Introduction
In all Information technology projects, a lot of convincing is necessary in order to get the client to see your view. In this essay we are trying to get any Manager of an esteemed company to develop a database for his company.
Our Manager in this case will be a manager of a stationary store department wing of a large Book Company. This manager is curious as to how to keep records of the stock that comes in and the stock that is going out to various clients all in different locations. Some pick up there goods and some want them delivered. The Manager also has to keep track of the costs.
We the database developers approach our Manager saying to him that it would be useful and efficient if he had a database that could keep all of this information and records in an orderly fashion. We go on to explain how necessary it is to plan the database well so that it can yield the desired results.
Benefits of Databases
Databases are beneficial in many ways. For one, databases help to keep records in an orderly fashion utilizing tables with rows and columns where the data entered is assigned a row/column value – the stored data can easily be changed and edited without hampering the whole document (i.e. you can go to an exact cell and change only that cell without touching the contents of another cell) – databases can be accessed by many users at a single time allowing it to be collectively managed by many people.
Databases are files that can be managed by other applications. They can be copied and backed up from time to time to implement redundancy, a state where if one database file is corrupted, its copy can be used. They allow a person or a company to organize data or information onto a computer where they can be kept for ready access maybe by a website or another user of the computer.
Without databases, nearly all the websites you see on the net will not run. They are essential for many aspects of computing information. They make it easy to find, manipulate, update and delete information.
The Steps of Implementation
Back to our Manager we need to convince him that managing all his records on the computer will ease the work he has to do. We decide that it will be necessary to devise a database where each different stationary item has a unique ID that differentiates it from the rest. If there is more than one of the same Item another value for quantity will be added, other values will include: a short description of the product – the name of the product – a picture of the product – and its price of sale and purchase. This is the main database. There will be another database which records what has been sold and for what price, on what day, to whom, and if the item was delivered – the delivery costs. This is the financial database.
A software program will be made to access both databases and it will allow the user to enter new stock that has come in by simply searching for the item ID and entering how many units have come in. There will be an option of entering new items in the database with their pictures. This is the first side of the program. The Second side is the administration side where you can check to see what is in stock and how many of what, what is least in stock and etc. The Third side is the sales side. This will allow the user to see what is in stock and add it to a customer’s receipt decreasing the number in stock and entering how much the item(s) were sold for. The two databases change in this scenario, the Main database has the quantities of the items reduced. The Financial database puts each line for each item sold clearly stating what it was sold for, on what day, and to whom.
As you can begin to see it begins to be very easy for the Manager to keep track of his records in this way. After devising such a system all that needs to be done is to explain to the Manager how the system would work and to agree on implementing it.
Additional Options
The databases could be linked to a website where a similar thing could go on where a customer buys some goods online by means of a shopping cart and a digital receipt is sent and copied at the company where a delivery person takes the goods to the client’s location, presenting the receipt and getting the money or the money could be paid by credit card in which case the client has to sign receiving the merchandise in good condition.
The company might have a lot of sales people in which case the databases will need to be kept and backed up in a central server computer where multiple sales representatives could access the information on the database through a connection to the server made by the program that they will use on their machines to carry out transactions. In this case extra values will need to be added like the name of the sales person when recording a sold item so at the end of a working day the Manager can know how many people sold what.
Even when the Company has other office in other towns or in other regions, a good network connection could simulate a workday as if all the people in those offices work in one office effectively.
Implementing printing options into the program can give additional functionality in the sense that a report can be printed and filed every day to make hard copies of sales. Receipts could also be printed instantly effecting the sale.
Conclusion
We can now see how the integrity of a company can be enhanced simply by implementing a database managed system. It does not prevent the old method of doing things but it enhances it by providing more organization. For example, once on the computer, records can be sorted by date/name/etc. before printing. You can also quickly look at those items that were sold on one working day much faster. You can cross check complaints easily and prove to the customer weather they went through the purchase or not.
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