Download Group Project: Relational Database for a Distribution Firm

MGMT 341 Project 1: Designing Relational Database
Due date: November 28, 2005, Monday, at the beginning of class
In this project, you will use Microsoft Access to build a typical relational database. Suppose that you
own a small business and all data records now reside in an Excel spreadsheet (download from
http://faculty.winthrop.edu/caoq). It is a flat table with data redundancy. You are required to design tables
and relationships between tables to minimize data redundancy. This assignment, Access Skill Set
Handouts, class notes, and Chapter 8 provide you with useful information.
Part One: Relational Database Design – Legacy System Reengineering
This part includes table design, data field design, and schema of relationships. You transfer a flat
table to an Access database. You start making blueprints – the standard notations for your database, and
then implement your design with Microsoft Access.
I. Design tables
In this stage, you will (1) split a flat table into tables in order to reduce redundant data; (2) create
primary key for each table; (3) identify relationships among those tables and correctly connect them
together; (4) present your design with the standard notation (learn methods from
“Demo_Computer.xls” in the zip file downloaded from my Web site), and (5) implement the design with
Microsoft Access.
Before you start your design, you download a flat table (Excel file) from my Web site under
Project/Project 1 for your group:
Groups 1&2: Job Contract System
Groups 5&6: Sales Department
Groups 3&4: Billing System
Groups 7&8: Mall Maintenance System
The following information includes: entities, data fields for each entity, candidates for primary keys,
and relationship between entities. You design a database on the basis of information from your flat table.
a. Demo_Computer: The flat table includes information about three entities - Customer, Order
and Product. The data fields in the flat table are: (1) the field names with pink color for Customer,
(2) yellow for Order, (3) green for Product, and (4) Quantity (gray) is the units of a product
required by an order. The candidates for primary keys are: (1) CustomerID uniquely identifies a
customer; (2) OrderID uniquely identifies an order; and (3) ProductID uniquely identifies a
product. Note that Quantity is the units of a product required by an order. The entities have the
following relationships: (1) one customer may place more than one order while one order only
belongs to one customer; (2) one order may require more than one product while one product may
be required by more than one order.
b. Job Contract System: The flat table includes information about four entities - Job, Direct
Material Inventory (DMI), Customer and Finished Goods Inventory (FGI). The data fields in the
flat table are: (1) the field names with yellow color for Job, (2) brown for DMI, (3) light green for
Customer, (4) gray for FGI, and (5) Quantity (pink) is the number of units of DMI item used for a
job. The candidates for primary keys are: (1) JobID uniquely identifies a job; (2) DMStockID
uniquely identifies a DMI item; (3) CustomerID uniquely identifies a customer; and (4)
InventoryItemCodeID uniquely identifies a FGI item. Note that Quantity is the number of units of
a DMI item for a job. The entities have the following relationships: (1) one job is for only one
customer while one customer may order more than one job; (2) one job requires only one FGI
item while one FGI item may fill orders of many jobs; (3) one job may need more than one DMI
item while one DMI item may be used by more than one job.
c. Billing System: The flat table includes information about four entities - Firm, Deposit, Project
and Employee. The data fields in the flat table are: (1) the field names with green color for Firm,
(2) yellow for Deposit, (3) light green for Project, (4) blue for Employee, and (5) Billable Hours
(gray) is the number of hours for an employee to work on a project. The candidates for primary
keys are: (1) FirmID uniquely identifies a firm; (2) DepositID uniquely identifies a deposit; (3)
ProjectID uniquely identifies a project; and (4) EmployeeID uniquely identifies an employee.
Note that Billable Hours is the number of hours for an employee to work on a project. The
entities have the following relationships: (1) one firm may make more than one deposit while
one deposit can only be made by one firm; (2) one firm may contract more than one project while
one project is only for one firm; (3) one project may need more than one employee while one
employee may be assigned to more than one project.
