When doing projects for A Level ICT or Computing, keep reminding yourself about the following:

1. Your project MUST have a real adult user. They must know about the system you are working on in detail. They must be available at all times i.e. not live 100 miles away or you only see them once a month. If you can find a real system in place in school, these tend to be the easiest types of projects.

2. The easiest way to get the highest marks is to find a real problem with a real user, where there is an existing paper-based system in place. If you want decent marks, avoid like the plague manufactured projects like holiday databases and library-based projects. You can get many ideas by looking in Access books (try your school/college/university/local library), past projects, ideas on the Internet, current systems in school, family-run businesses and so on. Finding the right project and with a real user currently using a paper-based system are the keys to high marks - and finding the right project for you will take up many hours of your time!

3. You must involve your user many many times throughout your project to get the highest marks. EVERY time you have any contact with your user, make sure you document it. When did you meet, why did you meet, what did you discuss, what were the outcomes?

4. Do not write your Project like an English project. This is a Report. It should be written in an appropriate style. You should write it in Report-Writing Style. This is very important, not least because it will cut down the amount of writing you will have to do and will aid the marker and moderator.

5. Always use the headings in your Exam Board's syllabus as the headings in your report. Then use the sentences in your Exam Board's syllabus section descriptions as your sub-headings. In other words, always use the headings and sub-headings in your report that appear in your Exam Board's specification for the project. If you structure your project like this, you will find that you will have some evidence for every single thing that the Exam Board is awarding marks for and can potentially get very high marks.

6. Generally speaking, your project has LITTLE TO DO WITH ACCESS OR ANY OTHER DATABASE SOFTWARE. It is a project about Project Management. Nearly all the marks are awarded for HOW you do the project, not how good your database or spreadsheet is. The biggest mistake you can make is to spend 90% of the time on the database or spreadsheet and 10% of your time on the report. It should be the other way around! Spend nearly all your time focused on the headings and sub-headings in the mark scheme. Keep your project simple. I always tell my pupils to aim for no more than *two* tables if they are doing a database. Use the wizards wherever possible. Do not spend your time making e.g. input forms look pretty - it will be worth little if any marks.

   Here are some ideas for A2 projects. You should adapt them for your school in any way you see fit.

1) School sanctions system A school has a system for dealing with naughty pupils. If someone uses a mobile phone in class, or eats in class, or doesn't do their homework, etc then the teacher may fill out a 'Naughty Pupil' slip. This is a pre-printed A5 piece of paper, with a list of offences and spaces for other details. The teacher ticks one of a number of offences (or gives details of something not on the form), adds the pupil's name and their form, their 'House', the time and date and the teacher's own initials and then passes it to that pupil's Form Tutor.

When a Form Tutor gets a 'Naughty Pupil' slip, they increase the number of slips that pupil has got in their Record Book. The slip is then filed. The Form Tutor may talk to the pupil about the incident but if the pupil gets 3 slips in any half-term period, they get a lunchtime detention and a letter home warning them about their conduct. The teacher asks them to write down the details of the detention in their Homework Diaries. If they get 6, then it is a letter home with a warning about possible suspension as well as an after-school detention. 9 slips result in a suspension.

The school also has a House system. Pupils are members of one of four Houses. There are prizes and awards for the House with the most points at the end of each half-term, term and year. When a pupil receives a Naughty Pupil slip, a 'Deduct a Point' slip is filled in by the Form Tutor containing the pupil's name, House and offence and passed to the Deputy Head. She then deducts one point from the running total for the House.

It is thought that this system is overly paper-intensive and labour-intensive. It is also time-consuming to collect a range of statistics on a weekly/monthly/half-termly/termly and yearly basis, to be decided. It is thought that a system of emails or a central database would cut down on workload.

Your job is to investigate the current system in detail. You should identify who is in charge of the system, define the current system and then suggest improvements. You should define your vision of how the new system would work and then implement, test it and produce documentation for it. You should not simply produce a computerised database of the existing system but must use computer technology to provide enhanced facilities and features.

2) Hardware and software monitoring system The school has over 300 computers. There are a number of different hardware configurations. There are over 500 different software applications on the Network. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the Network Manager to keep track of the hardware and software. For example, the Network Manager has a rolling program of updating hardware and needs to know which PCs are the oldest, or which ones have the oldest graphics card, for example. The Network manager has no way of checking that a new piece of software will run on a set of computers because they all have different amounts of RAM and different processors, for example. It is difficult to keep track of what licences the school has, and the versions of the licences. This is important because the school has a program of updating certain amounts of software each year. The school has a duty to keep up-to-date records of e.g. licences in case they are externally audited. The Network Manager and Head of Computing need to have a complete picture of the hardware in any one room at any one time so that they can plan ICT development in that room.

