Merl High School

Information Technology SBA 2024-2025

GENERAL PROFICIENCY
For
May 2025 Examination
Centre #: 100076
SBA 2024-2025 is now ready for your completion. The project details and description are given
below. Read through the project carefully and begin your solution. Teacher will be your guide.
Rationale for SBA
The SBA is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate, on a timely basis, their ability to solve
problems using computer applications such as:
 Database Management
 Web page design
 Spreadsheet
 Word Processing
 Programming Language

Students must ensure they have the necessary backups of their work as this will alleviate any undue delay of
submission caused by malfunctioning thumb drives, hard drives, etc. A good backup is for students to email
their work to themselves periodically and store on multiple device (phone, tablet, computer etc).

The SBA project is marked out of 85 and is worth 25% of your final CXC-CSEC examination grade. The
standard grade for students is between 80-85 marks. SBAs that fall below the standard mark will be given
back to student for adjustment to be made and resubmitted.

Meeting deadlines are important for feedback from teacher. Students SHOULD meet all
deadlines has set by teacher.

Failure to complete SBA will result in students not been recommended to sit exam and been
recommended.

TEACHER STUDENTS’ AGREEMENT

I________________________ have read the above rational for the SBA and understand the
terms and condition mention above.

__________________________ __________________________
Student Signature (Teacher)
NB
Section (Folder) File to be placed in folder Proposed Due
Dates
Spreadsheet Spreadsheet May 10, 2024

Webpage Design Webpage May 29, 2024

Word processing Source, Letter, mail merge, blank letter head, June 28, 2024.
cover page, fillable form
Problem Solving Pseudocode Algorithm, Trace table, December 10,
2024
Database Database file June 7, 2024

Program Pascal program, Test Data Jan – Feb: 2025

Implementation

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

The citizens of Cabanas, a country in the English-speaking Caribbean, are unable to purchase
housing for their families, mainly due to the extremely high cost of real estate and building
materials. Middle- and low-income earners are severely affected. The government, through its
agency, the National Housing Trust, has intervened however, and has embarked on an extensive
house building exercise in three selected parts of the country.
Citizens were invited to apply for the chance to own one of these homes. You are asked to use
word processing, spreadsheet and database management applications to design and implement
computer-based solutions to ensure that the public is well informed of the government’s new
housing initiative; that an efficient record of applicants’ information is maintained; applicants’
financial income and expense commitments are accurately calculated and assessed, and that
suitably qualified and approved applicants are duly informed.

 Produce a brochure for National Housing Trust that informs the public about the upcoming
housing development.
 Analysis of the salary details of the potential buyer for the month.
 Storage of personal information of applicants.
 Preparation of letter which congratulates successful applicants.
 Create a fillable form for application on which nationals may apply to the Housing
Construction Corporation for housing allocation.
 Design a website to provide the public with general information about the housing
development.
 Develop an algorithm and Program to determine whether an applicant is approved for
allocation of a home in a named housing community.
 SECTION A
SPREADSHEET
National Housing Trust is a state agency mandated to provide affordable housing for middle- and
low-income earners. The National Housing Trust invites nationals who are employed and who
can demonstrate that they would be able to meet their mortgage payments each month to apply.
Each application must be supported by documents giving details of the applicant’s financial
status.
These include the applicant’s salary and monthly salary deductions. The amount owed to banks
and other financial institutions must also be disclosed with supporting verifying documents. In
addition, details of applicants’ monthly expenses on groceries, utilities, transportation, etc. must
be submitted.
Homes are being built to accommodate approved applicants in three communities: Romell Court,
Kerry Grande Villas, and Merl Grove Gardens. Applicants, who are middle- and low-income
earners, must meet a net monthly income to qualify for consideration in each of these
communities: $205,500, $150,500, and $90,500, respectively. This net income may be met by
the applicant himself/herself or in conjunction with his/her spouse.

