Criterion A: Inquiring & Analyzing

CRITERION A: INQUIRING AND ANALYZING

Research Question

            How can database applications help factories and manufacturing plants easily track and access information about the workers and robotic machines in an organized way?

Introduction

            HyperSweet Labs Manufacturing Company is a confectionery manufacturer in Dubai which specializes in making ultra-sweet candy with different unique flavors. The owner and CEO of the company is Mr. Afzal El-Amin. The company was established in 2008, with one manufacturing plant in Jebel Ali, Dubai employing 12 workers and catering to supermarkets chains in Dubai.

            The brand soon became very popular and orders started coming in from stores in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. Mr. El-Amin not only started his second factory in Al Quoz, Dubai but introduced robotic machines in the manufacturing process. In response to the growing demand, a second factory was set up in Al Quoz, Dubai. In early 2015 when HyperSweets got exclusive rights to set up counters at duty free shops at all the International Airports – in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. By August 2015, Mr. El-Amin opened his third factory in Musaffah, Abu Dhabi and today HyperSweets has a total of 30 workers and 60 robots.

            With the expansions, it became imperative for Mr. El-Amin to have an efficient process to store information about his workers and robots across his 3 factories. I decided to help HyperSweets by creating a database to store records in a quick systematic way and easy-to-use software to access the necessary information with just a few clicks.

Problem

            HyperSweet Labs Manufacturing Company started with only 12 employees in 2008. At that time, Mr. El-Amin used to personally record all information on paper and maintained physical files for each worker. With more and more workers, this was becoming increasingly time-consuming, unorganized, and inefficient. More importantly, it would take hours to find the information he needed.

            As his operations began to grow, Mr. El-Amin hired a Human Resources Manager to manage the work. The manager then created MS-Word documents and entered the data for each worker and each robotic machine for each factory – so it was relatively easier to search for some particular information. But the data entry process was still inefficient since the information could not be used to perform any database operations like ranking, sorting, calculating, performing queries or generating reports.

            I offered to help HyperSweets with a necessary database that would be able to address their problems with regard to accessing and generating necessary information about their workers and robots. I decided to interview Mr. El-Amin to understand the requirements in detail and get a clear idea of what my database must be able to store, what tasks the software must be able to perform; what reports they might need to generate. This way, I will customize the database for their particular requirements without including unnecessary software.

Research Plan

I will research	Gathering the Info	Why research this?	Dates
HyperSweet Labs	Primary Research Interview Mr. El-Amin at the HyperSweet Labs Headquarters.	To understand the particular requirements so that my software meets all his requirements.	October 6, 2015
Alternate database softwares	Secondary Research Online research on existing databases and compare them to the requirements of my client	I will be able to compare and understand which database would be best for the requirements that Mr El-Amin tells me during the interview.	October 10, 2015
How to use Ms Access to create validation rules and input masks, as well as queries and reports	Secondary Research Visit Microsoft’s website and learn all the various features of Microsoft Access and how to use them	This will help create my database program and allow me to add all the useful features required by Mr. El-Amin.	October 16, 2015.

Primary Research	Secondary Research
Interview Mr. El-Amin to get requirements for the database application.	Research alternate database application software. Go to Microsoft’s website and research on how to use Microsoft Access.

Primary Research

Interview with Mr. Afzal El-Amin,

Owner and CEO, HyperSweet Labs Manufacturing Company

Me: Hello Mr. El-Amin, I am Subhadeep. I am here to discuss the database problems of your company, so that I can develop an application that would suit your particular needs. So, first let me understand why do you feel your company needs a database application?

Mr. El-Amin: Well, this is because recording all the information on paper was getting too messy and I always have trouble finding information. Look at my desk, it is overflowing with paperwork. We tried using MS-Word but it did not help us much. I want a database application so that I have easy access to information in an organized way.

Me: What troubles do you have right now which you feel will go away after you have a database application?

Mr. El-Amin: One example would be when a machine malfunctions in the factories, it is difficult to tell what type of machine it is or where it is located in the factory. It is the same problem when I want quick access to information about a particular employee in a particular factory. Since I am not sure in which department and in which location he is working, I have to look into different files and folders to find his details. I feel with a database application, I can easily overcome this problem.

Me: What kind of tasks do you want the application to be able to perform?

Mr. El-Amin: I want some sort of interactive map of the four factories so that it is easy to navigate and see the location of robotic machines and people. I also want to be able to search for someone, and the program shows me details of that person. More importantly, I should be able to generate a report very easily – suppose I want to know about manufacturing dates of robots used in packaging, in each factory location. There should be an easy and quick method to generate this report, with just a few clicks.

Me: What kind of information do you want to be able to enter into the software?

Mr. El-Amin: The usual information such as name, age, factory location and which section of the factory they work in. A map of their location would also be helpful. Most of the routine tasks are performed by robots, so they should have separate parameters such as their function, warranty, and maybe a text box giving a short description of their job in the factory. I will not require any more information to be displayed, just these basic parameters.