d. Sales Department: The flat table includes information about four entities - Salesperson, Sale,
Customer and Product. The data fields in the flat table are: (1) the field names with green color
for Salesperson, (2) yellow for Sale, (3) light green for Customer, (4) blue for Product, and (5)
Quantity (gray) is the units of a product for a sale. The candidates for primary keys are: (1)
SalepersonID uniquely identifies a salesperson; (2) SaleID uniquely identifies a sale; (3)
CustomerID uniquely identifies a customer; and (4) ProductID uniquely identifies a product. Note
that Quantity is the units of a product for a sale. The entities have the following relationships: (1)
one customer may be involved in more than one sale while one sale is done with one customer;
(2) one salesperson may take care of more than one sale while one sale is done by one
salesperson; (3) one sale may require more than one product while one product may be required
by more than one sale.
e. Mall Maintenance: The flat table includes information about three entities - Location, Job and
Repairer. The data fields in the flat table are: (1) the field names with green color for Location,
(2) yellow for Job, (3) light green for Repairer, and (4) Effort (gray) is the number of hours for a
repairer to complete an job. The candidates for primary keys are: (1) LocationID uniquely
identifies a location; (2) JobID uniquely identifies a job; and (3) RepairerID uniquely identifies a
repairer. Note that Effort is the number of hours for a repairer to complete a job. The entities have
the following relationships: (1) one location may have more than one job while one job is only
for one location; (2) one job may need more than one repairer while one repairer may be assigned
to more than one job.
You now start working on your flat table and design a database based on information from the flat table.
1. Design Table
Use information about your flat table to make a standard notation for design of tables:
(1) Create one table for each entity: table name and data fields.
(2) You may need to create table(s) for field(s) that are inappropriate for the above tables. For example,
the field Quantity in Demo_Computer.
2. Create Primary Keys
Create primary key for each table. A primary key is field or a combination of fields that uniquely
identifies a record. Use information about your flat table to identify primary keys.
3. Identify Relationship and Connect Tables
(1) Identify relationship between two tables using information about your flat table. For example, in the
flat table “Demo_Computer”, a one-to-many relationship exists between customer (“one” side) and
order (“many” side), and a many-to-many relationship between order and product.
(2) Connect tables when a one-to-many relationship exists. The primary key at the one-side table serves
as common field(s) to connect two tables. Simply add the common fields to the many-side table as a
foreign key.
(3) Connect tables when a many-to-many relationship exists. Create a new table so that the many-tomany relationship can be broken down into two one-to-many relationships. The third table at least
includes the primary keys from both tables so the two original tables can be connected through the
new (third) table. Mostly the combination of primary keys from both sides will be the primary key of
the third table.
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4. Present Design with the Standard Notations
The standard notation presents your design of relational database. It provides information of table names,
data fields of each table, primary key of each table, foreign key of a table if it exists, and relationships
between tables. The standard notation is an important part of your project report. Refer to
Demo_Computer.xls for example of making standard notations.
5. Implement the Design with Microsoft Access
You now transfer the tables in the standard notation to the tables in Access database. The Make-Table
Query of Access helps you split the flat table and delete duplicate records automatically.
(1) Upload the flat table to Access database
a. Create a database (refer to Exercise 1 of Handout: Access Skill Set 1).
b. Import the flat table to your database:
a) Click Table object, Files menu, select Get External Data and then select Import.
b) Select Microsoft Excel from Files of Types drop-down menu. Select drive, directory and the
Excel file for your flat table. Click Import button.
c) Check Show Worksheets radio button, select the worksheet for your flat table in the box to
the left of radio button and then Next button.
d) Check First Row Contains Column Headings, and Next button.
e) Check In a New Table radio button and Next button.
f) Select “No” in the Indexed text box and Next.
g) Check No Primary Key radio button. The primary key will later be assigned by you. Next
button.
h) Type table name (e.g., Flat Table) and Finish button.
(2) Run Make-Table Query to spilt the flat table
a. Create a query for creating a new table. For example, create a table “Customer” in database
“Demo_Computer” with the flat table uploaded. First, create a query in design view (refer to
Exercise 5 in Handout: Access Skill Set 1), add the flat table to the query and select data fields
according to the table “Customer” presented in the standard notation.
b. Make the query a Make-Table Query: click Query menu and select Make-Table Query
command. After Make Table window pops up, type a table name in Table Name text box and
OK. Right-click on the grey area of design grid and select Properties. After the Query Properties
window pops up, set “Yes” for Unique Values box and close the query properties window. Run
the query and “yes” to confirm. Then close the make-table query with “no” save.
c. Specify a primary key for this table according to the standard notation.