Currently, the records for the hardware and software are out of date. What records that exist are in the Network Manager's head and some records are kept in the finance office. Clearly, this is a problem. If the Network Manager is off ill for a while or leaves the job, it would be hard for someone else to take over. Also, as the ICT facilities expand, it is important to have an accurate record of the current position. This is difficult to do if there is not a clearly-defined system in place.

Your job is to investigate the current system and define and implement a new system that will meet the needs of Network Manager and Head of Computing.

3) Permit system Currently, the car park in the school is too small. This causes problems. For example, teachers cannot park. Visitors cannot find a space. The school minibus is sometimes unable to park. Pupils have to cross the car park to wait for buses or to meet parents and there is an increased danger from the number of cars trying to get in and out of school and certain times of the day. People are parking everywhere, e.g. on the grass and this is causing damage.

Teachers and pupils should register the details of their car with the school secretary. If there is a problem then the secretary can track down the offending car and ask for it to be moved. This doesn't always happen. The current system is not working well!

It has been decided to investigate the use of permits and charging for permits. All teachers and some pupils will be allocated permits that give them permission to park in the car park. It should allow the owners of cars to be identified quickly and should be seen to be fair. Permits could be generated automatically and fees collected, logged and used to pay for repairs to the car park.

Your job is to investigate the workings of the current system and then provide a vision for a future system, based on the allocation of permits/charges. When you have done this, you should then define a system, implement and then test it.

4) Locker system The school has lockers for pupils to use. These each have a number. A pupil who has a locker can use their own padlock to secure it or rent one from the school. There are 1000 pupils in school and only 350 lockers. Priority is given to Year 7 and then the sixth formers. Currently, the secretary is in charge of allocating lockers. He allocates a locker to a pupil and takes in a deposit and a termly charge of £2.00, which is put into the School Fund. When the pupil moves on from year 7 or leaves the sixth form, the deposit is returned so long as the padlock has been removed. If a padlock is on a locker, a letter is sent home. If it is not removed then the deposit is lost and the padlock removed. Occasionally, a pupil loses their padlock key. The school charges for removal of the padlock.

The current system is a little haphazard. There are suggestions of unfairness in the allocation of lockers and the records are a little confusing. Sometimes, it has proven difficult to track down who has what locker and sometimes, it is not clear who has paid a deposit and the termly rent and who hasn't.

Your job is to investigate the current system. You should clarify the information needs of the administrator of the system and then define a new system that will provide all of the features needed. You should then implement and test it. You will need to produce some supporting documentation and a user manual for your user. Do not simply try to mirror the existing paper-based system. Look for opportunities to enhance and automate the features and facilities of your new system.

5) Allotment system Mr Jones currently manages an allotment site using a paper-based system. There are 175 allotments. Somebody wanting one applies to Mr Jones. If they are accepted as a member then they pay an annual charge of £50.00 that starts from the day they are accepted. Mr Jones then allocates them an allotment number and the person can start using it. Some members have two or even three allotments. Mr Jones has to pay bills such as water rates and electricty and these come out of the rent money received.

Three weeks before a renewal is due, Mr Jones sends out an invoice for payment. If payment is received, he updates his records. If no payment is received one week before the due-by date then a reminder is sent out with a date by when the person ceases to have the right to use the allotment. Each year, Mr Jones has to present a set of accounts to the council (they own the land). This needs to show how many allotments have been rented, and all payments received and paid out. He also needs to look up the details of members in case there is a problem e.g. an act of vandalism has occured or a social event is being organised.

Your job is to investigate and define the current system in detail and then suggest a computer-based system that will automate many of the time-consuming jobs Mr Jones currently does. Mr Jones is not convinced that computers will make any difference to his management role and besides, he has never used a computer before.

This project would lend itself to a spreadsheet or a database application.

6) Paper round system Mr Smith runs a corner shop. It sells papers and also delivers them. There are 12 paper boys and girls who deliver newspapers and magazines each morning over seven days. There is quite a high turnover of paper boys and girls. Each person is allocated a set of addresses that are usually but not always geographically close to each other. On average, a person would deliver 40 papers a day. A paper boy gets paid £2.50 a day Monday to Friday, £3.00 for Saturday and £3.50 for Sunday.

