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Acme Consulting ABC Rental Company, Inc. 11/13/01 Version 4.0 Acme Consulting, Lozier Center, Room 917, October 16, 2001 Josh Wagner, Zoe Song, Kurexi Shawuti, Pat Artz, Cherif Toure Copyright © 2001 Acme Consulting. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of Acme Consulting or its affiliates is contained herein. Any reproduction, use, appropriation, or disclosure of this information, in whole or in part, without the specific prior written authorization of the owner thereof is strictly prohibited. Failure to observe this notice may result in legal proceedings or liability for resulting damage or loss. Any and all information or specifications are subject to change without notice. Issued by: Acme Consulting, Lozier Center Room 917 Omaha, Nebraska USA All brand names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Acme Consulting Confidential 2 Table Of Contents 1 Introduction .............................................................................. 6 1.1 Scope of Document ......................................................................................... 6 1.2 References ...................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Acronyms ........................................................................................................ 6 1.4 Request for Information Systems Services ...................................................... 7 1.5 Problems, Opportunities, Objectives, and Constraints Matrix ........................ 10 1.6 Problem Statement Matrix ............................................................................. 12 1.5 Design Detail Section ............................................................. 14 1.7 Description of Entity Definition Matrix ............................................................ 14 1.7.1 Entity Definition Matrix ............................................................... 15 1.8 ERD of ABC Rental Company, Inc. ............................................................... 16 1.9 Context Data Model....................................................................................... 17 1.10 Key Based Data Model .............................................................................. 17 1.11 Fully Attributed Data Model Description ..................................................... 18 1.11.1 Fully Attributed Data Model ....................................................... 19 1.12 Logical Data Model in Third Normal Form ................................................. 19 1.13 Event Response Matrix ............................................................................. 21 1.14 Context Data Flow Diagram....................................................................... 24 1.15 Functional Decomposition Diagram ........................................................... 26 1.16 Event Decomposition Diagram .................................................................. 26 1.17 System Diagram ........................................................................................ 28 1.18 Candidate Matrix ....................................................................................... 29 1.19 Physical Data Flow Diagram...................................................................... 33 1.20 Database Design ....................................................................................... 36 1.21 User Interface Screens .............................................................................. 40 Acme Consulting Confidential 3 Preface Document Control Lists each published version of the Design Specification, the date on which it was published, and the reason it was published. Version Date Major Changes 1.0 9/25/01 Created the document. 2.0 10/16/01 Added the Report 2 deliverables, fixed problems with the Report 1 sections. 3.0 10/30/01 Added the Report 3 deliverables, fixed problems with Report 2 sections. 4.0 11/13/01 Revised the database to bring it to third normal form, added a physical database schema. Added user interfaces for Milestone 9 deliverables. Acme Consulting Confidential 4 New and Changed Information The following table contains the number of the affected section and a brief description of new or changed information. Section 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.7.1 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.11.1 1.12 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.11 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.20 1.12 1.21 New/Changed Information Added a description of how the Request for Information Systems Services was created. Listed all of the problems and opportunities in the Problems, Opportunities, Objectives, and Constraints Matrix, and described how the matrix was created. Added a description of how the Problem Statement Matrix was created. Description of the Entity Definition Matrix for Milestone 3. Entity Definition Matrix for Milestone 3. ERD for Milestone 3. Context Data Model for Milestone 3. Key-Based Data Model for Milestone 3. Fully Attributed Data Model description for Milestone 3. Fully Attributed Data Model diagram for Milestone 3. Logical Data Model in Third Normal Form for Milestone 4. Context Data Flow Diagram deliverable for Milestone 5. Functional Decomposition Diagram deliverable for Milestone 5. Event Decomposition Diagram deliverable for Milestone 5. System Diagram deliverable for Milestone 5. Revised the Fully Attributed Data Model to include a primary key for the Rental Agreement entity. Revised the System Diagram to include input from Senior Analyst concerning the transfer of vehicles to Ashley Ford. Candidate Matrix for Milestone 6. Physical Data Flow Diagram for Milestone 7. Database Design deliverable for Milestone 8. Physical Database Schema for Milestone 8. Revised the Logical Data Model in Third Normal Form by adding a fourth table for maintenance data. User interfaces for Milestone 9. Acme Consulting Confidential 5 1 Introduction John Wright, the President and Chief Executive Office (CEO) of ABC Rental Company, Inc. requested our services to assist a business process analysis and redesign. Mr. Wright provided background on the problem, an organizational chart, a list of information system facilities, and a few general facts about his company. This background information is available in the Introduction and Milestone 1 of the ABC Rental Company, Inc. Case Study. 