Friday, 18 March 2011

Fields Explanation

The explanation below is reference to the table above which is to help the user understand each field. The explanation of the field also contains a justification as to why certain validations were chosen and why certain character lengths were chosen.
Booking an Event

Unique Identifier is to ensure that each event is different. The unique identifier is made up of 7 different characters
The name of organisation is what the organisation wishing to book the school is called. As some organisations have numbers, and sometimes, symbols, All types of characters are acceptable
Names can range from being very short to very long, depending on many, (though irrelevant factors, i.e culture), some names, however will be extremely long, though the chance that this will happen is very minute, and thus should be ignored. Therefore in order to cater for those people who have long last names, without making the program too large, 25 characters is sufficient. Names however, must obviously exclude characters other than letters.
The address of the organisation is very important because once the organisations camp activity concludes, an invoice must be sent to a particular address. This field can contain letters and numbers and 50 characters is enough
As one of the forms of communication, email works as a way of providing communication through the internet. As communication is vital, and some documents, including spreadsheets, client details etc, are not appropriate to send over the phone or even sometimes, through mail (Because of time constraints), an email address of the client is vital. 30 characters is suffice as most email addresses exceed this character amount. 
Another form of communication is through the phone, this provides very quick communication for collecting simple information through discussion. All phone numbers contain only numbers, and the chances of the number being less than 13 characters is very high.
At times, it may be impossible to contact the client because they are in some unknown location, away from a computer, (or just haven’t bothered to check their emails) and a phone. Fortunately, because of the cell phones portability, it is possible to contact the client at any time, anywhere. This form of communication is normally used in case of emergency, or there is information required urgently. Cell phone numbers, (In NZ) are normally less than 13 digits, therefore 13 is a sufficient number of digits in this field.
Mr Powell needs some kind of explanation as to why they wish to book the school. What is the purpose of their camp, the reasoning may range from ‘Uniting members of similar organisations’ or ‘training workers’. However, if the possible clients could bring havoc and potential danger, these clients may be ignored. Because a short explanation is necessary, 200 characters is sufficient. The explanation also must not contain any numbers as it is only a short explanation as to why they wish to book the event where specifics are not necessary.
Sometimes, the camps are seasonal and therefore, they only want it at a particular time, (E.g: It’s a christmas camp). Therefore, to almost guarantee that the clients can book at that particular time, Mr Powell, must ensure that it is possible to book at that particular date. Therefore an explanation as to why that date is demanded is necessary. The explanation however, should not require any numbers as it is only a simple explanation is all that’s required. Because a short explanation is necessary, 200 characters is sufficient. The explanation also must not contain any numbers as it is only a short explanation as to why they wish to book the event where specifics are not necessary.
The age range of the clients is necessary as it provides Mr Powell with an idea of how much food will be provided as well as whether their will be a higher or lower ‘*BOND*’  because the clients are more likely to break something. The validation in this field is governed by the rule: This field must not contain any characters other then digits and must contain less than 4 characters.
In order to ascertain the total costs and provide for the clients as necessary. Because some camps do not require the use of the ‘Kings College Technology Block’, that building won’t be used and costs for lighting etc will be saved as a result. If a house isn’t being used for accommodation, that could mean that they may try and fit a certain amount of clients into a certain house for whatever reason, (E.g, For a church, they might find it almost mandatory, that a ward sticks and sleeps together). It would be sensible, to have up to 100 characters available in this field, and, as this field contains proper nouns, it must only contain letters.
In order to get a fair idea of total costs, it is important to know how many people will be staying at the camp. This figure also provides Mr Powell with an idea of how much work will be required from his employees. This field must not contain any more than 4 characters and each character must be a digit.
Workers

