Dorking Driving School

Geoffrey Golding established Dorking Driving School in 1928. When Geoffrey established the school he had been a driving instructor for thirty-six years. When Geoffrey passed away in early 2000, his wife, Gloria, took charge of the business. Since the driving school was established it has blossomed into a very well known school and has a good reputation. The school has nineteen full-time, five part-time instructors and only one office staff at the current time. The number of members varies at different times of the year, but most of the instructors are busy for the majority of the time. However, students that join the school are entered into the database and remain there for 12 months after they have finished their lessons, presuming that they passed their test. The receptionist, Sarah Davis, is responsible for entering the new customers into the database and arranging which instructors will be assigned to teach the lessons, as well as dealing with the other paperwork. It is the main driving school in the county of Surrey. As a result of the schools position and reputation in the area it is a very profitable company. The school has a test center that is attached to the main driving school, so when the customers have finished their lessons they can just go straight for the test. This makes it a quick and easy process for them.

The problem

The Dorking Driving School, despite its past success, is having a few problems. One problem is that the school is encountering is that sometimes they have students that are due to have driving lessons, but no instructor to teach them because the planning of distributing the instructors has not been done accurately enough. Other problems that the school encounters often is that they have a lot of trouble keeping track of their members and instructors and in the event of double booking, however, this does not often happen as Sarah can see if the required slot is already taken. They keep the information about the members and instructors in folders on a shelf in their head office. This is all paper, therefore is often lost or misplaced. As a result of this situation, Sarah Davis has to get up and walk over to the shelf and work her way through the entire folder until she can find the particular one that she is looking for.

My Solution

In order to solve this problem the driving school would like a system to be put in place on the head office computer that is able to store all the information about the members and instructors that belong to the driving school, and the lessons that the school hold. This system should also be able to be used to plan which instructors are used to teach which lessons with which members.

Details about the current system

Adding a new member

1. The new member phones and says that they want to become a member and have lessons with the driving school.

2. Sarah takes a new member form out of a folder in the bottom draw of her desk.

3. Sarah asks the new member for the various details that are needed to complete the form, such as their name, age and address.

4. The new member tells Sarah all the information about himself or herself that is needed.

5. Sarah enters this information into the form.

6. The call between Sarah and the new member is ended.

7. Sarah gets up from her desk and walks over to the shelf on the other side of the room and places the new member form in the member folder on the shelf.

8. Sarah walks back to her desk to continue with her previous work.

A member books a lesson

1. A member phones up and says that they want to book a lesson.

2. Sarah answers the phone.

3. Sarah asks them to hold on the end of the phone.

4. She gets up from her desk and walks over to the shelf to pick up the lesson and test book, she then walks back to the desk and picks up the phone.

5. She asks the member what date they wish to have a lesson.

6. The member states when they wish to have a lesson and Sarah proceeds through the book to find this date. She looks at the time availability for this and tells the member the available lesson slots with each of the instructors.

7. The member decides on a particular lesson slot and Sarah enters the required details from the member into the slot and so that lesson slot is now taken.

8. The call between Sarah and the member is ended.

9. Sarah gets up from the desk and walks over to the shelf on the other side of the room and places the lesson and test book back on the shelf.

10. Sarah walks back to her desk to continue with her previous work.

A member cancels a lesson

1. A member phones up and says that have previously booked a lesson, however, they now want to cancel it.

2. Sarah answers the phone.

3. Sarah asks them to hold on the end of the phone.

4. She gets up from her desk and walks over to the shelf to pick up the lesson and test book, she then walks back to the desk and picks up the phone.

5. She asks the member when they had a lesson booked for and with which instructor.

6. The member tells Sarah and she looks in the lesson and test book and finds the particular lesson.

7. She confirms with the member that they want cancel the lesson and erases the booking.

8. That particular lesson now becomes available for other members to book a lesson.

9. The call between Sarah and the member is ended.

10. Sarah gets up from the desk and walks over to the shelf on the other side of the room and places the lesson and test book back on the shelf.

11. Sarah walks back to her desk to continue with her previous work.

A member books a practice test

1. A member phones up and says that they want to book a test.

2. Sarah answers the phone.

3. Sarah asks them to hold on the end of the phone.

4. She gets up from her desk and walks over to the shelf to pick up the lesson and test book, she then walks back to the desk and picks up the phone.

5. She asks the member what date they wish to have the test.

6. The member states when they wish to have the test and Sarah proceeds through the book to find this date. She looks at the time availability for this and tells the member the available test slots with each of the instructors.

