15 Designing Accurate Data Entry Procedures Consulting Opportunity 15.3 To Enter or Not to Enter: That is the Question "I've just taken on the presidency of Elsinore Industries," says Rose N. Krantz. "We're part of a small cottage industry that manufactures imaginative toy villages for children seven years old and up. Our tiny hamlets consist of various kits that will build whatever children want from interlocking plastic cubes, essentials such as city hall, the police station, the gas station, and a hot dog stand. Each kit has a unique part number from 200 to 800 , but not every number is used. The wholesale prices vary from $54.95 for the city hall to $1.79 for a hot dog stand. "I've been melancholy over what I've found out since signing on at Elsinore. 'Something is rotten' here, to quote a famous playwright. In fact, the invoicing system was so out of control that l've been working around the clock with our bookkeeper, Gilda Stern," Krantz soliloquizes. "I would like you to help straighten things out," Rose continues. "We ship to 12 distribution warehouses around the country. Each invoice we write out includes the warehouse number, 1 through 12, its street address, and the U.S. postal code (zip code). We also put on each invoice the date we fill the order, code numbers for the hamlet kits they order, a description of each kit, the price per item, and the quantity of each kit ordered. Of course, we also include the subtotals of kit charges, shipping charges, and the total that the warehouse owes us. No sales tax is added, because they resell what we send them to toy stores in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. I want you to help us design a computerized order entry system that will be part of the invoicing system for Elsinore Industries." For your design of a data entry system for Elsinore, take into consideration all the objectives for data entry discussed throughout this chapter. Draw any displays necessary to illustrate your design. How can you make the order entry system efficient? Respond in a paragraph. Specify what data can be stored and retrieved and what data must be entered anew for each order. How can unnecessary work be avoided? Write a paragraph to explain why the system you propose is more efficient than the old one. How can data accuracy be ensured? List three strategies that will work with the type of data that are being entered for Elsinore Industries