Due date: October 9th, before the start of class.

Value: 30 points of 200 for Assignments.

Continue to work with your group for the Assignments and the Project required for this course. (Two or three member groups only.)

For Assignment 2, EACH GROUP must complete all parts; the required items need be produced only once. The group selects one of the preliminary cases completed in Assignment 1 and continues to develop a database application for it.

The group must select one of the prospective businesses or organizations that were explored in Assignment 1. Select the one that the group thinks is most likely to be a excellent target of study. The scope of the semester project, including the cumulative assignments, must give you an experience of enterprise-wide computing, not just a simple desktop application for one user. Some project standards/requirements exist; the database application you develop must include:

1. more than one functional area (e.g., marketing and distribution, or inventory and planning, or personnel and sales, etc.);
2. more than three (major) high level data (types) groupings (e.g., employees, products, locations, products, customers, positions, payments, etc.);
3. more than one 1-to-many relationships between (major) high level data (types) groupings (e.g., "one location may house many employees");
4. more than 3 input/output interface requirements for users and/or managers.

1. name of the business or organization
2. product, product line, or service
3. some major corporate functions
4. some business processes
5. any existing computer applications
6. some major data entity types ("high level groupings")
7. some needs or problems that are to be addressed by developing a new database application
8. some ways employees and managers will use the potential new database application.

Then produce the following new deliverables for this Assignment:

1. some strategic planning factors: long term vision, some major planning goals, some critical success factors, and some problem areas;
2. some corporate planning objects: organizational units, locations, some major corporate functions, and some major data entity types ("high level data groupings");
3. an organization chart along functional decomposition lines;
4. a preliminary data model -- a high level entity-relationship diagram;
5. a formal statement of proposal for a new database application to solve a problem, meet a need, or take advantage of an opportunity -- and thus serve the strategic plan of the business or organization;
6. a planning matrix showing function-to-data entity usage expected in the proposed new system;
7. (optional) other planning matrices as the group sees necessary or helpful in planning: location-to-function, unit-to-function, unit-to-data entity, location-to-data entity.

Textbook Aids. See McFadden, Hoffer, Prescott (MHP) -- references to the Pine Valley Furniture business "case":
• pages 40 (middle) to 44 (middle);
• pages 58 (bottom)to 61 (bottom).

Note: you may not use any business/organizations and functions based on customers/orders/order details, nor business/organizations and functions based on courses/students/departments, nor business/organizations and functions based on hospitals/patients; these are business/organizations and functions used in copious sample exercises by the textbook.

Insert your completed, printed deliverable into your portfolio. Make sure your portfolio is properly identifed with your names. Turn in your portfolio at or before the due date/time.

Overview & Objectives | Full Syllabus & Grading | Calendar

Text & Other Resources | Assignments | Tests & Exams

Warren E. Duclos, Jr. | A.B. Freeman School of Business | Tulane University

Inquire about the course --

duclos@tulane.edu
Tel (ofc): (504) 865-5555

Fax: (504) 865-5562

Unless otherwise noted, all material is:
Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 The A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University.
All rights reserved.