WESTERN REGION TOY LIBRARY
Four years ago, six families who knew
each other through the local kindergarten,
came up with an idea to gather their
children’s toys together and loan them out
to one another’s children so that
youngsters could enjoy a variety of toys
and each family was not overspending on
the latest toys and gadgets.
The toy library has grown considerably
and includes many more families, some
who live several suburbs away. Currently
the library is located in a large backyard
shed, and swapping of toys is done on a
rostered basis (different parents volunteer
to be on duty managing the Library)
every Saturday morning between 9 am
and 12 noon. Records of families,
payments, purchases, children, toys,
borrowings and so on are written by hand
into standard exercise books.
Last year, the parents elected a
Management Committee for their
organisation and introduced an annual
family fee to support the ongoing
purchase of toys for the library.
The children continue to be delighted
with having many toys to choose from,
and the families are also pleased as it has
eased financial pressures. However, the
Management Committee feel that they are
living amid an information overload,
because the Toy Library continues to
rapidly expand and no one person can
keep track of all the details, let alone find
facts from the records written in various
ways by different parents.
In addition, many toys are outdated and
need to be replaced. To date, toys were
purchased from various toy stores but it is
difficult to monitor which toys come
from where, and what they originally
cost. Furthermore, not all families are
paying their annual fees on time and need
to be chased up. Toys become lost and,
Problem-solving steps
1. Analysis
α.Define the problem.
β.Define the organisation – type, purpose
and goals.
χ.Suggest possible decisions to be made
and classify as operational, tactical or
strategic.
δ.Analyse the problem using an IPO chart
and determine any constraints.
ε.Prepare a project plan that identifies
tasks, duration, milestones, and
dependent tasks.
φ.Create a Gantt chart for the whole
project.
2. Design a solution by:
α.Determining the data structure (table
names, field names, data types).
β.Determine Queries, Sorts, Forms and
Reports to be produced.
χ.Identify data validation tests.
δ.Identify a set of test data to test
validation procedures.
ε.Design input screen layout.
φ.Design and justify report layout.
3. Development
α.Develop solution and monitor
progress.
4. Testing
α.Conduct various tests using the test
data and record and amend problems.
β.Include user testing.
quite often, parents are keeping them 5. Implementation
beyond the return date. Not all of the
library members adhere to the regulations α.Finalise your database product.
in relation to fees, borrowings and doing
rostered duty.

As an IT expert, you have been called in 6. Evaluation

by the Management Committee to help
solve their information problem. They α.Write a report that evaluates the
want you to find a solution and create a efficiency of the solution and the
product that they will be able to use after effectiveness of the reports in meeting
you have left. the identified decision-making needs
of the organisation.
They will input data from the old records
themselves, but have asked you to
populate your solution with enough test
data to ensure that all aspects work
properly.

 You agree to do the job for $6 500

and have been given 12 days from
start to finish.
 You decide to manage it through
Project Management, to keep an
Error Log during its construction,
and to write a detailed report at the
end.
 You will provide the Toy Library
Management Committee with the
solution to be run on their computer
that has Office 2003 installed, as a
user-friendly package.
 You may assume that all users can
use a computer.

 You do not want people interfering

with the important parts of your
solution, so you should carefully
design the parts that users are able to
see, and hide the parts you do not
want them to see.
back to top

Copyright | Disclaimer
Copyright © Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, State Government of Victoria, 2006