1.1 Scope of Document This document contains the milestones for each stage of our systems analysis and design for ABC Rental Company, Inc. 1.2 References 1.3 Acronyms Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Joint Requirements Planning (JRP) Acme Consulting Confidential 6 1.4 Request for Information Systems Services ABC Rental Company, Inc. hired Acme Consulting on August 28, 2001 to assist in the automation of the manual processes currently used as vehicles are checked in, checked out, and maintained for re-rental. On September 18, 2001, John Wright, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ABC Rental Company, Inc., met with the entire staff of Acme Consulting for the first time. At the meeting, Mr. Wright described problems with the current system of checking in vehicles and preparing them for re-rental. The current system is not automated, and it takes up to 24 hours to prepare a car for re-rental. Mr. Wright wants the re-rental time reduced to two hours. The company is committed to automating the check-in and rerental processes in order to meet the goal of a two hour turn-around time for the vehicles. Mr. Wright expects to see profits rise as the turn-around time decreases, but no specific financial goals were discussed at this meeting. In addition, Mr. Wright gave several directives at the September 18th meeting. First, the new and completely automated system must be accessible to all personnel within the company. Second, the deadline for this project is Thanksgiving. Third, Mr. Wright named Harold Smith, his Special Assistant, as the key user contact. Fourth, the scope of the project is limited to redesigning the processes involved with vehicle check-in and rerental. Other business processes are beyond the scope of the current project. The Request for Information Services on the following page summarizes the particular problems, opportunities, and directives that were discussed at the meeting between Mr. Wright and Acme Consulting on September 18th. Acme Consulting Confidential 7 ACME CONSULTING Phone: (402) 555-1212 Fax: (402) 555-2121 DATE OF REQUEST 9/25/2001 SERVICE REQUESTED FOR DEPARTMENT(S) ABC Rental Company, Inc. SUBMITTED BY (key user contact) Name Title Office Phone Harold Smith Special Assistant EXECUTIVE SPONSOR (funding authority) Name John Wright Title President and Chief Executive Officer Phone TYPE OF SERVICE REQUESTED: Information Strategy Planning Existing Application Enhancement Business Process Analysis and Redesign Existing Application Maintenance (problem fix) New Application Development Not Sure Other (please specify _______________________________________________________________________ BRIEF STATEMENT OF PROBLEM, OPPORTUNITY, OR DIRECTIVE (attach additional documentation as necessary) Problems: ABC Rental Company lacks computer support; the present system is not automated. An automobile returned to the company may wait 24 hours before re-rental. The current, paper-driven system cannot be fixed and needs to be replaced. Opportunity: A reduction in the time between rental return and re-rental could increase profits. Directives: A new system must be in place by Thanksgiving. A new and completely automated system must be accessible to all personnel within the company. BRIEF STATEMENT OF EXPECTED SOLUTION Reduce the time between rental return and re-rental from the current 24 hours to two hours before Thanksgiving. ACTION (ISS Office Use Only) Acme Consulting Confidential 8 Feasibility assessment approved Assigned to ____________________ Feasibility assessment waived Approved Budget $ _____________ Start Date __ _____ Deadline _ ___ Request delayed Backlogged until date: ______________ Request rejected Authorized Signatures: _____________________________ Reason: ______________________________________ _______________________________________ Project Executive Sponsor Acme Consulting Confidential 9 1.5 Problems, Opportunities, Objectives, and Constraints Matrix Mr. Harold Smith, Special Assistant to John Wright, is the subject matter expert at ABC Rental Company, Inc. He is the key user contact for this project. Pat Artz and Josh Wagner of Acme Consulting interviewed Mr. Smith for 10 minutes on September 18, 2001 in order to learn more about the problems, opportunities, and directives related to this project. At the brief interview, Mr. Smith reinforced the summary of the problems and expected solution that Mr. Wright already outlined as part of the Request for Information System Services. Mr. Smith concluded that the present system is not adequate and must be replaced. The new system needs to be in place before Thanksgiving. Mr. Smith shared that ABC Rental Company, Inc. plans to expand to Lincoln, Nebraska if additional income can be generated to support the expansion. However, Mr. Smith stated that the Lincoln expansion is not part of the scope of this project. Mr. Smith explained that the following steps take place during vehicle check-in and rerental under the current system: 1. Attendants at the vehicle check-in collect the paperwork from the customer and fill in additional information about the vehicle being checked in. 2. All vehicles are cleaned at Jiffy Lube, which is adjacent to the vehicle storage area for ABC Rental Company, Inc. 3. All paperwork is collected by the Operations Supervisors during the course of the day. Then, the paperwork is forwarded to the offices of the Maintenance Department at the end of the business day, which is shortly before 5:00 PM. 4. Mr. Mike Scully, Chief Maintenance Officer, personally approves the availability of each vehicle. He does this by manually checking the information on each vehicle on the wipe board in his office. 5. Ashley Ford picks up any vehicle needing maintenance. Maintenance is performed at Ashley Ford rather than at ABC Rental Company, Inc. 6. Information about the availability of vehicles for re-rental is then given to the Rental Agents by the start of the next business day. The Rental Agents use a board with hooks, which is updated each morning with the identification and keys of all available vehicles. 7. Rental Agents then process all customer requests for vehicles during the day. The preliminary analysis by Acme Consulting reveals a significant bottleneck in the business processes. The current procedure of sending paperwork to Maintenance as a batch at the end of the day slows things down considerably. Rental Agents must wait for the information about vehicle availability for re-rental, which does not arrive until the next business day. The following page is a cause and effect analysis as well as a summary of system objectives and constraints based on the interview with Mr. Smith. Acme Consulting Confidential 10 Project: Inc. ABC Rental Company, Project Manager: John Wright Created by: Acme Consulting Last Updated by: Acme Consulting Date Created: Sept. 25, 2001 Date Last Updated: Sept. 25, 2001 CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS Problem or Causes and Effects Opportunity 1. Turnaround time is too long. 1. Manual system is too slow. 2. Vehicle paperwork is processed in one batch at the end of the business day. 2. It takes up to 24 hours to re-rent a car. 3. Cars cannot be rented twice in the same day, even though some of them could be rented again. 3. Maintenance information is in the hands of the Maintenance Department only. 4. Paperwork is not being processed until the end of the business day. 5. Rental Agents must wait for re-rental information. 6. Cars that need maintenance by Ashley Ford must wait until the next business day to be picked up. SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT OBJECTIVES System Objective System Constraint 1. Increase profits. 1. 2. Decrease turnaround time on car rentals to two hours. System is accessible to all personnel 2. No one will be laid off as a result of automating the system. 