Prepare and submit your requirements definition document and entity relationship diagram (ERD) as two separate attachments to your project part 2 assignment folder. Your requirements definition document must be submitted as a DOC/DOCX file and your ERD must be submitted using ER Assistant as an ERD file (or other supported diagramming format; see Project Learning Demonstration). Within your requirements definition document and ERD, the following minimum requirements must be met:
Requirements Definition Document Minimum Requirements:
1. Business Rules (30 points)
Provide a minimum of five business rules that will provide the framework upon which your ERD will be designed and built. While there is a minimum number of rules, the expectation is that you will have rules documenting all relevant aspects of your database project. To achieve maximum credit for this section, your business rules should be comprehensive addressing your entire model. Refer to the Project Learning Demonstration eTutorials reference to identify what your business rules must look like. Provide a minimum of five business rules that will provide the framework upon which your ERD will be designed and built. While there is a minimum number of rules
2. Entity and Attribute Description (30 points)
For each entity, describe the entity itself as well as each of the attributes of the entity. You must also identify the primary key and any foreign keys. See the Project Learning Demonstration for examples of the entity and attribute descriptions. Note: if you are creating domain-specific attributes that are not common knowledge, you must provide a correspondingly more in-depth description of the entity or attribute.
3. Relationship and Cardinality Description (30 points)
For each relationship, describe the relationship itself and also describe the relationship cardinality/minimum cardinality using the description format in the Project Learning Demonstration. To meet this requirement, you need only to describe the relationship that connects two entities one time.
4. Assumptions and Special Considerations (10 points)
This section should contain detailed descriptions of assumptions you are making about the project and any special considerations such as deviations from the lab project requirements. For example, if one of your entities is a join table and cannot meet the five-attribute minimum you would document this consideration here. As for assumptions, these are used for you to clarify the underlying reality that defines the thing you are modeling in your project. There are times when modeling something from the real-world requires compromises to be made in consideration of specific, one-off scenarios. If you encounter a scenario like this, then add an assumption that occurrences of that scenario will be treated in a particular way to fit your database model.
Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) Minimum Requirements:
1. Five Entities Minimum, Six Entities Maximum (15 points)
The purpose of the five-entity minimum, six-entity maximum is to establish a relatively small baseline for you to keep the scope of your database project constrained. While the minimum entity requirement is fixed, the six-entity maximum can be exceeded so long as it is properly justified and documented within your requirements definition documentation.
2. Five Attributes Minimum (15 points)
Each of your entities must have a minimum of five natural attributes which include the primary key. Foreign keys will not count towards the five-attribute minimum requirement. Any entity which has less than five attributes must have this documented in your requirements definition documentation.
3. Proper Relationships with Crow’s Feet Notation (25 points)
Each entity must be properly related to another using Crow’s Feet notation. Ensure that you properly denote the minimum cardinality and place the correct side of the relationship on the appropriate entity. There must be no many-to-many relationships; if these exist in your design they should be resolved before submitting project part 2.
4. Unique Primary Key (10 points)
Each entity must have a unique primary key properly designated in your diagram that can be a natural, surrogate, or composite key.
5. Foreign Keys in Proper Locations (10 points)
All foreign keys should be placed on the appropriate side of the relationship according to your requirements definition documentation. Caveat: If using ER Assistant, be aware that foreign keys are derived implicitly from the relationship itself meaning that adding the foreign keys as actual attributes will result in diagram errors. Consider the use of an attribute and key naming convention such as attributename_FK to designate your foreign key attributes.
6. ERD Matches Requirements Definition (20 points)
Your diagram must accurately and completely translate the rules/requirements you previously outlined in the requirements definition document.
7. Proper Labels and Comments (5 points)
All relationships must be properly labeled with the verb or activity that they represent. From the Project Learning Demonstration, the EMPLOYEE to ORGANIZATION relationship would be labeled with ‘works’. Any other assumptions or special considerations should be placed on your ERD as comments.
Project Part 2 Deliverables
1. Requirements Definition document in Word or PDF: LastName_FirstName_businessrules.[doc|pdf]
2. ERD in diagram specific format (i.e. .ERD) or Word/GIF/JPEG/PNG/PDF: LastName_FirstName_ERD.[erd|vsd|pdf|doc|docx|gif|jpeg|png]
Your requirements definition document and ERD are each weighted at 50% of the project part 2 total grade which is worth 5% of your overall course grade. In total, your final lab project is worth 20% of your overall course grade. The lab project is cumulative meaning that you will submit the requirements definition document and ERD again during project part 4 with all errors corrected, content expanded, and formatting updated as required.
See Project Learning Demonstration posted under Course Content/Hands-on Resources for step-by-step instructions.
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