Data Modeling and Analysis (continued) 

This week you are building on the previous week’s activity. Please  make sure to review the Milestone 4, Part I Solution (located in Doc  Sharing) before continuing with the Milestone 4, Part II activity. The  synopsis below is the same as the synopsis for Week 4. It is shown below  for your convenience. 

The requirements analysis phase answers the question, “What does the  user need and want from a new system?” The requirements analysis phase  is critical to the success of any new information system! In this  milestone we need to identify what information systems requirements need  to be defined from the system users’ perspectives and draw graphical,  logical models to document the data requirements for a new and improved  system. 

Data modeling is a technique for organizing and documenting a  system’s data. Data modeling is sometimes called database modeling  because a data model is usually implemented as a database. Data is  viewed as a resource to be shared by as many processes as possible. As a  result, data must be organized in a way that is flexible and adaptable  to unanticipated business requirements – and that is the purpose of data  modeling. 

In this milestone, you will first discover those entities in the  system that are or might be described by data. Then you will define each  entity you identify in respect to the business in an Entity Definition  Matrix. Then you will do the data model tutorial in doc sharing that  will prepare you for doing the Fully-Attributed data model (Physical  ERD) for EBS. 

Objectives 

After completing this milestone, you should be able to: 

• Understand and perform the techniques for entity discovery. 

• Define each entity with respect to the business and complete an entity definition 

matrix. 

• Perform the necessary data modeling techniques to organize and document the 

data requirements for the proposed system. 

• Construct the Fully Attributed data model. 

Prerequisites 

Before starting this milestone, the following topics should be covered: 

• Data modeling – Chapters 8 and 14. 

• Milestone 1-3 Solution – provided by your instructor 

• Milestone 4, Part I Solution – provided by your instructor

Assignment 

Now that we have studied the current system and analyzed some of its  problems and opportunities, plus gained approval to proceed, we can now  start to identify the business data requirements and graphically model  them. In this assignment, we will use our results of the previous  milestones, samples of forms we have collected, and the preliminary data  analysis. The results of this activity will identify the business data  requirements for the proposed system. 

Activities 

1. Create a Physical ERD      (Fully-Attributed data model) for the EBS case. 

Deliverable format and software to be used are according to your  instructor’s specifications. Deliverables should be neatly packaged in a  binder, separated with a tab divider labeled “Milestone 4-Part II”.

References 

• Preliminary data analysis (see Milestone 4, Part I Description) 

• Exhibit 4.5 (see below)