3. System must be in place by Thanksgiving. Acme Consulting Confidential 11 1.6 Problem Statement Matrix The Problem Statement Matrix on the next page is an estimate of the differing levels of urgency, visibility, benefits, and priority among the various problems, opportunities, and directives that are associated with this project. Also, a proposed solution is associated with each problem, opportunity, and directive. The annual benefit for each aspect of the project could not be determined from the initial meetings with Mr. Wright and Mr. Smith. Further fact-finding will be needed before dollar amounts can be assigned to the rows in the benefits category. The project is very focused in scope. Most of the problems, opportunities, and directives are directly associated with the goal of reducing turn-around time from 24 hours to two hours. Accordingly, most of the problems, opportunities, and directives have the highest priority rank. There are two exceptions to this general rule. First, an increase in profits should extend beyond the two-month deadline for implementing the solution. Second, a new system could be phased in for personnel who are not directly involved in the checking in and re-rental of vehicles. Therefore, those two items received a lower urgency and priority ranking. Acme Consulting Confidential 12 PROJECT: Inc. ABC Rental Company, CREATED BY: Acme Consulting DATE CREATED: 9/25/2001 Brief Statements of Problem, Opportunity, or Directive PROJECT MANAGER: John Wright LAST UPDATED BY: Consulting Acme DATE LAST UPDATED: 9/25/2001 Urgency Visibility Annual Benefits Priority or Rank Proposed Solution 1. Turnaround time for rerental must drop from 24 hours to two hours. 2 months High (company wide) Unknown. 1 New Development 2. The present system is not automated and cannot support a two-hour turnaround. 2 months High (company wide) Unknown 1 New Development 3. A reduction in the time between rental return and re-rental could increase profits. 6 months Low (owners and Finance Dept.) Unknown 2 New Development 4. Maintenance information that is required for decisions on re-rental is available to the Maintenance Department only. 2 months High (company wide) Unknown 1 Restructuring of processes involving maintenance information. 5. The system must be accessible to all personnel so they can determine the availability of automobiles. 6 months High (company wide) Unknown 2 Phase in new system; phase out old system department by department. 6. New system must be in place by Thanksgiving. 2 months High (company wide) Unknown 1 New Development Acme Consulting Confidential 13 1.5 Design Detail Section 1.7 Description of Entity Definition Matrix On September 25, 2001, a Joint Requirements Planning (JRP) session was held at the Lozier Center. People attending the JRP included the following: John Wright, CEO and President of ABC Rental Company, Inc. Mike Scully, Chief Maintenance Officer William Banks, Chief of Operations May Spindle, Operations Supervisor William Blankship, Operations Supervisor Zoe Song, Attendant Gil Vilmar, Attendant Josh Wagner, Scribe for Acme Consulting Sheri Wright, Facilitator The facilitated discussions between various participants at the JRP allowed the consultants of Acme Consulting to identify the following processes involved in checking in a rental vehicle and re-renting the vehicle. The automation of the processes below is the scope of this project. Currently, these processes are manual: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. A customer returns vehicle to an attendant on the lot. Attendant obtains paperwork from customer. Attendant visually inspected vehicle for damage, records any notes on rental agreement. Attendant records mileage on the rental agreement. Attendant keeps one copy of rental agreement and gives it to Operations Supervisor. Attendant gives one copy of rental agreement back to customer. Jiffy Lube cleans all vehicles and tops off the fluid levels after being checked in. Customer takes copy of rental agreement to Rental Agent. Customer pays bill and leaves. In the meantime, the Operations Supervisor collects the copies of various rental agreements. At the end of the business day, all copies of rental agreements in the possession of Operation Supervisor are transferred to the office of the Maintenance Department. Chief of Maintenance checks his wipe board to decide whether the vehicles are available for re-rental or must go to Ashley Ford for maintenance. Ashley Ford picks up all vehicles that need maintenance the following day. A list of all vehicles that are available for re-rental is given to the Rental Agents by the following day. Acme Consulting Confidential 14 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Rental Agents arrange keys and vehicle ID numbers of available on a pegboard. Rental Agents process all customer requests to rent vehicles. These requests can be made by telephone or walking up to the counter. The Rental Agents are in charge of collecting the payments for the vehicles and checking the credit cards. If the request is by telephone, the Rental Agents fill out the Rental Agreement over the phone, remove the keys of the reserved vehicle from the pegboard and place them under the counter to await the arrival of a customer. The customer verifies the information and signs the agreement when he or she arrives at the counter to receive the keys. If the request is in person, then the customer fills out a rental agreement and receives the keys. Rental Agents refer to the pegboard of keys and Vehicle ID numbers for vehicle availability throughout the day. If a peg still has keys, then the vehicle is still available for rental. On October 6, 2001, the consultants of Acme Consulting met to discuss the entities involved in the vehicle check-in and re-rental processes. The consultants looked through the list of steps for checking in and renting vehicles with an eye for people, places, or things that could be considered candidates for entities. The consultants created the matrix below as a tentative list of entities to be considered for an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD). 1.7.1 Entity Definition Matrix ENTITY Customer Rental Agreement Rental Agent Attendant Maintenance Department Operations Supervisor Vehicle Ashley Ford Jiffy Lube BUSINESS DEFINITION Someone who rents a vehicle. A document that is filled out when a vehicle is rented, then signed by the customer, and returned to the office when the vehicle is returned. Employee who rents vehicles to customers. Employee who checks in vehicles when returned by customers. Responsible for making decisions about the maintenance of vehicles, maintaining all maintenance records, and approving all vehicles for rental. Collect rental agreements and transfer them to Maintenance Department. The object being rented. Company that does the maintenance work for all vehicles. Company that does the cleaning of all vehicles. A quick evaluation of this tentative list reveals several actual entities. The distinguishing feature of an entity is that it is something that a company needs to collect data about. The Acme Consulting Confidential 15 three entities from the tentative list that fit this description are Customer, Vehicle, and Rental Agreement. The other items on the list play key roles in various processes, but they are not entities. 