Dr. Elliot Sloane's MIS 2030 Database Management Class

Per the Syllabus, in this course, each student will complete all the Tutorials/Projects in this self-study book. It is clear and relatively easy to follow. If you already have an excellent command of Access 2003 and simple VisualBasic programming, please contact me for an alternate assignment in place of Access 2003. You will need virtually every skill that this book covers in order to successfully complete your Database Project, and this book is the quickest and surest way to obtain those skills without wasting precious time.

I will not be grading or returning these projects to you after you turn them in, as they are self-describing and virtually foolproof if you follow the directions exactly as described and illustrated. If you have any problem, please contact me for assistance right away. When you turn in the completed Tutorials from this book, I will count them towards your participation and homework grades. If you do NOT complete them, I can almost guarantee that you will NOT have the skills needed to complete the Term Project unless you happen to already have excellent Access and programming skills.

Pratt Textbook homework, and Deliverables for the Access 2003 Tutorials.

In addition to any printouts specified in each Tutorial itself, additional items will be listed below for each Tutorial.

Tutorial 1 Deliverables A) The printed page specified on page AC 23, and B) Email me a copy of the COMPACTED database at my Gmail account, ebsloane@gmail.com after you complete the tasks in Figure 1-19. Due ASAP.

Homework and reading plans for the classes of September 15 (ALL overdue materials from last week, plus the following.)

Part 1: Tutorial 2 Deliverables, due by the beginning of class, Monday, September 15. A) Print the complete POSITION datasheet shown in Figure 2-35 AFTER you have made all of the changes covered in the Tutorial. If you have already completed the project and closed the Position Table, you should be able to simply open it again and print the datasheet. YOU DO NOT NEED TO SEND ME THE DATABASE FILE THIS TIME. I will give you extra credit if you turn in the "Review Assignment" tasks on AC 72-74 and email the completed database to my Gmail account, ebsloane@gmail.com (please note on the printouts and the email that it is the Extra Credit work!!
Part 2: Tutorial 2, Case Studies, due by the beginning of class. Complete one of the four case studies at the end of Tutorial 2, and turn in the specified printout(s). A

Part 3: Pratt Textbook Homework at the end of Chapter 2 due by the beginning of class, Monday, September 15: Page 66, tasks 20, 22, 24, 26, and 28 at the top of the page (i.e., only the EVEN Relational Algebra tasks from the Review Questions that began on Page 65.) In addition, please complete the EVEN Premiere Products Relational Algebra questions (2, 4, 6, and 8) on the top of Page 67. IMPORTANT: You should follow the format of the ODD problem solutions to the Review Questions shown in Appendix D to help you with the Review questions, and you should follow the style of the solutions illustrated in Figures 24, 25, and 26 on Pages 61-62 when writing out the Premiere Products solutions.

Homework and reading plans for the classes during the week of September 22

Part 1. Reading for September 22: Chapter 3 of the Pratt book, and the corresponding PowerPoint slides. We'll begin that material on Monday.
Part 2. Tutorial 3 Deliverables, due by the beginning of class, Monday, September 22. A) Print the relationships shown in Figure 3-10; B) Print the sorted and filtered Query shown in Figure 3-18; C) Print the results of the HoursOrExperience query shown in Figure 3-31; D) Print the aggregated functions grouped by Position Title as shown in Figure 3-40.   Once again, YOU DO NOT NEED TO SEND ME THE DATABASE FILE THIS TIME.
Part 3. Tutorial 3, Case Studies, also due by the beginning of class, Monday, September 22. Select one of the four Case Studies at the end of Tutorial 1, and do all of the steps described in Tutorials 1, 2, and 3.. If you wish to work with another student as a team, that is fine (no more than 1 person per team, though.) Each individual/team must prepare a very brief, 4-5 minute PowerPoint presentation describing the business case you choose AND your solutions for Tutorial 3's tasks, and must email the PowerPoint presentation to me at ebsloane@gmail.com prior to the beginning of class. Students/teams who are not selected to present this week will present their case during a later week.

