The ABC Company has three ABC Car Service Repair Centers that provide vehicle service and repair for the entire state.

The ABC Company has three ABC Car Service & Repair Centers that provide vehicle service and repair for the entire state.  Each center is independently managed and operated by a shop manager, a receptionist, and at least eight mechanics.  Each center also maintains a fully stocked parts inventory and maintains a manual file system in which each car’s maintenance history is kept: repairs made, parts used, costs, service dates, owner, and so on. Files are also kept to track inventory, purchasing, billing, employees’ hours, and payroll.

You have been contacted by the manager of one of the centers to design and implement a computerized system. Given the preceding information, complete the following three exercises.  Place the answers to each exercise in a single Word or PDF document and submit it through Blackboard.  Be sure to put your name, section, and date at the top of the document before submitting it.

Exercise A

Indicate the most appropriate sequence of activities by labeling each of the following steps in the correct order. (For example, if you think that “Load the database.” is the appropriate first step, label it “1.”)

____    Normalize the conceptual model.____    Obtain a general description of company operations.____    Load the database.____    Create a description of each system process.____    Test the system.____    Draw a data flow diagram and system flowcharts.____    Create a conceptual model, using ER diagrams.____    Create the application programs.____    Interview the mechanics.____    Create the file (table) structures.____    Interview the shop manager.

Exercise B

A good designer uses a specific and ordered set of steps through which the database design problem is approached. The steps are generally based on three phases: analysis, design, and implementation. Write down the three phases and, underneath each phase, list the activities that belong in that phase. Use the order of activities you chose in the previous exercise.

Exercise C

The Information System development team decides to build a system composed of four main modules: Inventory, Payroll, Work Order, and Customer as shown in the figure below.

See attached image.

The Inventory module will include the Parts and Purchasing sub-modules. The Payroll Module will handle all employee and payroll information. The Work order module keeps track of the car maintenance history and all work orders for maintenance done on a car. The Customer module keeps track of the billing of the work orders to the customers and of the payments received from those customers.  For each module, develop an ERD that consists of entities appropriate for that module and the relationships between them.  Show all entities, attributes with PK and FK fields indicated, and relationships between entities using the Crow's Foot notation.Exercise D

Analyze each module's relationships with other modules. Couple the modules together into a single ERD.