A Research Study Into Juvenile Delinquency Essay - 2330 Words

â€Å"In the year ending March 2015 there were around 950,000 arrests†¦ in England and Wales, of which 94,960 were of people aged 10-17 years† (MoJ, 2016) Youth offending is a broad term used to describe those showing signs of antisocial behaviour from as young as 10 in England and Wales. The study into juvenile delinquency came to the forefront of criminology when statistics highlighted that prevalence and incidence rates of offending are highest during adolescence. Crime rates in young people were shown to peak at age 17 and slowly begin to decrease after this; statistics highlighted a drop of 50% when individuals were in their early 20s (Moffitt, 1993, pp. 674-675). This is also known as the age-crime curve. A risk factor in criminology is defined as an event that predicts an increased probability of delinquency (Murray Farrington, 2010, p.635). In regards to youth offending, there are many risk factors which show a positive correlation. Farrington et al. (2003, pp. 224-225) claims that criminal behaviour in youths can be caused due to a number of risk factors that take place before the age of 20. Individual, family, socioeconomic and peer factors were all shown to be significant, with particular focus on individual factors such as low intelligence and neurocognitive problems, as well as family risk factors such as childrearing methods and antisocial parenting. There are various individual risk factors that could influence juvenile delinquency; these factors occur solely toShow MoreRelatedSocial And Social Learning Theory1553 Words   |  7 Pageslearned through associations with others who commit crimes. Juveniles are very impressionable or gullible, wherein they want to be popular or part of the in-crowd or clique. In comparison to the 1970’s versus today, juveniles are emulating criminals depicted on television not just through associations. Consider the current state of technology, specifically the internet and websites such as â€Å"You Tube.† With respect to crime and juvenile delinquents, You Tube is and can be a negative influence. InRead MoreJuvenile Crime And Juvenile Delinquency1458 Words   |  6 PagesDay in and day out residents and visitors to the Boston area are affected by juvenile crime and delinquency. Though the crime rates in MA and across the nation are on a steady decline, these juvenile crimes are sti ll considered a serious matter that needs attention. It is thought that juvenile offenders do not cope as well with the criminal justice system as well as adults may be able to and therefore there needs to be a focus on how the system can better aid in the rehabilitation of these youthfulRead MoreIs There A Strong Relationship Between Poverty And Juvenile Delinquency?1655 Words   |  7 PagesStrong Relationship Between Poverty and Juvenile Delinquency? There is a lot of research in the world on whether or not poverty and juvenile delinquency are correlated. Of what I’ve seen, the studies suggest that there is, in fact, a relationship between them. Poverty is a serious issue, and it not only affects the people living in poverty, but it also affects the people around poverty-ridden neighborhoods. This study will address the issue of poverty on juveniles. Moreover, it will unveil the problemRead MoreBroken Homes and Juvenile Delinquency1099 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction: Juvenile Delinquency has been an important area of study since the turn of the twentieth century. And has reached to a point where it is now considered a social phenomenon. When we look into the word social, it could be viewed as an issue that has to do with the way we are socialized into society. However, for this purpose we would have to look at some very important questions like: How is the concept of juvenile delinquency defined? Who commits delinquent acts? How much delinquency occursRead MoreDeliquency And Juvenile Delinquency1112 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction An estimated 70% of juveniles that are in the juvenile system have an elementary academic achievement level, and have learning disabilities. [1]. Poor school performance, skipping school, and dropping out at a young age are all connected to delinquency. There was an increase in the rates of juvenile delinquency after dropping out from school [2]. Juveniles who go to school consistently and have a strong academic performance, ideally go on to college and have a successful career andRead MoreSocial And Environmental Issues Of Juvenile Delinquency980 Words   |  4 PagesThere are many problems that contribute to the social and environmental issues of juvenile delinquency. Several factors are youths brought up in poverty stricken and gang infested neighborhoods, exposure to drugs, violence, physical, mental, and emotional abuse, no parental guidance and neglect. A large number of these children commit violent crimes and more than 700,000 are a part of gangs. 