1.8 ERD of ABC Rental Company, Inc. The Customer and Vehicle entities interact via an entity that is called Rental Agreement. In other words, a customer and a vehicle come together at one point in time to create a rental agreement. In technical terms, Rental Agreement is an associative entity because it associates the Customer and Vehicle entities. These associative relationships are outlined in the ERD below: The relationships in this ERD can be summarized in the following declarative sentences: A Rental Agreement has one and only one Customer. A Rental Agreement has one and only one Vehicle. A Customer can have zero, one, or more Rental Agreements. A Vehicle can have zero, one, or more Rental Agreements. These relationships reflect the current business practices of ABC Rental Company, Inc. and do not limit the business in any way. Corporate customers are still capable of renting more than one vehicle; our model simply points out that a rental agreement will be needed for each vehicle rented. Attendants, Operations Supervisors, Rental Agents, and all other employees still play key roles in the company, but they are not entities. In other words, we are not storing data about the employees when we rent vehicles, but we are storing data about the customers and the vehicles. The Vehicle entity is particularly important in the maintenance phase of the re-rental processes. The data on warranty, current mileage, and mileage intervals for maintenance will need to be assessable as decisions are made about the re-rental status of each vehicle. Accordingly, great care must be taken to choose proper attributes for this entity. Those attributes are described in the fully attributed data model. Acme Consulting Confidential 16 1.9 Context Data Model The next step is to identify the natural business processes for these entities. The common-sense approach is to simply state, “Customers rent vehicles.” However, this is not a specific relationship. Specific relationships will assist the system designers later in the project as the current system is automated. Accordingly, the relationship, “Customers rent vehicles,” needs to be broken down into two separate relationships with the Rental Agreement acting as the middle ground. A more refined statement of the relationship would be, “Customers enter into rental agreements, and vehicles are available for those rental agreements.” These relationships can be summarized in a context data model such as the diagram below: 1.10 Key Based Data Model The purpose of a key based data model is to identify keys for each entity. A key should not change over the lifetime of the entity, it cannot be null, and it must be valid. The key is the way that an entity is distinguished from all of the other entities. In this project, each customer, vehicle, and rental agreement must have a key that makes each record unique from all other customers, vehicles, and rental agreements. Each customer has a customer number and each vehicle has a vehicle identification number. These are natural keys for their respective entities. Rental agreements present more of a problem. On the one hand, ABC Rental Company, Inc. could assign a number to each rental agreement. This is the solution that is the most straight-forward since it fits the current business practices of ABC Rental. On the other hand, existing attributes within the rental agreement could be combined to create a unique key for each rental agreement. This would allow ABC Rental to access the information without creating a new key for the Rental Agreement. In this case, the most straight-forward approach is the best approach. All personnel at ABC Rental are accustomed to referring to Rental Agreements by number, and the additional field does not create a lot of overhead for the database. Accordingly, the Acme consultants will use a “Rental Agreement Number” as the primary key for Rental Agreement. Acme Consulting Confidential 17 The key based context model is below: 1.11 Fully Attributed Data Model Description The discussions at the JRP Acme Consulting on September 25 allowed the consultants at Acme Consulting to pinpoint attributes for the Customer, Rental Agreement, and Vehicle entities. The Customer entity has all of the usual characteristics of customers at any business. Many of these characteristics are used in purchasing and billing, and these are outside the scope of the current project. The Vehicle entity has attributes that will uniquely identify each vehicle in the fleet. Mileage and the Mileage Maintenance Interval are important attributes for deciding when a vehicle is available for re-rental or if it needs service. The Rental Agreement entity uses Rental Agreement Number as its primary key. In addition, each Rental Agreements is related to the Vehicle and Customer entities by the presence of two foreign keys. This avoids duplication of data while still allowing a vehicle and customer to be assigned to a particular rental agreement. Acme Consulting uses a CASE tool that is restricted to six attributes per entity. The diagram below must be viewed along with the table below the diagram to get the full picture of the attributes for each entity. A key decision in the re-rental process is whether or not to send a vehicle to Ashley Ford for maintenance. A vehicle is unavailable for re-rental until the maintenance work is completed. Fortunately, all of the information necessary for this decision is included in the attributes for the Vehicle entity. No extra attributes are needed for an automated system to refrain from making vehicles available when in fact they are at Ashley Ford. Instead, the existing attributes will be compared to each other. This process will be described more fully in the Physical Data Flow Diagram section of the document. Acme Consulting Confidential 18 1.11.1 Fully Attributed Data Model More Customer Attributes: Zip Code Phone Number Credit Card Number Credit Card Type Credit Card Expiration Date Other attributes are needed to keep track of information related to accounting (e.g. Category of Customer) but these are beyond the scope of this project. More Rental Agreement Attributes: Miles at Checkout Miles at Return Time of Return Time Rented Other attributes are needed to keep track of information related to prices (e.g. Daily Rate, Mileage Charges) but these are beyond the scope of this project. More Vehicle Attributes: Mileage Maintenance Interval Monthly Maintenance Interval Warranty Time Length Warranty Miles Length Date of Last Service Date Purchased Other attributes are needed to keep track of information related to prices (e.g. Category of Car) but these are beyond the scope of this project. 1.12 Logical Data Model in Third Normal Form Problems with the Vehicle entity emerge as the normalization process moves to the third form. The data entries for the various attributes for maintenance as well as the attributes for Vehicle Make and Vehicle Model will be repeated in the database for similar vehicles. Also, the warranty information depends on attributes within Vehicle and not on the Vehicle entity themselves. Adding a fourth entity called Maintenance can eliminate these problems. This entity will store data used in maintenance decisions. The primary key will be an integer, and this key will be a foreign key in the Vehicle entity. This primary key simply identifies the maintenance plan for a particular make, model, and year of a vehicle so that this data does not need to be stored redundantly in the Vehicle table. The new, normalized data model is below: Acme Consulting Confidential 19 More Customer Attributes: Zip Code Phone Number Credit Card Number Credit Card Type Credit Card Expiration Date Other attributes are needed to keep track of information related to accounting (e.g. Category of Customer) but these are beyond the scope of this project. More Rental Agreement Attributes: Miles at Checkout Miles at Return Time of Return Time Rented Other attributes are needed to keep track of information related to prices (e.g. Daily Rate, Mileage Charges) but these are beyond the scope of this project. Acme Consulting Confidential More Vehicle and Maintenance Attributes: Other attributes are needed to keep track of information related to prices (e.g. Category of Car) but these are beyond the scope of this project. 