Background and Investigation

1.1 An introduction to the organisation

The organisation I will be creating a new system for is a private cricket club called Rishton Cricket club, located in a small town, Rishton, in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire. The club was formed in 1865 and became a founder member of the Lancashire League in 1892. Rishton cricket club still participates in the Lancashire League where local cricket clubs from across Lancashire participate every year. The club consists of 3 senior teams; the first XI, the second XI and the third XI. As well as this, the club also offers an opportunity for the juniors to compete against others teams and currently, the club has an under 11s, under 13s, under 15s and also an under 17s team. The club aims to produce young talent by using the junior teams to help prepare the youngsters for senior level cricket and that one day, these youngsters would step up to the mark and help in winning the Lancashire league championship. The club currently has over 70 playing members across both junior and senior level teams as well as attracting over 300 social members. The playing members have to pay a membership fee of 60 a year (17 for students) whereas the social members have a range of packages to choose from each with different options; e.g. some have free weekend entry to cricket matches at Rishton whereas some dont. All members are also given a membership card on which a unique membership number is printed and this can be used for discounts when purchasing a drink from the bar at the club. Rishton cricket club also has a large function room, capable of catering for over 100 people, which can be hired for special occasions and celebrations. Excellent facilities such as a large modern kitchen, a dance floor and a fully licensed bar make it an ideal choice and for this reason, it is often hired for birthday parties and christenings. However, the membership fees and function room do not make enough money to keep the club running but with the help of the bar and a tearoom next door, the club raises enough finance to make the profit. The social bar can raise over 1000 in just one day should the weather be pleasant; over 300 local residents both young and old come to watch cricket and enjoy a day out with the family at the cricket club, which means all sorts of different types of drinks are bought. On the other hand, the tearoom opens early every day and local residents usually come over for breakfast. As well as this, the tearoom is often busy on match days with spectators forming long queues for food and both hot and cold drinks; the fact that the tearoom offers a great variety in food and drinks helps it to attract a wide customer base. Consequently, with the function room available to hire, a bar, a tearoom and membership fees, the club attracts many people and thus makes a large profit which helps in the smooth running of the club. The ground itself is situated off Blackburn Road in the centre of Rishton Village and the chairman of the club is Alan Craven, an ex Rishton player himself. The Treasurer of Rishton Cricket Club is Craig Smith, a former captain of the 1st team and a current player. The secretary of the club is Kathryn Smith, the wife of Craig Smith. Brian Curtis is the League representative for the club. The club co-ordinator is Peter Walsh. Darryn Lambert is the junior co-ordinator for the club as well as the person in charge of kits. If anyone wants to liaise with Rishton Cricket Club, Peter Walsh, the club co-ordinator, can be contacted on 01254- 884026.

1.2 A description to the current system

Currently, all records are stored using a club handbook which is kept in the back of the club bar. For a new playing member to join, a membership form is collected from Peter Walsh, the club and junior co-ordinator. The membership form is completed by hand and a photocopy of the members birth certificate or passport is given along with this to check that the member is who they say they are and also to check their age. Along with these, the membership fees are also made to the club either through cheque or cash.The birth certificate and/or Passport are important as the club needs to register the new players with the Lancashire League. This is a direct order from the national governing body, ECB, for the cricket leagues across the country to take note of any under18 players. This is because according to the rules of the ECB, under 18 players who are pace bowlers are only allowed to bowl 14 overs in a one-day game in two sets of 7. This is purely for safety reasons as the bones of the individuals are still fragile and developing therefore bowling too many overs in a one-day game could result in a stress-fracture. However, for a Social member to join the club, a form similar to that of the players is filled out but a birth certificate or passport is not necessary. Player membership fees range from 17 for the junior members who are aged under 17 years as well as full-time student, whereas for the adults, this rises to 60. On the other hand, social member fees range from 45 to 90 but all social members must be above the age of 18. The payment is made to Peter Walsh who passes the payment forward to Craig Smith, the treasurer, who then places this money in the safe at the back of the bar. Craig Smith then takes the name and address of the social/playing member and records their name in the club handbook. Lastly, Craig Smith informs the club co-ordinator, Peter Walsh, of the payment being banked successfully. Next, Peter Walsh informs Kathryn Smith, the secretary,that the player is now an official member of Rishton Cricket Club. Kathryn Smith will then carry out either one of the following two steps by filling out paper forms and then filing them securely for future reference purpose; 1) Carried out only if the member is a playing member: The player is provided a club membership card which allows for free weekend match admission. Considering that the player is over 18 years old and a senior playing member, another membership card is given on which a unique membership number is also printed. This card is linked to the membership number of the player which has the ability of being swiped at the social bar; for this reason,members can use this card in place of a debit card to purchase drinks. The aim of this card is to provide the players with a discount when purchasing drinks from the bar through this card. Lastly, Kathryn Smith will give either the playing member a form to fill out which has information about their jersey size, jersey number, which types of clothing they want etc.This must be completed by the player and returned to Kathryn as all playing members have to wear official Rishton cricket club merchandise. This is because shirt sponsors often change every season and therefore, the correct, up to date jersey with the right sponsor must be worn on match days. The shirt sponsor for the 2010/2011 season for Rishton is Champ funeral services based in Accrington. 2) Carried out if the member is a social member: The members are given the membership cards which allow for free weekend match admissions, but along with this, social members are also given a fixtures list for the season and a club handbook which contains information on any new signings and other club news.

