English literature Essay 2

Administrative Information

Part 1: Data Migration and Loading (aka Extraction, Transformation, and Loading)

This problem is worth 40% of the assignment.

An important element of the migration of data from an old system and loading it onto a new system is the all-important intermediate process of transformation. That’s why this is also known as Extraction, Transformation, and Loading, or ETL processes.

When data is transformed, it must be mapped from the old system to the new. Mapping answers the question, given data field X in the old system, what is its corresponding field Y in the new system? But before we even perform the mapping, we have to ensure that, as a minimum, data in the old system is in Third Normal Form (3NF). Otherwise, we will be introducing possible redundancies into the new system.

This problem requires you to take a set of data that is in 1NF, and transform it into 3NF. You will be given the initial table layout with sample data in an Excel spreadsheet. You may recreate the data in 3NF in the Excel spreadsheet, or on the following blank page using the Insert Table function. You do not have to provide 2NF version of the database, just provide the 3NF version, which must include all applicable tables, and, given the data provided to you, the data in the tables. So, when this entire assignment has been completed, if you choose to complete this problem in the Excel workbook, you will be submitting TWO files – this Word document, and the Excel document.

The problem itself deals with patients in a doctor’s office. Before you reduce it from 1NF all the way to 3NF, you will need to know the following dependencies, which are listed below:

In addition, you will need to know that:

· Each patient is a member of a household

· Each patient has been to the doctor for at least one “service”

Spring 2019, HW4

4

Dependencies given to you (see listing below for column [field] name meanings):

P-Nbr HH-Nbr, HHName, Street, City, State, Zip, Balance, P-Name

HH-Nbr HH-Name, Street, City, State, Zip, Balance

SvcCode Description, Fee

P-Nbr, SvcCode Date

Initial Patient Table column heading explanations used in the Excel version is below. Use the SAME column headings in your work, and the SAME data provided to you in the Excel version in your work.

· HH-Nbr = Household Number

· HH-Name = Household’s Last Name

· Street, City, State, Zip, and Balance are self-explanatory

· P-Nbr = the patient number for the member of the household who is a patient

· P-Name = the patient’s FIRST Name. For our purposes, all of the patients in a household share the same last name, i.e. the HHName

· Age is self-explanatory

· SvcCode = Service Code, the code for the medical service performed

· Desc = Description. Fee, and date of service are all self-explanatory

In your final 3NF design, the headings for all primary keys (single or, perhaps, combination) should be italicized. In addition, all of the fields in the original table must be used in all of your answer tables.

Part 2: Verification of Systems

With their expansion, Gus’ Eagle Pizzeria (from HW3) has also updated their payroll software, this as an in-house development project. Users and IT staff members have completed comprehensive training sessions. The system has been operational for about four weeks, and no major problems have occurred. You are responsible for the post-implementation verification of the system.

P2.1. After four weeks, you will perform verification by sending a questionnaire to all users and mangers affected by the system. Given that this is a payroll system, give at least four items in the system that you should verify in your questionnaire. NOTE: these are NOT “tests”. They are items in the system that should be tested, perhaps including conditions. This question is worth 15% of the assignment.

P2.2. Coastal Empire Pottery makes handmade pottery of various types and décor in Savannah, where their company has their headquarters. Since Savannah has one of the busiest ports in the United States, they sell their pottery not just in Savannah, but throughout the world. They also have locations in Charleston and Jacksonville, which are also port cities. While they have a respectable market share in the pottery market, sales have somewhat flattened out. Some managers believe that IT issues are the problem. Each task is worth 15% of the assignment.

Background

Last year, Coastal Empire Pottery rushed to implement a new Web-based system to boost sales. Unfortunately, the online system was not tested thoroughly and experienced start-up problems. For example, customers complained about order mix-ups and overcharges for deliveries. You are a new system analyst, and your supervisor asked you to investigate the problems.

Tasks

1. Based on what you know about e-commerce, how would you have tested a new Web-based system? Given the types of tests listed in our lecture, provide no more than four tests.

2. Should ISO standards have been considered? Explain your answer. If you believe that ISO standards should be considered, you need to give the ISO standard or standards that should be considered.

3. What should Coastal Empire Pottery do in the future to avoid similar problems when developing new systems? You need to offer specific recommendations.

EXTRA CREDIT – WORTH 8 POINTS

Your organization is updating the current Accounts Payable System. You are going to perform stub testing on several different components of AP.

Your Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is the sponsor of this project. She does not understand the difference between Unit Testing and Stub Testing. To her, they both sound the same. For three extra points, describe the difference.

Your manager has tasked you with creating the test script for the AP System, in particular, what is deemed to be the central component of AP (you are responsible for looking this up – it was presented to the class quite some time ago). Create a viable test script for this component. It is worth five extra points.