MotorMouth - Process Design

So far in this course we have discussed process analysis, data flow analysis, and data structure analysis. This exercise takes all three analytical tools and asked you to apply them in an integrated fashion.

Deliverables:

1. Submit the printout of a Word file that includes a process model, a DFD, and an ERD for the case below. Your process model should show specializations and at least one level of decomposition for each specialization. Your DFD should show at least two levels, and your ERD should cover all the data stores noted in your DFD. Be prepared to add your Word file to a Notes database.
2. Using Access, design at least one form that would be used by your system, based on tables filled with appropriate data. Provide a copy of the form in the Word file. Include a picture of the Relationships window from your Access database in the Word file.
3. Complete your Word file by completing and including the following:
   • I had the following questions after completing the assignment:
     • [please include questions]
   • I have the following suggestions for improving this exercise, for the following reasons:
     • [please include any feedback you wish to provide]

Learning objectives/minimum performance criteria:

MAD Modelling	DFDs	ERDs
Decompositions Specializations	Integration with process analysis. Multi-level diagrams w/o mistakes.	Entities and keys Relationship specification

MotorMouth Dental Clinic

You have been asked to describe the processes and data flows generated by a dental clinic. The clinic's managers assume that you have been to the dentist enough to be familiar most dental procedures, but they have provided the following descriptions.

The clinic basically schedules patients, provides services for them, and bills them for those services.

New patients fill out a form listing their name, address, telephone numbers, allergies, and state of mind prior to scheduling their first appointment. Existing patients are normally scheduled for their next appointment as they depart from their current appointment. When the office staff forget to do this, a desk worker has to call the patient to set up a date. Schedules are entered into a central appointment book; patient records (including contact information) are kept in paper files.

Appointments are for one of three procedures: dental hygiene, cavities and fillings, and oral surgery (including root canals and tooth extractions). For each procedure the patient needs to be prepared and supplies need to be collected (e.g., probes, drill bits, cements, resins, etc.). For a hygienist's appointment, preparation could be as simple as seating the patient in dental chair and putting a bib around his or her neck. For oral surgery, anesthesia of various strengths are normally administered prior to operation. Only for oral surgery procedures is it necessary to ask the patient to wait for up to twenty minutes before performing a post-operative check.

Billing is always done by the month, and bills are always sent by mail to patients' contact addresses. Checks are received by mail. HMO-funded patients are asked to make a copayment at the time that they leave the office. Each patient also generates a reimbursement request to an insurance company. Insurance companies and HMOs send their checks by mail three months after receiving a reimbursement request.

The clinic maintains a supplies inventory file that a worker fills out once a week by physically inspecting each of the three procedures rooms. Supplies and tools are stored in a standard layout in each room.

Note:

Use your own knowledge as a dental patient to add any information to this description that you feel necessary, but please state any assumptions that you make. Some aspects of clinic operations have been simplified for the sake of this example.