customer Id column and the Criteria row, key in: [enter customer id], ensure the customer query is open

Click the Run button

The customers Id are displayed

Customer names begin with the letter A query

In this example, in the field Customer first name column and the Criteria row, key in: Like "a*", ensure the customer query is open

All first name beginning with "a" are displayed

Forms

Forms are used as an alternative way to enter data into a database table

For instance, southall illustration used forms to help the company to see all the fields in one screen, while if they were in the table view, they would have to keep scrolling to get the field they want.

How did I design the Forms?

* Click on the Forms button and then double-click on Create form by using wizard.

* Then chose the style you like to appear in your form

Customer details form

Design form

Employees form

Invoice form

Order form

Report

Reports will organize and group the information in a table or query and provide a way to print the data in a database.

For example Southall Illustration used report to retrieved information from a

table or query such as invoice

How did I design the Report?

* Click on the Reports button and then double-click on Create report by using wizard.

* The next Report Wizard Box appears.

* The next Report Wizard box appears, that will allow you to sort your report

* Then chose the style you like to appear in your report

Southall Illustration invoice Report

Southall illustration invoice query Report

Data dictionary

Customer table

Design table

Employee table

Invoice table

Order table

Test plan

Testing is the process of checking all the function of the system work as planned and gives correct result. The main reason for test plan is to produce a test plan that would enable someone who knows nothing about the system to be able to test it thoroughly.

Test No.

Test /Data

Reason for the test

Expected Result

Errors

and problem

Validation

0905/07

Test validation rule on Employee Id field

Rejected and error message to appear

N/A

Report