You are the database administrator/developer for Patrick’s Widgets, a company dedicated to providing quality widgets to clients worldwide. Your company currently uses an antiquated pencil-and-paper ordering system and you’re plagued by inventory and order tracking issues. Your management has approached you with the task of computerizing the ordering system.
Patrick’s Widgets handles a relatively small number of orders, all of which are taken over the telephone by a single sales representative who then shares that information with the appropriate departments in hard copy form. The operational departments that process orders are not computerized and must receive paper reports.
Due to the low demand for electronic access to data and the small amount of data being processed, you’ve determined that a desktop database is the most appropriate solution for Patrick’s Widgets and have selected Microsoft Access as the platform of choice. You’ve determined that the following business requirements exist within the organization:
- The Sales Department should be able to enter, modify and delete orders from the system.
- The Manufacturing Department should be able to receive a paper report listing inventory shortfalls.
- The Accounting Department should be able to run a daily query listing any orders that shipped during the previous business day for billing purposes.
- The Shipping Department should be able to receive a list of orders that need to be shipped and the Sales Department should update those orders with a tracking number once they are shipped.
Join us in two weeks as we begin organizing the Patrick’s Widgets data in a form suitable for use with a relational database!
