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Module Assignment JOB ORDERS INFORMATION SYSTEM 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 2.0 1 1 1 1 1 3.0 1 1 1 2 4.0 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5.0 5 6.0 6 6 6 6 6 6 7.0 6 6 7 7 7 1.0 Introduction The Job Order Information is an Information System designed for an Engineering Department, of a telecommunication company, that is responsible in designing telephone networks for telephone subscribers and submitting these designs (job orders) to contractors to construct the network. I will explain the full functional requirements in the next section. The following are some important definitions that are used in the Network Engineering Department. 1.1 Definitions: Exchange: It is a building that contains the switching equipment of a Telephone Network. All primary cables originate from here and are distributed to the outside network. Cabinet: A small room manufactured from special material and placed in a safe area in the street. A cabinet contains a block where the primary cable is connected with the secondary cable. Primary Cables: Cables that connect the exchange and subscriber's cabinet. Secondary Cables: Cables that connect subscriber's cabinet to the subscriber's distribution point. Subscriber's Distribution Point: A small box placed on the wall of the subscriber. Subscriber's DP is the connection point of the secondary cable with the subscriber's telephone line. So there are two main networks Primary Network: The Network from the exchange to the cabinet. Secondary Network: The Network from the cabinet to the DP. Hold Order: A telephone request that is issued if a telephone connection cannot be provided from the existing networks and therefore requires a design (job order) from Engineering Department. that will provide an additional network. Total Units: Total residential or commercial units that will be served by one job order. 2.0 Functional Requirements Information System: A system whether automated or manual, that comprises people, machines, and/or methods organized to collect, process, transmit, and disseminate data that represent in a way that is of use to the user. From the definition of information system above there are two type of information system, automated and manual. The current system in Network Engineering Department is manual. This information system match the definition of information system, because it has people, machine and methods to organized and collect all data of Engineers, Hold Order, Job Order and Contract, process it in appropriate paper forms, transmit it to drawer inside filing cabinets and disseminate it to the user. The new system has been designed to automate all procedures, by using a computer, to do all the functions with more efficiency, to solve the problems of the current manual system and to improve the work in the Engineering Department. 2.1 Problems with the Current System: 1. Long time to store and retrieve information: Each time we want to enter information about hold orders or job orders, it requires us a lot of time to fill the forms and to transfer data from one form to another. Also when we want information of a certain job order or about any hold order it needs so much time to go to the filing cabinet and pull the file. 1- Inability to get queries and reports immediately : We can't get any query or report from the current system on time when we need it. For example, when we need a query about total job orders designed or monthly engineer’s productivity report, we have to go through a lot of files, and then collect and write the information in a separate sheet. 2- Inability to keep the user away from errors : There are so many specifications that are used in Engineering Department that the user should consider when he enters the data. For example, any job order with a cost more than 130,000 S.R must start with the numbers 34- instead 44-. When the total job orders cost reach the limit of the contract budget, the user must not enter any more job order on this contract. 2.2 What the new job order information system covers: There are three work phases in the Engineering Department: 1- Hold Order Phase: this phase starts when the hold order comes to the Engineering Department up to the time the engineer solves the hold order with an appropriate design together with other documents that include network design drawings , contract items cost and material cost. 2- Job Order Phase : All documents combine attached with an approval sheet that include job order number, engineer’s name, exchange, cabinet, total hold order, contract cost and material cost. These will then be given to the contractor. 3- Construction phase: this phase starts when the contractor receives the job order up to the time the contractor finishes the work and the construction dept. issues the invoice. The new job order information system will not cover all these phases because it is too complex to be achieved within this assignment, I took only a partial function focusing on the job order phase and left the other phases to be discussed in a later time, the following is the list of the functional requirements of the new job order information system: 1- All application accessed by the user will use Graphical User Interface (GUI). 2- Ability of user to navigate the screen and application by using the keyboard and mouse. 3- Ability of user to transform from one application to another. 4- Ability to collect, store, retrieve, and update engineer's data including: engineer’s name, Engineer ID, type of work (secondary or primary), etc. 5- Ability to collect, store, retrieve and update contracts data including: contract number , contract budget, contract start date, contract finish date, etc 6- Ability to collect , store , retrieve and update job order data including: job order number , engineer , type of problem , contractor cost , material cost , design finish date ,etc 7- Ability to query on job order by its number, engineer and exchange. 8- Ability to calculate, query and produce report on total job orders information (calculate all job orders, summation of hold orders , summation of units , summation of contractor cost , summation of material cost , average of contractor cost , average of hold orders and average of units). 9- Ability to calculate, query, monitor and produce report on contract budget (calculate how many expenditure and how many remain from each contract ) 10- Ability to query and produce report on engineer monthly productivity. 11- Ability to query and produce report on engineer productivity between specific dates. 12- Ability to archive all records for any contract which is outreaching finish date by more than one year. 13- Ability to keep user away from making errors when they enter specification data. 14- Provide help system to help user. The functional requirements of the system conform to the definition of an information system and solve all the problems of the current system. 3.0 Usability Requirements User analysis: The potential users of the system should be familiar with computer and tasks and the type of user dealing with the system should be an (expert users). The job order information system is dealing with two types of positions in Engineering Department: 1- Control unit employees: They are responsible in entering the inputs of job order information and print out all queries and reports from the system. 2- Supervisors of engineers: They are responsible in managing the engineers and contracts. They need to get query and report from the system to analyse it then make the good decisions. Two types are associated with the following things: 1- Familiar with computer: they use existing computer systems (for other functions) which are more complex and took training courses in Microsoft windows. So I expect that they can use and understand the job order information system easily. 2- Familiar with tasks: The current manual system does the same steps to complete the tasks, so they can do the tasks with new system easily. According to the nature of the new system and the type of its user, I did some research into Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and applied some of the issues that are relevant. The following are discussions on how I applied them in the design system. 3.1 Customise MS-access Environment: According to the type of user, I designed my system to protect the user from unnecessary access to the development. I removed some menu and buttons that the user doesn't need. Also I added some menu that will help the user to do the tasks faster and easier. The figure below will show an example for environment customisation in my system: Adding some new Removing Menu To give Some menu The users and buttons Other choice that are not To transform necessary for Through system user and to And make system protect them Easy for users from errors 3.2 Stop the data base system window from being displayed: Regarding to the user,on this situation the system should be a secure system. I created an Autoexec macro to stop the data base window from being display to keep the user away from my data base window.
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