40 percent of the juvenile s who are incarcerated in America are detained and locked up for minor offenses andRead MoreThe Relationship Between Social Class and Delinquency Essays1498 Words   |  6 Pagespreconceived notions regarding the relationship between social class and delinquency. A common assumption is that lower-class juveniles are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior than their higher-class counterparts. Criminologists have performed a large number of studies examining the socio-demographic characteristics of delinquents, which often yielded contradictory results. When analyzing the extent and trend of juvenile delinquency in the United States conclusions can be drawn from estimates derivedRead MoreThe Effects Of Juvenile Delinquency On The Criminal Justice System1691 Words   |  7 Pagesthat crime is being exposed and done by minors. Juvenile delinquency has impacted the criminal justice system in various ways. It has grown over the past years and many do not know how it evolved. For once, family structure can affect juvenile delinquency in numerous of ways. The independent variable is family structure and the dependent variable is juvenile delinquency. Home environment does indeed play a role in the production of juvenile delinquency. Kierkus and Hewitt (2009) in The ContextualRead MoreThe Negative Effects Of Juvenile Delinquency1286 Words   |  6 Pagesfactor of juvenile delinquency because it involves discipline and how much supervision the parent is giving to their child. When a child does not have discipline from their parent nor supervision a lot of activities are done that are harmful, which is when children start misbehaving and committing crimes. Juvenile delinquency is a topic many of us are familiar with and have a different perspective. There are many reasons why juvenile delinquency is a problem today. To understand juvenile delinquencyRead MoreEnvironmental Factors Of Juvenile Delinquency988 Words   |  4 PagesKnowing this, what environmental factors cause juvenile delinquency? â€Å"Each year, approximately 1.5 million adolescents are arrested in the United States, most are repeat offenders, and, in 2008 one in eight violent crimes was attributed to juveniles† (Leverso, Bielby, Hoelter, 2015, p 1). Understanding the environmental causes of juvenile delinquency allows society to better protect children from becoming offenders. This then can reduce the number of juvenile delinquents in the United States. Key words

Ethics Of Torture Who Are We Really Hurting - 990 Words

Torture is a heinous crime to anyone who is put under the duress of those who either get enjoyment or use it as a device for information gathering. In recent years it has been more in use as a focal point with the recent killings of aid and social workers in the Middle East and travelers that enter North Korea to state a message or obtain information. If the rules of the Geneva Convention do not apply, then what rules do apply? Ethics of torture: who are we really hurting? Conflict between consequential and rights based morals theories that are not new. In 530AD was the first recording of torture was originated, when the Roman jurists torture those who did not conform to their ideology or religion. A Roman catholic by the name of Demosthenes believed â€Å"no statements made as a result of torture have been proved untrue† (thejusticecampaign.org/2010). It did have its critics, Aristotle was able to recognized the true nature of torture that, â€Å" those under compulsion are as likely to give false evidence as true, some being ready to endure to endure everything rather than tell the truth, while others are really ready to make false charges against other, in the hope of sooner released from torture†. (thejusticecampaign.org/2010). Almost every dictionary that has been published in the last 3 decades has at least three different definitions of torture. Either it is a narrow point blank answer or the broad one, however it all means the same, cruel and unusualShow MoreRelatedWhy Torture is Morally Wrong2149 Words   |  9 PagesConsider the following situation: You are an army officer who has just captured an enemy soldier who knows where a secret time bomb has been planted. Unless defused, the bomb will explode, killing thousands of people. Would it be morally permissible to torture them to get him to reveal the bomb’s location? Discuss this problem in light of both Utilitarian and Kantian moral theories and present arguments from both moral perspectives for why torture is morally wrong. At first glance, Utilitarian moralRead MoreThe Ethical Implications Of Terrorism2241 Words   |  9 Pagesdivisive and controversial: torture. They believed that in order to protect their constituencies and countries they felt that torture, kept relatively private, would effectively root out terrorism and the strategies that they employ. However, as with anything in the age of the Internet, nothing stays quiet for long and many human rights groups have taken an opposition to the use of torture. This has increasingly become more and more controversial of an activity and thus we need to start to look at theRead MoreThe Adopted Codes of Conduct for Psychological Research Essay1135 Words   |  5 Pages There is a belief among psychologists that by carrying out an experiment we should be lead to understand ourselves better and to the enhancement of the human condition and promotion of human welfare. This can only be completed if the experiment is ethically right to all parties involved. Ethics in an experimental situation deals with the idea of morality, what would be considered morally right behaviour in sight of aRead MoreThis Paper Will Be Discussing A Character From A Tv Series1511 Words   |  7 PagesMorgan, who adopted the boy and raised him as his own. As Dexter grew older, Harry noticed that Dexter liked to kill animals. Harry realized that watching his mother die had traumatized the boy and spawned a