In this activity, you will be presented with a business-related scenario to explain the importance of planning before designing a database. You learned in Module 3 that documenting the needs of the enterprise before starting the creation of a database is very important. The purpose of this scenario is to help you practice this.

Review the scenario carefully, read the Instructions and answer Discussion 1 questions.

Scenario Outline

Requirement Gathering

You are part of the team that has been hired to design a database for ProAudio, a music selling business. After interviewing the owner and some of the management a your team is tasked with creating a requirements document to outline the needs of the database. The requirements documents has 3 parts:

Missions statement- briefly describes the business from a standpoint of database design

Transactions- how will the database be used and by whom

Entities- a thing in the real world with an independent existence, physical or conceptual- what you are storing data about.

Attributes- the properties that describe an entity- what data will be stored about each entity.

The Mission Statement

The ProAudio business intends to sell CDs via as many outlets as possible. We will provide our customers with the best selection, the lowest prices, and the best service possible. We will also provide the best follow-up customer service available while striving to grow to meet the changing demands of the marketplace.

The Transactions

Employees – Take orders and input order information. Can input customer information if customer did not already enter it. Application must check if customer is a returning customer or a new customer. Employees can search for CDs via CD title, artist, or producer.

Customer – Can place orders via a traditional store location or via the ProAudio Web site. Customers provide customer and shipping information. Customers can access a Web page to check on the status of their orders. Customers can search for CDs via CD title, artist, or producer.

Orders – Contain customer and delivery info, items, quantities, and price.

Data access application - may need to run reports returning:

Total number of orders (per location, per Sales Rep, via Web site, per customer)

Total sales (per location, per Sales Rep, via Web site, per customer)

Best selling items

Least selling items

Items per distributor

Wholesale cost vs. retail cost

Entities and Attributes

You and another member of the team are tasked with identifying the entities and attributes that will make up the database. This is what your teammate has so far (primary Keys are designated with an *).

Customer(*c_num, c_first_name, c_last_name, c_street, c_city, c_state, c_zip, c_phone, c_cc_num, c_exp_date)

Distributors(*d_num, d_name, d_street, d_city, d_state, d_zip, d_phone, d_contact, d_contact_extension)

Orders(*o_num, *c_num, s_num, o_date, o_filled)

Items(*i_num, i_title, d_num, i_price, i_release_date, i_genre)

Musicians(*m_num, m_first_name, m_last_name)

Producers(*p_num, p_first_name, p_last_name)

Sale Reps(*s_num, s_first_name, s_last_name)

Locations(*l_num, l_street, l_city, l_state, l_zip, l_phone, l_fax)

Discussion Questions

Do you think the entities are sufficient to meet the business needs as described in the mission statement and the transactions?

If no, what is missing or not needed?

If yes, how do they take care of the business needs?

Do you think the attributes are sufficient to meet the business needs as described in the mission statement and the transactions?

If no, what is missing or not needed?

If yes, how do they take care of the business needs?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Discussion 1 Questions Entities Do you think the entities are sufficient to meet the business needs as described in the mission statement and the tran... View the full answer