Computerised quotation system Essay

The task that I am going to provide a solution for is to produce a computerised quotation system for S & S Insurances. EXISTING SYSTEM: Thomas Davidson is currently a broker providing insurance for cars. At present he insures through a financial institution, S & S Finances. He is a broker working for the insurance company S & S Insurances. He has worked with many insurance companies in the past trying to find the best deal so that he can earn a good amount of profit. He finally made a deal with S & S Insurances in which he can gain a good amount of commission. His job is to find customers who would like to buy insurance for their cars and he gains a commission of 7.5% for each customer to whom he sells a quote. He started his career as a broker approximately three years ago after being made redundant as a factory worker assembling car parts. He has no employees working for him at the moment. However his wife helps him with the paperwork when she can. Thomas works full- time from his home study, which is located in the heart of Streatham. In the past Thomas has had a lot of experience dealing with customers and clients. He now has a number of devoted customers who frequently contact him when the renewal for their car insurance is due. Thomas usually interacts with his customers over the phone from his study; sometimes however he does conduct business at the home of his customer to their convenience. When Thomas finds an interested client he firstly explains to the client everything that is involved in the quote. In order for Thomas to calculate the insurance quote, he uses a calculator, a record of tables with the insurance ratings provided by S & S Insurances and his diary where he notes all the information down. The insurance ratings show a different variety of things the first table is the insurance group, which shows the basic cost for a car depending on the car’s make, price and power. The more expensive and powerful the car, higher the basic cost. Thomas then adjusts the basic cost by multiplying it by various factors, which could affect the insurance. Age is also a factor, the older the driver is, the less they are considered as a risk. Sex is also a factor; a female is considered as a less of a risk than males. The area you live in is also a criterion which Thomas considers before issuing an insurance quote, if you live in a high risk sensitive area you are likely to pay more. The customer can then choose what type of insurance he would like; third party only, third party fire and theft or fully comprehensive. The insurance also offers an extra driver criterion, which can be added at an increased cost. Thomas then offers a discount to the customers if they have had no claims varying from the past year or five years. Thomas then calculates the quote by multiplying the basic cost with all the factor multipliers and seeing if they can get a discount and then giving the customer the final result. Thomas writes all of the things discussed and quotations in his diary. If the client agrees to go ahead with the quote after hearing the final cost, Thomas makes a word- processed quote, which he then sends to S & S Insurances. From there S & S Insurances make the actual policy and then send it directly to the customer. Thomas does possess a computer and laptop at home, which his children use for educational purposes. Thomas has very little knowledge about using computers, however to produce the insurance quotes which are word-processed his daughter helps him and recently Thomas has started to produce the quotes by himself since he is gradually learning to use a computer, even though he is slow with the typing. Thomas makes hand-written notes about all his clients, their details and policies, which is time consuming and can get tiring and boring despite having a computer due to his lack of computer skills. Furthermore sometimes Thomas’ wife also helps him with the paperwork, if there are too many customers wishing to have a quote ready. Thomas says that most of his customers find out about his business by word of mouth or from the consequence of the advert he has placed in the local newspaper, if he could he would also like to attract more customers to increase the standard of his living. Thomas Davidson finds the existing manual way he issues quotes prolonged and exhausting and would like to automate the system. He would also prefer to make more use of his laptop, however his lack of computer skills is a problem and therefore would like to be able to issue quotes on a simple and straightforward system. He would also like to automate the system so that it would be much faster to issue quotes and therefore would not have to spend too much time doing things manually. At the moment he hardly gets anytime to spend with his children especially when there is a heavy workload. Thomas feels that if he were able to get the system to be computerised he would like to employ some staff and expand and preferably shift into an office. He would also like to work with more than one insurance company at the same time if possible in the near future. CONSTRAINTS: There are not many constraints however there are a few which are important. My user Thomas Davidson has no experience of using a computer except for possessing basic typing skills. This means the system will have to be easy and simple to use and understand. Another constraint is time, although my user does not want the system to be made immediately or as soon as possible. However he would like the computerised system to