DATA MODEL ASSIGNMENT

Information Literacy Reminders:

These assignments are open-ended by design and are meant to simulate the type of instructions you would get in a work environment. The goal is to get you comfortable working with datasets and interpreting information. In addition, these activities build the “critical thinking muscle” by requiring you to consider the information resource more critically than you may have previously done. When you are performing your analysis in any given assignment, remember to place context all data and link it to the relevant course concepts. Your conclusions in any given assignment should be supported by your observations/analysis and demonstrate your comprehensive understanding of the topic(s). These assignments are submitted via D2L.

Instructions:

Data modeling is a procedure for discovering the structure of the data involved in a business domain, and it’s an indispensable first step in designing useful and effective databases. You will design a data model from the business case given. Your work on the data modeling assignment will be assessed based on how well your data model explains the relationships within the business case, and how well you explain your reasoning for your specific data model.

When you upload your assignment to the D2L Assignments folder, you are stating that the work is your own. All assignments will be evaluated through TurnItIn, so any metadata that is not your own will flag an Academic Integrity Review. Also, you may hand draw your data model but it must be legible and clear.

Your Deliverable:

· Create a data model that represents the given business situation. (50%)

· Be sure to include the following (where necessary): Entities, Unique Identifiers, Relationships, Foreign Keys, and Attributes.

· Show the relationships between the entities, using the standard notation we have adopted for our course.

· A write-up explaining your reasoning for each of the Entities, Unique Identifiers, Relationships, Foreign Keys, and Attributes. (50%)

· This does not need to be a long write-up. Simply have a paragraph per entity, and explain your logic on all the things contained within that entity, and how that entity interacts with any other entity(s).

· I will be evaluating the write-up on your general understanding of the data modeling terms we have discussed in this course, and how they relate to this specific business case.

Note:

· I have generally given you the business case information in bullet point form. This is a more realistic situation to interpret. I recommend reading the situation and capturing things yourself in bullet point format. Once you do that, it should be easier to build out your data model.

· The BA 325 Data Model_Database Resources document should be very helpful with steps and terminology for this topic. As a reminder, it is found in D2L -> Content -> Week 5 -> Read.

· There are a number of Data Modeling videos posted through the term. None of them are identical to this business case, but all data modeling follows similar general steps. The videos are as follows:

· Vet Clinic Data Model – Part 1 (D2L -> Content -> Week 5 -> Watch)

· Vet Clinic Data Model – Part 2 (D2L -> Content -> Week 5 -> Watch)

· W8.2 – Coffee e-Commerce Data Model (D2L -> Content -> Week 8 -> Watch)

· Data Model Example – Intro Data (D2L -> Content -> All Information Literacy Assignments -> Data Model Assignment)

· Data Model Example – Superstore Data (D2L -> Content -> All Information Literacy Assignments -> Data Model Assignment)