Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Executive
Summary
This
consultant
report
identifies
the
appropriate
data
storage
software
for
second-
hand
car
retail.
Microsoft
Office
Access
and
Office
Excel
are
the
two
possible
alternatives.
The
main
approach
is
an
assessment
of
both
programs
in
the
basis
of
significant
features.
Moreover,
a
recommendation
is
made
built
on
the
previous
assessment.
To
conclude
the
report
we
illustrate
a
simple
outline
design
for
the
selected
program.
However,
the
final
model
will
be
composed
of
a
more
sophisticated
structure.
In
the
course
of
the
evaluation,
we
found
that
Office
Access
is
the
suitable
data
processor
for
second-hand
car
retail.
Basing
our
findings
on
the
scenarios
where
the
corporation
performs.
Contents
Page
1
INTRODUCTION
......................................................................................................................
3
2
ASSESSMENT
AND
DISCUSSION
.............................................................................................
4
2.1
SPREADSHEET
AND
DATABASES
........................................................................................
4
2.1.1
Data
Storage
...........................................................................................................
4
2.1.2
Data
Analysis
...........................................................................................................
5
2.1.3
User
Facilities
..........................................................................................................
6
2.1.4
Security
....................................................................................................................
6
2.2
RECOMMENDATIONS
.....................................................................................................
7
2.3
DATABASE
DESIGN
........................................................................................................
8
2.3.1
Tables
and
attributes
..............................................................................................
8
2.3.2
Key
queries
............................................................................................................
10
2.3.3
Outline
Design
.......................................................................................................
11
3
CONCLUSION
.......................................................................................................................
12
4
REFERENCES
.........................................................................................................................
13
5
APPENDIX
.............................................................................................................................
14
1 Introduction
In
the
past
decade,
the
software
industry
has
experienced
a
rise
in
the
area
of
data
processing
and
storage.
Both
Microsoft
Office
Excel
and
Office
Access
entail
most
of
the
sales
in
the
market.
However,
it
is
crucial
to
choose
the
appropriate
software
based
on
the
business
purposes.
Office
Excel
is
a
program
based
on
Spreadsheet
application
developed
by
Microsoft
Corporation.
Excel
applications
are
suitable
for
scenarios
where
advance
data
analysis
is
required.
It
provides
features
such
as
data
manipulation
with
several
different
formulas,
modelling
tools
and
macro
programming.
Developed
by
the
same
corporation,
Microsoft
Access
is
a
program
based
on
database
management
system.
Access
Database
is
suitable
for
businesses
storing
large
amounts
of
data.
Amongst
other
features,
Access
provides
relational
tables,
data
integrity
and
queries.
Microsoft
Access
can
be
configured
to
use
unique
identifiers
for
each
table.
This
feature
enables
Access
to
identify
automatically
data
for
queries
or
reports
as
well
as
preventing
the
input
of
data
with
no
identification.
Microsoft
Excel
cannot
support
referential
integrity,
as
it
is
not
designed
to
operate
with
relational
tables.
However,
spreadsheets
offer
different
alternatives
for
data
validation.
2.1.2 Data
Analysis
Data
analysis
represents
an
important
aspect
on
business
management.
Thus,
it
is
important
to
be
equipped
with
fast
and
effective
analysis
tools.
Both
Access
and
Excel
offer
various
features
on
data
analysis.
However,
excel
is
more
specialised
in
this
area.
Queries
Queries
are
the
main
way
to
retrieve
specific
information
from
different
tables
by
presenting
questions
to
the
database.
Overall,
it
is
a
very
useful
feature
for
business
in
the
retail
sector.
Access
is
more
appropriate
for
data
that
is
going
to
be
constantly
manipulated
and
viewed
in
different
forms.
Unlike
Spreadsheets,
Database
use
Structured
Query
Language
(SQL)
what
enables
fast
information
retrieving,
calculated
fields
and
several
other
features.
On
the
other
hand,
Excel
provides
infinite
formulas
for
data
manipulation.
PivotTable
and
Charts
PivotTable
tool
enables
to
analyse
and
summarise
large
amounts
of
data.
This
tool
offers
various
ways
of
data
manipulation
such
as
filter,
IF
statements
and
calculated
fields.
In
contrast
to
queries,
Excel
provides
advanced
PivotTable
facilities
than
Access,
in
which
case,
Excel
would
be
more
efficient
when
analysing
large
amount
of
data.
5
2.1.3 User
Facilities
User
interface
Excel
Spreadsheet
has
been
designed
with
a
simpler
interface;
this
program
can
be
used
with
basic
knowledge.
Whereas,
Access
Database
will
need
more
qualified
personal
for
its
use.