TASKA
You are required to:

Create a workbook – (NHT-Your name) with multiple worksheets that will enable the NHT to easily
analyses, modify, and monitor applicants’ information. Data to be recorded include:

1. Design a worksheet that accepts income data from applicants for each housing
community. You may accept at least ten but no more than fifteen applications for each
community. each community should be on a separate sheet each sheet should be given
the community’s name.

2. Applicant IDNUM (employee's initials and three (3) digits, e.g., the employee Betty
Smith has the employee ID: BS102.)
3. (NB, you are populating the different fields with a fictitious amount. With salaries ranging from $80000- $350000 )

INCOME
Applicant Applicant Applicant Salary Spouse Salary Gross Net Income Status
IDNUM Salary Deductions Salary Deductions Income
MJ102 Michael James 150,000 20,000 180,000 1,777.50 330,000 10,977.50 Qualified

Use appropriate functions /formulae to calculate

Monthly deductions from salary include:
PAYE tax,
health surcharge,
union dues
pension plan
Place on a separate sheet to use absolute cell references and linking cell from different
sheet to calculate.
No PAYE tax is deducted should the applicant’s salary be $150,000 or less.
A flat rate of 8% is deducted on the amount that exceed $150,000.
Health surcharge is fixed at $6500.00 per month while Union dues are 2% of salary.
 Pension deduction is 10% of salary.
In a small number of instances, applicants’ spouses are unemployed.

If the net income meets the qualifying income for the housing community applied for as
specified by the Housing Construction Corporation, the applicant’s status would be “Qualified”,
else “Not qualified” should be recorded. Please use correct function to calculate.
All deduction rates are subject to change.

(a) You must enter income data and use appropriate formulae to calculate deductions, gross
income, and net income and determine whether the application qualifies for consideration.
1. Tasha Furguson a new applicant was not added to the list of applicants for the Romell Court. Please
add Miss Furguson data to your spreadsheet. Salary $240000
2. In an appropriate section of the worksheet in each community use the COUNTIF function to see
how many applicants are qualified.
3. Copy the Kerry Grande Villas table to a new sheet and create a simple filter with all the
applicants who are Not qualified.

TASK B
In another section of your spreadsheet, information on applicants’ loan indebtedness should be
recorded and calculated. Total amounts owed with respect to bank loans, credit card loans and
credit union loans must be revealed.
Some applicants do not have credit cards, and just a few do not have loans with the credit
union. All interest rates are subject to change.
Loans
Total Loan Amounts Monthly Payments
Applicant Applican Communities Net Income Bank Credit Credit Bank Credit Credit Total Loan
IDNUM t Card Union Payment Card Union Payments
Payment Payment
MJ102 Michael Romell $200,000.00 $15,780.00 $1,100.0 $14,890.00 $ 439.65 $105.42 $ 414.11 $ 959.17
James Court 0

(i) Repayment on bank loans is calculated as equal monthly payments over three years at a
simple interest of 8% of the starting loan amount.
Interest=Principal* Rate*Time
Amount to be Paid= ((Principal* Rate*Time) + Principal)/Month

(ii) Repayment on credit card loans is calculated as equal monthly payments over 18 months at
a simple interest of 10% of the starting loan amount.
(iii) Repayment on Credit union loans is calculated as equal monthly payments over three years
at a simple interest of 5%. An additional $2000.00 is added to the loan repayment amount each
month for the purchase of shares in the credit union.
(b) You must enter loan information for each applicant and use appropriate formulae to calculate
monthly repayments. Insert a column to calculate each applicant’s total monthly payments on
loans.