Social members have a choice whether they would want to purchase Rishton cricket club merchandise or not; if yes, the same form as that of the playing members is filled out and returned. Payment must also be returned with the merchandise form and all prices for the clothing are provided overleaf on this form. After filling out the merchandise form and returning it to Kathryn Smith, merchandise is ordered and takes approximately 7 days to arrive; this is because for the players, player name andnumber are needed to be printed and for the social members, the initials of the members are printed on the merchandise. The playing member will also be given a shirt and tie on which Rishton cricket club logos are printed and this must be worn on match days when representing the club in order to look well-presented, neat and professional. Once merchandise arrives, Darryn Lambert is responsible for organising and distributing the kit to players and members or alternatively, both players and social members can pick up their merchandise from behind the bar personally as they will notified that their kit is ready via a text from Darryn Lambert. Darren knows the number of the member from the playing/social members data held in the handbook. Rishton cricket club has recently published a new website which can be viewed at www.rishtoncricket.com. The websites contains information about the history of the club, club records, information about the professional, fixtures, hiring of the function room, latest team news, a gallery and much more. However, the club does not sell any merchandise online at the moment. In summary, Rishton Cricket Club does not currently have an ICT system that stores information about the playing or social members electronically but rather all information concerning the members are stored via hard-copy and filed away in the private room behind bar by Peter Walsh.

Level 0 Data Flow Diagram

A) Members

C) Suppliers

Member Details

Clothing Packages Details

Cricket Club Carry out Memberships

Membership Cards

Order Information

A) Members

B) Suppliers

System Diagram
A) Members

Member Info 1 Cricket Club Maintain Memberships

Member Info M 1 Handbook Member Info 2

Cricket Club

Update /Renew Memberships

Member info M 1 Handbook Member Info

B) Suppliers A) Members Invoice/Receipt Order Information Receipt Members Info & Orders

