An I.T. System for a Video Rental Store Essay Example for Free

An I.T. System for a Video Rental Store Essay Contents * Choice of Problem * Description of Problem * Investigation and Analysis of Problem * Specification of Solution * Design of Solution * Implementation of Solution: * Resources Required * Data Collection, Capture and Input * Data Verification and Validation * Output Format * Testing of Solution * Documentation of Solution * Evaluation of Solution Choice of Problem I live in large city called London. My Grandfather runs a video shop there under the name Video Rentals LTD. Has a large and varied amount of stock that he finds hard to keep track of. At the moment he employs a card index system but this has its limitations: * Cards often get misfiled meaning that extra time has to be spent refilling and amending lost data. * On average it takes 30 seconds to search for a record, at busy times this is too long. * The shop currently has about 150 customers, which means that to find a record it may take a long time, this will delay the time that it takes to sort through the records and therefore customers may not want to wait that long and may go to another shop. Description of Problem At my grandfathers video shop the current system involves filing all the information in a filing cabinet. This is a manual system as all the data is hand written. I believe that because of this the video shop needs a computerised system, which will make the database better. There will be graphical menu System that will link all the forms and queries together. My database project will allow the shopkeeper to edit, create and delete record details of members, videos and loans. Investigation To find out more about what the database required I phoned my Grandfather. I wanted to know: * The precise objectives of the new system * The problems or weaknesses in the current manual system * The information that needs to be kept on each customer * The required output * The volume of data (e.g. number of existing customers, number of new customers each year/month) * Any hardware or software constraints. My evaluation will be based firstly on whether it works properly, secondly that it is faster in finding a particular video or client than the existing manual system and thirdly that my Grandfather finds it easy to use. Specification of Solution Objectives of the new system * It should take less than thirty seconds to establish whether a customer is already on file. * It should be possible to go directly from the Customer Details form to the entry of a video that that customer has hired, without having to re-enter the customers name, etc. * Data entry should be as fast and as easy as possible, particularly as there are several hundred existing customers and videos to be entered when the system is first installed. * It be able to show who has rented what video and when. * There must be provision for more than one video to be hired at once by the same person. * The new system is required to provide the following information: * A list of all business customers * A list of all customers interested in a certain type of video such as horror, comedy etc. * A list of customers whose numbers of rentals exceeds a given value. * A list of all rentals that are overdue and need chasing. * It should be possible to send a standard letter to selected customers, using criteria mentioned above. * The user must be able to create new letters whenever needed and perform a mail merge to selected customers. * The main menu should be displayed automatically when the database is loaded, and the whole system should be menu driven. Design of Solution A database package will be ideal for implementing the system for my Grandfathers video rental shop. He has requested that it is done in Access 97 so this is the package that must be used. It would probably be possible to implement the system using Visual Basic or another programming language but it would take a lot longer and would involve the owners having to buy more software which is not really necessary, as Access has all the capabilities required. I already have some experience of Access 97 and it is available in my house for development. Using this package it will be possible to: * Set up the necessary tables and relationships * Produce customised input screens, using Visual Basic to automate data entry wherever possible and to perform various validations * Use Visual Basic modules to enable fast searches for a particular customer and past jobs * Design reports as needed * Make and save queries to select certain customers for a mail merge * Implement a customised menu system On starting up the database, I will design it so that you are presented with a main menu that is linked to the client and video databases, which in turn are linked to each other. I will make it so that on each of the forms there are buttons that enable you to scroll between records, delete records and search for records. If you choose to search for a record then you will be prompted to enter the details of the record you want. The database will be menu orientated so I will make a separate options menu that is linked to everything else. The options menu will also contain a help menu that will cover everything that is covered in the user manual. My system will be based on two separate files, one is of the customers and the other is of the videos in stock. Each record in whichever file will only contain one video or customer, and contain fields like name, address, video name, and certificate. The implementation will begin with the design of the database, then data capture forms, entry screens and output screens. Before the database is put in to use I will test the system using a range of valid and invalid data to make sure the system works as it should. I will then create a user manual that will support the system and its functions. Implementation of Solution Resouces Required I have chosen to design and make my database in Access version 97 because this is the program that the final product will be used on. It allows me to create customized data input screens and has a wide range of validation checks available, so unless a good reason transpires for using an alternative program or package, Access will be the first choice of software. In order to run Access 97 and be able to perform a mail merge using Word, a minimum of a Pentium 133 system with 16Mb, wil be required. A faster processor may be needed if the system is going to appear slow in switching between screens and searching for records. When the system is up and running it will take up about 5Mb. The user has a Pentium 300 with 16Mb, which will be perfectly suitable, and similar machines are available for development work in my house at school. My Grandfather is familiar with Word and has good keyboard skills, so should have no problem in entering the data but may need help in doing some of the more complicated functions. In the future he would like to improve his knowledge of Access so that he can perform new queries and reports as the need arises. Data Collection, Capture and Input Three data input forms are needed: 1. Customer Details This form will be used for several purposes so it needs to be able to: * Add a new customer * Look through the current clients and see what videos they have hired. Validations will be performed automatically. The Member ID field will be an integer and letter field so that it is more personalised. Wherever possible default values will be inserted automatically (e.g. most customers are from Ludlow so the relevant fields will default to those values). Tab order will also be used to speed data entry, so each field will have a certain order in which the data is entered. The form will be straightforward and follow in a top-to-bottom order. 