Examples of Input-Processing-Output (IPO) Charts of the Type needed in the Assignment A Sample Calculation Situation Imagine you are building a calculator for an International Aid Organisation that builds Schools in developing countries around the world. At the start of a new project Mr Frank Lee Lost, the planning manager, has to estimate the cost of the School that is to be built. Construction costs are dependant on the type of school being built. He has a number of calculations to do. First he has to decide what sort of school it is that is to be built (i.e. Small Primary, Small Secondary, Large Primary, Large Secondary, Senior School Campus, Years One to Ten Campus, or Comprehensive). He then decides on the floor area, the number of staff who will need staffrooms, and the distance of the school site from the nearest capital city (as there will be costs in order to ship the building materials). With all this decided, Mr Lost can calculate an estimate for the cost of the school. To do this he uses the following input: Building Type Small Primary Small Secondary Large Primary Large Secondary Senior School Campus Years One to Ten Campus Comprehensive Area Staffroom Calculation ($ Calculation ($/ per sq metre) teacher) 2500 3500 4500 5200 800 1050 1000 1250 Shipping Calculation ($/km) 270 305 320 330 7500 1200 350 9000 11500 1400 1800 365 370 Project ID PR001 PR002 Planned Area (sq) 220 180 Planned Staff Number 15 12 Distance from Capital City (km) 220 80 Country Building Type Zambia Peru Small Secondary Small Primary As an example of the manual calculation, for the project above in Zambia (Building Type = Small Secondary), the Total Calculated Planned Construction Cost would be: Planned Construction Cost ($) = Area Cost + Staffroom Cost + Shipping Cost = 3500*220 + 1050*15 + 305*220 = $ 852,850. Building the IPO Chart Step 1: Decide what you are trying to achieve by creating the calculator – what is it that you are trying to calculate? Write down the Desired Output: For each School - Project ID; Planned Cost of School Step 2: What data do you need to include in the spreadsheets so that the output can be determined? Write down the Input: Table of Costing Parameters ; and, For each School – Project ID; Building Type; Planned Area; Planned Staff Number; Distance from Capital City Step 3: Write down the Processing Instructions (for turning the Input into the Output): For each School – Step 1: Using the Building Type, look up Area Multiplier, Staff Multiplier and Distance Multiplier in the Table of Costing Parameters Step 2: Planned Cost of School = (Area Multiplier * Planned Area) + (Staff Multiplier * Planned Staff Number) + ( Distance Multiplier * Planned Distance from Capital City) Present as an IPO Chart INPUT Table of Costing Parameters For each School – Project ID; Building Type; Planned Area; Planned Staff Number; Distance from Capital City PROCESSING For each School – Step 1: Using the Building Type, look up Area Multiplier, Staff Multiplier and Distance Multiplier in the Table of Costing Parameters Step 2: Planned Cost of School = (Area Multiplier * Planned Area) + (Staff Multiplier * Planned Staff Number) + ( Distance Multiplier * Planned Distance from Capital City) OUTPUT For each School – Project ID; Planned Cost of School A Second Example Suppose that, in addition to the calculation above, there is a need to also calculate the total value of all the Schools built of each Building Type. To do this the process of thinking about Output, Input and Processing is followed again, to yield the following extension to the IPO table: INPUT For each School – Project ID; Planned Cost of School (from the first calculation) and Building Type PROCESSING For each Building Type – Step 1: Identify all the Schools of each Building Type Step 2: Total Planned Cost of All Schools of the Building Type = Sum of the Planned Cost of School for all the Schools identified in Step 1 OUTPUT For each Building Type – Building Type; Total Planned Cost of All Schools of the Building Type
