M1 improvements unit 43

I have chosen the black and purple colour scheme because I believe that those two colour's go together in the department that I am doing. Also the improvements that I have made is that even though I have changed the background colour I have also included a logo into this tour. This would meet the users requirements because it would be easy access for those who will use this tour and it will have all the necessary information and images that will be crucial for those who like IT. The font size and style would be Verdana (body) with the size ranging from 12 - 28 this would be because people who cannot really see that well but they will be able to see the heading of what section of the tour that they are in because of the size of the lettering and I will be including images into each section of the tour so the people who are visually impaired can see what is happening and with the colour of the background it would make the images standout even better and it is every eye-catching (in a different sense).

House style

storyboard

video was originally meant to go into the idea

p2 prototype

The changes that I have made to my Prototype is that I was originally going to add videos but I removed the idea from my storyboard because I wouldn't of had enough time to complete the video and embed it into my tour

Unit 43 P1

The department that I have chosen to do the IT department and I have chosen to do the IT department because I believe that the IT department is a major factor in the future endeavors of the school as a whole. Also I believe that the IT department will attract a massive audience because more students will want to get either GCSE's or A-levels in the subject. The platform the the IT department uses is mainly PCs (personal computers) and the students will use the PC to create certain Internet and computer system based software, like Illustrator and Dream weaver.  

Sounds/ Audio
Sounds and Audios can be used in virtual tours for the people who cannot see very well and this will help so the parents can easily understand what it is like in the department that I have chosen to do and the purpose of adding sounds and audios is to inform parents (who have a loss of sight) what the IT department has to offer and it fits well for the purpose because if the parents think that the sound and audio are well presented then it is going to make the department and the school look more professional. The audience of the sounds and audio would be the parents of potential students because the parents would want to get the general idea of what the major departments are like (Maths, English, Science and IT). The main business objectives of the school is to promote the school as a whole and the IT department is the main contributor to the promotion.

Images
The Images can contribute to the people who are audio impaired and for those who don't have the time to watch on line videos of the school and their departments, the audience for the images and this virtual tour would be parents and or elderly guardians because elderly guardians may not be able to listen to sounds and audios as well as they can and for the parents, they might not have much time to actually watch any videos or to listen to any audios that this tour may offer, this fits well with the purpose because the viewer may be hard-of-hearing and may not be able to hear what is going on. Also images can be used to promote the IT department and the school because images can be used in the newspapers/ letters, on electronic systems like computer websites. The purpose of an image is to inform in the basic sense, what is happening and also the purpose fits well with the parents because it may help them get an understanding of what is inside the school and check to see how hygienic it is.

Videos
Videos can be used for virtual tours for people who are audio impaired, also videos can be used for gaining greater information about a certain department then you would from looking at images or audios because you can hear can see what is happening in that department and you will not be able to hear what is in an image or you will not be able to see what is in a piece of audio, this would fit in well for the audience and its purpose because you are getting a visual insight of what is going to in that department. The audience would be the parents because they might not clearly understand what may be happening at the school and more importantly the departments inside and the videos would help to clear up any confusion about what the department does. Also videos can be used for a wider scale promotion because it can be posted on the Internet and the Internet travels across the world in a matter of minutes. The main purpose of having videos in a virtual tour is explain to the parents why the IT department is a crucial department.

Navigation
Navigation is how easy it is to get around a certain "area" and in a virtual tour you can control where you can go within the certain department and obviously the easier it is to navigate the greater chance of the viewers getting more interested in the school. The audience would be the parents that are trying to go through  the virtual tour. Also while the viewers are navigating the tour they be getting shown certain advertising (possibly)  and also this would help with the promotion of the IT department because if the viewers find that navigating this virtual tour easy then they might tell their friends and family and then the school will become more over-subscribed with students wanting to come the school. Also with the navigation might come some educational matters because the parents might be learning how to navigate a website much easier then they have originally thought. The main purpose of the navigation is to make it easier for people to get around websites easier and without much hassle.

Text
Text is a body of words that come together to form a paragraph and when this virtual tour is completed, text might be included. The audience would be parents that think that images and videos could be damaging against their children and that text would be more educational. The main purpose of the text would be to inform the parents in a more professional form of how the IT department works and what happens. Ways to promote by using text would be going into the newspapers and writing a piece about the department, the business objectives of the text would include web pages, digital posters and educational purposes. This also fits well with its purpose because anyone can view the digital posters and or normal posters and they can be posted anywhere and anyplace.