Homework and reading plans for the classes of September 29

Part 1: Tutorial 4 Deliverables, due by the beginning of class. NOTE: careful attention to spelling, clear screen and form layout, and ensuring that all relevant data is NOT cut off by incorrect field sizes in the Forms and Reports is essential for professional results.   A) Print the Form shown in Figure 4-18; B) Print the Form for Position ID 2089, as described at the top of AC139. C) Print Page 1 of the completed Report, as described on Page AC160; . Extra Credit: Complete the Review Assignments for Tutorial 4, starting on AC 161. Deliverables for Tutorial 4 include the printouts specified in the textbook, plus those identified above, AND send me the completed database file for the Tutorial or the Review Assignment using my ebsloane@gmail.com account
Part 2: Tutorial 4 Case Studies, by individual/team, is due by the beginning of class, Thursday, February 21. Continue your case study from the end of Tutorial 3, and turn in the specified printout(s).

Homework and reading plans for Wednesday, October 1 (INSTEAD OF October 6! revised, per my email of 9/29, no class on Monday, 9/30 to give you time for this assignment!!)

Part 1: Each student must download the two files described in the "Demonstration Term Project" section below. Passwords for each file were sent to you on September 13, 2008. Each student must also download and read the two files in the Important Final Project information section of my web site, and must understand the information covered in that section and the files.   You must print out the files file, carefully read and annotate them with questions, and you must bring them class with you for discussion and note-taking about the Platinum Limousine Term Project. I expect each student to have open and run the actual database project, and to understand and be able to describe and ask questions about the Tables, Forms, and Reports that it contains. I will be calling on each of you to explain the features of the project during this class. The class will begin with a short quiz about the Platinum Limousine project and the Final Project Information, so you should make certain that you have read and reviewed those documents and carefully examined and understood the database itself prior to coming to class.

Homework for week of October 6

For October 6, please come to class prepared to discuss the specific Term Project case you want to tackle. I'd like you to be prepared to explain why you chose that case, and why you preferred it over other options.
Tutorial 5 Deliverables, due by the beginning of class, Wednesday, October 8. IMPORTANT: Read and follow the instructions shown on the page facing AC171, as you must use a different set of data files for Tutorials 5-8! Deliverables A) Print the Query results shown in Figure 5-24; B) Print the Crosstab Query subset shown in Figure 5-33; C) Print the Top 25% Query recordset shown in Figure 5-39.   Once again, YOU DO NOT NEED TO SEND ME THE DATABASE FILE THIS TIME. Extra credit: Complete a DIFFERENT one of the four Case Studies at the end of Tutorial 5 than you did in the prior Extra Credits, and turn in the specified printout(s). If you have not been doing the Extra Credits, now is a great time to start, as you will need these skills for the Term Project. As always, please pay careful attention to neatness, layout, spelling, accuracy, etc.
Complete reading of Pratt, Chapter 6, and the supplemental Slide set for Chapter 6 above.

FALL BREAK, October 13-17
Assignments for week of October 20 and October 27:

EXAM on October 20 is expected to be online, so you will not need to come to Bartley Hall. No class on October 22 so that you can complete the following two tutorials by the following Monday.
GET STARTED on building your Term Project database NOW! You have major milestones to meet on this project in just a couple of weeks!
MUST READ Pratt textbook Chapter 5 and 7 this week, and I will provide a narrated lecture on Entity Relationship Diagrams for you as well.

Assignments for week of October 27:

Pratt lectures in class will cover Chapter 5.
Tutorial 6 Deliverables and Tutorial 7 Deliverables are BOTH due by the beginning of class, Monday, October 27. A) Printout specified in Item 10, just below Figure 6-7. B) The completed Form, with calculations, shown in Figure 6-40. C) The first Filtered Form, per Figure 6-47. Please complete the Review Assignments described on Page 276-278, and turn in the specified printouts.   Also, PLEASE SEND ME THE COMPLETED DATABASE FILE THIS TIME. Extra credit: Complete any of the four case studies at the end of Tutorial 6, and turn in the specified printout(s).

