Conceptual (REA) model and logical model with cardinalities

Amazon.com Sales/Collection Process

Before placing an order at Amazon.com, a customer creates an account on the companys website. Amazons sales/collection process begins when a customer places items in the online cart. The items remain in the online cart until the customer pays for the order with a third-party credit card. Note that backorders are permitted, but paid for at the time the order is completed.

Once payment has been made, a warehouse manager prints a picking list for ordered items available in the warehouse. He attaches the list to a basket on a conveyor belt. The basket automatically stops at the warehouse bin area where inventory on the picking list is located. A warehouse clerk in the immediate area picks the goods, scans the items with a handheld device, and places the items in the basket. The basket continues along the conveyor belt, stopping at each warehouse location on the picking list until all items on the picking list have been picked. The basket with the picking list and the picked inventory items moves on the conveyor belt directly to the shipping department. (A video demonstrating this part of the process is availablehere.)

The shipping clerk manually compares the contents of the cart to the picking list. If deficiencies exist, the warehouse manager helps to resolve the differences. Once no differences exist, the shipping clerk packages the goods. The shipping clerk then keys in the shipping information to update the customer shipment transaction file and prepares three copies of a packing list and one return authorization document. One copy of the packing list is filed in the shipping department. One copy is included in the shipment to the customer along with the return authorization. Federal Express arrives multiple times a day to pick up shipments ready to be released. After the shipping clerk knows the goods are on their way to the customer, the picking list and the remaining copy of the packing list are stapled together and sent to the accounting department.

Customers are permitted to make returns. Customer returns are received in the warehouse. The warehouse clerk manually prepares a receiving report and inspects and reconciles the returned goods to the return authorization included in the shipment by the customer. The warehouse clerk places the returned goods on the warehouse shelves. The receiving report and return authorization are stapled together and sent to the accounting department.

QUESTION

Conceptual model: Draw an REA model with cardinalities for the operating events in the sales/collection process described. Make sure you differentiate between the operating and the information events. The REA model can be hand-drawn, but neatness is required.

Logical model: List each database table required (master and event tables), complete with key attributes (primary keys), foreign keys, and non-key attributes. Use proper notation as described in class. This part of the requirement needs to be typewritten.