Logo graphics
In certain departments of the school, they create logos like in the Design and Technology department they use a program called "Flexicab2" which you are able to create logos easily or they use another program called "Illustrator" which practically does the same and the purpose of the Logo graphics is to establish the company or organisation in an easier manner. Also the logos can be used for an advantage for promoting the department and it could be included an a digital poster or web-page.

Transition/ animation
The transition and animation can be used mainly in the Media department because of equipment that they use like the Mac computer, video usage, etc. The main purpose of the transition and animation is mainly for adding affects into videos and images. Also the transition and animation can be as an advantage for added promotion of the school and or organisation and it could be included in videos and or the web page. This would fit well with its purpose because it would look more professional and therefore more people would want their families to visit the school and therefore would want their kids to come to the school to learn how to do that.

Target audience
Overall the target audience would be mainly parents and or carers because they will try and get as much information about the school as they possibly can before sending their child to the right school.

D2 evaluation of database

To conclude on this database and to finalize on this unit, I will be evaluating my database and comparing it to its original intention, and that intention was to create a new member and to enter new data into the database.

The features that I have included in my database are parameter queries, macros, reports, certain forms like the payments form, registration form and able to create a new member and these are the major aspects of a database. Also I have included validations (which basically stops people from accessing data if they had spelt     incorrectly and an error message will appear, saying "your too young") and I have included these forms, queries, macros and reports because they are what a database needs to work and run effectively for new members.

The screenshot above shows that I have planned to test how well my database works with a predicted outcome and the actual outcome and as you can see the actual outcome actually exceeded the predicted outcome from the possible tests that I carried out and successfully completed.

In the features of my database I included a parameter query, basically a parameter query is when you can search manually for a particular film or star rating, then all of films or star ratings that you have searched will appear in a single table with all of the necessary data like the film title, star rating, comments, the username and the genre, this query basically searches for this particular film/ star rating.

The screenshot above shows that i have included the parameter query just to make it easier for the members to search for the film that they want to search then they can put their own comments in.

Also I have included macros into my database and a macro is basically to stop a potential member from missing out any fields in the registration form and therefore making an error message appear saying to fill out the empty fields. Basically adding a macro helps to get all of the potential information that is necessary to create a new member like their first-name, last-name (which will generate an automatic username with a few numbers and 3 letters from your first name and 2 letters of your last name), your address, town, county, postcode and your date of birth and all of these are essential for creating an account and the macro helps to stop any necessary fields being missed out.            

The screenshot above shows that I have included the macro into my database and it works properly and it restricts people from missing out certain data.

The suggestions that I would suggest improvements to would be to add a switchboard so that a new member can navigate the database more easily, a payments form for when a member wished to get a film. Also I have added the basic features that are necessary for a database like selected queries.

The screenshot above shows that I have attempted to include a switchboard into the database and these are just some of the improvements that I could make to my database and the buttons that I have attempted to create leads to different parts of the database. A switchboard is basically a form that holds many buttons that  goes to different places in the database. 

The screen shot above that shows the payments table that shows that I have created a payments form and in this payments form I have included an 'append query' and basically this form allows the members to purchase certain items and it basically links with the members table that I was given to import into the database.  

In conclusion, my database works because I have imported and exported data into tables, Eg when I am adding in new members into the members table then when a new member is created then it would add to the members table, also I have managed to include a new members section for when I am creating a new member, also I have successfully imported data into the films table. Finally I have successfully created a register members form for when a new member wishes to sign up to this database.  

P7

TEST	EXPECTATION	ACTUAL
VALIDATIONS	Should stop certain actions being entered or happening	AN ERROR MESSAGE APPEARS SAYING “SORRY TOO YOUNG” AFTER THEY HAVE ENTERED THEIR DATA.
Error capture	It should find any errors that might appear in the database and tell you if one with either a sound or a message has.	My database finds and shows any errors by showing an error message
Error message	If the person should enter incorrect data then a message should appear telling you there is an error	The database that I created shows a message if there is an error by using the error capture
Successful entry	Macros and queries should be to their standard and therefore you should be able to create a new member.	I can successfully enter new members and their details without fault.
Manipulation of normal data	Search a movie title then the movie that you have entered will appear by using an append query to move the data into the selected tables.	I managed to transfer all of the necessary data to the right location (via Queries) and I can also search for certain star ratings or films.

