ICT - Making a Database of Used Cars Essay Example for Free

ICT Making a Database of Used Cars EssayFor my coursework, I am going to be making a informationbase of apply cars. The database is to help customers and staff to see what cars ar available and specific discipline about them.Having a database file of the cars will prove beneficial to the staff as it would take less(prenominal) energy, time and m hotshoty to lookup for cars than searching through with(predicate) paper establish files. Paper based files push aside get lost or damaged much easier then electronic files. Electronic files give notice be copied, emailed, exported and backed up making it easier to organize for the business. This would be more than(prenominal) efficient, beca make use of you depose search specifically through the database to look for certain requirements to meet a customers need.In a database, you feces add, edit, save, query and print records. These features ar very(prenominal) simple for staff to carry out and atomic number 18 very ef fective. Using a database allows you to stay off errors through validation rules and input masks. A database croup store a large quantity of records, which is too efficient for the business because they can store loads of info about customers.With employ a database, you can in whatsoever case make reports, visualisations of data (graphs and charts), tables and data incoming forms. This is useful to a growing business that also has a chain of shops/outlets in the country, because data can be emailed well and the information would be displace in reports and visualisations so managers wont pick up to organize meetings and waste money.With a database you can combine contrastive types data easily such as numbers and text. Data manipulation is performed by using queries. This is using a structured query language on an low-cal user interface to help search through records.This is beneficial for customers as well, because they can get a faster and more suitable service. kind o f of waiting around for staff to find what they want, staff will be able to query the database in a matter of minutes.Overall, a database will help the business be more organized, pretend easy access to information and be more productive.QueriesAnother helpful tool that retrieve database has is the query tool. With this tool, you can search for anything in the database easily without spending a lot of time searching through records. This is very useful for a business as it saves a lot of time searching for cars or features that customers may ask for. Here are a range of questions that customers may ask1. Can you show me any muddied Volvos?2. Have you got any cars that are diesel?3. Which four door cars do you direct?4. Which cars do you have that are below 5,000?5. Which cars do you have that have done less than 7,000 miles?6. Can you show me a list of black cars?Which of these cars are setd under 10,000?7. Which Ford cars do you have?Which of these cars is priced 10,000 to 1 5,000?8. Which cars do you have that have air conditioning?Which of these cars is under 10,000?9. Which cars do you have that are over 20,000?Which of these cars are diesels?10. Which blue cars are on that point?Which of these cars have 5 doors?11. Can you show me a list of VW Golfs that have conduct conditioning?12. Which cars do you have that have 5 doors and are petrol?13. Which Nissan cars do you have that have 3 or 5 doors, but are not petrol?14. Which Vauxhall cars do you have that have 5 or 4 doors?15. Which cars do you sell that have 2 doors and are petrol?SourcesFor my coursework, I used a range of sources for my database. These sources are all varied slightly according to the details that were present. These are the 3 varied sources I usedMotor Point www.motorpoint.co.ukThe Car Shop www.carshop.co.ukNK Motor www.nkmotors.co.uk(Sources are shown on the next three pages.)These sources seemed all accurate, and I decided on what field types I used based on the data prese nt from these sources. I didnt use all the data from every one of these sources, as some seemed unnecessary or didnt include enough information.ExampleOne record barely presented the make, litres and price and because it contained so little data, I did not use it.Some data, I did not facsimile down because I already had similar records present already so I was sounding for more of a variety. In a business, a car database will have numerous amounts of similar data for cars, but for my coursework I wanted to show as much variation as possible.ExampleNK MotorsVauxhall Zafira 1.8 society Auto, 5 doors, Grey, 5495The Car ShopVauxhall Zafira 1.8i Club Auto, 5 doors, Grey, 5995These two records seem too similar, so I only used one of them.The method I used to collect the data was by looking at various different sources and deciding on all the data they had in common i.e. make, model, price etc. and copying down various information from each source. I double-checked all the information I copied and also made sure I did not copy down similar or corresponding information. This method of collecting data is based on the output that I will be producing. The outputs are reports based on 5 different queries that customers may have about the cars.Reasons For Choice Of SoftwareFor my coursework I had to compile a database of second hand vehicles using current information from local garages, leaflets and newspapers. The database will be designed so that staff can obtain details of vehicles easily.After I gathered information about 50 vehicles, I decided to test the data with different softwares. These softwares were Access Database and Excel Spreadsheet.Access DatabaseAdvantagesDisadvantages* Reduce errors in data with validation rules.* Data security by having the ability to put intelligence protection on files.* Databases are designed for multiple users, and each user can have different data permissions.* Can perform many tasks efficiently reports, forms, graphs, queri es etc.* Database transcriptions are complex, difficult, and time-consuming to design.* Damage to database can affect the business greatly.* Extensive conversion costs in moving form a file-based system to a database system.* Initial training required for all programmers and users.ExcelAdvantagesDisadvantages* Its easy to edit data and the software can instantly recalculate the total for you.* Simple layout.* A database can be apace and easily created using Excel.* New columns or rows of information can be generated easily throughout the data entry process.* A spreadsheet is a useful tool for data management as it helps to manage and sort data i.e. alphabetically.* Updating multiple table links can require a lot of tweaking with a spreadsheet application.* With a spreadsheet, by default any booth can contain any kind of data peddle control what users input.* This software can contain a lot of unknown errors.I decided to get hold of Access Database because it was the best softw are to produce the required outputs. The required output is a report based on information that is processed from the database and you cant produce reports easily in Excel which is one of the freshman reasons I decided to use Access. Its easy to setup and you can manipulate it to make sure there are no mistakes. Multiple users can access database files which is more efficient for a business that has a lot of staff and requires updates of records.You can query a database which is relatively easier then filtering spreadsheets. You can also do more complex queries in Access then in Excel. You can find information quickly and efficiently which reduces time and money in a business. You can control what is inputted in each cell and create validation rules and error messages to assist users i.e. staff.In Excel you cant control what you put in any cell, so if you make a mistake without realising, that mistake will remain unknown which can corrupt the data and cause there to be false records present.I personally prefer to use Access Database because of its easy user interface and setup.The data that the company will be using seems more compatible for this software as well, because some of the fields are Yes/No answers which can easily be inserted using a tick box.Overall, Excel spreadsheet does have its advantages, but compared to Access Database, it isnt as efficient as it could be.