20 1.13 Event Response Matrix Next, Acme Consulting examined the findings of the JRP to pinpoint the business events the system must respond to and the appropriate responses. The conclusions are summarized in the Event Response Matrix on the next page. The matrix allowed Acme Consulting to identify high-level processes that can be broken down into component processes. An analysis of the matrix reveals that Vehicle CheckIn, Vehicle Checkout, and Maintenance processes play key roles at ABC Rental, with many sub-processes contained within these larger processes. The matrix shows the current system before automation. Many of the current processes will continue to play roles in the new, automated system. However, several points appear to be candidates for revision during the conversion to automation. First, the process of sending batches of rental agreements to the Maintenance Office requires that vehicles remain on the lot while the batch is assembled and submitted. Second, the cars still remain unavailable for re-rental while the processes of reviewing the wipeboard and matching that data with the data on the rental agreements are completed. The matrix is on the page below: Acme Consulting Confidential 21 Subsystem Actor Event (or Use Case) Trigger Responses Check-In Attendant Checks in vehicle Customer arrives at gate with vehicle. Check-In Jiffy Lube Vehicle is cleaned. Vehicle arrives at Jiffy Lube Attendant takes keys, visually inspects vehicle, and fills in Rental Agreement. Jiffy Lube cleans vehicle, returns it to ABC Rental. Check-In Attendant Forwards Rental Agreements to Operations Supervisor. Attendant is done filling in the Rental Agreement. The Operations Supervisor collects rental Agreements all day long. Check-In Attendant Gives copy of rental agreement to customer. Attendant is done filling in the Rental Agreement. Customer proceeds to Rental Agent for payment. Check-In Rental Agent Receives payment for rented vehicle. Receives copy of Rental Agreement from customer. End of business day. Customer exits system. Maintenance reviews all Rental Agreements and looks at information on wipe board for each vehicle. Maintenance Operations Supervisor Forwards a batch of Rental Agreements to Maintenance Office. Maintenance Maintenance Supervisor Decisions are made about whether to send vehicles to Ashley Ford for maintenance work. Maintenance Supervisor examines each the mileage on each Rental Agreement mileage. Vehicles are either sent to Ashley Ford for maintenance or made available for re-rental. Maintenance Ashley Ford Performs maintenance work on vehicles. Called by Maintenance Office to pick up a vehicle. Performs maintenance and return vehicles to ABC Rental. Maintenance Ashley Ford Return vehicles to Maintenance Department. Maintenance is completed on vehicle. Maintenance approves vehicle for re-rental. Acme Consulting Confidential 22 Subsystem Actor Event (or Use Case) Trigger Re-Rental Maintenance Office Returns keys to Rental Agents Re-Rental Rental Agents Check Out Rental Agent Check Out Rental Agent Peg board is checked for availability of desired vehicle. Check Out Rental Agent Keys are given Customer receives vehicle. to customer. Maintenance Supervisor okays vehicle for re-rental. Arranging keys Receives keys on peg board for each morning from the days’ Maintenance rentals. Office. Customer Generates new requests Rental vehicle. Agreement. Customer selects desired vehicle from ABC Rental categories. Acme Consulting Confidential Responses Rental Agents receive keys in the morning. Awaits new customers. Peg board is checked for vehicle availability. Vehicle is selected based on availability. Customers are upgraded to next category at no charge if no vehicles in desired category are available. Customer drives off the lot. 23 1.14 Context Data Flow Diagram A context diagram visually represents the scope of the project and the boundaries of the system. The net inputs and outputs are the business transactions and responses, and red lines represent these. The external agents are the sources and destinations of the inputs and outputs, and these are represented on the diagram by rectangles. ABC Rental is satisfied with the roles being played by all external agents. No layoffs are planned, and no contractual changes are being considered. However, ABC Rental is open to ideas for reorganizing the various processes, transactions, and agents. The consultants at Acme are concerned with two bottlenecks in the system. First, the process of collecting batches of rental agreements by the Operations Supervisor, as seen in the bottom right corner of the following diagram, requires that vehicles remain on the lot while the batch is assembled and submitted. Second, the cars still remain unavailable for re-rental while the process of converting data to information via the wipeboard is completed. This process is seen in the lower left part of the following diagram. Acme Consulting Confidential 24 Acme Consulting Confidential 25 1.15 Functional Decomposition Diagram Functional decomposition diagrams are drawn to divide the system into logical subunits, subsystems, or subfunctions. In this case, the ABC Rental Company’s Vehicle Rental System can be divided into two subsystems, which are called Rental and Maintenance. This partition is represented in the diagram below: 1.16 Event Decomposition Diagram An event decomposition diagram is a visual representation that further divides the system into sub-processes. Large processes are broken down into constituent processes. The relationships between the functions and events can be clearly seen. The consultants at Acme use this type of diagram to discuss the processes and better understand the current system. Also, this diagram can be shown to the users at ABC Rental and not overwhelm them with details and complexity. It is a good modeling tool to bridge the gap between users and analysts. The event decomposition diagram for ABC Rental is on the next page. Acme Consulting Confidential 26 Acme Consulting Confidential 27 1.17 System Diagram A system diagram looks at the big picture after decomposing a system into constituent parts. How do the parts fit together? The diagram on the following page is a visual representation of all processes involved when checking in a vehicle, checking out a vehicle, and maintaining the vehicle. Once again, the consultants at Acme are concerned about the role of Operations Supervisor as rental agreements are collected and then submitted as a batch. Cars are not available for re-rental during this time. Also, the consultants are concerned about the time delay as the vehicle maintenance wipeboard is updated with new data and then information is returned to the system. Acme Consulting Confidential 28 1.18 Candidate Matrix Acme Consulting considered many technology options for ABC Rental for the conversion from manual to automated systems. The consultants have close working relationships with many vendors, including Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft, and Novell. Additionally, the consultants have a working knowledge of publicly available solutions such as MySQL and Linux. Several factors emerged as primary factors as candidate solutions were considered: Is the solution scaleable? Is the solution easily supported? Does the solution enhance other business processes at ABC Rental? Can the solution be implemented and tested quickly, with a final solution in place by Thanksgiving? Do other solutions exist that are equally effective but at a lower price? Microsoft Access is a good database for small businesses. However, it has problems