ER digram

Home Sweet Home Property Management System Introduction Home Sweet Home (HSH) is a relatively small, respected, independent Estate Agent. Their main business is the selling of houses and other small properties. They also act as the agent for landlords in letting their property to tenants. The following is a description of their conduct of this business. The staff HSH employ seven staff: Alison, who is now the Agency Manager, Jean who is the office manager, Kate and Iain who work in the office in a clerical capacity, and Sanah, Cath and Nick who are responsible for visits to property and customer liaison. The property portfolio Vendors (or sellers) invite HSH to sell their property. A representative from HSH gathers details of the property including a photograph. The details of the property are typed up (usually by Kate) on the office word processor in the office and a copy of the photograph attached. This forms a fact sheet, which is filed in the Current Properties filing cabinet in HSHs office. A copy of the fact sheet is displayed in the HSH high street office. A brief summary of the property, together with a reduced photocopy of the photograph is also typed onto the relevant summary sheet for advertising purposes (see mailing lists below). Details of the property are also passed on to Harry Signs Ltd who put up the For Sale sign on behalf of HSH. Personal details about the vendor and their solicitor such as name, address, telephone, availability for visits from buyers, etc. are placed on the vendors database on the HSH computer. A memo field on the database allows the staff to insert useful comments such as Mind the dog if youre visiting or This seller wont be knocked down, etc. Iain built the database himself using a copy of Paradox that he borrowed from a friend. He looks after the computer, which is an old 386 PC, since he is the only person with computer skills having studied a computing course a few years ago (which he never completed). The database holds approximately 1000 records. Enter the customer Potential buyers (also known as customers) phone up for details or have a look in the shop and can receive a copy of the fact sheet. Kate or Jean usually keeps a copy of the customer details in their customer address book. Should the customer wish to inspect the properties advertised, HSH will either make an appointment for the customer to meet the vendor by consulting the vendors database or, where the property is empty, arrange for a member of staff to escort the customer on a visit of the property. In this case the appointment is made by consulting the HSH diary that holds details of staff availability. When the appointment is made the diary is updated accordingly, and a record made in the Current Property file. Bernard used to check these records, and when a property had received loads of visits with no corresponding offers he would suggest to the owners a reduction in price since the HSH fee is only realized upon a sale. Jean keeps the diary up to date, entering staff holidays and sickness. Home Sweet Homes 2 Mailing lists Potential buyers are also asked if they would like to be placed on the mailing list whereby they are mailed on a monthly basis about properties that match their criteria of cost and area. This information is kept on another Paradox table, the customer database, which Iain also looks after. The customer database is in fact a series of 12 lists made up from combining 3 areas and 4 price ranges (e.g. Area 1, Price <40,000). In total these lists include about 700 customer records so it is a time consuming and costly task to print their details onto labels, fill envelopes with the appropriate summary sheets and post them. Alison suspects that the information is often incorrect for example the customer may no longer be interested, the property may no longer be on the market, or the customer may have been mailed with identical information the previous month. The Offer At any stage the customer may make an offer for the property. The offer is conveyed to the vendors solicitor (using the details from the database above) by HSH usually by fax. Also, the file for the property is taken out of the Current Properties filing cabinet, updated and transferred to the Properties Under Offer cabinet. HSH keep details of local surveyors, solicitors, building societies and banks that they can recommend (or not as the case may be) for the customer. This information is held on the HSH address book that was built up by Bernard after long sessions at the local golf club. The information is vital since recommendations work two ways e.g. HSH recommends a solicitor to a customer/the solicitor recommends HSH to a customer, etc. The address book contains more than just names and contact details. It contains comments by Bernard and others concerning their contacts (which are not always flattering). At some stage HSH will be notified by the customers solicitor that the offer has been withdrawn, in which case this is marked on the file which is transferred back to the Current Properties cabinet, or that the property has been sold to the buyer in which case the file for the property is transferred to the Properties Sold filing cabinet. When a property is sold the vendors solicitor pays a fee direct to HSHs bank, which is a percentage of the sale price. Typically HSH may sell 4-6 properties per week. They send a copy of the transaction to HSH who record the details in the file in the Properties Sold cabinet. HSH perform a monthly check of the Properties Sold comparing them to statements they receive from their bank, and where necessary mail payment reminders to the vendors solicitors. The vendor may also withdraw the property from the market regardless of whether or not the property is under offer. In this case HSH charge the vendor a 50 handling fee; Jean suggests that the recovery of these debts causes so much inconvenience that this fee should be significantly increased. At present a large proportion are written off. Publicity HSH has extensive dealings with the local press. This involves the submission of property details to the local press who display advertisements on behalf of HSH. These adverts in turn generate a significant number of telephone enquiries/visits both from potential buyers and sellers. The local papers invoice HSH who make payments by check. Home Sweet Homes 3 Agent for letting Landlords contact HSH to act on their behalf for the letting out of property to tenants. HSH collects rent from the tenants that, after deducting a commission, it forwards to the landlord. In some cases HSH also arranges for the maintenance of the property by organizing building work, plumbing, etc. In total this represents about 10% of HSHs income, and Alison is considering whether or not to continue this part of their business.