UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT. Management Contemporary Database Applications (Using Access)

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1 UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT Management Contemporary Database Applications (Using Access) Term: Spring 2014 Instructor: Brian Dobing, Room M-4053, , brian.dobing@uleth.ca Class Times: Tue, Thu 15:05 16:20 in Anderson Lab 147 Office Hours: Wed, Thu 8:30 10:30 Other times may be arranged by appointment Overview Working alone or in pairs, you will design and build a small database system for a business application following the five-stage model below: 1. determine the basic purposes of the system 2. create a data model for the new system; 3. design a database structure based on the data model; 4. extract data from the database using queries 5. design and build a user interface for transaction processing; 6. design and build management reports for analysis and decision making 7. complete the final application Organizations make extensive use of data in day-to-day operations and for decision making, so everyone can benefit from a better understanding of how to organize and use data. You will also learn the fundamentals of how organizations design new systems, and how to create better forms and reports. Note for IS Majors / Note for IS Minors The IS Major and Minor programs have been suspended. As a result, anyone taking Mgt 3830 this term will be unable to complete the IS Major with the usual course sequence. However, it is still possible to graduate with an IS Minor. First, you must complete Mgt 3830 (Database) this term - Spring The IS Minor also requires the following three of the following four courses: Mgt 3821 (Visual Programming), Mgt 3862 (E-Commerce), Mgt 3920 (Project Management) and Mgt 4840 (Systems Analysis). Mgt 4380 (Management Issues in IS) is also listed but will not likely be offered. Visual Programming was offered for the last time in Fall So, except for those who have completed Mgt 3821 already, incoming IS Minor students will need to take the other three courses (Mgt 3862, 3920, and 4840). Mgt 3862 has been offered each term, and the plan is to continue doing so through Spring Mgt 4840 will be offered for the last time in Fall And if that course cannot be offered, we will try to offer 1

2 some IS-related course that will allow students to complete the IS Minor. We also expect that Mgt 3920 (Project Management) will continue to be offered once each year in the fall (but not spring). Corerequisites This course has two corequisites, Management 3061 or Computer Science 1620; only one of them is needed. This class is designed for students taking the Information Systems Major or Minor but is open to anyone (particularly in Management or Computer Science). Minimal knowledge of Microsoft Access is expected (most students should have Mgt 2060 or equivalent) and no programming is required. If you do not have or plan to take either of the corequisites, please let me know before the start of classes to see if a waiver can be arranged. Students with neither of the corequisites and no waiver can be forced to withdraw from the course at any time by the Program Office. Credit Limitations (no longer applicable) Under previous Calendars, credit could not be earned for both Computer Science 3660 and Management This no longer applies. Systems Project The systems project has been divided into separate assignments called milestones. The final three milestones are cumulative. You cannot simply accept a low grade on milestone 5 or 6 and forget about it. The final milestone requires that you submit the complete project, including corrections to work done in milestones 5 and 6. You are responsible for building a system and you need to do whatever it takes to succeed. As with real systems, the answers cannot always be found in specific chapters of a textbook. Most of you will have limited experience with Access. You will need to develop a strategy to effectively learn this software, through books, on-line help, in-class demonstrations and, most importantly, experimentation. The schedule on the last page of this syllabus suggests readings for some of the topics. Other suggested resources are available as links from the Moodle sites. You will probably find that learning Access is more difficult than learning Word or Excel. Each milestone will normally be done in teams of two students each. No three-person teams will be permitted, even if this means that someone must work alone. You can change partners any time during the first four milestones, or choose to work alone. But the final three milestones are cumulative and are best done by consistent teams (although you can still change or drop a partner if necessary). Two projects of equal quality will get the same grade, even if one is by a twoperson team and the other is by someone working alone. 2

3 Assignment Rules All assignments must be submitted by or Moodle by 2 PM on the due date. Access database assignments (Milestones 3-7) must be submitted using Access No handwritten assignments will be accepted. For data models you can use Word or other software designed for drawing (e.g., Visio). Assignments are graded primarily for content, but presentation, spelling and grammar are also important where relevant. I will verify that the assignments have been received and are readable before class. When requested, printed copies of assignments expected at the start of class. If you are unable to make it to class, there will be no late penalty as long as the digital submission is on time. The printed submission must match the digital version. Any extensions due to lab problems, weather, or other reasons will be ed to the class list and posted on Moodle. Written assignments can also be left under the door of my office if I'm not there. Submitted assignments may be used during the class to illustrate different ways of approaching a problem. For the first four milestones, there will be a 10% penalty for submissions received between the due time and the start of class and a 25% penalty for submissions made during class time. Because the solutions will be discussed in class, no submissions can be accepted once the class is over. For the final three milestones, late submissions will be accepted with a penalty of 25% per day. Late penalties are subtracted from the grade you otherwise would have earned. So if Milestone 1 is submitted an hour late and is worth 80/100, it would receive a grade of 70/100. A 50% penalty means a loss of 50 points, rather than receiving half what you normally would. For milestones 2 and 3, solutions will be presented which represent the final product that would normally result after an extensive negotiation between the user and the designers. Solutions may be simplified to limit the workload for the next stage. These solutions allow you to continue on the project without the risk of building on an incorrect foundation. Otherwise, you could begin with an incorrect data model, implement it in Access, and then be unable to generate the required reports. Teams are free to enhance the basic solution and will receive credit for doing so in the final milestone. This will be further discussed in class. Lab Facilities and Software This class uses Microsoft Access 2010, available in the University Computer Labs and as a free download for your PC (not Macs unfortunately) through a Microsoft licensing agreement. You should be able to download the software in the second week of classes Access 2013 is also available as a free download but it currently not installed in the labs. Access 2013, which is a cloud-based version, has no other changes of any significance to this class, so we will continue to use the 2010 version. Moodle The course outline, assignments, and some class notes will be posted on Moodle. You should be able to find the course outline, assignments, and some class notes. Any subsequent corrections, 3