with scalability. ABC Rental is expecting moderate growth in the coming years, which makes Access an unacceptable choice. Oracle and Sybase are excellent products, but they carry a higher price tag. They are more suitable for larger corporations or for businesses expecting unusually rapid growth. Other solutions are available for ABC Rental at a lower price. MySQL is an excellent database for a range of business sizes. The software is free, and MySQL is compatible with most database tools. Accordingly, MySQL is a serious contender for this job. The one weak aspect of MySQL is training and support. Acme Consultants recommends solutions to all customers with the expectation that customers may want to eventually support the systems internally rather than relying on the personnel at Acme. MySQL does not have the certified training infrastructure that other potential database candidates enjoy. Candidate 3, which has the lowest startup costs of all candidates, relies on MySQL as the central software for the database, but the lack of certified training options limits the role of MySQL to Candidate 3 only. Microsoft SQL Server carries a lower price tag than Oracle and Sybase. It is a stable product for small and medium businesses. Training options for ABC Rental personnel are easily available at many Omaha locations. For these reasons, it is the conclusion of the consultants at Acme that SQL Server provides the optimum solution for ABC Rental. On the network side, Novell once was the first choice for LANs. However, their current products are more difficult to support than Microsoft, and the presence of Novell might limit scalability in the coming years. Other contenders for the network server market include Linux and UNIX. However, it is easier to support the Microsoft products that are aimed at the small and medium business market. The users at ABC Rental are familiar with Microsoft, training options can be provided quickly and cheaply, and support for a Acme Consulting Confidential 29 Microsoft network is relatively easy to arrange. Accordingly, Acme Consulting bases all three candidates on Microsoft products. Acme Consulting recommends Candidate 1 from the table below. The LAN and database succeed in automating the processes involved in vehicle check-in, check-out, and maintenance while at the same time extending the benefits of the LAN investment to all aspects of ABC Rental. The other candidates are presented as lower-cost solutions that are scaleable for future expansion up to the level of Candidate 1. The extra costs for Candidate 1 are for dedicated phone lines and extra servers. The costs of file servers, email servers, and phone lines are easy quantify, but it is not as easy to assign a dollar value to the benefits. Nevertheless, it is the firm conclusion of Acme Consulting, based on 20 years of experience in data communications, that these costs are more than offset by the benefits of extending the LAN and the database to real-time, company-wide communications. A central feature of all three candidates is the role of wireless devices for the attendants. Acme checked with the federal government to make sure that wireless network devices are permissible for a site such as ABC Rental that is relatively close to airports. Cell phones present special problems because of their range, but these devices are Ethernet, which has a very limited range. The wireless devices in these candidates present no problems. The limited range of the devices allow ABC Rental to use them, and the mobility of the devices make them an ideal choice for the roving Attendants as vehicles are checked in and out. Characteristics Portion of System Computerized Brief description of that portion of the system that would be computerized in this candidate. Benefits Brief description of the business benefits that would be realized for this candidate. Candidate 1: SQL Server and Full LAN Solution The business processes involved with vehicle check in, vehicle check out, and vehicle maintenance. Candidate 2: SQL Server and Email Solution The business processes involved with vehicle check in, vehicle check out, and vehicle maintenance. Candidate 3: MySQL Database Only Solution The business processes involved with vehicle check in, vehicle check out, and vehicle maintenance. The current manual system will be replaced with an automated system, resulting in faster turnaround time for vehicle re-rental. This solution extends the advantages of the LAN to file sharing and email, which will enhance information sharing and decision making within the company. This solution allows the company to rely on the easily supported Microsoft packages. All intra-company processes related to vehicle check-in, check-out, and maintenance are performed in real-time. Real-time transactions are possible due to the presence of dedicated phone lines. Data is centralized data, which is less complex than distributed data. This will aid in maintaining the integrity of The current manual system will be replaced with an automated system, resulting in faster turnaround time for vehicle re-rental. This lower-priced solution also enables email for all employees, which will enhance information sharing and decisionmaking within the company. This solution allows the company to rely on the easily supported Microsoft packages. The solution is scaleable when a larger investment is possible. Dial-up phone lines save on communications costs while still allowing the two hour turn-around goal to be met. The current manual system will be replaced with an automated system, resulting in faster turnaround time for vehicle re-rental. This lowest-cost solution focuses exclusively on automating the business processes involved with vehicle check in, vehicle check out, and vehicle maintenance. However, the solution is scaleable when a larger investment is necessary. Dial-up phone lines save on communications costs while still allowing the two hour turn-around goal to be met. This solution allows the company to customize the freeware MySQL as its database while still using the easily supported Microsoft array of software Acme Consulting Confidential 30 Servers and Workstations A description of the servers and workstations needed to support this candidate. Software Tools Needed Software tools needed to design and build the candidate (e. g., database management system, emulators, operating systems, languages, etc.). Not generally applicable if applications software packages are to be purchased. Application Software A description of the software to be purchased, built, accessed, or some combination of these techniques. Method of Data Processing Generally some combination of: online, batch, deferred batch, remote batch, and real-time. Output Devices and Implications A description of output devices that would be used, special output requirements, (e.g. network, preprinted forms, etc.), and output considerations (e.g., timing constraints). the database. The file server allows users to back up their local files quickly and easily. The solution is scaleable. Existing workstations will be used. Three new servers will be purchased and used as an email server, file server, and database server. Network printers plug directly into the network rather than using a separate print server. packages for other aspects of the solution. The standard operating system for all PCs is Windows 2000 Professional. The email server uses Microsoft Exchange. The file server uses Microsoft 2000 Server. The database server uses Microsoft