Name the sheet as Loans

Make a copy of Loans. Name this sheet LoanExpenses.
In an appropriate section of your spreadsheet, information on each applicant’s monthly expenses
must be calculated. Each applicant must provide realistic estimates of monthly expenses on
groceries, utilities (water, telephone and electricity), transportation, and miscellaneous expenses.
A column stating the applicant’s number of dependants must be included. Miscellaneous expense
is calculated as number of dependants x $5500.00
(c) You must enter expense information for each applicant. Insert a column to calculate each
applicant’s total monthly expenses.
In a column calculate the Balance, Balance is calculated as Net Income – (Total Loan Payment
and Total Expenses). Add a column name Status to states whether the applicant has been
approved or not approved for housing allocation. An application is approved if the Balance is
greater than or equal to one half of Net Income.
Function =IF(Balance>=Net income*0.5,"Approved","Not Approved")
1. The economy has been further severely affected by international fiscal initiatives. To adjust to
these realities and to offset any losses, banks have increased their interest on loans to 10% and
credit cards companies now apply an interest of 15%. The qualifying income on homes, however,
has been reduced to $190,000, $130,500, and $70,500 respectively.
2. Sort the worksheet, Applicants in ascending order then by net income in descending order.

Make a copy of LoanExpenses. Name this sheet Advance Filter

a) In an appropriate section of the worksheet use advanced filter to extract information for all applicant
whose balance is less than are equal to $100000.
b) Create a Column chart that compares each applicant’s net income, total loan payment,
total monthly expenses, and balance. Please copy chart to new sheet and give an
appropriate name to this chart. The charts should be labelled with appropriate title and axis or
legend. CChart.
c) Create a pie chart that shows total expenses, total loan payment and net income. The chart should be
labelled with an appropriate title and legend and each slice of the pie should display the percentage.
Save on a separate sheet named Pchart.

a. Using a pivot table display the following information:

 The number of applicants who are approved and not approved. Name this sheet PivotT1
 each applicant their Total Expense, Total Loan, and balance for all approved applicants.
PivotT2
 count the number of applicants who are approved. PivotT3

It is suggested that you use cell references in formulae so that the spreadsheet can be used for future
calculations with minimum modifications. Use suitable functions e.g. “VLOOKUP”, “IF” and “SUM” to
ensure that your spreadsheet is efficient. Use formatting features and labels to allow clarity of your
worksheet (example bold, decimal places, $, etc.)

SECTION B
 DATABASE MANAGEMENT
Introduction

Information must be maintained on all applicants for housing units. Using information from your
spreadsheet, you are required to design and populate a database with applicant data. You may
accept at least thirty but no more than forty-five applicants.

Tables

1. Import a table from the spreadsheet component with information on Employees: IDNUM, Applicant
Names, Financial data these include net income, total monthly expenses, total monthly
repayment, Balance, housing community and status (approved or not approved). Sort the
table by IDNum. Save Table as Appli_Fin.
2. You are required to create a table with personal information on applicants this should
include Applicant ID, title, name, gender, address, parish, date of birth, marital status,
email address, number of dependants, and telephone number, employment, and housing
community. Save Table as Appli_Infor.
3. Spouse data is a third area of information required in respect of each applicant you are
required to create a table, the table should include applicant name, spouse name, spouse
date of birth, employment, telephone number, email address and salary.
Save Table as Spouse_Infor.

Queries
2. Perform the following queries on your database

a) List the last name, address (street and parish), phone number, net income, and number of
dependants of all applicants who listed Romell Court as their choice for housing allocation.
Name this query QryCA.
b) List all applicant who are Approved, please include applicant ID, name, address, Parish, contact number,
status, and housing community. Save as QryProve
c) List all applicant who are Not Approved, please include applicant ID, title, name, address,
Parish, contact number, status, and housing community. Save as QryNProve
d) List all applicant who balance is more than or equal 150000, please include applicant ID, name,
address, Parish, contact number, status, and housing community. Save the query as Balance.
e) List the name, applicant ID and total monthly expenses of all applicants whose total monthly loan
repayment exceed $70000. Name this query LoanPayment.
f) The NHT wants to know the disposable income of Merl Grove Gardens applicants. Perform a
query which subtracts the sum of their total loan payments and total expenses from their net
income. Name this query Netincome.

h) Use the Summation features to calculate the following:

i. The highest (maximum) balance. Save the query
Maxbal
ii. The lowest (minimum) balalance. Minbal
iii. The total of applicant approved. Save this query Totbal.
iv. Count the number of persons who applied for homes in Sangre Grande Villas. Name this query
QRYSGV
Form

Create a Main form using the personal Informaton table with a sub form using the query QryNProve.
From the table, show all the fields and from the query show ID number, housing community, and Status.
(Nb, you will need to create a relationship between the table and the query before doing the form).