bloodlust in him, and that he would eventually start hurting actual human beings. But he loved his son and didn’t want him to lose him, so he taught Dexter to channel his â€Å"desire to kill† by telling him that he must only kill those who deserve it†¦ or rather, the criminally guilty who escape theRead MoreThe Importance of Ethics in the Workplace2188 Words   |  9 PagesImportance of Ethics in the Workplace From birth, most of us are taught what is right and wrong. Ethics is a trait that most human beings acquire, but with differences in values and perspectives, it may be hard to achieve. The problem lies in how ethics are taught to people. It is our duty as Americans and people on this Earth to train ourselves to become ethical in every thing we do. We should be practicing good ethics everywhere, at work, home, and school. Having good ethics should be partRead MoreAnimal Experimentation : Imagine An Innocent, Adorable Rabbit2048 Words   |  9 Pagesintended for use, for research, testing, experimentation, or exhibition purposes, or as a pet.† (â€Å"Animal Welfare†) The act does not cover birds, mice bred for research, rats, or any cold-blooded animals. Do we really need a definition for what an animal is? Can’t we just refrain people from hurting other living creatures? Ninety-five percent of animals used in research are not protected by the AWA. (â⠂¬Å"Pro-Con†) Laboratories have no minimum standards for the conditions of the unprotected animals. WithoutRead MoreCriticisms Against Ethical Theories8474 Words   |  34 Pagesmost people would say were clearly morally wrong, such as torture, killing children, genocide, etc. 2. Criticisms leveled against Deontology The word deontology comes from the Greek word deon, meaning duty. According to this theory, it is your duty to do actions which are right and not do those which are wrong. Actions are thought to be right or wrong in themselves. For example, killing people and lying are wrong, sharing with others who are in need is right. Immanuel Kant was a famous deontologistRead MoreEssay on Fall of Asclepius95354 Words   |  382 Pagessome organization to it. What was faced in the last days... by last days I mean the last days of civilization not life; itself. What was faced was hell. Everyone went ape shit insane. Everyone was killing and raping each other into oblivion, because we were under attack by creatures that was so beyond our understanding! Geez, there were many names given to these undead. Some called them demons, others called them lost souls. With all these names, I found only one that was truly worthy; ZombiesRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagesthe water from the stream. When it cools, you could drink it and make breakfast and continue with your good times. Then Juanita mentions seeing a sign back in the parking lot: Warning, Giardia has been found in many streams in the area. Sorry, but we are out of sterilization tablets. Giardia is a microorganism that makes you sick, she says. You and Emilio have never heard of it. Emilio says hes willing to bet that boiling the water will kill the critters. Besides, he says, our stream

Human Resources management in Organisation - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about the Human Resources management in Organisation. Answer: Increasing global market is posing challenges to the Australian economy. It is altering the kind of jobs in the country. The Business council of Australia is focusing on the human capital development and in building the Australian comparative advantages. The aim of the human resource management currently is to develop the people to their full potential to keep Australia competitive, prosperous, and productive (O'Connor, Du Roos, 2015). The essay discusses the changing face of recruitment in Australia. In regards to this situation the essay discusses the recruitment and its importance to the organisation. The essay focuses on the recruitment trends, challenges and the opportunities for potential employees and organizations. The essay is supported with the human resource HR theories and models that are relevant to the employment relationship. Recruitment is important for every organisation. Taking into account the huge success of the Game of Thrones, it is clearly due to excellent collaboration of people. In this context, recruitment is the process of recruiting right person for right job for improving the organisational performance. It depends on the recruitment if a person has right skills set to perform a specific job. It is not only the part of the HR team to recruit people but also the responsibility of the line mangers. The importance of recruitment in HR management is to fill up the position with the right candidate using advertisement and any other means so that deserving candidates are not deprived of their dream job. It is the recent trend that big firms are buying the recruiting companies for instance, Oracle or SAP to select deserving candidate with high potential. Recruitment plays an important role in growth of the company. It helps in accumulating the pool of talent under one roof and avoid the last minute rush for mega projects (Armstrong Taylor, 2014). HR management plays a crucial role in defining the role which includes job analysis (output required by job holder or purpose of job), job description (expectation of employer), and specifying job profile to the right candidate. This stage is followed by attracting the employees by