📄 Assignment 2 Recommendations

Here’s a list of recommendations in web format to better prepare yourself for COMM226’s second assignment. For convenience, you can download the PDF file below to navigate my recommendations when offline…Hope this helps!!! Also, you can find my Assignment 1 Recommendations at the top of this page.

Downloading Software for Assignment 2

There are two recommended tools for this assignment: Lucid Chart and Microsoft Access. 

• Lucid Chart is a web-based tool recommended for Mac users but supported also for Windows. You can download the free online diagramming tool found here: https://www.lucidchart.com/.

• Microsoft Access is a software recommended for Windows users, and it is not supported by Mac OS*. You should have access to Microsoft Access by default.

Drawing an ERD

Based on the case study (Car Rental Inc.), you are prompted to identify primary and foreign keys; entities and attributes; and relationships and cardinalities.

Below, I've attempted to synthesize these concepts through a theoretical lens. You can find more information in your Wiley Manual and/or by going through your PowerPoint slides.

• Primary Keys: Every record in the database must contain at least one field that uniquely identifies that record so that it can be retrieved, updated, and sorted. This identifier field (or attribute) is called the primary key. For example, a student record in a university would use a unique student number as its primary key. Think about it! PK could be 40138935 (i.e. student ID).

• Foreign Keys: A foreign key is a field (or group of fields) in one table that matches the primary key value in a row of another table. A foreign key is used to establish and enforce a link between two tables. These related tables can be joined when they contain common columns. OK, but what does that really mean for A2? This means that only specific charts will be comprised of foreign keys! For example, "Rental Agency" may not have FKs whereas "Booking Details" may have FKs.

• Entities: Entities can typically be identified in the user's work environment. A record generally describes an entity. An instance of an entity is each row in a relational table, which is a specific, unique representation of the entity. For example, your university's student database contains an entity called STUDENT. An instance of the STUDENT entity would be a particular student. For example, you are an instance of the STUDENT entity in your university's student database. THEREFORE, entity relationships may be classified as one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many. The term connectivity describes the relationship classification. OK, but what does that really mean for A2? "Rental Agency" and "Booking Details" can be considered as ENTITIES of your ERD Diagram such that they will have ENTITY RELATIONSHIPS.

• Relationships: Designers plan and create databases through the process of entity-relationship (ER) modeling, using an entity-relationship (ER) diagram. There are many approaches to ER diagramming. Entity relationships may be classified as one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many. The term connectivity describes the relationship classification. Connectivity and cardinality are established by the business rules of a relationship.

You may want to watch the following videos to better empower yourself for COMM226’s Assignment 2…

Creating Records, Queries, and Reports

Based on the case study (Car Rental Inc.), you are prompted to generate the following using Microsoft Access or Libre Office:

• Records

• Queries

• Reports

They will be representative of your work in the previous section of A2; therefore, if you've completed your ERD diagram the right way, this step will be quick and simple as long as you follow the following videos…

Using Microsoft Access

Using Libre Office

Drawing a Flow Chart

Based on the case study (Car Rental Inc.), you are prompted to draw a flowchart that will identify the following: main actions & processes; main decisions; and actors with dedicated swim-lanes. This may seem daunting to many, however, I suggest you analyze the following documents and videos as they'll help you build an AMAZING flowchart for A2. From my experience, the flowchart is supposed to be representative of Car Rental Inc's operations. Please remember to open the following document to have an in-depth explanation of how to create flowcharts: FlowCharts under the instructions (i.e. ZIP file) for A2. Please watch this video for an alternative view of how to create flowcharts.

Creating a Data Dictionary

Based on the case study (Car Rental Inc.), you are prompted to generate a data dictionary. They will be representative of your work in the previous section of A2; therefore, I suggest you open and view the following document in order to have an in-depth foundation to create your data dictionary: datadictionaryTemplate.xls. You can find this under the instructions (i.e. ZIP file) for A2.

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