Modelling Report - Case Study

CS Hobbies is a hobby retail outlet that sells military model kits direct to the public. The business has a number of model categories such as cars, boats, airplanes, figurines and tanks that come from different manufacturers such as Airfix and Tamiya. The same models may even come in different scale sizes. E.g. a Volkwagen Beetle may come in 1:10 scale and 1:50 scale.

Customers visit the store and place an order with a staff member. An order can consist of one or more models. Should the customer wish to create a complete scene, then all the models in the scene should be to the same scale. For instance, a scene may have two tanks, an airplane, 5 soldiers and a refuelling truck all with a scale of 1:48

Once the order is placed and the payment is confirmed, the items are then retrieved from the storeroom. When the order is completed and shipped, the customer will be notified about the shipping date and the expected delivery date.

CS Hobbies now wants to computerize their order management system. The owner wants to record details of the customers, the orders that are placed, remaining stock levels for future orders and more than one contact phone number for each customer.

The owner would also like to know as to when each item in the order has been retrieved from the storeroom, so that the customer can be informed of shipping delays, if the products are not available. The customer can then decide whether to have the order sent out with fewer items than what was originally ordered.

As part of the computerization, the business also wants to offer an online ordering page with a click and collect option.

Task Instructions

1. Based on the information provided in the case study, prepare a modelling report to answer the following questions:

   • An entity relationship diagram including significant attributes against each entity.

   • A relational model showing all fields, primary keys, foreign keys and concatenated keys. Your relational model should be in third normal form. List any assumptions/business rules you have made.

   • A sample screen of what you think your online order form might look like. You may use any tool you like to create this sample screen. Write a brief paragraph discussing the following: o Does your database design allow the storage of all the required information?

     o What changes, if any, did you make to your initial ER diagram and relational model after you created the sample input screen?