various internal and external methods. This process is important in checking the legal requirements fulfilled by the candidates and to recruit loyal candidates and those who can endorse the core values of the company. HR managers meet the present and future needs of the company by recruiting people. It helps in keeping the back up as there is always a chance that some people may leave in middle of the project. This helps maintaining the balance in the organisation while enhancing the value creation. The present market is highly competitive and without the right mix of the candidate it is difficult to win the competition. Hence, recruitment is very important (Budhwar Debrah, 2013). There are several new trends in the HR recruitment process. Automatic and Employee referral has become part of the recruitment since long time. This programme is effective in receiving applications from the talented candidates. It helps companies give enough talent. In addition, the consultancies are expert in digging the database of the employees to come up with deserving skills for specific position (Shwed Kalev, 2014). The latest trend in the human resource recruitment is investing cleverly in educating people about the world of work. In order to decrease the rise in unemployment among young workers and those at disadvantage there is a need to work well in terms of human capital. This includes investing excessively in the social networking sites other than traditional model of advertisement thorough newspapers, trade press, or commercial job boards. However, half of the employment in Australia is due to social media and employment agency. Recently, there is an increasing use of t echnology for managing the application process (Gibbs et al., 2015). Mc Donalds is using the new way of recruiting employees. Considering the fact that there is significant increase in use of social networking sites through smart phones, Mc Donald has decided to recruit tech-savvy people through snapchat. It just takes 10 minutes for job seekers to watch a video ad of the employees of Mc Donald sharing their experiences. Users can simply swipe in the app to be redirected to the carer webpage of Mc Donald for application. This process is named as snaplications an innovative market hiring tool. Using this technique Mc Donald in US has recruited 250,000 employees in this summer. The same method has been employed by the company in Australia. Additionally, Spotify and Hulu was also recruited to reach prospective and potential jobseekers (Fortune.com, 2017). Netflix too uses consumerisation process where it makes good recommendation knowing the movie tastes of it employees (Varela, 2017). Tinder helps them get new partners. People expect experience at work that is similar to that in home (Jackson et al., 2014). The strategic human resource management system of Australia aligns with the human capital theory. This theory states that the economic value of the organization increases by Human capital theory; employees experience, skills and knowledge (Kramar, 2014) Other strategies used by the HR managers are using internal recruitment plan, the local job centres and career fairs. Internal talent pool is recruited for providing career growth opportunities, employee retention and support succession planning (Jackson et al., 2014). For instance, half of the Mc Donalds managers were previously hourly paid employees. This organisation makes its each individual restaurant responsible for recruitment. This use of multiple strategies has helped many new youngers aged 16-24 in Australia to have first job at Mc Donald with more than 60% being recruited as crew member (Mc Donald's, 2017). This aligns with the European model of HRM as these strategies focus on relationship with employees and line managers (Kramar, 2014). It is increasingly becoming difficult to find highly skilled and competent people qualified at all levels. The recent trend in the employment process in Australia is everything being mobile, tradeable and labour. The people with high qualification and skills are moving to other places in the world. On the other hand the low skilled jobs are automated or move offshore (Tyers, 2015). The common challenges faced by the employees in Australia are lack of advancement in technology, poor communication by HRs and poor working environments. The high turnover rate is due to the transient nature of the workforce. Workplace discrimination regards to culture, age, gender and others are prominent issues in Australia. Some of the organisations like seven eleven stores recruited people but failed to fulfil the employee expectations. It is due to low wage, long hours of employment without incentives (Shields et al., 2015). Further, the major challenge is to due to one third of jobs in Australia that are not formally advertised. There is reliance on word of mouth in 17% of all jobs. Immigrants and refugees lack training and education (Kosny et al., 2017). The work experience model used by the employer is the work inspirations. It helps the employees gain a real world sense of being in the workplace. It creates awareness to the employees about the skills and the competencies expected by the employers. Many BCA members are taking initiatives to develop programs that include three day courses to tailored internships. Companies like Mc Donald and Microsoft work through discussion forums and activities with different staff members. They receive feedback and advice