BBY 309 Database Management Systems (Fall 2004)

Yaşar Tonta (Phone: 297 82 04; e-mail: tonta@hacettepe.edu.tr)

The final report on your personal database project is due at 09:00 on Friday December 7, 2004. No late reports will be accepted without reasonable excuse which shall be certified.

You are to create a working database system. That means you must create tables, queries, reports, and forms all designed to facilitate use of the database.

 This handout describes the materials you should include in the written report you submit. All materials should be typed. I would prefer the E-R diagram to be prepared using a drawing program.

1. A written description of the database. This description should be complete enough so that a person unfamiliar with your project will be able to understand it and the database.
2. An entity relationship (E-R) diagram of the final database you have designed and implemented, not databases you dream about, nor databases you think you will implement real soon now. Your database should include at least five different tables. The purpose of an accurate representation of the database is to help me understand and evaluate it. If it does not match what you implement, it leads to confusion.
3. A data dictionary for each of the tables in your database. Use the Cookie data dictionary as an example of what I would like you to prepare. The data dictionary output from Access is only sufficient if you include field descriptions and edit it to eliminate excess information.
4. A listing of the contents of each table in your database. Use the report-writer to prepare the listings. Format the data in a way that is easy to read. Wrap long lines if necessary.

   The goal of the project is design, not data entry. It is hard to imagine you need to enter more than 20-30 rows in a table, and in many cases far fewer. The amount of data you enter should be governed by your ability to illustrate the characteristics of the database.

5. Screen dumps of the data entry screens you have developed.
6. Listings of output from other reports you have prepared from your database, aside from the ones used to print the database contents.
7. Screen dumps of QBE screens for queries you have developed.
8. Results of the queries you have run against the database.
9. An evaluation of the merits and deficiencies of the database design and how you would improve it the next time.
10. A floppy or ZIP disk containing all the files necessary to run your database and any special instructions for running the database from the disk. Also include your written report in this diskette or send it to me via email.  Label the disk with your name.

 The assignments will be graded and returned to you by the end of the semester. You can pick them up from my room then.

Yaşar Tonta

Last updated: Nov. 26, 2004