2. Video Details This needs basically to be the same kind of layout and make up as the customer details form except that the fields are those to do with the video. I shall use a validation rule for things such as the videos certificate which can only be one of five (18,15,12,PG,U) and have validation text that warns if the data has been incorrectly inputted. 3. Hire Details This form is designed to make the inputting of information much easier and quicker than searching for a customer and ammending the details every time. It just requires you to input the video number and the client number. Everything else is done automatically. If the wrong client or video number is given then a dialogue box comes up telling you so. You will also have the ability to go staright to a clear form so that a new customer can be added or ammended. Validations will be performed automatically. The client number field will be made up of two numbers and a capital letter, 11A for example. All text that is inputted will automatically be put into upper case lettering for ease. A sample of a data capture form is in the appendix. This is how the system will operate: The diagram shows how the menus will be linked. The hire details are entered in and stored to the various tables. Then comes th possibility of ammending a current customer or adding a new one. Data Verification and Validation Access allows you to say what type of data is included in any field, and also allows me to say the maximum length allowed for any particular field. It also gives the possibility of making input masks for the field. The First and Last Name fields will always be text and most names will be shorter than twenty letters. The House Name/ Number field allows for three digits to be put in first eg 112 Orpen Drive. In fields like Sex, Title and Form Of ID, I have coded it so that only the abreviations of the input are required, and even then the input is one of a choice. This speeds up entry time and reduces the possiblilty for error. The input masks and validation rules reduce data being incorrectly inputted, but they do not completey reduces errors. Data such as name and address, can not be validated, so it has to be verified by the user when the information is being entered. This verification involves manually checking each record to ensure accuracy. Output Format I wanted the output in my database to ocupy 3 sections, the visual display forms, the query which was a search output and the mail merge. I will now show that I have completed those task. First of all here is my Main form, which links all the other forms and functions together. Another output would be the members table I Also designed a query to find all the curent videos that are on loan. ID number of Member ID number of DVD ID number of Video Date Out Date In Surname Of Member Name of DVD Name Of Video Old Member Cost She1 dv004 1 25/7/01 27/7/01 Sheppard The Mummy The Fast one Yes à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2.95 My mail merge is contained at the end of this project. User Guide To load the database click on the database file twice quickly (double click) To save the database click file, the save. Or just click on the icon that looks like this. If you require any further help try microsofts built in help progam. Then is one in Help/Microsoft assistant. And also one accesible by pressing the start button. Then on the help file. Testing of Solution I am going to test my database using a variety of correct and incorrect data. In doing this I hope to find any problems with the system, and in doing this finding the solution. The test results for the major tests are shown below. Errors which came to light during the test were corrected and all tests gave expected results. Test 1: test password When the correct password was entered the database opened. Otherwise the following message was displayed: Test 2: Entering client information Client details entered. All different options, defaults and fields were tested during data entry. The tests resulted in some minor changes of the input masks, such as the number of characters allowed in the address field was not big enough for my address. Test 3: Deleting a record A client was deleted and the result were as expected, access alowed me to delte the record, after promiting me in what I was about to do. I also needed to test whether or not my query worked, to do this I first loaded it up. I was asked to type in th date when the video was due back so I typed in 27/11/01 and the query found the following result. As the query found the right result I believe that my query works correctly. Evaluation of Solution By looking at my testing I can conlcude that my database is succesfull, as all the buttons, tables and queries work correctly. If I look at my my evaluation crtitera I can say whether or not I have completeed them. * It should take less than thirty seconds to establish whether a customer is already on file (Query member search) DONE * It should be possible to go directly from the Customer Details form to the entry of a video that that customer has hired, without having to re-enter the customers name, etc. (Relationships) DONE * Data entry should be as fast and as easy as possible, particularly as there are several hundred existing customers and videos to be entered when the system is first installed. (Data flow) DONE * It be able to show who has rented what video and when. (loan table) DONE * There must be provision for more than one video to be hired at once by the same person. IMCOMPLETE * The new system is required to provide the following information: * A list of all rentals that are overdue and need chasing. (Date due back query) DONE * It should be possible to send a standard letter to selected customers, using criteria mentioned above. (Mail merge) DONE * The user must be able to create new letters whenever needed and perform a mail merge to selected customers. (Mail merge wizard) DONE Seeing as I have completed nearly all of my evaluation points I believe that I can say that my database project is a complete success.