(3) Repeat Step (2) until all tables in the standard notation are created.
(4) Delete the flat table fro Access database after you have made all table in the standard notation.
II. Design data fields
The purpose for design of data field is to reduce update and change anomalies. If you have identified
pattern for values of a data field, you can change some properties, such as data type, field size, validation
rule, validation text, etc. (refer to Exercise 4 of Handout: Access Skill Set 1). For example, in Exercise 4,
a pattern exists for Loan ID: four-character long and L followed by three digits. Therefore, properties,
such as Data Type “Text”, Field Size “4”, Validation Rule of “Like”, and the message sent through
Validation Text, serve as the gate guard against data entry errors. First, check to see if any patterns exist
for some data fields. Second, reset some properties of those data fields to protect your tables from data
entry error. Third, you later in your written report discuss why your property settings can protect your
tables from data entry error and present part of data dictionary (refer to Exercise 4 of Handout: Access
Skill Set 1) for those data fields.
III. Create a schema for relationships
You have to complete the above steps before you do the following. Otherwise, you may need to
delete the relationships in schema before you make changes to properties of data fields and restore the
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relationships after the changes are made. Create relationships as designed in the standard notation (refer to
Exercise 5 of Handout: Access Skill Set 2). To this point, the database design on paper (standard notation)
comes true (Access).
Part Two: Application and User Interface
This part includes query design, report design, and interface design. The purpose of this stage is to
make a user-friendly database application.
I. Create queries
Users will use queries to extract information as answers to their questions. You may read Exercises
5 and 7 of Handout: Access Skill Set 1 before you create regular and parametric queries. Your written
report should include a “wish list” of questions that each query answers. You are required to create four
queries. Three of them must answer the following questions and the fourth query answers a question
made by you. Each question should include information about (1) criteria to select record, (2) whether the
value of criteria is specified by users, (3) the data fields to show, and (4) how to sort. The following is my
“wish list”:
1. If you work on Job Contract System, you must create queries for the following questions:
 What jobs were ordered by Ace Construction Co.? Show fields in the order of "JobID",
“JobOrderDate”,
“JobCompletionDate”,
“CustomerID”,
"CustomerName"
and
“CustomerTelephone”. Data should be sorted ascending by Job ID. Save the query as “Jobs for
Burch”.
 What jobs require DMI item with a user-specified “DMStockID”? You have to create a
parameter query so the users can specify a “DMStockID”. Show fields in the order of "JobID",
"CustomerID", “DMStockID” and “DMDescription". Data should be sorted ascending by Job ID.
Save the query as “Jobs with a user-specified DMI item”.
 What jobs require the finished goods item with a user-specified “InventoryItemCode”? You
have to create a parameter query so the users can specify an Inventory item code. Show fields in
the order of “JobID”, "CustomerID", "InventoryItemCode" and "InventoryDescription”. Save the
query as “Jobs for user-specified finished goods inventory item”.
2. If you work on Billing System, you must create queries for the following questions:
 What firms made deposits in a range of $2,500 to $15,000? Show fields in the order of
"FirmID", “FirmName”, “DepositID”, “AmtPaid”, and "DatePaid". Data should be sorted
ascending by Firm ID and then by Deposit ID. Save the query as “Firms and Deposits”.
 Who did the project with a user-specified “ProjectID”? You have to create a parameter query
so the users can specify a Project ID. Show fields in the order of "EmployeeID", "FirstName",
"LastName", "ProjectName", and "BillableHours". Data should be sorted ascending by
“ProjectName ” and then by “EmployeeID”. Save the query as “Who did project”.
 What project(s) were taken by a user-specified employee (EmployeeID)? You have to create
a parameter query so the users can specify an employee ID. Show fields in the order of
employee’s "FirstName", "LastName", “BillableHours”, “ProjectID” and "ProjectName”. Data
should be sorted ascending by “ProjectID. Save the query as “What projects”.
3. If you work on Sales Department, you must create queries for the following questions:
 Who made the sales with Sales ID “12”? Show fields in the order of Salesperson’s
"FirstName", "LastName", “Product Description” (ProdDesc), and "Quantity". Data should be
sorted ascending by Product Description. Save the query as “Who made sales”.
