Database Project

ISM3004 Database Project

This week in ISM3004 we created a Database Project.  We were given an overview of a local gym that we work for and had to create a database to store important information about the members that go to this gym.  The boss of this gym that I work for wanted a greater data management and reporting power of a DBMS.

This project caused me a lot of stress because I am one hundred percent a PC user.  Unfortunately my computer decided to stop working a couple days ago and I was forced to restart the project using my roommates Mac.  In order to start the project you must download the free 30 day trial of FileMaker Pro 11 database software.  After following step by step to download this program I then had to download the "members.csv" file from the course website.  This file contained all the data necessary to create the database project.

Step #1 was to create the Data Table.  Step #2 was to change the form.  The membership data was in the default tabular format and we were told to change it to a custom form that would make it more user-friendly.  In step #3 I created a "Find".  This allows you to automatically select only the records that meet the specified set of criteria, for example the Individual MemberType for this specific project.  The last and final step was step #4 where I created The Report.  The Report consisted of the reasons why certain gym members left and I had to create a convincing way to get the to return.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3685054.htm

Copyright © 2010 FileMaker, Inc. All rights reserved 

Enhancements

The main enhancement for this database project would be to expand on whether or not the customers stay or leave and why they choose to stay with the gym, no longer go to the gym, or switch to a different gym. Something else would be to show how much time a member stayed with the gym, from the time they signed up to the time they left.  I would also look into those who left after a small amount of time and those who left after a long amount of time and compare it to the reason why they left.  This would increase customer satisfaction because we would no when and why each customer left and what their future plan is, whether they plan to continue going to the gym, choose another gym or no longer be a member of any gym.

Tutorial Blog 3: Information System Devlopment

System Development

System is a set of components that interact to achieve a common goal.  An information system is a collection of hardware, software, data, people and procedures that work together to produce quality information.  An information system supports daily, short and long term activities.  System development is a set of activities used to build an information system.

System Development life cycle

The System Development Life Cycle consists of planning, analysis, design, implementation and operation, support and security.  Planning is to review and prioritize project requests as well as to form teams.  Conducting investigation and perform detailed analysis of activities is part of analysis.  Design requires you to acquire hardware and software and to also develop details of the system.  Implementation is clearly an important part of the life cycle and is when you develop the programs, install and test the program, train the users to use the program and convert to the new system.  There are different ways to converting to the new system such as diving right into it or doing it gradually and piece by piece.  Monitoring system performance and assessing system security is part of the last part of the system development life cycle.  

There are many different participants involved in system development.  A system analyst is responsible for designing and developing an information system.  The steering committee is the decision making body and vendors install and maintain the operating system software as well as deal with technical support.  Application and system programmers convert the system design into the appropriate programming language.  The organizations website and web application are created and maintained by the webmaster and web developers.  The organization's resources are controlled by the database administrators and the network administrators install and maintain the network.

Project management is the process of planning, scheduling and controlling activities during system development.  They create a goal which is to deliver an acceptable system to the user in an agreed time frame while maintaining costs.

Feasibility Assessment measures how suitable the development of a system will be to the organization.  There are many different types of feasibility assessments including: operation, schedule, technical and economic.  Operational feasibility measures how well the proposed information system will work.  Schedule feasibility measures whether the established deadlines for the project are reasonable.  Determining whether the organization has or can obtain the hardware, software and people need to deliver them is technical feasibility and economic feasibility, also called cost/benefit is whether the lifetime benefits of the proposed information system will be greater that its lifetime costs. 

Created by Shannon DuQuesnay, Copyright 2011

Presentations Project Web 2.0

This week in ISM3004 we had to finish the assignment we started a couple weeks ago.  I chose coming up with an entrepreneurial idea and then presented it using author stream.  My idea was taking a fast food restaurant such as McDonalds and turning it into a healthier version of fast food while keeping a similar taste.  For the most part, people can't taste the difference between whole wheat and white, fat or low far, sodium or reduced sodium, so why eat all this unhealthy food and clog your arteries when u could eat the same food thats alittle healthier?

About Skinny Joint:

The burgers would have whole wheat bread and we would serve veggie and lean burgers.  Fried chicken would be fried in whole grain flour using very little oil and grease.  Cheese and milk would be fat free and salads would be made with fat free dressing.  Fries are one of the most popular foods from fast food places.  Sweet potato fries taste even better and have more nutritional value and instead of being fried in oil they would be baked. Sandwiches would be made with turkey sausage and bacon and we would use egg whites instead of whole eggs.

