Major task context
Below are the current systems that the travel agents has
in place. The travel agents currently has five members of staff.
The manager, two sales persons and two administration staff.
Customer Details
Customers who wish to be kept informed of the latest travel bargains
and destinations by post fill in a card with their details. The
completed cards are stored in several filling cabinets in alphabetical
order. These cards are then cross referenced to the customers preferred
holiday destinations to enable staff to send out specific details
to each customer.
Periodically the travel agents send out a letter
to check whether the customer details are still correct. These
are pre-printed letters created by the local printing firm. The
staff created the detail of the letter on the computer with gaps
left for customer to fill in the detail. Addresses
are
taken
from
the
cards.
A stand
alone computer is used for this.
This system is looked after by the administration staff.
Back to the top
Accounts
Accounts for the travel agents are done manually on paper and
sent to the main office to be completed by trained staff that
are expensive
to
employ.
This system is looked after by the administration staff.
Back to the top
Posters and leaflets
Posters and leaflets for publicity and advertising are done under
contract to a local advertising firm that is expensive. Posting
the publicity information out is time consuming and is not always
appropriate for all customers. The amount of customers these forms
of advertising could reach are limited.
The Manager is responsible for putting together the details needed
for the adverts and publicity material.
See Resource Sheet 1c for further
detail.
Back to the top
Needs of the new system
- The ability to produce their own stationery in-house for communication
to and from the customers, including letterheads, mail-merge letters,
posters, leaflets, etc.
- A computerised system for storing customers' details to enable them
to produce specific bargain and destination information to target
customers, e.g. a list of all customers who prefer Costa
Rica as a holiday destination.
This system would also produce the address labels for the envelopes.
- A computerised system used to contact customers so that they can check
the accuracy of the customer details (a new requirement under
the Data Protection Act if the records are to be kept on a computer
instead of
paper). This system would also produce the address labels for the envelopes.
e.g. a customer
detail update form.
- Security methods to ensure the safety of the data once on the system (e.g. passwords, backup, etc.)
Back to the top
Extension tasks
- Ext. 1 - A system to produce accounts which office staff
can use in-house without any specialised knowledge.
- Ext. 2 - A web site that can be used to advertise the travel
agents current destinations and holiday bargains. The web site
could
also be used to collect customer details electronically for
storing in the customer database.
- Ext. 3 - A presentation for the display in the
travel agents window that will display details of a (selection
of ) holiday destinations
offered by the travel agents.
Back to the top
|