Multi
user
Unlike
Excel,
different
users
can
use
the
Database
at
the
same
time
(except
for
individual
records
being
used).
This
feature
increases
productivity
with
more
than
one
employee
working
at
a
time.
2.1.4 Security
Both
programs
provide
efficient
security
with
features
such
as
passwords
and
encryption.
Though,
in
case
of
failure,
Access
is
continuously
being
saved
to
prevent
any
data
loss.
However,
in
excel
we
can
set
up
this
feature
in
advance.
In
addition
to
this
analysis,
Figure
1
(Microsoft
Corporation,
2007)
in
the
appendix
shows
a
summarised
comparison
table
within
several
other
features.
2.2 Recommendations
Microsoft
Access
is
the
most
suitable
program
for
this
project.
In
terms
of
effectiveness
and
productivity,
Database
Management
System
fits
in
the
parameters
of
this
corporation.
With
regard
to
data
storage,
relational
database
in
Access
provides
efficient
data
storage.
For
example,
relating
Customers
Table
to
Sales
Table
and
Product
Table.
This
method
provides
all
the
information
with
regard
to
a
customer
and
its
orders
organised
in
different
tables.
Microsoft
Access
data
integrity
enables
efficient
data
entry,
avoiding
fields
with
no
identification
and
reducing
the
error
input
data.
As
a
fundamental
feature,
unique
identifiers
guarantee
recognising
every
row
of
data
with
an
exclusive
name
or
number.
In
terms
of
data
analysis,
Microsoft
Excel
provides
advanced
tools.
However,
Access
queries
are
very
convenient
when
displaying
specific
information.
This
feature
enables
unlimited
ways
of
manipulating
data.
In
addition
to
this,
productivity
is
augmented
by
multi-user
access
feature
offered
by
Microsoft
Access.
Hence,
other
employees
can
still
use
the
database
simultaneously.
With
regard
to
security,
by
using
Access
we
assume
less
risk
of
data
loss
given
its
auto-save
system.
It
is
important
to
reduce
risk
in
case
of
technical
failure.
Attributes
-
Car
Table
Car
Table
contains
all
the
information
with
regard
to
second-hand
cars.
It
is
linked
to
Order
Table
trough
the
attribute
ProductID,
and
linked
to
Supplier
table
through
the
attribute
SupplierID.
Attributes
-
Price
Order
Table
Order
table
contains
the
information
with
regard
to
the
sale.
Information
of
the
order
is
gathered
from
the
remaining
tables.
Thus,
ProductID
links
to
Car
Table,
and
CustomerID
to
Client
Table.
Attributes
-
Supplier
Table
Supplier
Table
provides
details
regarding
the
different
suppliers.
It
is
linked
to
the
Car
Table
through
the
attribute
SupplierID.
Attributes
- SupplierID
Supplier
unique
identifier
-
Employee
Table
This
table
is
not
part
of
the
business
activity,
however
it
contains
the
information
with
regard
to
the
personal.
Attributes
-
EmployeeID
Job
Title
9
2.3.2 Key
queries
Microsoft
Access
enables
users
to
perform
unlimited
different
queries
with
any
field
we
require.
For
example,
in
a
query
on
BMW
cars
you
might
as
well
want
to
display
model,
year
and
engine
fields.
Figure
2
develops
on
several
examples:
Figure
2:
Key
Query
applications
10
2.3.3 Outline
Design
Figure
3
illustrates
a
simple
outline
design
for
this
project.
However,
the
final
model
would
require
an
advanced
structure.
Figure
3:
Possible
outline
design
11
3 Conclusion
Effective
data
storage
comprehends
a
positive
outcome
for
the
accounting
and
administration
areas
of
a
company.
After
a
business
performance
evaluation,
we
can
see
the
most
appropriate
software
for
this
purpose
is
Microsoft
Office
Access,
fitting
in
the
parameters
of
second-hand
car
retailer.
However,
we
must
take
into
consideration
that
both
programs
can
be
used
in
a
complementary
way.
Microsoft
Access
provides
the
data
storage
aspect
and
Excel
the
data
analysis.
Hence,
software
complementation
will
ensure
an
effective
use
of
both
resources.
12
4 References
Microsoft
Corporation
(2007)
Quick
comparison
Access
and
Excel,
[Online].
Available
at:
https://support.office.com/en-ca/article/Using-Access-or-Excel-to-manage-your-data-
09576147-47d1-4c6f-9312-e825227fcaea
(Accessed:
23
February
2015).
13
5 Appendix
Figure
1:
Quick
comparison
Access
and
Excel
(Microsoft
Corporation,
2007)
14
15
16
17