All of this food would have the same delicious taste of fast food without the unnecessary fat and calories.  People who love fast food but also care about their health will love "Skinny Joint".  Your fingers won't be covered in grease after taking a bite out of your burger however you will still have that satisfying feeling in your mouth and stomach after finishing it and be able to eat more throughout the day without going over your daily amount of calories and fat.  Multiple items on the menu of McDonalds are more than the amount of something allowed each day.  

Here is my presentation on a restaurant I created called "Skinny Joint"

Presentation!

What I Learned:

I tried to make talking about nutrition as exciting as possible by incorporating a very humorous movie which clearly emphasizes the importance of  eating healthy.  I didn't want to go on with to many nutrition facts so I chose the ones I believe are important and gave examples of two of McDonalds worst items on their menu and related it to how much fat you're supposed to consume in one day and how much is in one McDonalds meal.  I also tried to interest everyone within the first few seconds by posing an idea that most people dream of.

Tutorial blog 2: Excel

Excel was introduced during week 5.  There are so many different things you can do within excel ranging from very easy to difficult.

We learned about the structure, data basics, creating formulas, and functions during the Excel lessons.

If you have a specific question about something on excel you can either use the excel help button in your excel document or click on the following link: Excel Help

Structure:

Columns are rows are labeled with numbers and letters.  Rows are number from 1 to 1,048,576 and columns are labeled with letter from A to XFD.

We were taught that to re-name a worksheet you must double-click on the "sheet" on the left bottom corner of the sheet you wish to re-name

Data Basics:

To record information as text data in a cell you click "single quote" or put an apostrophe before any information.  Excel stores data by using a serial number.  Excel can determine how many days have passed since January 1st, 1900.  A very large number that could take a while to come up with by hand is solved in seconds on my excel.

Adding rows and columns is easy on excel.  You right click on the cell that you want to add the new row to and click "insert row" and all the old data will move down a row.  Adding a column is the exact same concept except you have to right click on the cell that you wish to move to the right.

This is a brief video explaining how excel works and tricks to saving time by using excel instead of doing each mathematical equation one by one.  It explains great excel is with mathematics and how quickly it can adjust.  This video is from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmSp2-Fa4rg and was created by Excellsfun

Formulas:

To begin a formula you must start with an equal sign (=)

The symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are +, -,  *, and / respectively.

PEMDAS is used to help remember Parentheses, exponetiation, multiplication, division, addition and subtraction

 This is the screen that will come up when you choose to insert a function.  It will explain step by step what to do and what cells to choose to create your function.  This is a picture of the screen on my computer when I was following the steps on how to create a function.

Functions:

The IF function works like a conditional statement.  It checks to see if a function is true and if it is true it returns one value.  If it is false it returns another value.  The syntax for an IF function is: IF(logical_test, [value_if_true], [value_if_false])

so if a student earns an S or U in the class based on their grades the function would be =IF(Total points > 120, if true they receive "S", if false and they don't earn 120 points, they will receive a "U".

Excel Project

           This week in ISM3004 we had an Excel Project due.  We were supposed to help an owner research the effectiveness of a particular workout by analyzing heart rates.   I just completed the project and learned many new things and tricks about excel.  It started off very basic.  Changing the title of the worksheet and changing the font were the first few steps of the project.  As the steps went on it got a little more difficult.  We had to "freeze" the first two rows which makes it a lot easier to analyze the data and see what each number is for without scrolling all the way up to see the column labels. "Freezing" is when the rows you select continue to stay on top of the page so when you scroll down you dont get confused with what each number is representing.

                      http://premiercoachingonline.com/2010/03/heart-rate-training/

            Next we found the Target and Maximum heart rate.  The Maximum Heart rate is found by subtracting the age from 220 and using the same formula for all of the cells in that column.  The Target heart rate was alittle more difficult to find.  We had to make a formula so the target heart rate was 80 percent of he maximum heart rate.

  Next we determined if each person had achieved their target heart rate by looking at their highest heart rate and seeing if it was greater than or less than the target heart rate.  We also determined how many males and females who achieved or did not achieve their target heart rate.   

Attached is a "screen capture" of the "AvgIncrease" Pivot Table I derived from my project.