Report

a. Prepare a report which lists the names of all applicants whose application have been approved
for housing unit allocation. The report must show each applicant’s applicant ID, title, name,
address, Parish, status, and housing community. The report should be group by community. Then
the report should be sorted by name in ascending order then by community. The report should
also show the applicants’ average net income. A grand total of load payments and expenses. The
first line of the report title should be Applicants Who Are Approved. Subtitle should read For
The Different Communities.

SECTION C
WORD-PROCESSING
Introduction
The team at the NHT wants the marketing department to create brochures to notify the public about an
upcoming housing development. The Accounting Manager would also like to get a report of the salary and
sales details of the activities of the business for the month of August 2023.

TASK A
You are required to:
1. Prepare a letterhead for the company with the name, address, parish, logo, telephone number, fax and
email address. The logo should be a suitable graphic with a slogan. The letterhead must be placed in
the header. Save as LettHead.
2. Create a brochure on letter size paper to inform the public about the homes being constructed and the
qualifying requirements for each housing community. The text in the brochure must be carefully
justified with appropriate line spacing. Use columns to create a leaflet that can be folded. Use
appropriate margins and layout so that folding of the brochure can be easily done. Use the logo from
the letter head at an appropriate location on the brochure. Insert at least one table in your brochure with
relevant data.
Note – Be creative and professional in the design of your brochure to obtain the required
marks by using suitable features of a word processing application (columns, tables, bullets,
and numbering, color, etc.). Save as Brochure.

TASK B
You are required to:
Write a letter which congratulates successful applicants and informs that their applications have
been approved. The paragraph should contain the statement “Please find a listing of all
applicants whose applications have been approved. Please check to ensure that your name is
listed:” Insert the report named ‘Approved Applicants’ from the database.
the final paragraph should give information about the proposed dates for the formal opening of
the housing communities. (December 1, 2024)
Using the mail merge feature of your Word processing program, and data from your database,
this letter must be sent from the office of the Chief Executive Officer of the NHT and addressed
to approved applicant
Save the letter as Letter.
Modify the letter to include the Approved table from the database.
Save as MergeFieldLet.
after completion of the mail merge save the merged document as MergeLett.
 Set margins to 1.5 all around
 Have a header with company details and include the logo
 The document should be double spaced
 Formatted for emphasis (bold, italicise, underline, font colour, font size, etc.)
 Free from spelling and grammatical error
 Ensure that the slogan is in the footer.

TASK C
You are required to:
APPLICATION FORM: Create a fillable application form using textboxes, drop down boxes,
buttons etc to be filled out by new applicants. Your form should include these Information:
name, gender, DOB, country of birth, contact information, TRN number, ID number, marital
Status, Education, employer, spouse information, dependent information, and other information
you think may be necessary. The form must be place on the company letter head.

Webpage Design
The National Housing Trust has requested that you design a web page to provide the public with
general information about the different community. The web page should include the following:
 The Housing Construction’s logo
 Display information about the houses (for example the floor plan, pictures of the houses and
different amenities).
 Links to the National Housing Trust email address and a YouTube link which displays past
houses built and/advertised (this webpage may or may not exist).
 Links to the National Housing Trust application form