Cricket Club Process Kit Orders

Merchandise Details

Merchandise Details

M 2

Hard-Copy File For Playing members

M 3

Hard-Copy File For Social Members

1.3 Identification of Users and Clients

Peter Walsh, the club co-coordinator, is both the client and the main user of the business I am studying. He has been a long member of the club and has therefore great passion and a good work ethic towards Rishton Cricket Club. His aim is to attract as many playing and social members as he can in order to maximise the profits of the club. As well as this, he aims to keep Rishton Cricket Club running smoothly by making sure all members are up to date and recorded. Peter Walsh is responsible for keeping record of the members and it is his responsibility to make sure that they are kept away safely and securely as the documents contains sensitive information about members. When an individual wants to join the club, the payment is to be made to Peter Walsh and in return, Peter will print the individuals name, note the amount paid and sign and on a stamped pad with Rishton Cricket Clubs logo as proof that this person has provided his payment. If a member does not want to re-new their membership is a playing member, Peter Walsh will also need to sign a release form. The aim of this release form is that it allows the player to be able to represent another team in the league; without the sign and consent of Peter Walsh, this player is not eligible to play for any other team. Currently, Peter Walsh uses a club handbook to keep basic records of members; this consists of members name, membership number, membership type (i.e. playing, social) and membership package. He also uses a large file to keep the detailed forms and photocopies of each members and this file consists of more detail about the member; for example, address, age, telephone number, teams they play for etc.Additionally, there are two separate files; one for the playing members and the other for the social members and this done so that paper work is organised and the two membership types can easily be distinguished between when Peter has to complete his tasks. Being organised results in Peter saving valuable time. Moreover, there are three other users who will also use the new system occasionally to carry out tasks. One of these users would be Craig Smith, the treasurer of Rishton Cricket Club. He will be using the system to check up on membership fees, the income and outgoings as well as other financial information that he may need. Kathryn Smith, the secretary, would also be using the system; it is Kathryns responsibility to cancel any memberships and membership cards that are no longer active; for example, if a member has decided not to re-new their membership, Kathryn will make sure that they are no longer registered with the club by cancelling their memberships which would stop them from benefiting from discounts on drinks from the social bar as well as making them no longer a part of Rishton Cricket Club. If this is to be a playing member, Kathryn would also need to inform Lancashire League that this player is now eligible to play for any other team in the league. She would also inform Peter Walsh to sign a release form for this playing member. Lastly, the club chairman, Alan Craven, may also use the system occasionally to check that the club is running smoothly as it should. Alan would use the system to check how many members the club currently has, how many new members have joined, how many members have chosen not to re-new their memberships, how many junior members there are at Rishton etc.,.

1.4 Why a Solution is needed

Currently, there is no ICT system in place at the organisation to carry out tasks but rather, everything is done manually. The members and their information are all recorded manually in the club handbook. This is a great problem as if the handbook were to be lost; it could result in losing all the data about the members resulting in costing the club financially. The club would be affected financially as the users would not know the expiry dates of the memberships and the members would therefore benefit from discount on drinks at the social bar even though their membership would have expired. The fact that all information is recorded manually means that it is also time-consuming to note down the members details; such as name, address, date of birth, ethnicity, playing or social member etc. Member details need to be recorded manually in the handbook and also in the hard-copy file. This can be a lengthy, time-consuming process consisting of large amounts of paperwork and repetition of the same tasks as the same data about a member is repeated on different forms. This has a negative impact on the organisation and the users because the application process is slow, lengthy and the users have a lot of paperwork to get through. Additionally, Rishton Cricket Club has personal data, such as ethnicity and religious beliefs about its members. The fact that the club hold all the information using a hard copy file, it is easy for it to be lost, stolen or misplaced. If this was to happen, it would be breaking the law under the Data Protection Act 1998 whereby the individual could sue the organisation as their data has not been dealt with securely. Although the paperwork is filed away in the private room locked behind the social bar, it is easy for someone to break in or for a user to misplace documents. If this was to happen, all information regarding the club would be lost and this would impact the club heavily as there would be no evidence of who the current members are, when their memberships expire, etc. As a result, the club may have to re-new all current memberships free of charge in order to keep a track of the number of members and their membership expiry dates. This would eventually have a negative impact on Rishton Cricket Club costing them a great sum of money to make up for the loss of membership details. A new system would allow all personal data held about the members to be kept safely and protected securely. Authorisation access such as usernames and password in the new system would be able to do this. The fact that the members will know their details are safe and secure behind a username and a password as opposed to a locked door would also result in them being satisfied with the club and may well invite other members to join the club resulting in increasing business for Rishton Cricket Club. Additionally, the fact that everything is paper-based in the current system, if there was a fire incident; all the documents could be burnt and destroyed forever. Again, this would cause the club significant money financially and in extreme cases, may cause the club to fold as all information regarding the members, sponsors and other crucial financial documents will have been destroyed. As the new system is computerbased, all data can be saved safely and securely using back-up procedures; for example, incremental back up could be used to back up all the data held on the system. This back up can be carried out automatically on an hourly or daily basis and the hard-disk can be saved in a fireproof safe; the advantages of the new system would help overcome the problems of hazards such as a fire as all data and documents would be saved, backed-up and restored. Moreover, the current system also involves ordering merchandise for members, which is then recorded as a hard-copy in a file; currently. This means that information is currently not organised and this is a