Suriname :: essays research papers

In this essay I will compare and contrast the approaches and goals of Richard and Sally Price and S. Allen Counter and David Evens on the topic of Maroon arts of the Suriname. I will explain how they present their findings. And tell what I think they would say the most important discovery or confirmation is. After all of this is done I will do follow up art historical research in the same area. The main focus of my research would be why anyone would be interested in finding out more about this particular region?fs art. The calabash maroon arts would be the art form I would research (relying on the experiences of the authors), giving a brief description of the research I would undertake. I will provide information on how I got the much-needed information about this art form. Also stating if I talked to anyone and why. Lastly describing what questions I would want answered if any.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   First, I would like to talk about the approach that Sally and Richard Price had when doing their research on the Maroon arts of Suriname. I believe the Price?fs approach was to answer what they called what is undoubtedly the most difficult, politically charged and hotly debated aspect of the study of these arts: their deep culture-historical roots. The Price?fs went to Suriname to do research on these archeological people to find out if these Maroon art works such as calabash bowls were truly African in origin, or if they have other sources that have provided an influence on them that is far beyond Africa. There was a re-emergence in the Maroon arts that?fs unexplainable to many scholars that have studied them. The Price?fs term this as a ?gunique balance of continuity-in-change?h. What this term means is, they feel there was a lack of documentation during these times and the arts where always around and there was no disappearing act. Counter and Evens went to Suriname find Africa. They believe that Africa and the Suriname Maroons have a direct connection other than being of African decent as far as the arts are concerned. I believe both the Price?fs and Counter and Evens had the same goals in mind, which was to find answers. To find out the unknown of these arts of the maroons, but their intentions were totally different. Like I stated earlier, Counter and Evens wanted to find Africa.