from the range of staff about the future career paths (Bakker, 2017). There is the need of such opportunities in the workplace which helps the young member participate in workplace to develop the employability skills. Such opportunities need to be created in partnership with schools, non-government organizations, and business. It is argued by Harteis Goller (2014) that work exposure, and other career learning opportunities must become the central part of the education and traini ng system. These kind of partnerships is evident from the Work Inspirations program coordinated by the Foundationfor Young Australians, NAB and The Smith Family. Future Employees can make more informed choices about their training and studies by reforming the way career learning is offered to the students and different job seekers. These training opportunities will help maximise the human capital. It should be ensured that those are able to work with the help of vocational education and training are supported by business, governments and community organizations (Budhwar Debrah, 2013). According to Webb et al. (2013), vocational education and training that is to be obtained by year 12 has been found effective in Australia in increasing higher rates of full-time employment, and lowering incidence ofunemployment. It is useful tool that leads to higher wages and higher status jobs for people. Partnership approach is the new and effective technique in reaching the disadvantaged job seekers. For instance, the BCA is collaborating with the Australian Councilof Social Service and the Australian Council of TradeUnions to improve the employment services. It is helping all the job seekers to be able to contribute to countrys economy and benefit from its growth. For instance, there is an increase in the indigenous workforce by 3500 people by the BCA member companies. Reconciliation Action Plans by both public and private improves opportunities for many more disadvantaged Indigenous jobseekers in Australia (Sheldon, P., Thornthwaite, 2015). It can be concluded from the above discussion that the organisations in Australia are changing the face of recruitment using the modern HR solutions. It can be concluded that a perfect blend of solutions such as solid core HR system, innovative methods, and payroll solutions might be most effective. There is no single determined strategy for increasing the employment. References Armstrong, M., Taylor, S. (2014).Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Bakker, A. B. (2017). Strategic and proactive approaches to work engagement.Organizational Dynamics,46(2), 67-75. Budhwar, P. S., Debrah, Y. A. (Eds.). (2013).Human resource management in developing countries. Routledge. Fortune.com. (2017).McDonalds Is Using a New Method to Recruit Young Employees Snapchat.Fortune. Retrieved 19 December 2017, from https://fortune.com/2017/06/13/mcdonalds-snapchat-jobs-2/ Gibbs, C., MacDonald, F., MacKay, K. (2015). Social media usage in hotel human resources: recruitment, hiring and communication.International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,27(2), 170-184. Harteis, C., Goller, M. (2014). New skills for new jobs: Work agency as a necessary condition for successful lifelong learning. InPromoting, Assessing, Recognizing and Certifying Lifelong Learning(pp. 37-56). Springer Netherlands. Harvey, W. S., Groutsis, D., van den Broek, D. (2017). Intermediaries and destination reputations: explaining flows of skilled migration.Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-19. Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., Jiang, K. (2014). An aspirational framework for strategic human resource management.Academy of Management Annals,8(1), 1-56. Kosny, A., Santos, I., Reid, A. (2017). Employment in a Land of Opportunity? Immigrants Experiences of Racism and Discrimination in the Australian Workplace.Journal of International Migration and Integration,18(2), 483-497. Kramar, R. (2014). Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource management the next approach?.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,25(8), 1069-1089. Mc Donald's. (2017). McDonalds innovative hiring process | #Snaplications. YouTube. Retrieved 19 December 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abW_OSmDraA O'Connor, A., Du, K., Roos, G. (2015). The intellectual capital needs of a transitioning economy: a case study exploration of Australian sectoral changes.Journal of Intellectual Capital,16(3), 466-489. Sheldon, P., Thornthwaite, L. (2015). Employer and employer association matters in Australia in 2014.Journal of Industrial Relations,57(3), 383-400. Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., ... Plimmer, G. (2015).Managing Employee Performance Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge University Press. Shwed, U., Kalev, A. (2014). Are Referrals More Productive or More Likeable? Social Networks and the Evaluation of Merit.American Behavioral Scientist,58(2), 288-308. Tyers, R. (2015). Service Oligopolies and Australia's Economy?Wide Performance.Australian Economic Review,48(4), 333-356. Varela, D. R. (2017). The Netflix Experience: Reshaping the Creative Process: Cultural Co-Production of Content: A user-focus approach to recommendation algorithms. Webb, S., Beale, D., Faine, M. (2013).Skilled migrant women in regional Australia: promoting social inclusion through vocational education and training. National Centre for Vocational Education Research.