P2,P3, P4, P5, P6, M2, M3, M4

                                 

this shows that the form has been created by using the form design in the create menu. 

this shows that the macro has been successfully created by using the Macro button in the create menu there therefore the database will work effectively 

this shows that the input mask has been placed in for the validations will work and i managed it via the bottom of the screen in design view. 

this shows that the validation rule works properly after i created an input mask.

this shows that i have successfully created a report query by using the report design in the create menu and it works properly.

P1 M1 & D1 databases

Databases
Databases is a collected amount of data in an organised manner and now a day in a computer-based form. The term database is used correctly in the applied manner to the data and into their supporting data structure   and their do not support the database management system and the term database system  implies that the data is managed to some type of quality and it is measured in the terms of accuracy, availability, usability and resilience. Also the database is also used for storing managing and retrieving information. You can use do all of this through the way of tables, it is similar to the spreadsheet like Excel. Even though it isn't much of a spread to make a spreadsheet from a database.  

The main features
The main features of a database are the pre-made customisable templates, the calculated fields for powerful database applications, permissions and access, integrated search, mail merge, Import/Export Data Between Databases and Applications, relational database capability, customisable views and printable reports, rich set of field type and complete integration. All of these features are beneficial towards the database system because in the pre-made customisation templates they can access your data on-line quickly  by using the customisation-able database templates and every template is always ready to be customised and you can also design it in your specific design and needs. As it goes for the others they all link together in some form because the permissions and access and the integrated search are similar because without the permission the integrated search will become faster then it already is and if it wasn't for the integrated search then the permission and access wouldn't run very fast. There are also other main features that are very important to a database like the:

Entities/ tables - databases will use tables to store the data and it allows you to view all the data that is help within the database, also data can be stored in countless amounts of tables and databases can store a lot of tables. 
Attributes/ fields - a field is made up of a single piece of data/information inside a record which is called a 'record'  
Records - this is a record of different types of individual pieces of information and it might consist of such items like first/last name, age and city and this type of information is called a field.  

All of the above are ways in which the databases can store, receive or send certain data to another piece of the database program system and some of the above like the Attributes/ fields can play to the database strengths because for every piece of information that gets stored into the database it will add itself to the attributes of the system. 

Data types
Databases are always stored as data and in order to make this data more efficient also the different types of data are usually can be classed as a certain 'data types'. There are a variety of data types that are necessary of knowing and the main ones include:



Text/ alphanumeric

Number/ numeric

Currency

Date/ time

Boolean

Image

The data types can be useful because the data types can be used to automatically update format data, IE for the currency data type would put the dollar or pound sign in front of whatever the figure is.

Relationships
For the relationship for the database, the data is split up into sensible data groups, for example the customer data, pets and appointment data, then it will be separated into a table in which then each category they are split up into groups and once the tables have been set up the relationship can be created to link all of the system data together. the main benefits of the relationship status of a database is the this data doesn't have to be duplicated but when someone gets an appointment for their animal a completely new record on the appointment table and it will make more relevant for identifying the animal that is chosen/ selected. Also if you were to reduce the amount of data duplication and the amount of data that can be stored and therefore making the database system much smaller. Also reducing the data duplication also reduces the risk of making     mistakes because for every mistake that is made you will have to retype every piece of data that was lost and there is also a risk that you could by chance mis-spell any words by mistake.

Electronic v paper
In the electronic section there are many things that the electronic computers can do that the paper-based cannot do, for example in the electronic computer they can store vast amount of data within the hard-drives of the computer and once the hard-drive is full you can easily replace it and not harm the environment while in the paper-based you will have to write down all the necessary information and if you were to make a mistake then you have basically just wasted a whole sheet of paper. Also Electronic has made it much easier to search for all of the necessary because you have the internet to help but for the paper-based you will have to go to the nearest library and search for the books that are needed for the information. Also reports can be created by using databases or queries can be ran through the databases but if you were to create a report on  paper it will take too long to create the report and or queries.

Interfaces
The advantages of the interfaces is that it is easy to use and it will make it easier for people who haven't used the interface system before and then they can work out what to do but a disadvantage of the ease of use is that it has a poorly designed menu interface and it may be seriously slow at times to use. Another advantages and disadvantages of the interfaces is that there is no commands to learn or remember so it would be easier to use. While a disadvantage of having no commands is that it could get irritating because there may be too many menu screens for you to work through and who ever is viewing the menu screen will eventually get bored and then leave the page. Also there is step-by-step options to help the user if they cannot remember what to do but the disadvantage of this would be that you cannot too often go to the exact place that you were each time and at the start. Also in order for the database to actually work it will need some items in order to work properly like the 