NOTE: The webpage should be done in a creative manner and in instances where the web pages are
done online, they should be print screened and paste in word. The link to the webpage can be inserted
at the bottom of the last page or at the top of the first paper.
Problem-Solving
1. Develop an algorithm or pseudocode to determine whether an applicant is approved for
allocation of a home in a named housing community. The algorithm/ pseudocode should accept
the name of the applicant and his/her gross salary as well as salary deductions. The net salary
should be calculated. An applicant qualifies if the net salary is above the qualifying salary for
that housing community. The algorithm should then determine whether the applicant is
approved.
Approval is granted should the sum of applicant’s expenses and repayments not exceed half of
the balance.
2. Design and execute a trace table to test the logics of the algorithm above. You are expected
to come up with the appropriate columns for your trace table. Also, you should provide your test
data above the trace table you should only use the data from any one community.
Program Implementation
Using the programming language Pascal, write program code to implement the algorithm in (1)
above. A copy of the source code should be pasted in Microsoft Word. Use the software Ezy
pascal or the online complier https://www.onlinegdb.com/online_pascal_compiler to create your
pascal program. You are also expected to screenshot your running program and paste it
Microsoft Word.

Submission of SBA

Create an IT SBA folder with your name. Inside this folder create five subfolders-Word
Processing, Website, Spreadsheet, Database, Problem Solving and program design. Save the files
into the folders. You are also required to create a title page for your SBA with your:
• Name
• Candidate Number
• School
• Centre Number
• Teacher
• Year of Examination
Save as Title page.

End of SBA Assessment. The Assessment Criteria is on the next page.

WORD-PROCESSING – Maximum of 20 marks
Specific Key Skills Mark Maximum
Objective The effectiveness with which the candidate(s) has/have Allocation marks per
confidently used and/or manipulated: sub-section

The following are compulsory (SO3).

S4: SO3 Document Formatting features (4)
No more than FOUR features to be tested: 1
 Any TWO: bold, underline, italics 1
• Justification (center, right, full) 1
• Changes in line spacing 1
• Superscript and/or subscript
• Changes in font or font size  Page numbering

S4: SO3 Page Layout (2)

 Any change in margins, page orientation, paper sizes 1
or text orientation
 Correct use of header OR footer OR footnotes OR 1
endnotes

Select any two of the following (SO1 and SO2).

S4: SO1 Inserting/importing files (2)
 Graphic / chart in document 1
 Graphic/chart/table sized appropriately to fit in 1
desired location/margins

S4: SO2 Columns (2)

Correct use in entire document or selected text 2
Mostly correct in document or selected text 1

S4: SO2 Tables (2)

Correct number of rows and columns 1
Correct formatting of table (e.g. border, shading of cells, 1
colour)
Specific Key Skills Mark Maximum
Objective The effectiveness with which the candidate(s) has/have Allocation marks per
confidently used and/or manipulated: sub-section

Select any TWO of the following (SO6, SO7 or SO8).

S4: SO6 Table of Contents (5)
 Auto-generation of table of contents 1
 In suitable location 1
 At least TWO levels of headings 1
 Suitable headings chosen (1 mark EACH) 2

S4: SO7 Mail Merge Facility (5)

Selection or creation of required merge fields in: 
Data source 1
 Primary document (final document consistent with merged 1
document)

Insertion of correct merge field in: 

 Appropriate section 1
 Correct merge 2

S4: SO8 Fillable Forms (5)

Appropriate use of at least THREE of:
 Option boxes, check boxes, text boxes, date picker, 3
drop-down lists, and command buttons

Layout of form for ease of use

 Layout clear and easy to follow 2
 Some aspects of layout not clear or easy to follow 1

WEB-BASED DESIGN (10 marks)

Specific Key Skills Mark Maximum
Objective The effectiveness with which the candidate(s) has/have used Allocation marks per
or applied sub-section
S4: SO9 Appropriate design features to create a simple web page (3)
 Inclusion of graphics and text 1
 Appropriate use of text 1
  Appropriate use of graphics 1

S4: SO9 Web page for intended audience (2)

 Layout suitable for intended audience 1
 Mostly suitable for intended audience 1

S4: SO12 Consistent Information on the page specific with (3)

requirements
 Majority of information consistent with requirements 3
 Somewhat consistent with requirements 2
 A few aspects are consistent with requirements 1

S4: SO11 Hyperlinks (2)

The presence of a link for any TWO of the following:
• link to another web page;
• link to a location within the web
page;  link to an email address;
and,  link to user-created files.