disadvantage as it means that users have to look through hundreds of papers, scanning through large amounts of text to find small details such as merchandise information. In summary, this whole process can be very time-consuming. As the new system is computer based, order details and member details will be stored separately thereby making it easier for a user to find any information regarding orders and merchandise easily and quickly. The impact this would have on the club is that the all order information can be stored in one place where a user can easily add, identify and edit order information for a specific member. As discussed earlier, the current system involves many users filling out or carrying out different sections of an application which makes the process lengthy and time consuming as users have to get in touch with other users. The proposed system will allow users to effectively communicate with each via e-mail; this would help to save time as users can easily and quickly carry out their part of the process and pass it forward to another user as an attachment thereby saving time paper. Additionally, the current system involves users carrying out paperwork manually which is not only timeconsuming but is also a disadvantage as one user may not be able to read the handwriting of another user. This eventually can result in transcription errors when users come to copying out a document; such as copying out a members date of birth wrong. Transcription errors could be costly as the Data Protection Act states that personal information should be accurate and kept up-to-date at all times. The proposed system can be used to send e-mails to other users which would help prevent the problem of users not being able understand the handwriting of other users. The impact this would have on the organisation is that transcription error would be eliminated and therefore, the chances of breaching the Data Protection Act would be considerably lower. Moreover, currently, as the current system is manual, letters have to be sent through the post to members to contact them. With the proposed system, E-mail would help to notify members of any promotional offers or to remind them that their membership is to run out on a certain date. In summary, this could prove to be beneficial for the organisation in saving them paper, time and postage costs as users do not have to handwrite and post letters through the post but rather, they can carry it out electronically. This would impact Rishton positively as the running costs of the organisation would be reduced by saving on postage and paper. Lastly, payments are made by members through various stages of an application process; such as members fees and merchandise fee. Currently, there are no official invoices produced that have Rishton Cricket Club logo printed on them as proof, but rather, users sign on a blank paper stating the amount, member details and order information. This is not favourable because users might face the handwriting problems, as discussed earlier, again. As well as this, a signature could be forged which could result in costing the club financially. Moreover, if a member misplaces the invoice, the club would have no proof that the members carried out a payment and this could cause a rift in the relationship between the member and the club. The proposed system would help to overcome this by allowing a well-structured invoice letter with the club logo printed on it. When printed, a copy would be given to the member and another copy would be saved in the system; this would be used as proof should a member misplace their invoice. The impact this would on the organisation is that the relationship between the club and the members would be a healthy one and as well as this, it would be harder to forge the whole invoice in contrast to a signature.

1.5 Investigation Techniques

Interview:
One of the investigation techniques I used was to interview my client, Peter Walsh. I chose to interview rather than to develop a questionnaire as an interview would allow me to sit face-to-face with the client to discuss the requirements for the new system. An interview was likely to give me more in-depth feedback and go in to a deeper level of detail than that from a questionnaire. This was important as I needed as much detail as possible in order to for the new system being developed to work as effectively and efficiently as it could. If I had chosen to carry out a questionnaire for my client, the response would likely have been limited as the client would not have been able to expand and explain on the questions. This would eventually affect the new system as I would not have the great detail needed to develop it. I chose to carry out a Structured Interview rather than an Open-ended interview; the reason for this was that this would allow me time to think about and make a note of what types of questions I will be asking rather than thinking up of one on the spot. The fact that the questions will be structured will allow me to gather good, detailed answers as I will have developed the questions with good thought as opposed to making up a poor, open-ended question on the spot which would decrease the chances of gathering good quality data. A structured approach would also allow for reliable and quantifiable data specifically aimed at my project. I chose to carry out the interview at Rishton Cricket Club over the weekend on a match day. One of the questions I asked was, How many users will be using the new system and what are their ICT skills? Peter Walsh replied to this stating that there would be approximately four users for this system; the chairman, treasurer, secretary and Peter himself. Although all four of these users will be using the system, it is Peter who will be using the new system the most as it his job to add/re-new/change members details. He also mentioned that the ICT skills of these users vary from limited/little ICT skills to good knowledge and understanding of ICT. Additionally, Peter pointed out that he has good knowledge and experience in ICT and in working with software such as Microsoft Excel. This question helped gather vital information; such as knowing that the ICT skills range from very limited to very good. This would contribute positively to the development of the new system as I know that the system needs to be very easy to use and navigate through as some users have limited ICT skills/knowledge. Another question I asked in the interview was, Approximately, how many members will be stored on the new system?Peter replied by saying that there are approximately three-hundred members saved in the current system but the club are predicting roughly sixty or so new members to join next season due to the successful year the juniors had at the club. Gathering this data was important as I now knew that the new system will contain atleast three hundred members and possibly more. Moreover, I now knew that the new system needed to be designed carefully and effectively in order for it to be able to maintain the great number of members the club has without it freezing or crashing.