be created soon so that he can use it and update all his handwritten manual notes onto the system and be able to use it with future clients. USER REQUIREMENTS: My user is Thomas Davidson, who is a broker for S & S Insurances for whom I will be creating a computerised quotation system. He would like the following requirements to be taken into account. * To be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote. * To be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote before a discount is given. * To be able to print the quotation. * To make sure that system is safe and secure. * To be able to see the details of all the customers such as; forename, surname, age, and the type of insurance they would like. * To be able to store the issued quotes so that they can be used at a later date. * To enable phone enquiries to be dealt much quickly. * To make the system user- friendly. * To make sure the data entered is accurate. * To make the system look professional, systematic and organised. QUANTITATIVE OBJECTIVES: * To use a formula to work out the total cost of the insurance quote. * To use another formula to work out the cost of the quote excluding the discount. * To be able to print multiple copies of the quotes. * To make the system password protected so a password will be needed in order to enter the system. * To make sure the details about the customers’ names, surnames, addresses, age and other details can be seen. * To be able to use a command button so data can be stored. * To use drop down boxes to be able to select options. QUALITATIVE OBJECTIVES: * To make the system user- friendly I will create a user interface so that it is easy to move around the system. * To make the system look professional and organised. PERFORMANCE CRITERIAS: * The system should be able to use a formula in order to work out the total cost of the insurance quote. * The system should be able to use a calculation in order to work out the cost of the insurance excluding the discount. * The system should be able to print multiple copies of the insurance quotation. * The system should be password enable, so a password will be needed in order to access the system to make sure the system is safe. * The system should show all the details about the customers such as names, surnames, addresses and other details. * The system should be able to store the issued quotes so that they can be used at a later date. * The system should have drop down boxes so the user can select options quickly and easily. NEW SYSTEM: HARDWARE: In order to computerise the quotation system I will need a Windows XP computer. I will also need a QWERTY keyboard and a mouse in order to input the data into the spreadsheet. I will be using the hard drive to save the spreadsheet on an internal storage. I will also be saving the spreadsheet on an external storage such as CR-RW so that I have a back- up copy of the data in case the original copy is deleted I will still have another copy. I will also be using a VDU (visual display unit) to see the spreadsheet. I will also be using a printer to print out the quotes so that the user can see them and then send them to S & S Insurances. SOFTWARE: In order to produce the car insurance quotation system I will be using spreadsheet software for many reasons. In a spreadsheet I can use many of the features which will enable me to produce an efficient quotation system. I can use macros, list boxes, combo boxes, V Lookup, IF statements and other features in the system. There is other software such as a word- processor or a database but they are not suitable for this quotation system. Although you can make tables and do basic calculations they are only limited as they are not mainly designed for that purpose. I will be using Microsoft Excel 2003 as I do not have any other spreadsheet software available on my computer. I will also use it as I am more familiar with it as I have used it many times in the past. SECURITY: I will need to make sure the spreadsheet I create will be kept safe and secure. I will need to make sure the data is secure as I will need to follow the Data Protection Act 1998. In order to comply with the law I will keep the data safe by having cell protection so if anyone other than me or the user accesses the data he will need to enter the password in order to alter the information. I will also keep a backup copy of the system so if the user loses the original copy he will still have another backup copy. INPUT, PROCESSES AND OUTPUT: Input: I will input all the data required using a keyboard into the spreadsheet. The input data I will need in order to produce the quotation system are all the customer details and the headings. I will require the following specific data about the customers: forename, surname, address, sex, model and make of the car. I will also need the age of the driver, which will be in a grouped arrangement e.g. 17- 19 or 60- 65. The type of insurance the driver wants will also be required whether it is, fully comprehensive, third party only or third party fire and theft. I will abbreviate the type of insurance to make it shorter so it would be much quicker to type and also easier. I will also need to know what type of area the driver lives in, as this could be a risk factor, low, medium or high. I will also need to know if the driver would like to state an extra driver or not. I will also need to know the number of claims the driver has made in the past 4 years and whether he is eligible for a discount. The other details I will need to know is about the insurance and which rating