Data Modeling Project
I want everyone to put together a data modeling project. This project will
help you understand how a well-structured relational
database is designed.
To the extent possible, I want this project to be based on a realistic
example from the outside world. I
recommend working in groups with two to three students, but anyone who
wishes can work in a "group" by his or her self. No group should
have more than four students.
My first choice would be to have you find a local business or
organization for which you can prepare a database
model. If you can think of no other alternative, feel free to build a database model for DVD World, a
business on 9th street that rents DVDs to the public, much
like Hollywood Video or Blockbusters. The last time I checked, DVD World
was a locally owned
business that is about the size which might decide to create its own
database system to track customers and rentals..
Deliverables: For the project, I will want you to:
- Write a fairly short (two to three page) paper that discusses the data storage needs of
the business.
- Prepare an entity relationship diagram showing how the data would
conceptually be stored. I recommend creating rough drafts of the ER
diagram on paper. Your finished project must contain an electronically
constructed ER diagram, but I don't care what program you use to create
it. Both PowerPoint and Visio are well adapted to doing the hands-on
construction of ER diagrams.
- Create an empty table structure in Microsoft Access that is
reasonably normalized and reflects the same data as shown in your entity
relationship diagram.
Please turn your project in on paper. This means you should print out
the ER diagram, and you should print the Microsoft
Access-based Relationships view showing the finished database structure.
Due date: Monday, November 26th
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