Tutorial 7 This Tutorial is a particularly valuable one. It begins to show the powerful report generation tools imbedded in Access 2003. Most larger relational databases, like Oracle or DB2, require purchasing one or more expensive software packages (like Crystal Reports) to generate such nicely laid-out reports. To be sure, the report-writer is only designed to handle moderate-sized tasks; still, many companies find this feature of Access enough to warrant its use as a desktop supplement for departmental reporting. As stated above, deliverables are due by the beginning of class, Monday, October 27. A) Printout of Figure 7-55, page 1 of the report only, please. This Figure shows how a report can include a subreport for each section. B) Printout of the single report page containing Figure 7-56, showing Seaview, and Access's can-grow and can-shrink properties. C) Printout of the single page containing Figure 7-58, the summary subreport at the end of the whole report. This is a very valuable enhancement to many reports, allowing quick review by management. Extra credit: Complete any of the four case studies at the end of Tutorial 7, and turn in the specified printout(s).
TERM PROJECT MILESTONE: This week is where you have to really, absolutely, stop procrastinating! You should get started this week building your tables, correctly crafting each and every field, inserting the indexes as necessary, and creating the relationships precisely for all tables (HINT: From the start, use the Table Wizard to build all tables, indicating the correct LOOKUP tables. When given the choice of storing the text or the code, always choose the text!) This is the week that if you have ANY uncertainty about any field, table, or relationship is has to be resolved.

Assignments for week of November 3 No class meetings this week:

MAJOR TERM PROJECT WORK WEEK: This is where "the rubber hits the road," and you will find out how much you learned, and, perhaps, a few things you have already forgotten, from the first half of the semester. For your presentation next week, you will have to have ALL Tables fully and properly constructed, and Forms must be available for the maintenance of all tables. (HINT: From the start, use the Table Wizard to build all tables, indicating the correct JOIN tables, and use the Form Wizard, too.)

Assignments for week of November 10:

No class meeting today; by midnight, November 10 you MUST email your working Term Project database to me at ebsloane@gmail.com. To meet this milestone, you must AT LEAST provide fully and correctly implemented Tables, fields, indices, Relationships, and Forms for entry of ALL data. There must be sample data in all of the tables. NOTE: THIS IS A CRITICAL MILESTONE. Late or incomplete work at this stage will result in loss of 5 points, or a half-grade, from your term project.

We WILL resume our in-class meetings on Wednesday, November 12. Also, tutorial 8 is due by by email on November 12. This Tutorial illustrates another unique aspect of Access, its integration into Microsoft's SUITE of Office programs and web-based HTML tools. Unlike many other software packages, Access is designed to readily integrate features, functions, and data from Office software and from the Web. It turns out that this, too, distinguishes Access from many other more expensive software packages, warranting its inclusion in corporate toolkits. Deliverables, due by the beginning of class, Wednesday, November 12. A) Printout of Figure 8-10. B) Printout of Figure 8-19. C) Printout of Figure 8-20. D) Printout of Figure 8-33. E) Printout of Figure 8-43. F) Spreadsheet shown in Figure 8-52. G) Query with Hyperlinked fields, shown in Figure 8-57.

Assignments for week of November 17 (You have to be able to demonstrate appropriate reports with the working underlying queries today):

On November 17, you must email your working Term Project database to me before the beginning of class at ebsloane@gmail.com so that you can do an in-class presentation of your rudimentary system to the class today. In addition to the fully and correctly implemented Tables, fields, indices, Relationships, and Forms for entry of ALL data. You must be able to demonstrate at least six (6) high-quality, multi-table reports to the class, including two with Year-to-date information, two with Quarter-to-date, and two Month-to-date. Good examples of sorting, grouping, subtotals, and report totals must be visible, and ALL codes must show the matching text (and vice-versa). NOTE: THIS IS A CRITICAL MILESTONE. Late or incomplete work at this stage will result in loss of 5 points, or a half-grade, from your term project.
Tutorial 9 is due on November 19 before the beginning of class. IMPORTANT: Read and follow the instructions shown on the page facing AC443, as you must use a different set of data files for Tutorials 9-12! Deliverables, due by the beginning of class, Wednesday, November 19.   A) Printout of Figure 9-13, which is the culmination of several Update and Delete Queries, including a database table modification. Completed relationships diagram, as shown in Figure 9-21. (NOTE: This is a CRITICAL skill you will need to build your Term Project databases!) C) Printout of Figure 9-34. NOTE: Self-joins are VERY powerful and important to master. There are lots of situations -- including supervising employees and sub-assemblies or finished goods that include one or more parts from the same inventory tables -- that MUST use self-joins. 19.   Extra credit: Complete any of the four case studies at the end of Tutorial 9, and turn in the specified printout(s).