4 additions, etc. will also be posted there and sent out through . You are responsible for checking your regularly. I will try to respond to questions. However, I cannot provide long and detailed responses that way. Some questions may be answered on the class web page and/or brought up in the following class. Textbooks and Readings There are some books on data modeling but for our purposes there are several web sites that give good introductions and are free! These are linked from Moodle. The recommended (but not required) Access textbook is: Matthew MacDonald, Access 2010: The Missing Manual, Pogue Press/O Reilly, This book should be available online at a reasonable price. Those with absolutely no prior experience with Access might also want to pick up a book aimed more for that audience. Alternatively, the Roger Jennings book Microsoft Access 2010 In Depth (Que Publishing) is much thicker and contains far more material than we will cover in class. But it could be the better long-term book if you need to use Access in the future. And the cost online is similar. Books on earlier versions of Access are less useful for beginners because the interface has changed considerably (as it has for all Office software). However, the capabilities of Access and the underlying concepts have not changed very much. Access comes with its own sample Northwinds database. You can find examples of many features by looking through the forms and reports and seeing how they do things. Finding ideas in Northwinds, books, sample databases and Access web sites is an essential part of the learning process. The following books should be available through the University Library and may be helpful in designing databases and forms for data input. Form Design: Business Forms, Made E-Z Products, Ready-To-Use Business Forms: A Complete Package For The Small Business, Self-Counsel Press, Data Modeling: Michael Reingruber and William W. Gregory, The Data Modeling Handbook: A Best-Practice Approach To Building Quality Data Models, Wiley, C1994. Michael J. Hernandez, Database Design For Mere Mortals : A Hands-On Guide To Relational Database Design, Addison-Wesley Developers Press,

5 The library also has a few books on VBA (Visual Basic for Applications, the programming language used with Access) if you are interested. VBA will be introduced in this class but you will not need to do any serious programming. Grading Your final grade will be determined using the following percentages: Project 60 (Each milestone value is shown below) Midterm 15 Final Exam 25 Although the exams are worth only 40% of your grade, this may be misleading. Individual exam marks typically have greater variance than project marks, resulting in greater impact on the final grade. Below is an approximate grading curve A B C D A B C D A B C- < 50 F Final scores will be rounded, e.g., 77.5 will be a B. The actual grade distributions for this semester may be adjusted (but only to the advantage of students) and will not be determined until the end of the semester when all marks are in. The final grade distribution will be consistent with past classes. Academic Integrity It is critical to the reputation of the Faculty of Management, and of our degrees, that everyone associated with our faculty behave with the highest academic integrity. As a Faculty that helps create business and government leaders, we have a special obligation to ensure that our ethical standards are beyond reproach. Any dishonesty in our academic transactions violates this trust. The University of Lethbridge Calendar addresses the issue of academic dishonesty under the heading Student Discipline Policy. Of particular concern, but certainly not the only violations, are: copying someone else's work, even with minor modifications and with or without their permission, from storage media, printed copy, or even by observing what they are doing providing a digital version or printout or otherwise allowing someone else to copy your work having someone else to do all or part of your assignment working jointly with others to create a single solution and then customizing it for each student presenting work taken substantially from books, CD-ROMs, the Internet or other sources as your own 5

6 Students cheating on exams or assisting others to do so will receive an "F" in the course. Cooperation between teams is generally encouraged when it involves technical matters, such as how Access works. But close cooperation on content resulting in virtually identical submissions is not acceptable. Milestones that include material that has obviously been copied between two or more teams will ALL receive a mark of ZERO. Thus, it is important that you protect your work against copying. Any significant copying of programs found in other books or on the Internet will be regarded as a serious violation and will also receive a mark of ZERO. Receiving any substantial outside assistance from Access experts is not acceptable. However, applying ideas found in these sources is strongly encouraged. If you do copy anything, make a note of it just as you would reference a quotation in a term paper. If you are unsure about what is or is not acceptable, please see me first. The instructor reserves the right to use turnitin or other services to identify copied material. You also have some responsibility to ensure that your partner does not violate the policy on Academic Integrity. Should a violation occur, both members are jointly accountable unless the violation can be clearly attributed to a specific individual. 6