SPREADSHEET – 20 marks
Specific The effectiveness with which candidate(s) use(s) or Mark Maximum
Objective manipulate Allocation marks per
sub-section
S5: SO3 Pre-defined systems functions – 1 mark each for correct use (3)
of any THREE functions
 Correct use of any THREE different functions 3

S5: SO4 Arithmetic formulas – 1 mark each for any THREE formulas (3)
 Correct use of any THREE different formulas 3
 S5: SO5 Replicate formulas into other cells (2)
 Use of absolute addressing or range names (two 2
different examples)
S5: SO6 Spreadsheet formatting (4)
 Any TWO: Decimal place, currency, comma, 2
percentage features
 Justified, left, right, centre, font or font size 1
 Advanced use such as merging cells, wrap text 1
Specific The effectiveness with which candidate(s) use(s) or Mark Maximum
Objective manipulate Allocation marks per
sub-section
S5: SO7 Sorting data in the spreadsheet (1)
 Data sorted in ascending/descending order as 1
required

S5: SO7 Extracting data (2)

 Simple filter in place 1
 Evidence of criteria (for example, B3<20) 1

S5:SO7 Pivot Tables (1)

 Use of pivot tables to summarise a large group of 1
data
S5: SO8 Charting operations (3)
 Ability to select required range of 1
adjacent/nonadjacent cell for use in a chart
 Appropriate chart such as bar/column chart, line 1
graph, pie chart
 Appropriate labelling of chart title, chart axes and/or 1
data labels
S5: SO9 Use of two or more sheets (1)
 Linking of cells in different sheets 1

DATABASE MANAGEMENT – 20 marks

Specific The effectiveness with which candidate(s) use(s) or Mark Maximum
Objective manipulate features to Allocation marks per
sub-section
S6: SO3 Create a database (5)
 Appropriate fieldnames 1
 Appropriate data types 1
 Populating table 1
 Create minimum of two database tables/files 1
 Selecting a suitable primary key 1

S6: SO3 Simultaneous use of two or more tables/files (2)

 Joining between pairs of database tables/files 1
 Evidence of relationship (1:1 or 1:M) 1

S6: SO4 Create queries (5)

  Simple query (1 criteria) 1
 Complex query: >1 criteria (1) using more than 2
one table (1)
 Correct use of and result from calculated field 2
in query

Create forms (2)

• Form with sub-form created 1
• Appropriate fields for sub-form 1

S6: SO4 Sort a database table/file/Report (1)

 Evidence of sort 1

S6: SO5 Generate reports (5)

 Selection of appropriate fields for report 1
 Statistical and/or summary features (for 1
example, count, sum, average)
 Grouping required fields 1
 Correct specific report title (2) 2
– Generic report title only (1)

PROBLEM-SOLVING AND PROGRAMMING (15 marks)

Specific The effectiveness with which candidate(s) employed Mark Maximum
Objective techniques to create or design Allocation marks per
sub-section
S7: SO5 Flowchart or pseudocode (6)
 Start of Algorithm 1
 Identifying user-friendly variable names 1
 Initialising variables 1

Processing
 Request for data (prompt) 1
• Storing data (reading data)
• Appropriate and logical use of structures –
Selection 1
– Looping 1
S7: SO7 Trace table (4)
 Variables identified in trace table 1
 Appropriate test data 1
 Changes in values correctly demonstrated 2
– Some errors in manipulating the trace table 1

S8: SO2 Program Execution (1)

  Working program 1

Program language features / working solution (3)

Variable initialization 1
S8: SO5 Control structures:
 Appropriate use of selection statements 1
(ifthen, if-then-else, or case statement)
 Looping – (while, repeat or for) 1

S8: SO7 Documentation (1)

Program documentation (such as author, date 1
created, statement of problem, and suitable inline
comments)