the cars are allocated according to their power and cost. I will also need to know about the multipliers so that I can work what I need to multiple the costs, these will be allocated to the sex, age of driver, risk of area and insurance and type. The final detail I will need to know are the number of penalty points the customer has, as having more conviction point will increase the cost of the insurance quote. Processes: In order to create the quotation system I will need to carry out a number of processes with the input data in order to produce the output. The fixed data will be the data that I will not change on the spreadsheet such as the main headings e.g.: forename, surname, address. The variable data will be the data that will change. The data that will need to be changed are all the details about the customer and his car. In order to fulfil the following user requirements I will carry out a number of processes: * To be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote and to be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote before a discount is given. I will be using a formula to calculate the total costs of the quote and also to work out the cost excluding the discount. I will be using a simple Auto sum calculation in order to do this. In order to work out the total cost I will need to use a V Lookup formula. A V Lookup searches for a value in the leftmost column of a table, and then returns a value in the same rows from a column you specify in the table. I will be using a V Lookup formula since I will having different things on different sheets it will need to lookup the values in other cells. * To be able to print the quotation. In order to do this the user can use the menu options on the toolbar however to make it easier for the user I will have a macro. * To make sure that system is safe and secure. In order to keep the data safe I will be using cell protection. I will be keeping a password so when someone accesses the file he will be prompted to enter the password. If the password entered is correct he will gain access and be able to change the data. However if an incorrect password is entered an error message will appear informing the user he cannot gain access. * To be able to see the details of all the customers such as; forename, surname, age, and the type of insurance they would like. In order to do this I will have a sheet where the details about the customer can be seen. * To be able to store the issued quotes so that they can be used at a later date. In order to do this I will be using macros. Macro is a feature that stores a series of commands so that the user can use them with a single command. I will be using macros for various things such as printing the quote, storing the quotes, to view the quotes and other tasks. * To enable phone enquiries to be dealt much quickly. In order to fulfil this requirement I will be using a variety of buttons to make it easier for the user. Option buttons are used for choosing one item from a list of options, where you can select one option button at a time. I will be using them so the user can select the sex of the driver, either male or female. Combo boxes can also be called drop- down boxes, which offer a number of choices to the user, one of which maybe selected. I will be using a combo box so that my user can select the driver’s car. By selecting on the drop- down arrow will provide the models of the cars. A list box and combo boxes are alike however a list box shows the choices available without having to click on the arrow. I will be using a list box for the risk assessment of the area and type of insurance, as there are only three options from which the user can select. A check box is a box, which can either be selected or unselected, when you click on the box a tick appears in the box. I will be using a check box for the declaration of the extra driver. A spinner is made up of two arrows, one point up and the other down. By clicking on the up arrow increases the value and the down arrow decreases the value. I will be using the spinner to choose the number of years the driver has made no claims. I will also be using IF statements in order to see the values of the check box which will check whether the customer would like an extra driver. * To make the system user- friendly. In order to make the printed quote professional and organised I will be adding the name of the company, address, telephone numbers and the company logo at the top. I will also arrange all the information into sections and add colour to make it look more attractive. I will create the macros into buttons so the user can quickly carry the tasks. I will also add a front end to the system. A front end is the name given to the user-friendly interface that will appear on the screen when the file is loaded. It will provide the user with a number of options. Once the data has been entered I will need to rename the worksheets and insert a defined name for certain data which will be used in calculations. Output: The output will be the full quote details, which will be on the screen of the computer showing the customer name, address, car details, and the cost of the insurance and without the discount. The output on the screen will also show the macros, which can be used to navigate around the system. The other output will be the fully modified and professional printed quote that will show the company logo along with the company’s address and contact numbers. It will also show the issue date, all the details about the quote and the expiry date of the quote.