Mr Smith charges customers for having their newspaper delivered. He charges a fixed price of 20p per paper per day for Monday to Friday deliveries, 30p for Saturday and 50p for Sunday. Magazines are charged at 20% of their price. Customers pay their accounts monthly.

He would like you to investigate using computers to simplify some of the jobs he has to do. For example, he would like to be able to keep a record of customers, what they want delivered and when, and whether they have paid or not for each month. He would like to be able to produce standard personalised letters to give to customers who have not paid, detailing how much is due. He is very keen to be able to predict the profits he makes from deliveries and to be able to play with delivery charges and payments to the paper boys and girls. He wondered whether this is possible. He also would like to print out automatically lists of delivery addresses for each paper boy so that they can come in to the shop in the morning, collect the printout, collate the newspapers they need and go off and deliver them, without him having to write them out. If the system can produce a payslip of some sort for each paper boy, that would be useful, too.

Your job is to investigate the current system in detail and define Mr Smith's needs. You will then need to investigate a database or spreadsheet system that can provide the facilities to satisfy his needs. Note that just because Mr Smith has a need for something doesn't mean you have to define the scope of your project to solve it! Limit the scope of the problem because you do not want to do a complicated project - remember, this is a project about Project Management not Access or Excel!

7) Marketing database Mr Foot runs a business delivering leaflets through people's doors in and around Coventry. Companys who want to advertise in the Coventry area typically approach Mr Foot for a quote. Mr Foot offers different marketing packages. For example, one package involves Mr Foot delivering one leaflet once to 1000 addresses, either 'high-income', 'middle-income' or 'low-income' addresses. (Companies can of course buy 10 of these packages if they want to deliver to 10,000 high-income households, for example). Another package involves delivering three leaflets to the same addresses at one month intervals. There are other packages on offer.

Currently, Mr Foot keeps track of what has been delivered to what roads and when using a paper-based system. His business has expanded in recent years and it has become increasingly difficult for him to keep track of deliveries. A recent illness kept him off work for a month and it proved impossible for somebody else to pick up his business while he recovered. Luckily, the business survived but Mr Foot wants to investigate a computerised system for his business. It should cover as many different aspects of his business as possible. He would like you to investigate the feasibility of this and to advise him what is and isn't possible. He would then like you to put together a prototype of the agreed proposed system with a view to full implementation.

8) Charities database Each year, Nomame school holds a charity fair in a small square in the center of town near a lot of shops. This involves each tutor group selecting a fund-raising activity that can be run from a table. Past activities have included a cake stall, a second-hand book stall, tombola, a bow and arrow aiming contest (the arrows had those little suckers on the end), a steady-hand competition and so on. Each tutor group agrees on the activity they will run, who is in charge of it, what 'float' they will need (if any), who will man the stall at different times during the day and so on. At the end of the activity, each tutor group hands in the money they have collected. There are prizes for the best stall and the one that makes the most money.

A lot of work is involved for the teacher who is in charge of organising this activity. For example, the teacher must approve the activity and must monitor the preparations. Parental slips must be written and collected in. Pupils must wear badges when they are on the stall showing their name, tutor group and school logo and these must be designed and printed off. Money must be counted up and recorded and receipts issued and whoever has won a prize must be worked out. All pupils in the tutor group who take part are awarded certificates for their Record of Achievement.

The teacher has asked you to help cut down the workload. You need to investigate the current system and then define the requirements precisely. You then need to plan, agree and implement a computerised system that will help the teacher.

9) Brownies database A Brownie Pack is organised into groups of six. Each six has a leader. Brownies work towards and collect badges. Mrs Smith currently runs the Brownie Pack. She keeps records of who is in what six, personal details about each Brownie and what badges they are working towards or have. She sometimes needs to write personalised letters to the parents of a Brownie or may need to contact them in an emergency. She likes to give out prizes periodically to an individual and also the six who have collected the most badges. She likes to produce personalised certificates each time a Brownie gets a badge and also likes to set targets for each Brownie. All of these things can be quite time-consuming using Mrs Smith's current paper-based methods.

Your job is to investigate in detail the current system. You need to identify what Mrs Smith's needs are and produce a Requirements Specification. You then need to set about planning a new computerised system that will save Mrs Smith time by automating as many tasks as possible. You will then implement and test it.

Please note that we are not in a position to give advice on projects to individual students. It is important that you discuss your ideas with your teacher.