Me: I will get back to you with your exact requirements.

Mr. El-Amin: Thank you.

Secondary Research

Comparison of Database Application Software

The alternative databases that I could use to solve Mr El-Amin’s problems are SQL Server, Sybase, Oracle and MS-Access. After my secondary research on all the three databases I decided to use MS-Access for the following reasons:

Price – MS-Access costs the same as any other desktop application and MS-Access comes in-built with any Microsoft Office package. In contrast, SQL Server, Sybase and Oracle require specific hardware and expensive licensing.

Running Cost – Even after a database entry is complete and in use, SQL Server, Sybase and Oracle would require a dedicated administrator to generate the reports since these are not menu-driven. MS-Access only requires the first time upload of the database inputs and no extra running cost since the software is very user-friendly.

Ease – It is very easy to learn to use MS-Access. Once the database is created, it is easy to search information, write queries and generate reports in MS-Access. SQL Server, Sybase and Oracle require training courses for writing codes and accessing data from the software. Oracle is the most difficult to learn.

Usage – MS-Access is ideal for multiuser support in a small business like HyperSweet Labs with only 30 workers and 60 robotic machines in 3 locations. Oracle is used in large multinational organizations handling thousands of input data.

MS-Office Integration - MS-Access is part of the Microsoft Office suite, so users can easily export/import data from/to Excel or publish reports to Word.

Web-App - Access 2013 allows you to create fully-integrated web apps that enable users away from their desktops to enter and view information from your business' Access database system on any web-enabled device. This can be immensely useful to some businesses.

Scalable Integration – SQL Servers is required if there are more than 10 simultaneous database users with very large numbers of records. The good news is that Access includes a wizard to move the data across to SQL Server.

Therefore after my secondary research on the alternative databases, it is clear to me that MS-Access would be the ideal database for a small start-up company like HyperSweet Labs.

Features of Microsoft Access

I decided to use Microsoft Access for creating my database application. I went onto Microsoft’s website to get more information on certain features I was somewhat perplexed on how to use.

Validation Rules
Operator		Function	Example
NOT		Tests for converse values.	NOT > 10
IN		Tests for values equal to existing members in a list.	IN (“Tokyo”, “Paris”, “Moscow”)
BETWEEN		Tests for a range of values.	BETWEEN 100 AND 1000
LIKE		Matches pattern strings in Text and Memo fields.	LIKE “Geo*”
IS NOT NULL		Forces users to enter value in the field.	IS NOT NULL
AND		The data must fall within limits that you specify.	> = #01/01/2007# AND < = #03/06/2008#
OR		One or more pieces of data can be true.	January OR February
<		Less than	<10
<=		Less than or equal to	<=10
>		Greater than	>10
>=		Greater than or equal to	>=10
=		Equal to	=10
<>		Not equal to	<>0
Input Masks
Character	Explanation
0	User must enter a digit (0 - 9).
9	User can enter a digit (0 - 9).
#	User can enter a digit, space, plus, or minus sign.
L	User must enter a letter.
?	User can enter a letter.
A	User must enter a letter or a digit.
a	User can enter a letter or a digit.
&	User must enter a character or space.
C	User can enter a character or space.
.,:;-/	Decimals and thousands place holders, date and time separators.
>	Converts all following characters to uppercase.
<	Converts all following characters to lowercase.
!	Causes the input mask to fill from left to right.
\	Characters immediately following will be displayed literally.
“"	Characters enclosed in double quotation marks will be displayed literally.

Using these operators I can successfully create my own validation rules and input masks, and thoroughly understand what they mean and why they work. This way, I can customize my validation rules and input masks to the requirements of the program.

References:

http://www.blueclaw-db.com/microsoft_access.htm

http://www.enterprisefeatures.com/

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Restrict-data-input-by-using-validation-rules-B91C6B15-BCD3-42C1-90BF-E3A0272E988D

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Control-data-entry-formats-with-input-masks-E125997A-7791-49E5-8672-4A47832DE8DA

SWOT Diagram

Strengths	Weaknesses
·       Easy to use ·       Very organized ·       Saves paper ·       Easy to access information ·       Easy to modify data	·        The software can malfunction ·       Risk of losing data if something happens to the software ·       Slightly difficult to use access without prior experience
Opportunities	Threats
·       Expand business again without any worry of having trouble finding data. ·       The software can be updated and improved	·       The data might get lost or deleted and may not be able to get recovered ·       Possibility of getting hacked resulting in corruption of data.

Design Brief

            After interviewing Mr. El-Amin and getting the requirements for the database application, I know what capabilities the software must have. It must be able to:

•          Display all information in an organized way.

•          Look up a person or machine through an easy search function

•          Display basic parameters assigned to each person and machine

•          Show a simple interactive map to navigate the factories and locate people and machines

•          Generate reports on any parameter assigned to a person or machine