SQL Server. Developers use Visual Studio. Existing workstations will be used. Two new servers will be purchased and used as an email server and database server. Network printers plug directly into the network rather than using a separate print server. The standard operating system for all PCs is Windows 2000 Professional. The email server uses Microsoft Exchange. The database server uses Microsoft SQL Server. Developers use Visual Studio. All PCs already have Office 2000 and a web browser. Purchases include the server software for Exchange, 2000 Server, and SQL Server. Developers will use Visual Studio to add any necessary user interfaces to the server software. All PCs already have Office 2000 and a web browser. Purchases include the server software for Exchange and SQL Server. Developers will use Visual Studio to add any additional user interfaces to SQL Server. Data from Rental Agents and the Maintenance Office is processed in real-time from PCs. Data from Attendants is processed in real-time via wireless devices that communicate directly with the LAN. Data from Ashley Ford is processed as batches as the data arrives in the Maintenance Office. Data from remotes sites is processed in real time over dedicated phone lines. Data from Rental Agents and the Maintenance Office is processed in real time from PCs. Data from Attendants is processed in real-time via wireless devices that communicate directly with the LAN. Data from Ashley Ford is processed as batches as the data arrives in the Maintenance Office. The database is distributed based on geographic location. Data from remote sites is synchronized hourly with the database as batches over dial-up phone lines. Rental agreements are printed with impact printers on pre-printed forms, with one copy still going to the customer and one copy still going to the Operations Supervisor as a backup paper copy for archive and tax purposes. One laser network printer is available to each workgroup, with an average of ten employees per workgroup. Rental agreements are printed with impact printers on preprinted forms, with one copy still going to the customer and one copy still going to the Operations Supervisor as a backup paper copy for archive and tax purposes. One laser network printer is available to each workgroup, with an average of ten employees per workgroup. The Attendants use wireless devices to display vehicle Acme Consulting Confidential Existing workstations will be used. One new server will be purchased and used as a database server. Network printers plug directly into the network rather than using a separate print server. The standard operating system for all PCs is Windows 2000 Professional. The database server uses Microsoft 2000 Server as the operating system and MySQL as the database software. Developers use Visual Studio. All PCs already have Office 2000 and a web browser. Developers will use Visual Studio to create the user interfaces for MySQL. Data from Rental Agents and the Maintenance Office is processed in real-time from PCs. Data from Attendants is processed in real-time via wireless devices that communicate directly with the LAN. Data from Ashley Ford is processed as batches as the data arrives in the Maintenance Office. The database is distributed based on geographic location. Data from remote sites is synchronized hourly with the database as batches over dial-up phone lines. Rental agreements are printed with impact printers on pre-printed forms, with one copy still going to the customer and one copy still going to the Operations Supervisor as a backup paper copy for archive and tax purposes. One laser network printer is available to each workgroup, with an average of ten employees per workgroup. 31 Input Devices and Implications A description of Input methods to be used, input devices (e.g., keyboard, mouse, etc.), special input requirements, (e.g. new or revised forms from which data would be input), and input considerations (e.g., timing of actual inputs). Storage Devices and Implications Brief description of what data would be stored, what data would be accessed from existing stores, what storage media would be used, how much storage capacity would be needed, and how data would be organized. information the point of check in and check out. Email is used to communicate information and decisions not normally handled by the database. The Attendants use wireless devices to display vehicle information the point of check in and check out. Email is used to communicate information and decisions not normally handled by the database. Rental Agents use standard PCs at the counter to input data for rental agreements and request information on vehicle availability. The Maintenance Office uses standard PCs to access the database. Attendants input vehicle information using wireless devices connected directly to the LAN. The database is stored on the hard drives of the database server. This server is equipped with redundant hard drives for extra security. All servers are backed up to tape nightly. The hard drives for the servers are adequate for the size of the company and the database. The hard drives for the clients are adequate for the client software required. Users back up their files on the C: drives to the home directories on the file server. The database includes all information about customers, rental agreements, and vehicles. The relational tables are centrally located. The presence of dedicated links between sites, the small size of the tables and the relatively infrequent accessing of records allow for a centralized database rather than distributing it between locations. Each location has its own fleet of vehicles to minimize problems with the shared data. Rental Agents use standard PCs at the counter to input data for rental agreements and request information on vehicle availability. The Maintenance Office uses standard PCs to access the database. Attendants input vehicle information using wireless devices connected directly to the LAN. The database is stored on the hard drives of the database server. This server is equipped with redundant hard drives for extra security. All servers are backed up to tape nightly. The hard drives for the servers are adequate for the size of the company and the database. The hard drives for the clients are adequate for the client software required. The database includes all information about customers, rental agreements, and vehicles. The relational tables are distributed between the two locations. The tables are synchronized via dial-up phone lines hourly. Each location has its own fleet of vehicles to minimize problems with the shared data. Acme Consulting Confidential The Attendants use wireless devices to display vehicle information the point of check in and check out. Telephones, paper messages, and personal visits are used to communicate information and decisions not normally handled by the database. Rental Agents use standard PCs at the counter to input data for rental agreements and request information on vehicle availability. Attendants input vehicle information using wireless devices connected directly to the LAN. The database is stored on the hard drives of the database server. The server is equipped with redundant hard drives for extra security. The server is backed up to tape nightly. The hard drives for the server are adequate for the size of the company and the database. The hard drives for the clients are adequate for the client software required. The database includes all information about