acess lab

BMW Bikeworks is the manufacturer of parts for BMW motorcycles. BMW Bikeworks recently purchased a small competitor. You are the project manager responsible for integrating the systems of these two companies. In this exercise, you will explore some of the data compatibility issues of merging the sales order data.

Upon completing this lab, you will be able to do the following:

1. Analyze the implications of data interfaces between new and existing systems.
2. Discuss procedures for handling data compatibility issues.
3. Consider the issues involved in porting data from old systems to new systems and the importance of timing.

Necessary Material(s):

1. MS Excel Spreadsheet*
2. MS Access DBMS*, MS Access tutorial: MS Access Tutorials
3. Two Access files downloaded from Doc Sharing

Note: All materials marked with * are already installed in your lab environment.

1. Excel file with imported data
2. Word file with discussion of data handling issues
3. Access Database with the newly merged data

Grading Rubric

1. Download the order1.accdb and order2.accdb files from Doc Sharing.
2. Open the orderRecords tables in each database, and familiarize yourself with the data.

1. Using MS Excel, import the orderRecords data from the order1.accdb database. Import all of the rows and columns from this table. Rename the sheet to "orders1".
2. Using MS Excel, import the orderRecords data from the order2.accdb database. Import all of the rows and columns from this table. Rename the sheet to "orders2".
3. Save the file as "lab5.xlsx".

There are several data compatibility issues that may arise when BMW Bikeworks is merging the data from these two sources. Assume that ORDER1 is the BMW Bikeworks database and the ORDER2 data needs to be properly merged with ORDER1.

1. In MS Word, prepare a document that lists all of the data issues that you foresee concerning this project. Some of the issues are obvious; others take more analysis. List any and all of the issues you can determine.
2. Based on the list that you created above, address each of the issues and give your suggestions for resolving them.
3. Save the file as "lab5.docx".

• Manually apply the changes that you suggested in Step C, creating a new sheet in your Excel workbook (lab5.xlsx).
• Import the merged data you have created into the order1.accdb database as a new table called orderInfo.

Submit the following files to this week's Dropbox.

• Lab5.xlsx
• Lab5.docx
• Order1.accdb (with new orderInfo table)

• I've had some questions about this week's iLab.  Here are my thoughts about the data issues. There are at least 6 data issues to find.

  1. Concerning OrderID's ... there are 2 issues with these.  (Be specific about HOW they are different – there are actually 2 issues with the OrderID’s)
  2. Concerning ProductID's ... there are 2 issues with these.  (similar situation with the productID’s …  List the issues for each file separately. )
  3. Concerning SalespersonID .... (SalespersonID would need to be in this table.  For normalization reasons, it might also be utilized in a separate table.)
  4. Concerning  Orderdates ... (There is 1 issue with these).
  5. Concerning OrderQty ... (This is not an issue)
  Data will be coming from different locations. (This is definitely an issue).