When workers are recruited, each worker has a unique profile. In order to keep each worker unique, and to an extent protect them from fraud (such as a worker committing a crime, under the cover that he is someone else). This unique identifier also allows Mr Powell and the users to individually identify each employee. This field can contain any type of characters, up to the character length of 7.
This is the name of the worker and the name Mr Powell can identify and address him by. Names can range from being very short to very long, depending on many, (though irrelevant factors, i.e culture), some names, however will be extremely long, though the chance that this will happen is very minute, and thus should be ignored. Therefore in order to cater for those people who have long last names, without making the program too large, 25 characters is sufficient. Names however, must obviously exclude characters other than letters.
The address of the organisation is very important because once the organisations camp activity concludes, an invoice must be sent to a particular address. This field can contain letters and numbers and 50 characters is enough
It is important to know the birthdate of the employee to determine whether he is too young or too old to work. It also helps Mr Powell get an idea of what each worker should be paid, minimum wage for workers under 18 is different to those who are considered adults. This field will only contain numbers and will be a maximum of 10 digits.
Another form of communication is through the phone, this provides very quick communication to update workers. All phone numbers contain only numbers, and the chances of the number being less than 13 characters is very high.
As one of the forms of communication, email works as a way of providing communication through the internet. As communication is vital, and some documents, including spreadsheets, client details etc, are not appropriate to send over the phone or even sometimes, through mail (Because of time constraints), an email address of the client is vital. 30 characters is suffice as most email addresses exceed this character amount.
 In order to calculate a fair and deserving pay, the wage rate for each worker is required. This field can contain up to 8 characters excluding every character other than numbers and decimal points.
 Another requirement in calculating the total payment per worker is knowing how many hours they have worked. This figure allows Mr Powell to pay each of his employees according to what they deserve. This field can contain up to 5 characters including decimal points and numbers.
In reality, some workers are unable to work on certain days, this may be due to fixed commitments such as church or sport. Because of this, it is prudent to know what days workers are unavailable, this way Mr Powell can allocate work accordingly and hire other workers if necessary. This field must contain only letters and must be a day of the week
Because tax is a mandatory payment to the government, which is a percentage of the workers income, it must be deducted from the workers income and paid to the government. The rate at each worker will be taxed at will differ due to several factors including their income level. This field cannot contain any characters other than numbers and is limited to 2 characters.

System Requirements (To be altered)

-Windows XP Home Edition SP-2 or better
-1 GHz 32-bit(x86) or 64-bit(x64) processor
-1gb of system memory
-At least 100mb free space on Hard Drive
-128mb of graphics memory (Minimum)
-Pixel Shader 2.0 in Hardware
-32 bits per pixel (minimum)

User Requirements

Objective of new system
The system aims to integrate the current processes of both calculating the wages of workers and matching them to each booking. This will provide a much quicker and more efficient system in comparison to the current system and it’s tedious and mundane tasks. 
The new system will have new features including:
A new rating system - Allowing the Employer to give ratings to his/her employees based on their work ethics, commitment and physical ability
A newer ‘workers’ profile - Listing the details of each worker, including newer details such as work unavailability, tax rate and their ‘Workers rating’.
A program that deals specifically with the menial task of recording the events and calculating wages
A more efficient and faster approach to recording both the details of the workers and the events they are matched to
The ability to produce a report of the workers profile and events
As well as completing the whole process of:
Recording the details of the events
Recording the details of the workers
Matching the workers to their respective work events
Calculating the amount of pay accrued to each worker
Producing a print out of the workers profile and the details of the event
Calculations and Decisions
Calculations and decisions are made when trying to calculate the wages that each employee deserves. Mr Powell decides the amount of work that needs to be completed each day, which fluctuates depending on the physical ability of the workers, the amount of workers working on that date, and how much time they have before the event occurs. Powell is therefore responsible for both employing workers and allocating them alloted working shifts. The workers rate is also dependent on several factors including; Amount of time they have been employed, Type of work they do and age. The tax rate depends on many factors including Income level and length employed (Full-time or part-time work), but the information is provided by the individual employee. 

