Developing a Database for a Commerce Business
Objective
This project is designed to touch all aspects of the fundamental concepts of database
design and logical data modeling covered during the class. Each student will be
responsible for designing, developing, and demonstrating the functionality of a database
created based on a set of business specifications that you create. At the end of the
session, each student will submit a report that includes the logical and physical design of
the database and demonstrates the database’s ability to deliver meaningful reports. All
aspects of the project will be covered during the week or weeks prior to a deliverable, and
each task deliverable in the project will be supported through the exercises and labs done
in the course.
Guidelines
You will create a proposal for a commerce business of your choosing. This can be an
actual or fictional business that sells products and/or services. You will determine the
business rules and report requirements. Entities that must be included in your model are
the following.
Customer
Product (or Service)
Order
Project Deliverables
This task is broken down into four deliverables.
Task 0 (due at the end of Week 1)
Task 1 (due at the end of Week 3)
Task 2 (due at the end of Week 5)
Task 3 (due at the end of Week 7)
Remember that this is a work in progress and in all likelihood, you will have to make
numerous changes to your tables and schema as you go along. These changes are to be
expected and are a normal part of the database design and implementation process.
Course Project
Please refer to the sections below for details regarding deliverables for each task.
Task 0 (due at the end of Week 1)
The first task is to create your business narrative. Some of the questions that you should
address include (but are not limited to) the following.
What is the name of your business?
Who will be the users of the system (managers, employees, customers)?
What product(s) and or service(s) does it sell? Be specific.
Who are the customers? What is the customer base?
What sales and distribution channels are used?
How are payments made?
Are products delivered or shipped to customers in some way?
Are sales reps involved? Are they paid on commission?
What type of reports are needed by the business?
Please include as much detail as possible in order to provide a foundation for Task 1.
Submit your proposal as a Word document. Note that this proposal may be revised in the
coming weeks as your understanding of the database modeling process grows.