Switchboard so you can change the where you want to place a certain item. Also a switchboard has two meanings: telephone and database. A telephone is when a telephone is linked up to the switchboard in which people can manually move and to connect other people with each other but now-a-days switchboards are all automatic. As for the database; a switchboard is a menu switch within the database management system like Access. When a database has finally been created the creator of that database will create a switchboard for that database which allows simply commands to be said and done but then the user doesn't have top know the full details of the query.       
Forms.  This is a data entry tool, this form can contain one or more 'fields' because a field is a certain area in which allows you to enter data into that particular data. Also a field can have a 'label' to describe what their purpose is. there are also electronic forms but the most common feature in the 'drop-down' box but in which you can select your choice.   
And the reports is a document (electronic vs paper) that presents the easily read and that it is in a professional format and the reports can be created in a database via applications like access. 

M1
Relational Integrity
The relational integrity can use the foreign keys to match the linking primary key and the relational integrity uses the primary and foreign keys to ensure that there are no lost records in the database system, also this can alert you if you try to delete a record. Also the cascade changes can be made to the database if it is necessary.

Primary keys
A primary key is a field in the table which enables you to see all the unique information that is in that table which will include numbers, transactional numbers and so on also they always tend to be at the top of the tables. For example in a school there will be the student/ teacher ID number and they will  be most likely at the top of their tables. Also it can only be in one table but it can link to other tables to make it a record.

Foreign keys
A foreign key can be used to link the tables together and therefore a relationship of the tables is created. Also it is the field that is in one table is linked to a primary key in another table. In tables those that are identically named as fields and it is also known as foreign key.

Examples of the different types of relationships are 1-1, 1-many, many-many and many-1 for when you relate "1 to many" this can be used for when you buy films because you as the '1' and buy 'Many' films then it would be in the database. Another example to the 1-1 having a passport for a person but an exception for criminals. An example of a 1-many relationship would be a car and its parts because a car cannot be a car without its parts and a many-many relationship example would be hotel booking.

D1
Common errors of database
Incorrect data types is when you accidentally enter the necessary data incorrectly then an error message will appear on your screen for example accidentally misspelling a name and getting a ID number wrong but way to correct this will be to re-read before you save also you might need to include the validation rules in so that it can tell you if you have made any mistakes during the creation of the database. Other examples of common errors of the access database is: the file couldn't be found, the file is unknown, two few parameters, key word was not found in any record or cannot update database or object is "read-only" ways that you can overcome these types of errors is for the "cannot  update, database or object is read-only"  if it cannot update then get an stronger server or convert the document so you will be able to edit the 'read-only' document and you'll might have to contact the space provider to ask them how to sort the problem out. Also the 'too few parameters' the way to sort that from a problem to a solution is that you'll need to check to see if the SQL is correct and to check to see if you haven't misspelled and of the necessary data in the records.   As it goes for "file cannot be found" this can solved by check to see if the path to the database is correct and you'll make sure that you'll use the physically pathway on the server and not a virtual pathway. 

The other common errors of a database are Accidental Loss of Data and Null Values, these two are the two main common errors of a database. Accidental Loss of Data is when you accidentally delete a column in a table and the ways that you can prevent or at least slow down these errors is to back-up your data on a regular basis and do not let users work directly in a database because if someone were to work directly within the database they could seriously affect the database but if you give them like a data form to fill out then the data can get placed in the database then there would be no damage done to the database. As it goes for Null Values, a Null Values is when a section of a database form isn't filled in properly or isn't filled in at all but ways that these can be prevented is to in validation rules and/or an error message because of someone included validation rules and/or an error message then they would be restricted of leaving the page until they have completed the form correctly or if you incorrectly typed in a name wrong then a message would appear saying "incorrect name" or "too young". 

Validation is when you can restrict certain access if someone has unsuccessfully fulfilled a box in the database then the ways in which these rule can be backed-up is to create the validation rules during the creation of the database because if you create a validation rule during the creation then at the end of the creation then people use it then and get it wrong then the validation rule come into place basically blocking them from continuing. Examples of the validation rules are <>0 this is the nonzero value and there is also >=0 this means that the number must be zero or greater or you must enter a positive number into the table. 

Incorrect Data Types and Renaming Incorrectly are similar in the problem solver but in the Incorrect data types for when someone enters data into a database incorrectly an error message will appear saying that you have mis-spelt a name wrong or typed in a number wrong then the message will appear and for the renaming incorrectly the same will appear because of the validation rules that are in place to stop deletion of the database