When recording this information, Contact details and contracts are filled out manually on pieces of paper which are returned to Mr Powell who enters them into the computer which keeps a digitalized record of the workers contract agreements and contact details. The current system of processing and recording bookings is split, some of it is done on paper and some of it is done via the computer. Mr Powell normally records the details of the contacts using pad and pen. Though, it seems that it may be quicker to actually record the events on paper instead of on the computer, the process of repeating work is ‘in-fact’ more time consuming and can have disastrous effects if lost or destroyed.
Therefore, if I could establish why it is easier to record things on paper, we may be able to create a more efficient system. It would also be prudent to digitalize the notes in order to have a form of ‘back-up’. Fortunately, If we combine the process of recording events and recording workers details, their will be less need for paperwork. It is also worth noting that during the event, workers are not required as frequently therefore ‘shifts’ are introduced.
Therefore, new calculations and decisions will include:
Workers
-(1-(Tax %))((The amount of hours worked) X (The workers wage rate))= Total Pay or Wages owed
-Who works on a particular day
-Workers rating
-The day that workers are available to work
-Which event they will be matched to
Extra wants
Mr Powell has requested that the system includes a ‘Rating’ system pertaining to the workers. This rating system will act as an indicator to Mr Powell for future reference on the productivity and work ethic. A high rating will mean that worker is committed, prompt, efficient and shows initiative while a low rating will indicate the opposite. When Mr Powell is planning on recruiting workers for an event, he can refer to the ‘Rating System’ which will show him the best and the worst workers that have previously been employed.
*List any other wants*



In altering, integrating and digitalizing the old systems, Mr Powell and the users need certain information pertaining to the job. The new system requires new fields which 
When Booking an event, Mr Powell gets the information from the people who want to book the school. The information that he requires includes:
Name of organization wishing to book the school as he needs to know who wants to book the school, address them directly and possibly to check whether they are a legit organization by doing research on them
Name of Person wishing to book the school (The person in charge of the camp) so he knows who to contact when getting back with a negotiable price and who to speak to when a problem occurs at the camp or about the camp.
Contact Details (Email, Phone, Mobile, Work Phone, Address) are required so Mr Powell can contact the person wishing to book the school via Email, Phone and by mail when sending out an invoice and receipt
Reason for wanting to book the event so that Mr Powell can get an idea as to why they want a camp and it’s purpose
Possible date that they wish to book the school is also important as Mr Powell can get an Idea as to why they want that particular date, (I.e it may be a Christmas camp where it is quite obvious that the camp must be around ‘Christmas’ time.)
Why that date? - An explanation as to why they want to book that particular date
Period of time that the client wishes to book out the school - To get an idea as to how long the people wishing to book the school want to book the school for
Age range of the group - This is important as it gives Mr Powell an idea as to how much he will have to order in terms of food, booking facilities and being hospitable.
Facilities that wished to be used (Or won’t be used, if it’s easier to record) so Mr Powell knows which facilities to lock up and how he can prepare those facilities for their use.
When wishing to calculate the wage of each worker and to match them to their respective event, Crucial information needed to be gathered includes:
Name of Person is crucial in knowing who you’re employing. This both allows Mr Powell to address the person and to know who and what they’re doing.
Knowing the address allows Mr Powell to send receipts to the employees houses via mail
Birthdate is also essential to ensure that the workers are old enough to work. Currently the work age limit is limited to senior students which is anything from 15 upwards
Contact Phone - To contact the students for work purposes and to inform them of any possible changes or in emergencies
Email allows quick and free communication between both employer and employee and is used to inform workers of any changes or updates.
Wage Rate allows Mr Powell to pay the employees fairly.
Amount of Hours Worked tells Mr Powell how many hours that the worker has worked and essentially, is used to calculate his total pay due
Work Unavailability tells Mr Powell what days the students are unavailable for work in order to aid him in planning work shifts and job allocations amongst workers. This also gives him time to find workers to cover the employee who isn’t able to make work in order to ensure that the work planned goes according to plan
Tax rate gives Mr Powell an accurate and fair idea of the tax that needs to be deducted from each worker in order to pay to the government