7. The member decides on a particular test slot and Sarah enters the required details from the member into the slot and so that test slot is now taken.

8. The call between Sarah and the member is ended.

9. Sarah gets up from the desk and walks over to the shelf on the other side of the room and places the lesson and test book back on the shelf.

10. Sarah walks back to her desk to continue with her previous work.

A member cancels a practice test

1. A member phones up and says that have previously booked a test, however, they now want to cancel it.

2. Sarah answers the phone.

3. Sarah asks them to hold on the end of the phone.

4. She gets up from her desk and walks over to the shelf to pick up the lesson and test book, she then walks back to the desk and picks up the phone.

5. She asks the member when they had a test booked for and with which instructor.

6. The member tells Sarah and she looks in the lesson and test book and finds the particular test.

7. She confirms with the member that they want cancel the test and erases the booking.

8. That particular test now becomes available for other members to book a test.

9. The call between Sarah and the member is ended.

10. Sarah gets up from the desk and walks over to the shelf on the other side of the room and places the lesson and test book back on the shelf.

11. Sarah walks back to her desk to continue with her previous work.

Resources available

* Software available

The main type of software that the school need on their head office computer is a database application system. They need a piece of software like Microsoft Access because it is very good for solving the problems, such as, you can create relationships between tables, filters, and store and search a huge amount of data. The driving school needs these qualities from their system in order to store details about their customers, instructors and lessons and practice tests. Relationships between tables is very important because when a member books a lesson, and Sarah enters their surname, it should appear with the appropriate details needed about the member on the form for booking a lesson. Filters are needed in the event of when an instructor needs his lesson timetable printed out, Sarah can just filter through all lessons that the particular instructor is going to teach and then print them out. In order to solve the problems that the driving school are experiencing at the moment the new database needs to store a lot of data, for example, the details of all members and instructors, lesson and test timetable, etc. The Windows XP home edition will provide the required services demanded by the school.

* Hardware available

Dorking Driving School will need a new computer and basic printer in order to run this system. The monitor needed would be a 17inch flat screen because it is suitable size and the school does not need a big computer monitor; a flat screen is relatively essential because desk will be saved. The computer would need to have an Intel(r) Pentium(r) 4 Processor 2.80GHz because don’t need processes to be done super quick, but at the same time cannot be on the end of a phone with a customer waiting for the computer to load. They need roughly 2048MB of RAM because they may need to access a number of programs/ tables/ forms, etc. at one time, and a 160GB 7200RPM hard drive to store all the appropriate data for the customers, instructors, lessons, and practice tests. No graphics or sound cards would be needed because the school don’t require them in order to run the business. The school would need a laser jet printer that is a non-colour printer. The reason for this is that all the printer will be used for is print out black and white paperwork.

* End User Skills

Training for the staff (Sarah) would just be minor training. She knows her way around a computer easily, however, she would need to be taught how to navigate and perform certain tasks within this particular system. In order for Sarah to be able to do the above, she will receive a mornings training, prior to when the system will be ready, by some one who will be brought in from outside of the company. She will be the only staff member trained to use the system.

End user requirements

Sarah is the only office worker for the school in their head office. When she was asked, “What would you like to see included in the new system?” she answered with the following responses.

1. “My job would be made a lot less chaotic and mad if all the papers that I deal with were built into the system, and customers won’t have to wait on the end of the phone.”

2. “It would be so much easier to keep track of how many instructors and members we have if it was logically stored.”

3. “If the lessons and tests book was in the system as well that would be good because the hand written one gets so messy when people cancel or change lessons or tests.”

4. “I want to be able to search the system for members, instructors and particular days, times or lessons.”

5. “I want it to be a system that is easy to use.”

Objectives

1. All the files for members, instructors and bookings must be accessible to the user within the system.

2. To store all the files and details in a logical and user-friendly way.

3. Also include the lessons and tests book in the system.

4. The system will have a searching tool in order for the user to quickly gather information for a customer.

5. The system will be an easy-to-use system.

6. The system must be able to filter information about lessons for particular customers or instructors.

7. There must be relationships between tables so that one table can retrieve data about a customer or instructor from another table.

8. To be able to book lessons or practice tests for a particular customer.

Security

The Data Protection Act states that companies must keep all private information, that belongs to its customers, safe and secure, so unauthorised people cannot access it. In order for the school to comply with these regulations, the system that they have will posses a password so that the unauthorised will not be able to gain access.