Implementation of my Database for Emma’s DVD Rental Shop

Emma’s DVD rental shop in Birmingham. It started in 2008. It started in Birmingham by Emma’s Pegg. When I later then realised that there was a gap in the market in the area. Originally I rented out films and computer games but the popularity of DVD’S increased rapidly in the years I decided to start my own business as a DVD renter.

At the moment I work in the business shop myself and employ four assistants so that the shop can be open from 9am until 10pm everyday.

I do not have a computer system setup at the moment and rely on that the paper based things to keep records of DVD’S and the people who have borrowed them. I have to be careful that DVD’S are rented out in good condition, so that they will be returned I can see if the member has scratched or marked them in anyway.

Emma’s and her assistants are often asked, if they have a particular film in stock. Sometimes members don’t know what they want, they might ask for a general type such as action thriller.

Many members complain about the bad language in films and get annoyed and they ask if there are any films that do not have that bad language in.

All of my members have to fill in a membership form when they first start using the service. And I need to know basic details such as their names, address and phone numbers as well as their date of birth. , as some DVD’S are Age registered. Then I issue the member with a membership card and I ask a

Member to choose a pin for security purposes. The pin is not written on the card but I keep a record of it.

I now have around 500 members on my data base and books that I have recorded. And over 10,000 DVD’s for hire, with about 200 given out on hire at any given time.

Now my business is doing well and more members are joining everyday. A new business park is due to open shortly. And I expect that lots of people who work there will come and use my rental shop and come and hire them during there lunch break and take them home in the evenings.

Problems to be solved:

1. Emma’s finds it hard to keep track on all stock that he has. Sometimes, this has resulted in theft and non -return of items of hire.

2. When a new DVD is received from the supplier, someone has to fill in a record card with the details on of the DVD. This is taking far too long and diverts staff from serving customers.

3. When a new customer registers as a member, it takes too long to fill in a record card for the customer.

4. When a member changes personal details, the record card has to be alerted and some of these are getting very messy.

5. It takes ages to find out if a particular DVD is on as all the record cards have been looked through.

6. Members sometimes lose their membership cards and new ones have to be written out.

Objectives:

I have been interviewed and after much discussion, it has been decided that I need a system that will, at the very least have the following capabilities.

1. Allow quick recording of the details of new DVD’S. A new DVD should take no longer than two minutes to enter into a system.

2. Keep track of where each DVD is at any given time.

3. Allow quick booking out and return of DVD’S. This should take no longer than a minute.

4. Allow quick registration of new customers and the amending of their details.

5. Print membership cards.

6. Allow a quick search of member’s details.

7. Hold the necessary details for 50,000 DVD’S and 2,000 members, to allow for expansion of the business.

8. Make it easy to back up the data.

Alternative solutions

These are more than one way to approach this problem.

1. Stay with the paper based solution

Advantages:

– There will be no need to invest in computer hardware and software.

– There will be no need for any extra expensive training.

– The system exists already so there will be no ‘down time’ during changeover.

Disadvantages

– As the business grows, the problems of data access will grow.

– Mistakes will continue to be made damaging the effectiveness of the business.

– Not future prove.

2. Store member and DVD details in the spreadsheet file.

Advantages

– This requires very little effort to set up.

– Details can be backed up, answering one of their concerns.

– It is easy to re-order data and make chart summaries if required.

Disadvantages

– It is not possible to connect the data about DVDs, members and loans in a meaningful way.

– Some data will be stored in more than one place, such as the details of DVDs in stock and on loan. This will lead to mistakes and inconsistencies.

– Future expansion will not be easy with such a basic system.

3. Set up a relational database

Advantages

– The data about DVDs, members and loans can be held just once, in separate tables.

– The tables can be linked so that data can be displayed as required.

– Queries can be used to extract whatever details are needed.

– Reports are available for any printed output.

– It is much easier to expand the database in the future, because the existing tables do not necessarily have to be redesigned.

– There are lots of tools available for producing an easy-to-use interface.

Disadvantages

– The solution will take much longer to put together.

– Considerable work will have to be done to set up the database objects.

Conclusion

i have chosen access because overall it is much easier and will serve all needs effectively now and into the foreseeable future, a relational database will be produced. Microsoft access provides all the tools needed to make this.

DVD table

This is the table that I have created to store the DVD information in.

Job table

This is the table that stores the information on the jobs and what position and salary etc.

Membership table

This is the table you use for all the members information, like their contact details and proof of ID.

Price band table

This is the price band table it tells you witch bit of the job your roll you have got how much you earn.

Rentals Table

This is the rentals table and it shows you what people have rented and the code, date due back etc.

Staff table

This is the staff table it has the staffs code, title, forename etc. all the relative information of the staff.

Queries

This is the design view of the search box. I have created

It automatically if you type in the title box then what title you want and press ok, it automatically comes up. Just like the day it was realised one.

Rentals

This is the queries rentals file. As you can see all the relationships are linked together. And then this is the rentals and how people rent things and you keep track of them.

This is the queries rentals file it shows you all the relative information.

Then if you click on the arrow right next to the picture. The first one that comes up is auto form.

This is ‘create a form in design view’. What you do in this is all you do is simply creating a form in design view.

This is create a form by using a wizard this is completely different to design view, you use a different program.

How you change the background of what you want is you click design view

Then you click on DVDS main and right click.

Then this comes up and you click a colour you want.

Then the colour is changed

You can have whatever colour you want.

How you create a form is you click on one of these like DVDs 1.

Then this comes up, but how you get that is you go in create a form in wizard, and set it up

And that is what comes up when you click on create a form using wizard. And you just do it according to your choice.

Then the next step is you name the form with a suitable name that is appropriate for the purpose.