My description of what the user needs Essay Example

My description of what the user needs Essay My user keeps the scores at an athletics championship. At this point of time the scores are kept on paper this can be a problem because the paper can be easily lost and damaged, it is difficult to make back up copies because of it been on paper. This also results in calculating manually, so this slow down the process and may result with inaccurate information. What I am going to do about this is replace this system with an electronic one where all the function/calculations will be taken place on a PC or a lap-top. This piece of hardware will need to be able to run excel 2000 or any other excel preferable a later version. Also it will need to have the capacity to save and back up these system files I create. Furthermore it will need a printer to print out graphs of the information that is created. There is a need to print out graphs because information is easier to comprehend and the graphic presentation will make a quick analysis easier for the coaches and the organisers of the championship. As the user might not have a lot of knowledge of ICT I will create a user guide to help them through the process of scoring using this system. The user is going to need a keyboard, monitor and a processing unit in addition to the storage devices. The skills I will need to use and what research I will need to do? I have already got data from a previous project, I created that is needed but I will need to find out on how to link sheets together, how to create macros, how to validate data in a spreadsheet and how to create macros for buttons to work. I will need to use Excel 2000 and Word 2000 to create the user guide, and the machines at my collage which are networked. We will write a custom essay sample on My description of what the user needs specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on My description of what the user needs specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on My description of what the user needs specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Task What I have to do Due date Deadline met? 1 Write project proposal 21.4.07 Yes 2 Agree proposal with teacher 21.4.07 Yes 3 Draw up plan of spreadsheet, including formulas and functions 22.04.07 Yes( had to re-draft) 4. Research how to do macros 23.04.07 Yes(printed out the instructions form Excel Help) 5. Set up grids, formatted cells, amended row heights and widths. Also formatted the data type. 25.04.07 Yes 6. Created the graphs on a new sheet 28.04.07 Yes this was straightforward as I had done it before. 7. Created an interface page 26.04.07 Yes- this was easy. 8. Format the input sheet to hide cells I do not want the user to access. 27.04.07 Yes this was easy. 9. Carry out tests on all aspects of spreadsheet 28.04.07 Yes 10 Do revisions following on from test sheet 28.04.07 Yes 11. Ask other users for their views on the system 29.04.07/30.04.07 Yes 12. Revise system in the light of users views 1.05.07 Yes I asked my mum, my teacher and two of my fiends in the same class. 13. Evaluate system 3.05.07 Yes The timetable for me to complete each of the tasks: Task Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Project proposal Research the skills needed Make action plan Design system on paper Make the system Test the system Amend the system Evaluate the system The information will I need to collect and where will I find it? I am going to need to find out: o The names of the teams in the championship o The name of the events thats been held o The records for each of the events o The scores awarded for each place o I will need to find out how to do technical things like macros Things that I may use to help me: o Textbooks o Online tutorials in Excel o The help function in Excel The resources (people, document, Hardware and Software) I will use: I will be using the schools PCs on the network in the collage and save my work into my user area, I will also do back up copies on my memory stick which I will keep in a safe place. I will need a spreadsheet package (Excel) and a word processing package (Word) to produce my spreadsheet, the report and the user guide. I will ask my teacher about things I get stuck on and also the Help function and on-line tutorials for Excel. How I set up my the spreadsheet Row Height and Column Width Function needed for the spreadsheet: For the Input sheet I have a grid called position grid which reads the team names in the Results grid and calculates which position each team achieved in that event. You will be doing this by using the function =MATCH(Team Name, Row of Result Grid, 0) On the input sheet I have a grid called the Total grid which reads the position of each event and looks up how many points each event team scored and places them in the grid using a VLOOKUP function. You type in =VLOOKUP(Position in Event, Points Grid, 2) I have set up an IF function in the Results grid to show if a record has been broken in that event. You will indicate if records have been broken alongside each event in each Results Grid by using the function: =IF(First Place Time;Event Record,New Record,) For