7 PROJECT MILESTONES Each milestone is a basic step towards building a database system. Further details on each Milestone will be distributed in class. Milestone 0 Entities and Attributes (20 marks) Create a Use Case Diagram. Focus on identifying the entities and attributes for a system. Add relationships where appropriate. Milestone 1 Practice Data Model (30 marks) Create a practice Use Case Diagram, along with one Use Case, and a Data Model for an organization. Milestone 2 - Data Model (100 marks) Create a Use Case Diagram and data model capable of supporting the operations and management requirements identified in the organization description. Write one Use Case for any important process. An important part of this milestone is determining what those requirements are. Some may not be explicitly stated, but nevertheless be critical to successful operations. Also consider possible management reports for analysis and decision making, and what data they will require. Data may also be needed for organizational control, such as tracking which employee has processed each transaction. Milestone 3 - Access Database (20 marks) Implement the data model as a relational database in Access. You will be given a data model to work with, rather than using your own from Milestone 2. Create each Access table and field needed and choose an appropriate data type for each field. Choose a key field(s) for each table. Then build a relationship diagram, which will resemble your data model. The diagram should fit on the screen and be well organized with all fields visible. (In other words, each data file box should be large enough that no scroll bars are needed.) Add relationships, including referential integrity where appropriate. Captions, validation rules, etc. should not be added at this time. No data is needed but you can add some to test your database if you wish. Milestone 4 - Access Queries (80 marks) Create a variety of queries to retrieve information, using the Access database (including data) distributed after Milestone 3. Some of these queries may be useful in creating Forms or Reports in later milestones. Milestone 5 - Access Data Entry and Control (100 marks) Using your database from Milestone 4, the first step is to add control features to the tables (e.g., field captions, field sizes, integrity checks, etc.). Then you can create Access Forms, primarily 7

8 designed for data entry. For example, systems must often be able to add new customers, modify data for existing ones (e.g., a new address), and record basic transactions. In this milestone, you will create basic but well-designed data entry forms that should allow record additions and modifications. Additional features will be added in Milestone 7. Milestone 6 - Access Reports (100 marks) Every organization requires a variety of printed output from databases. In Access, printed output is generally done using Reports while screen output is done using Forms. Thus, a Customer Receipt is an Access Report, even though we often do not think of them this way. The purpose of the reports will be specified, but you will need to determine what data should be included and how it should be organized. Milestone 7 - Final System (150 marks) Each team will submit their final product, a working, documented system that provides at least the key functionality required. Attach a cover memo to explain what you have done and what features (if any) you have been unable to include. Be honest - if you hide problems that are discovered the penalty will be much greater. (That's true both for this assignment and in business generally.) There are four key parts to this milestone. First, you need to resubmit some material from earlier milestones. All forms (Milestone 5) and reports (Milestone 6) will be graded again. However, grading will be done to a higher standard and different aspects may be tested this time. A project will likely get a lower score if nothing was changed. Second, you need to add navigation that allow users to move among the forms easily and view reports. Third, your system should provide some documentation to help someone use and maintain the system. While each Form should contain built in help, the time required to do this would be prohibitive. Instead, only one Form (which will be specified later) will require Help. Fourth, you may wish to add some extra features. Be sure to highlight these in your cover memo, or they might be missed. Keep in mind the fundamental goal of this course. The highest grades will go to the teams providing the best designed, documented and working systems that support the organization. 8

9 TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE Dates Topic Textbook Due Jan 9 Jan 14 Class Cancelled Introduction to Database Management Jan 16 Introduction to Use Cases and Data Models Jan 21 Data Models Identifiers and Simple Relationships MS 0 Prelim Jan 23 Review Milestone 0 MS 0 Jan 28 Weak Entities and Cardinality Jan 30 Use Cases Feb 4 Review Milestone 1 MS 1 Feb 6 Data Model Special Cases Feb 11 Access Tables and Relationships M1,2; J5 (-215) Feb 13 Data Models - Review Milestone 2 Creating Relationships in Access BREAK WEEK No Classes MS 2 Feb 25 Building a Relational Database M5;J5 (215-) Feb 27 Access Queries M6,7; J9-11 MS 3 Mar 4 ***** MIDTERM ***** Mar 6 Mar 11 Midterm Review User Interface Design Access Queries Cont d Mar 13 Creating Access Forms M12; J14 MS 4 Mar 18 Improving Access Forms M13; J15 Mar 20 Complete Access Form Mar 25 Creating Access Reports - Detailed M11; J17 MS 5 Mar 27 Creating Access Reports - Summary M10; J16 Apr 1 Creating Access Charts and Graphs M9; J18 Apr 3 Navigation, Macros and VBA M14; J2, 19 MS 6 Apr 8 Database Integrity and Security M4; J6 Apr 10 Project Issues Apr 15 System and Final Exam Review MS 7 Apr 28 Final Exam 2 PM 9