customers, rental agreements, and vehicles. The relational tables are distributed between the two locations. The tables are synchronized via dial-up phone lines hourly. Each location has its own fleet of vehicles to minimize problems with the shared data. 32 1.19 Physical Data Flow Diagram As discussed previously, the batch of rental agreements that is collected and submitted each day is a bottleneck in the current system. The consultants at Acme recommend that the Attendants update the database directly from the field via their wireless devices. Attendants can then be immediately notified about the re-rental status of each vehicle. Also, Acme recommends that the processes of checking the wipeboard against the rental agreements be automated as much as possible. However, the Maintenance Office continues to play a key role in decisions on maintaining the fleet of vehicles. In order to automate the various processes, the following recommendations are made: Attendants will enter data on vehicles directly into the database. Attendants will be notified immediately about the re-rental status of the vehicles. The Maintenance Office will receive reports on vehicle maintenance needs and then contact Ashley Ford accordingly. Notification of when a vehicle warranty has expired will be included in the reports on maintenance needs. The Maintenance Office will convert all paper records from Ashley Ford to the database. The Maintenance Office will enter all data for new vehicles into the database. These changes are reflected in the Physical Data Flow Diagram on the following page. One aspect of the diagram deserves special note. The decision of whether or not to send a vehicle to Ashley Ford depends on the mileage of the vehicle at check-in, the date of the last maintenance, the mileage interval for maintenance, and the monthly interval for maintenance. All of these factors are attributes in the database. One of the jobs of the programming interface is to examine these attributes and alert ABC Rental personnel that a vehicle needs maintenance. The vehicle will remain unavailable for re-rental until the Maintenance Office updates the date of the last maintenance. The special business rules that interact with existing database attributes and result in a vehicle being sent to Ashley Ford for maintenance are as follows: Monthly maintenance intervals are converted to days for more precision. If a vehicle’s mileage is equal to or greater than the recommended maintenance mileage interval minus 200 miles, then the vehicle goes for maintenance. However, this is only when it is also true that the date of last maintenance is greater than the recommended monthly maintenance interval. This will prevent a car being maintained twice during one maintenance cycle. Acme Consulting Confidential 33 If the last date of maintenance for a vehicle on the lot is equal to the current date minus the recommended monthly interval for mileage, then the car goes for maintenance. The Maintenance Office enters all data from Ashley Ford for vehicle maintenance. The vehicle is available for re-rental when the date of the last maintenance is updated. The physical data flow diagram is on the following page: Acme Consulting Confidential 34 Acme Consulting Confidential 35 1.20 Database Design The scope of this project requires four tables in a relational database. The first table is the Customer table. The attributes are listed in the database schema below. It is important to note that these attributes are involved in the processes of checking in and checking out a vehicle. Other attributes are necessary to use the table for other aspects of vehicle rental such as payment method or marketing information. The second table is Vehicle. The list of attributes involved in re-renting a vehicle is surprisingly small. However, it is important to note that we are not tracking all information on the vehicles. Once again, other attributes are necessary to use the table for other aspects of the business such as marketing category, billing category, setting a resale price, or a history of major repairs. The third table is Rental Agreement. The TIME attributes for this entity are included in order to track the degree of success in meeting the goal of a two hour turnaround time for vehicle re-rental. The other attributes assist in automating the process of check-in and check-out. The fourth table is Maintenance. The attributes allow decisions to be made about maintaining the vehicles without duplicating a lot of data in the Vehicle table. This table was added during the third form of the normalization process The ERD for the database was created in the DeZign tool. This tool is limited to six attributes per entity, but the diagram provides a helpful way to visualize the database: Acme Consulting Confidential 36 The scripts below were created from the ERD above using the DeZign tool, with the output set for SQL databases. This script is compatible with both Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and MySQL. CREATE TABLE Customer( Customer Number INT NOT NULL, First Name CHAR(20), Last Name CHAR(20), Street Address CHAR(40), City CHAR(25), State CHAR(2), Zip Code CHAR(10), Phone Number CHAR(15) Credit Card Number CHAR(25), Credit Card Type CHAR(25), Credit Card Expiration Date DATE, PRIMARY KEY (Customer Number)); CREATE TABLE Maintenance( Maintenance Schedule INT NOT NULL, Make of Vehicle CHAR(20), Model of Vehicle CHAR(20), Mileage Maintenance Interval INT, Monthly Maintenance Interval INT, Warranty Time Length INT, PRIMARY KEY (Maintenance Schedule)); CREATE TABLE Vehicle( Vehicle Identification Number INT NOT NULL, Maintenance Schedule INT NOT NULL, Vehicle Color CHAR(15), Mileage INT, Date Purchased DATE, Date of Last Service DATE, FOREIGN KEY (Maintenance Schedule) REFERENCES Maintenance (Maintenance Schedule), PRIMARY KEY (Vehicle Identification Number)); CREATE TABLE Rental Agreement( Rental Agreement Number INT NOT NULL, Vehicle Number INT NOT NULL, Customer Number INT NOT NULL, Date Rented DATE, Acme Consulting Confidential 37 Date to be Returned DATE, Actual Date of Return DATE, Miles at Checkout INT, Miles at Return INT, Time of Return TIME, Time Rented TIME, FOREIGN KEY (Customer Number) REFERENCES Customer (Customer Number), FOREIGN KEY (Vehicle Number) REFERENCES Vehicle (Vehicle Identification Number), PRIMARY KEY (Rental Agreement Number)); The physical database schema is a combination of the ERD, the attributes, and the properties of the attributes. It is an effective way to visualize the database. The physical database schema is below: Acme Consulting Confidential 38 Acme Consulting Confidential 39 1.21 User Interface Screens Screen one is used for attendant to track car inventory, period of rental agreement, mileage of car rented and track payment. Damage description section is for the attendant to mark or note. Any significant damage to the vehicle, this information is then used to assign the cost of damage to customer and refer vehicle to chief maintenance if required. Acme Consulting Confidential 40 Screen two is used for Maintenance of all returned vehicles. This screen shows the mileage of the vehicles upon departure and return. This screen also notes any damage that has occurred during the rental agreement, the location and the severity of the damage to vehicle. Upon review of the attendants’ remarks and visual assessment of damage, then the decision is made to send the vehicle through to Ashley or stay for maintenance. Acme Consulting Confidential 41