Assignments for week of November 24:

Tutorial 10 Deliverables, due by the beginning of class, Monday, November 24.   Complete all of Tutorial 10 through the end of AC544 where the Review Assignments end. Print out only items specified in the text, but email the completed database to me at my Gmail account: ebsloane@gmail.com.

Assignments for week of December 1:

No in-class meeting to allow you to prepare for an in-class demonstration of your entire working database system on Monday, December 8.
Tutorial 11 deliverables are due by December 1, however. Complete all of Tutorial 11 through the end of AC591 (NOT including the Review Assignments). Print out only items specified in the text, but email the completed database to me at my Gmail account: ebsloane@gmail.com.   NOTE: Take your time and observe all punctuation, like commas, semi-colons, apostrophes, spaces, upper and lower case characters very, very carefully. This Tutorial is not really difficult, BUT it demands absolute precision. If you get stuck, go back and carefully examine each keystroke for possible errors, like typing the number 1 instead of a lower case L, or the upper case letter O instead of the number 0.

Assignments for week of December 8, the last week of class:

You will be presenting your Term Project to the class on December 8, with all features and functions completed. NOTE: THIS IS A CRITICAL MILESTONE. Late or incomplete work at this stage will result in loss of 5 points, or a half-grade, from your term project.
Tutorial 12 Deliverables, due by the beginning of class on December 8. Complete all of Tutorial 12 through the end of AC632 (NOT including the Review Assignments). Print out only items specified in the text, and then email the completed database to me at my Gmail account.
The complete, documented term project, with ALL features and functions from Tutorials 11 and 12 fully implemented, must be turned in no later than midnight, December 11.

All: Unless you have turned in the Access 2003 Tutorials homework each week, it is unlikely that I will be able to provide much useful help for your Database Project at the end of the semester. As you will find in this book, Access is quite simple, but it takes practice to learn the details.

Forewarned should be forearmed: There is no way to cram the learning of Access into the last weeks of the semester!

TERM PROJECT SECTION

Demonstration Term Project

The following database is from a prior year's team effort. It represents an excellent example of what our students can do with the materials we have covered this semester. Please right-click this link and download a copy to your PC prior to use. The file opens with the password "Final" which will be the same password you will add to your project before you turn it in. (Special kudos go to Richard Bean, Lesley Maffetone, and Jennifer Spataro for this fine project. Many other students have turned in excellent projects, too. One of the reasons that I selected this project was because the excellent use of Forms, and also for the professional reports they created. See, for example, View Forms, Purchasing, and Create a Purchase Order. Note the use of tabs to organize sub-forms. Also note the Create Vehicle button that links directly to another form.)

NOTE: Virtually ALL of the following documents are PASSWORD protected. You must use the passwords provided to you by Dr. Sloane to open these files!

Use this link to download the Initial Design Documentation for the Demo Access database project - right click to download to your PC.

Use this link to download the Demo Limousine Rental Access Database Project - right click and download to your PC.

Important Final Project information documents that you must read carefully:

FINAL TERM PROJECT FORMAT SPECIFICATIONS AND DETAILS

Fast Path to Successful Term Project Database Development (Follow these steps and save time and effort!)

Recommended Report Formats (Important Pointers to getting better grades on the Term Project!)

Here is the final Term Project Assessment form I will use, so you know what I will be looking for when I grade your project at the end of the course.

These projects are perfectly suitable solo projects, and no more than two students are allowed to work together as a team. Consider any proposed Term Project partner very, very carefully, because if you elect the 2-person team option, each member will receive the same grade, even if one member does all the work. If you will work as a 2-person team, you must email me the two names for your team by the end of the week after the Semester Break. Any person that decides to split apart from her/his team later must submit an email notice to Dr. Sloane and the other team member no later than 2 weeks before the end of the semester or you will be required to complete your project as a team.

ACTUAL TERM PROJECT CHOICES FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL/TEAM

The following database design cases are available for you to consider using for your Term Project. You should download two or three of these for consideration. You may well find FORMS, REPORTS, or QUERY features from two or more projects that you would like to include in your own project, BUT, you probably should not tackle anything that will require you to change the DBDL table designs for the single project that you plan to implement.