Finally we determined by how much their highest heart rate increased compared to the orginaly heart rate taken at time zero

Completing this excel project is a fantastic way to get used to and understand the basics as well as some of the more complex projects you can create within excel

Tutorial blog 1: application software

What is Application Software?

It consists of programs that meet the direct needs of people.  It helps make people more prdocutive to complete personal as well as business related tasks.
There are different types of applications such as horizontal and vertical:
Horizontal Applications is a software program that is used across different industries for different uses by different people.  It can be used for:

• word processing
• web browsing
• math (statistics)
• music software

Vertical applications is a software programs that is designed to meet the specific needs of one vertical business market. such as a: 

• Doctor practice management  
• CRM- customer relations management
• Field service
• Point - of - sale

You can click here to see more information about vertical and horizontal software and how they are used in everyday life.

There are many different types of software, some include the following:

• System software serves as the interface between the application software and the computer's hardware and the user.
• Business software assists people in becoming more effective in their business activites, making their time more productive and efficient.
• Spreadsheet software allows users to organize data in rows and columns and even perform calculations
• Database software allows users to create, acces and manage a database

There is also something called software suits, they are a collection of software programs that share common features and are used for greater interoperability

Afew examples include: Microsoft office, adobe creative suite, and a rational test suite

Software suites have many benefits including reduced training and support costs, easier development, reduced cost, better quality, shared interface and even simpler management!

The opposite of a software suite is a standalone application, unlike software suites, a standalone application runs on its own and is not integrated into a suite with other applications.  Some examples include Mozilla firefox and iTunes, applications that most people use multiple times a week, if not everyday

Analyzing Software 

The decision Making Process includes needs analysis, identity software, software features, value proposition, and increased  productivity.

When referring to needs analysis there are a few questions you should ask yourself:

1. what is the business need you need the software for?
2. how is this software going to benefit you? Will it be personally? or will it enhance your business?
3. What features do you need this software to be able to perform? what would you want it to be able to perform?

When dealing with Identifying software options you should first research potential software candidates and then list:  features, hardware and software requirements, compatibility options, training, help options, expandability/adaptability, ongoing development and support 

Next list the software features.

Then you should evaluate the value proposition, the application should reduce cost, and increase efficiency and productivity, you should evaluate the support and maintenance as well as the software requirements
Increasing productivity simply means there is more time for other things, they have the opportunity to expand and come up with better strategic decisions.

How is software licensed? 

Software licensing is another very important lesson

There are many different types of software licensing such as EULA, commercial licenses,and open source licenses

What does EULA stand for?

EULA is the End User License Agreement, it is a contract that defines how the software can be used. 

It defines legal and illegal uses of the software.  Fortunately you are not required to agree with these uses however if you don't you cannot use the software.  There is usually a box where you say whether or not you agree wtih the EULA stated above. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/eula/home.mspx 

Or here is an example you can thoroughly read through.

There are different types of Commercial licenses.

1. Per seat license is for businesses who need to license many copies of common business programs, they are usually sold in bundles at a discounted price
2. Site license is for large businesses and runs on an application server wtih users connecting over the network.  It is usually expensive.
3. Per CPU license is usually expensive as well and is when users connect to the application server over the network.  It can require a specially trained IT staff because it is very complex
4. A trial license is one that is downlaoded from the internet and you can usually try it for free however it only supports limited features
5. A developer license is another trial license but you usually have to register it with the vendor to download software.  It only supports a limited amount of features for a limited period of time
6. Freeware is a completely free but copyrighted software.  It is available to be downloaded online but you still have EULA with restrictions
7. Shareware is a copyrighted software distributed at not cost for a trial period

An Open Source licenses gives access to application source codes, users can modify this code and it is supported through donations


Youre probably thinking, how do people enforce software licenses?
Luckily it is simple!
The software won't function until it is registered! And when the time is approaching for you to register, the software usually nags you to register and there is always a threat of legal action if you fail to comply


Software Lifecycle
Ever wonder what those numbers after a software program such as Java 6.2.25 mean? There is a certain way that people can keep track of software version numbers, there is a system!

1. The first number represents the major version
2. The second number is for the minor version
3. The third number is the revision number
4. The fourth number is the build number

There are also different ways of updating software

• patch creates a new revision number and is used to correct minor updates
• An update is a revision to a new minor version and usually includes new features or bug fixes
• An upgrade is a new major version or major update to a minor version.  It usually results in major new features and functionality