the Totals grid I have used a SUM function to total up the scores for each team. You can use cell formats to determine what data will be entered into the cell. The cells I have used in my spreadsheet have text in them, so I have used text format for the cells that have numbers in them I have used number format. (shown above) Cell references I used cell referencing in my spreadsheet to refer to other grids. E.g. I have referenced cells in the results grid from the positions grid. A cell is referenced by its column letter and row number co-ordinates e.g. B13 maybe easier to just fill in data by using the fill option in the edits menu. By doing this it will automatically increments the cell reference number. To get around this I had to use absolute cell referencing where I told the spreadsheet to look at a specific place that would not change. Formulas and Functions that I used The function to calculate new records: New Rec? =IF(C5;B14,Yes,No) =IF(C6;B15,Yes,No) =IF(C7;B16,Yes,No) =IF(C8;B17,Yes,No) =IF(C9;B18,Yes,No) The VLOOKUP to calculate the scores and SUM to calculate the final overall score: Event North 100m =VLOOKUP(H14,$D$14:$E$17,2) 200m =VLOOKUP(H15,$D$14:$E$17,2) 400m =VLOOKUP(H16,$D$14:$E$17,2) 800m =VLOOKUP(H17,$D$14:$E$17,2) 1500m =VLOOKUP(H18,$D$14:$E$17,2) TOTAL =E23+E24+E25+E26+E27 The MATCH function to calculate position of each team in each race North =MATCH(North,E5:H5,0) =MATCH(North,E6:H6,0) =MATCH(North,E7:H7,0) =MATCH(North,E8:H8,0) =MATCH(North,E9:H9,0) How to find data in the spreadsheet Graphs I chose to generate and why I chose them The reason why I chose to use a bar chart was because its an easy way to compare the results also its easy to read and understand them. Why I chose this line graph, was because its a good way to show the progress of each of the teams/ area. The background is striking and the information is clear to read. Consequently it might have been more accurate but not easy to read quickly by the scorer. For my system graph I will choose a variation of the bar chart used in the first graph. What ifQueries In this exercise I am going to change the scores of the points for the Athletic Championship. My prediction is that the final scores are going to change and it will be more competitive with all the teams and will have closer results. The screen dumb, of my spreadsheet before I changed the scores is shown below. If you look at the spreadsheet you can see that South won the championship. In the screen shot below you can see that the competition was much harder and that the results were much closer as I predicted. This was because I changed the Points Grid (shown on the table below) from 12, 9, 5, 1 to 5, 4, 3, and 2. How I ensured that my work was safe I have saved all my original files in my user area under Unit 4 folder in the schools network system (shown above). I saved my files on to my memory stick as my back up copy (shown above) How I created the interface First of all I renamed the three sheets in my workbook as Input, Interface and Graph. I then highlighted the whole Interface sheet by going in between the blank cell of A and 1 and went to Format- Cells- Patterns and chose a pale colour and clicked OK. Then I went to cell B2 and holding the mouse button down highlighted all the cells from B2 to F3. Next I went to the merge cells button (shown below) in the toolbar and clicked it. Merge cells button I then highlighted the same area and formatted it a different colour. In cell B4 I typed the words Type the name of the event in the box above. So the event organiser can type in the name of the event. Next I highlighted cells I2 to K3 and changed the colour to white. I merged the cells and typed this formula into the cell: =TODAY(). That is equals, TODAY, open brackets, close brackets. It will then automatically enter the days date. This is how the spreadsheet looked I then had to insert some buttons on the interface that will carry out actions on the spreadsheet. Firstly I needed the Forms toolbar to be showing. I Right clicked on any toolbar in Excel at the top of the window, a list of toolbars showed up then I clicked on Forms. I then clicked the button icon on the Forms Toolbar it looked like this: I then Drew a button (shown below). When I finished drawing the button a macro window opened up called Assign Macro. I clicked on the Record button and this window opened up I clicked OK. A small widow opened up (shown below) to let me record the macro. Now everything I did was recorded. The action I wanted to record was to switch to the Input sheet so I clicked on the Input tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet and the icon appeared in the input page. I clicked on the stop button to stop the macro recording. I then did the same and created another button for the graph that printed a graph of the results and the spreadsheet looked like this (shown below). I right clicked on the buttons and edited the text to show the user what buttons to what. How I created drop down boxes to help validate data input In my spreadsheet I went to the cell E5 in the Results Grid then I went to the Data menu located near the top of the window and