Internet Orders exercise

You are considering expanding the mail order business by offering customers the opportunity to read your catalog and place orders over the Internet. There are, however, a few problems to be solved.

The first of these is the ordering process. It is not clear that you and your partners have the same perspective on how ordering works. There is a need to understand exactly how data flows through the ordering process in order to support the design of your World Wide Web (WWW) interface.

The second of these concerns the interface itself. Behind your WWW home page you will need to have an order form that enables customers to enter their own orders information. Your partners suggest that you prototype this form in Access first.

Exercise overview

Develop a data flow diagram of the mail order process. Extend the analysis to enough levels that you can move directly from your data store descriptions to ERDs.

Design and implement the tables and order entry form needed to enable customers to enter orders directly into the mail-order company's database. Build upon the work we have already accomplished, or feel free to add your own details.

Learning objectives/minimum performance criteria:

Instructions for Orders Exercise

Hand in a Word file that

1. Describes your data flow analysis (e.g., provides an explanatory narrative that defines the ordering process, supported by the DFD).
2. Includes your DFDs (pasted in and rescaled from PowerPoint) to illustrate your discussion.
3. Illustrates the table design you built to support the Internet customer order form (include a copy of your Relationships window).
4. Discusses how you expect the order form to be used.
5. Includes a picture of the order form, copied from Access to Word via Paintbrush, Lview, or HyperSnap.