Using Table 7-1 as a guide, develop a script of at least ten questions you would ask during an interview of the customer-order processing department manager at Pine Valley Furniture. Assume the focus is on analyzing the requirements for a new order-entry system. The purpose of the interview is to develop a preliminary E-R diagram for this system.

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TABLE 7-1: Questions to Ask to Develop Accurate and Complete Data Models Category of Questions Questions to Ask System Users and Business Managers 1. Data entities and their descriptions What are the subjects/objects of the business? What types of people, places, things, and materials are used or interact in this business about which data must be maintained? How many instances of each object might exist? 2. Candidate key 3. Attributes and secondary keys 4. Security controls and understanding who really knows the meaning of data 5. Cardinality and time dimensions of data 6. Relationships and their cardinality and degrees 7. Integrity rules, minimum and maximum cardinality, time dimensions of data What unique characteristics distinguish each object from other objects of the same type? Could any such distinguishing feature change over time or is it permanent? Could this characteristic of an object be missing even though we know the object exists? What characteristic describes each object? On what basis are objects referenced, selected, qualified, sorted, and categorized? What must we know about each object in order to run the business? How do you use these data? That is, are you the source of the data for the organization, do you refer to the data, do you modify them, and do you destroy them? Who is not permitted to use these data? Who is responsible for establishing legitimate values for these data? Over what period of time are you interested in these data? Do you need historical trends, current "snapshot" values, and/or estimates or projections? If a characteristic of an object changes over time, must you know the obsolete values? What events occur that imply associations between various objects? What natural activities or transactions of the business involve handling data about several objects of the same or different type? Is each activity or event always handled the same way, or are there special circumstances? Can an event occur with only some of the associated objects, or must all objects be involved? Can the associations between objects change over time (e.g., employees change departments)? Are values for data characteristics limited in any way?