Questionnaire:
Furthermore, the other investigation technique I carried out was a questionnaire targeted at the users of the system which were Craig Smith, Darryn Lambert, Kathryn Smith and Allan Craven. I thought that a questionnaire would the best way to collect data from the users as it was less time-consuming. The fact that the users of the system were part of the committee meant that I could not interview each user individually due to other commitments and for this reason; I chose to carry out a questionnaire. Questionnaires allow for answers to be recorded in a standardised way; this is beneficial as I would be able to construct graphs and charts easily and efficiently from the recorded data. Additionally, after quantifying data and through the use of the charts and graphs, I would also be able to compare and contrast allowing me to measure the changes in more-depth and detail. As a result, all of this would contribute to the success of my project. I chose to ask eight questions in total, ranging from the users ICT skills or previous experiences with ICT to the type of information that will be saved on the system. I believe these questions were essential to ask as they would help me with the design stage of my project. The fact that I will have data recorded form the questionnaire would help target the users successfully and would result in my project would being successful as it would meet its requirements.

Observation:
I also chose to observe the client and users as they carried out tasks in the current system. Peter Walsh, the client, I observed as he carried out a renewal for a social member; it was useful to observe him as it gave me an idea as to how the tasks are practically carried out. It also gave me a first-hand experience as to how each of the element of the whole process is dealt with as well as allowing me to have an idea of approximately how long the whole process takes place, which in this case, for the renewal of a membership, was around half-an-hour. I had to take in to consideration that the details of the membership were present in the current database which is why the process did not take long, for a new membership, it would have been a considerably long process and therefore, time consuming. Lastly, the data gathered from observations is also very reliable, which is another reason why I carried out an observation as it would help me when I come to design the new system. Knowing the disadvantages of the current system from first-hand experience, I would be able to tackle these problems specifically and design the new system to overcome these problems. For example; the current system is not organised or structured which results in too much time being spent on finding current members records, for this reason, the new system needs to be well-organised and structured in order to help save time for the users.

1.6 Requirements of the Client

Peter Walsh, the client, requires the new system to be able to; 1) Store the playing members and the social members details; the system should also be able to state whether a member is a playing or social member. This is so that users can differentiate easily between a playing and a social member. 2) Keep all members personal data safe, secure and only accessible to the users of the system via usernames and passwords or any other suitable method; this would enable only the users of the system to access members details keeping all data safe and secure from theft. 3) The system should be able to show a members details via their membership number or their name if they have forgotten their membership card; this is to ensure that users can access the members details quickly and efficiently using the membership numbers or names. 4) The new system should be easy to use and navigate through as some of the users ICT skills are limited. Being user friendly, the new system will reduce stress of the users as bringing up details of members will be much more efficient in contrast to the current system. 5) The new system should have the ability to add a new member to the organisation or edit a current members details; this would reduce transcription errors as all details will be filled out using the computer rather than by hand using hard-copy. 6) The system should be able to create an invoice to print on to an A4 paper with the organisation logo, date of transaction and the user who issued the invoice as proof of purchase. 7) The new system should be able to display the start from and expiry date of a membership to help notify users of when a members membership is due to expire so that they can carry out the procedure for a renewal or cancellation of the membership. 8) System should be able to prepare and send an automated e-mail or letter to the member notifying them of the membership expiry date. This would help save time for Peter and other users of the system as the system will be doing this doing this automatically.The fact that the system will be able to send an automated e-mail to members will help reduce bills as the number of letters sent out will be reduced resulting in saving money on postage stamps and paper. 9) The new system should be able to show merchandise order details concerning each member. This would enable the users to keep track and proof of which member ordered which merchandise.