I have been given a task to make things easier for a travel agent called Type a Flight. Type a Flight is a travel agent which is situated in Warrington and it was established in 1995, it’s been 16 years now and it also has about 500 customers and 10 employees. The company does all its work manually. They keep their documents in filing cabinets. So when customers call in to book flights then they have to look in the cabinets for a document. This is very time consuming and due to this problem they could lose a fantastic amount of customers because they could get tired on the phone. Filing cabinets also take up a lot of space. This is getting very difficult and time consuming as the number of customers is rising on a daily basis. One of the problems is that it takes time writing letters by hand . For this problem I have come to the conclusion to make their things easier by making a database for them so it will be effortless for them to sort things out and make bookings, rather than wasting time searching through filling cabinets, plus if they had a database they will have more satisfied customers due to the fact that they will be able to work more quicker using a database. Another advantage of having a database is that they can serve more customers at the same time.
One of the problems is that it is time consuming to keep on writing new letters by hand so I have come to the conclusion of designing template letters. The advantage of this solution is that it saves time because the staff members do not have to write the letters out by hand instead they can post the template letters to the customers’ houses.
I have decided to create a database for type a flight so that there is less time being consumed. Instead of searching through your filling cabinet they will have a database so when a customer rings in, it will be easier to book their appointment. Therefore the company will become more popular.
Research
The type of database I have looked at was a sample database called type of flight. It contained stuff like if you have signed up or not, so you know if you will need to register.
Database: Type a Flight
Comment: The switchboard that I have looked at was called TYPE A FLIGHT and the logo was placed directly in the middle of the page. It contained a multiple choice of buttons like Search ID, Enter Gender, Date of Birth, Name, Enter ID etc. This made the database more beneficial. When you pressed a button there will be a query box so you can get the detail, plus there are queries and forms. Queries are based on databases and forms are based on queries.
Tasks
To do this task I will break it into five smaller tasks to make it easier. These tasks are:
* Getting information about the travel agency
* Design a logo and a slogan for the travel agency
* Create a database + Queries + Forms and final Switchboard
* Create a letterhead and design letter templates
* Writing reports at the end (User Guides)
Getting information about the travel agency
I can do this task by searching for information on the internet but will not do it this way because the agency might give some false information just to make the travel agency even more popular.
I can also do this task by asking the customers about the travel agency but I will not do this because it is time consuming and people will have different opinions about the travel agency.
I will do this task by going to the agency directly and interviewing the agency manager because it is more reliable and it is most likely that the agency will tell you only the true facts because they have to give proof as well. Here is my questionnaire below:
1. Is your travel agency experienced with controlling computers?
YES NO
2. Does your travel agency know how to design a letterhead?
YES NO
3. What is your opinion of your company confronting the inexperienced system?
4. Is your company developed properly?
YES NO
5. What is your opinion/thought towards the inexperienced system?
6. Do you think there is a more suitable way to develop the system?
7. What are your impressions?
8. Does your travel agency know how to form a template letter?
YES NO
9. Which of the following do you think your travel agency will prefer?
OLD SYSTEM NEW SYSTEM
10. What is the reason of you thinking this?
Design a logo and a slogan for the travel agency
I can do this task by hand, using a pen/pencil and a paper but will not do it this way because I am not a good drawer and the final logo will not be as neat or professional as a computer drawn.
I can also do this task by Microsoft Word but will not use this method because Microsoft Word does not have as many drawing tools and functions as Microsoft Paint which means it is not as easy to draw on Microsoft Word as it is on Microsoft Paint.
I will do this task by computer using Microsoft Paint because it is easy to erase errors and it is much easier and much simpler to draw on the computer when you have the specific drawing program.
Create a database + Queries + Forms and final Switchboard
I can do this task by hand using a pen and a paper but will not do it this way because the sheets will take up a lot of space and there will not be a backup copy of the database to keep it safe.
I can also do this task by using Open Office Base but will not use it because it is not as commonly used as Microsoft Access and it has fewer functions.
I will do this task by computer using Microsoft Access because you can easily edit the database and also make backup copies of it.
Create a letterhead and design letter templates
I can do this task by hand using pen and paper but will not do it this way because it is time consuming and it will be a really tiring job.
I can also do this task by using WordPad but will not use it because WordPad does not have as many functions as Microsoft Word does.
I will do this task by computer using Microsoft Word because it has a lot of functions to make creating letters easy and more professional.
Writing reports at the end (User Guides)
I can do this task by using pen and paper to write the report but will not do it this way because the report will be un-professional.
I can also do this task on computer using WordPad/Notepad but will not use it because it does not have as many functions as Microsoft Word.
I will do this task by using Microsoft Word because it has some really good functions to help create the report easily as well as edit it. It also has spelling and grammar checker which is a very good tool for checking spelling and grammar errors in the work.
Input, Output, Process and Storage
After research and looking at various tasks, I can establish what the input, process, output and storage of the system is.
Year 10
Ease of use
The final product that I will make will be easy for the company to use because it will be professional, neat and simple for anyone to understand. It will be easy to look for any customer’s information in the database just by typing the customer’s or staff’s name or their ID. The reports will be easy to understand because they would be done neatly on the computer and will consist of simple methods to help the user do a job properly. The company will also find it easier to create and send letters because they can just add a customer’s details from a database onto the letter by using the functions copy and paste. Then they can print the letters out so that they can be sent to the customers.
