Automata Inc. produces specialty vehicles by contract. The company operates several departments, each of which builds a particular vehicle, such as a limousine, a truck, a van, or an RV.   Before a new vehicle is built, the department places an order with the purchasing department to request specific components. Automata’s purchasing department is interested in creating a database to keep track of orders and to accelerate the process of delivering materials.   The order received by the purchasing department may contain several different items. An inventory is maintained so that the most frequently requested items are delivered almost immediately. When an order comes in, it is checked to determine whether the requested item is in inventory. If an item is not in inventory, it must be ordered from a supplier. Each item may have several suppliers.   Given that functional description of the processes encountered at Automata’s purchasing department, do the following:

Database System Concepts
7th Edition
ISBN:9780078022159
Author:Abraham Silberschatz Professor, Henry F. Korth, S. Sudarshan
Publisher:Abraham Silberschatz Professor, Henry F. Korth, S. Sudarshan
Chapter1: Introduction
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1PE
icon
Related questions
Question
100%

 

Automata Inc. produces specialty vehicles by contract. The company operates several departments, each of which builds a particular vehicle, such as a limousine, a truck, a van, or an RV.

 

Before a new vehicle is built, the department places an order with the purchasing department to request specific components. Automata’s purchasing department is interested in creating a database to keep track of orders and to accelerate the process of delivering materials.

 

The order received by the purchasing department may contain several different items. An inventory is maintained so that the most frequently requested items are delivered almost immediately. When an order comes in, it is checked to determine whether the requested item is in inventory. If an item is not in inventory, it must be ordered from a supplier. Each item may have several suppliers.

 

Given that functional description of the processes encountered at Automata’s purchasing department, do the following:

  1. Define a set of business rules based on the case description. Note, you may need to make some assumptions to generate the business rules. As long as your assumptions are reasonable, you will get full points.

Example:  One supplier can offer zero or many items.

 

2. Identify all of the main entities from the business rules. Give a list of words that represent entities.

Example:  Supplier, Item

 

 

3. Identify all of the relations among entities. For each relationship, describe the involved entities, and the relationship type, e.g. 1:M, M:N or 1:1.

Example: Supplier: Item      N:M

 

4. Draw the ERD. Please give at least three attributes for each entity. 

 

 

5. Convert the ERD to relational tables and draw the tables with column names. Please also mark PK and FK (If there is one) in the table.

Example:

ItemID (PK)

ItemName

ItemQuantity

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Give three example queries that can be obtained from the database and design the SQL code. Example:

Query: find all items that have 0 inventory.  

SQL:  Select *

           From Item

        Where ItemQuantity=0

 

7. Reflection (Graduate students only): please write a short essay (about one page, double space) to discuss the following two topics:

7-a) ERD as a communication tool. Why do we need ERD? Why not creating relational models directly based on the business narrative?In practice, for the assumptions you have made in this assignment, it will be an opportunity to communicate with business users to clarify their requirements.

 

 

7-b)ERD design is an iterative process. Why can’t we design the best ERD in the first round?When you work on steps b, c, and d, did you go back and revise business rules? When you think about query examples, did you go back to ERD and change the design?

Expert Solution
trending now

Trending now

This is a popular solution!

steps

Step by step

Solved in 2 steps with 1 images

Blurred answer
Knowledge Booster
Dataset
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, computer-science and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.
Similar questions
  • SEE MORE QUESTIONS
Recommended textbooks for you
Database System Concepts
Database System Concepts
Computer Science
ISBN:
9780078022159
Author:
Abraham Silberschatz Professor, Henry F. Korth, S. Sudarshan
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill Education
Starting Out with Python (4th Edition)
Starting Out with Python (4th Edition)
Computer Science
ISBN:
9780134444321
Author:
Tony Gaddis
Publisher:
PEARSON
Digital Fundamentals (11th Edition)
Digital Fundamentals (11th Edition)
Computer Science
ISBN:
9780132737968
Author:
Thomas L. Floyd
Publisher:
PEARSON
C How to Program (8th Edition)
C How to Program (8th Edition)
Computer Science
ISBN:
9780133976892
Author:
Paul J. Deitel, Harvey Deitel
Publisher:
PEARSON
Database Systems: Design, Implementation, & Manag…
Database Systems: Design, Implementation, & Manag…
Computer Science
ISBN:
9781337627900
Author:
Carlos Coronel, Steven Morris
Publisher:
Cengage Learning
Programmable Logic Controllers
Programmable Logic Controllers
Computer Science
ISBN:
9780073373843
Author:
Frank D. Petruzella
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill Education