Union Movement in Late 19th Century

During 1870 through 1900 workers joined together; responding to the power of their employers caused by the growth of industrialization. The worker did not always have the luxury of leaving after eight hours of work, the right to representation, or the even the right to work in a safe environment. The working people of nineteenth century America had to unite in struggle to achieve the gains that are often taken selfishly and taken for granted today. There were many successes and failures in organized labor; the successes were often obtained through the loss of the worker, often through lost wages, jobs, or even death. The organization structure of the union during 1870 through 1900 went through different cycles and strategies to achieve what they wanted. One of the first effective regional organized unions was the Knights of Labor formed in 1869. The knights took in not only skilled workers but also any worker that could be truly classified as a producer. The knights took their peek in 1885 when strikes against Union Pacific, Southwest System, and Wabash railroads attracted public sympathy and succeeded in preventing a reduction in wages, at this time they boasted a membership of 700,000. 1886 was a troubled year for labor relations. There were nearly 1,600 strikes involving 600,000 workers, with the eight-hour day being the important item for all of the strikes. Failure of some of the strikes and internal conflicts between the skilled workers and the unskilled led to a decline in the Knights popularity and influence. Another organization called the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions created a constitution that other unions could adhere to. This constitution met in Pittsburgh on Nov. 15 1881 and was created by representatives of the cigar makers, the printers, the merchant seamen, steel workers, carpenters and local units of the Knights of Labor. One of the most important items in the constitution created by the FOTLU recommended that the legal eight-hour work day be an objective for every union to achieve. The FOTLU thus accelerated a strong national push for a shorter work week. The AFL grew from 140,000 in 1886 to nearly on million by 1900. With these strengths in numbers they often preferred striking over political action. The struggle for workers rights, wage increases and protests against wage cuts were often unsuccessful resulting in violence and death. Chicago workers were agitating for the eight-hour work day for months. On May 1st and 2nd 1886 were eighty thousand workers went on strike, bringing most of Chicago†s manufacturing to a standstill. On May 3rd a fight between hundreds of strikers and non-union replacements broke out. Chicago police quickly moved in to restore order, leaving four unionists dead and many wounded. Angered by the deadly force of the police a group of anarchists called on workers to arm themselves and participate in the massive protest demonstration in Haymarket Square on May 4. Only 3,000 members assembled and started out peacefully until late evening when someone still not known to this day threw a bomb that killed seven policemen and injured 67 others. Even though no evidence was ever found about who threw the bomb four anarchists were found guilty and sentenced to death. Ever since the Haymarket square symbolized for radicals and trade unionists everywhere the injustice of a capitalistic society but also associated negatively unions as un-American, criminalistic, and violent. Many other activists died or received injuries for their cause all around the country. In July of 1877 strike riots halted the movement of U. S. railroads. After a few weeks of shutting down most of countries railroad system federal troops were sent in to try to end the nationwide strike. This resulted in more violence and death; in Chicago for example federal troops killed 30 workers and wounded over 100. On June 14, 1877 in Pennsylvania ten coal-mining activists were hanged. October 1887 the Louisiana militia shot 35 unarmed black sugar workers striking to gain a dollar-per-day wage and lynched two strike leaders. 1894 federal troops killed 34 American Railway Union members in Chicago attempting to break a strike. July 1892 three hundred Pinkerton guards helped introduce scabs into the workplace by opening fire on striking Carnegie mill steel workers, this resulted in the death of seven guards and eleven strikers. The idea of demonstrations was often to get the attention of management to show that they mean business and can†t be pushed around so easily. New York garment workers won the right to unionize after a seven-month strike. They secured agreements for a closed shop, and firing of all scabs. Striking miners in Idaho dynamited the Frisco Mill. Leaving it to ruins, getting the attention they wanted. The popularity and growth of unions everywhere showed companies that they are not going to walk over their workers as easily as they did in the past. Although union demonstrations resulted in workers being injured, dead or fired they set the way for unions in the future to be successful in their endeavors. These demonstrations were successful in the fact that they showed management and companies that the American worker can unite and be heard as one voice rather than a mass of passive workers that would take any injustice given to them. It is to these unions that we owe many of the benefits and rights we see and use today, such as fighting injustices such as biases and discrimination, winning the right to representation and collective bargaining, and the right for education for every child.

The Chicago Teachers Union And Chicago Public Schools

Georgis, Donnell, Mike, Moose For the second time in almost 4 years, over 350,000 Chicago Public School Students may not be able to go to school because of the CTU Strike that is currently in progress today (The Washington Post). The issue between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools has not been solved yet due to disagreements about the income received. The Chicago Teachers Union has made offers to school administrations; however, the responses were not in their favor. The union has been in progress of agreeing on a contract â€Å"since November 2011, [and the strike that occurred at the time] was the first to hit the Windy City in 25 years† (Liebelson). The issue must have erupted due to a misconception or a realization of problems occurring. Chicago Teachers Union choosing to strike does not affect charter schools since they are not a part of Chicago Public Schools. The issue of school strikes can be fixed by increasing the budgets and providing useful resources to teachers in order to improve the level of education. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) Strike in 2012 affected every single Chicago Public School and their Students in 2012. The strike affected about 600 public schools which is over 350, 000 students. The CTU began negotiating their contract with CPS in November of 2011, but their demands were not met. Since the negotiating did not solve the issue, the Chicago Teachers Union chose to organize a strike for the first time in Chicago in 25 years.Show MoreRelatedCollective Bargaining, Reviewing The Process And The Issues That Commonly Present Themselves1196 Words   |  5 PagesThemselves Lucila Munoz* I. Introduction Throughout the years organizations and unions have struggled for rights and benefits for workers. 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The Chicago s tudy gave students the benefits of learning social and business skills through