 What orders need a user-specified product? You have to create a parameter query so the users
can specify a “ProductID”. Show fields in the order of "Customer ID", customer’s “FirstName”
and “LastName”, "Company Name", "ProdDesc", and "Quantity". Data should be sorted
ascending by Customer ID. Save the query as “What orders need this product”.
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
What products are wanted by a user-specified sale (SalesID)? You have to create a parameter
query so the users can specify a “SalesID”. Show fields in the order of "Customer ID",
customer’s “FirstName” and “LastName”, "Company Name", “ProdDesc”, and "Quantity". Data
should be sorted ascending by CustomerID. Save the query as “Products for a specified sale”.
4. If you work on Mall Maintenance, you must create queries for the following questions:
 What locations had job(s) by repairer Hank Masters or Teresa Santos? Show fields in the
order of "LocationID", "IsStore", "JobID", "RepairerID" and "RepairerName". Data should be
sorted ascending by LocationID, then by JobID, and then by RepairerName. Save the query as
“Locations for Hank or Rhonda”.
 What locations have jobs with "Completed" date in a user-specified time period? You have
to create a parameter query so the users can specify a beginning data and a ending date for the
time period. Show fields in the order of "LocationID", "LocationName", “IsStore”, “JobID”, and
"Completed" date. Data should be sorted ascending by LocationID and then by JobID. Save the
query as “Locations with jobs within a specified period”.
 What repairer(s) did the job with a user-specified “JobID”? You have to create a parameter
query so the users can specify a Job ID. Show fields in the order of "ReparierID",
“RepairerName", "LocationID" and "Effort". Data should be sorted ascending by “RepairerID”
and then “LocationID”. Save the query as “Repairers for a specified product”.
II. Create reports
Read Exercise 7 of Handout: Access Skill Set 1 before you create reports by using Report Wizard.
Your written report should include printouts of Access reports. You are required to create two Access
reports, each based on a query you created. If headings and numbers cannot be clearly read in your
reports, you need to size and/or move them in Design View.
III. Build user interface
You create GUI and macros to wrap up your application. You read exercises in Handout: Access Skill
Set 2. You do the following:
1. Create a form and add a subform (refer to Exercises 1 and 7 of Handout: Access Skill Set 2) to view
to tables with a one-to-many relationship. The parent form presents the “one” side while the child
form presents the “many” side. Make sure the forms can be used to add, change and delete records.
2. Create macros to automate your tasks. You create macros, one for each, to open all queries, reports
and the form you have created (refer to Exercise 2 of Handout: Access Skill Set 2).
3. Create a main menu form. You add command buttons to the main menu form to run the macros you
have created. Insert a picture and a Stop button to the main menu form (refer to Exercise 3 of
Handout: Access Skill Set 2).
4. Create an AutoExec macro to automatically open the main menu form when you start your
application (refer to Exercise 4 of Handout: Access Skill Set 2).
5. In addition to above basic requirements, I encourage you to learn something by yourself from Access
Help and try it in your project. Point out this part in your written report.
Part Three: Project Report
You write a report (Word document) about your project. The written report is Times New Roman
font, size 12, “1.5-line” spacing, and with a title page. The following sections are mandatory.
1. Introduction. Briefly describe the original data (entities, relationships among entities, and fields for
each entity), and what you have done in the project.
2. Design tables. Present the standard notations for tables and relationships.
3. Design fields. Briefly describe the purpose of designing properties of fields. Present the data
dictionary only for those data fields in which you reset properties. Discuss how those property
settings protect tables from data entry errors.
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4. Design queries. This section includes a “wish list” – my “wish list” plus your question. Each question
should have information about (1) criteria to select record, (2) whether the value of criteria is
specified by users, (3) the data fields to show, and (4) how to sort.
5. Design reports. Briefly describe what you want to present in each report, and based on which query
you made each report.
6. Macros and Autoexec macro. Describe the purposes and functionality of each macro.
7. Summary. In addition a very short summary about your project, you also discuss what you have
learned from this project and what you did beyond basic requirements.
You will turn in a hardcopy of your written report and a floppy disk that includes the complete Access
database. Thanks.
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