scrolled down to Validation and clicked on it, then I went to the settings tap like (shown below). When the window opened up I went to Allow: and pressed on the drop down box and scrolled down to Lists. When I clicked on List I had to type in the Source shown below and I then typed in the =H13:K13 Then clicked on the icon next to it and another window opened up and I just pressed on the icon similar to the one shown below and then clicked OK and my drop down box was created. How my drop down box looked like I then repeated this exercise completing all the cells from E5 to H9 which is 20 cells that all had drop down boxes. (This is a range that contains all the names of the teams) Testing my system Test Predicted result Actual result Any changes made Yes/No 1.Open up spreadsheet Spreadsheet should be in folder and I would be able to find it. Spreadsheet was in the correct folder. No 2.Insert name of event in interface sheet Name could be typed and saved. Merged cell accepted the text entry. No 3.Insert date on interface sheet By clicking on this cell the date would enter automatically. Date entered as predicted. No 4.Input sheet button By clicking on Input sheet button the macro would take the user to the input sheet. Button took the user to the Input sheet. No 5.Graph button By clicking on graph sheet a graph would be printed. Button printed out an A4 copy of the graph of results. No 6.Spinner buttons Using spinner button would enter a result of a race. All spinner buttons worked. No 7.Usability test for novice user User would be able follow user guide and operate system without any problems. User could follow the user guide and operated system without difficulty. No User guide Step 1- Turn the computer and printer ON (make sure printer is connected to the computer so it is able to print). 2- After the machine has booted up and you have logged on go to the Start button and choose Excel from the programmes list. 3- Insert memory stick with system on it. 4- In Excel go File- Open and go to the Look in box choose the drive that has the system work on it and click on the file to open it. 5- Insert the name of the event where it prompts you on the Interface sheet. 6- The date will be entered automatically. 7- When you are ready to enter the results click on the Input button and this will take you to the Input page. 8- On the Input page use the drop down boxes to record the positions of the teams in each race. 9- In the Win name of the Results grid you should record the Winner of the race. 10- In the Win time column you should record the winning time of the race. In the New record? column it will tell you if a new record for that event has been created. 11- Do not enter data into any other cells all the calculations are done for you and the final results of the championship are recorded in the bottom line of the Total grid. 12- To return to the Interface page click on the return to interface button at the bottom of the page. 13- To print the graph, of the position of each team in each race and the final score click on the print graph button. 14- Ensure you save your work regularly by clicking on the Save icon in the Standard toolbar or by going to File and then Save. 15- When you have finished ensure that you save the file again and then close it, then close the program and turn the power off, on the machine. Evaluation For the athletic champion spreadsheet which calculated an automatic score, I created graphs, save backup copies and made validation checks. With a little help I completed the spreadsheet. I also had to create an interface to make the working of the system easier for a novice to follow. This was hard at first but I then got the hang of it, because by doing one macro gave me confidence to do others. Some new things I learnt were how to create a spreadsheet, as I had never done such a complicated one before. The hardest thing to do and understand was the teaching because we went through the project very quickly because we had to do it in a certain amount of time. The easiest thing was screen dumping, although it had to be re-formatted so that the screen dumps could be kept in the place I wanted it. The macros were a new thing for me and I had to have a few goes to make them work. Doing one macro meant I got the hang of it and the others were much easier. Testing the system was straightforward and I had understood most of the problems that occurred, as I was making the system and in the formal testing. At the end of it all worked out well. The good points of the spreadsheet are doing the formulas, I had trouble with the MATCH formula and had to insert it several times into the cells to make it work but the others worked fine. If I did this project again with more time, I would put a password on the file to protect it and may also use hidden files. I will then lock out the user from the formulas so they cant change them. Furthermore I would make it easier for the user to use the spreadsheet by producing a more illustrated/ simpler user manual. Other ideas I had would be to give a choice of graphs to the user and perhaps print out individual team scores from a new grid I would have created.