Systems design for dual pizza parlor point-of-sale inventory management

¶ … E-R diagram, answer the following questions:

* a. How many EMPLOYEES can work on a project?

It is not limited.

What is the degree of the Used_on relationship?

Binary, the relationship is two degrees.

* c. Do any associative entities appear in this diagram? If so, name them.

Yes, Task is an associative entity.

* d. How else could the attribute Skill be modeled?

It could be modeled with Task, another blue square could be attached to Task

* e. What attributes might be attached to the Works on relationship?

The different positions of the project; it could include the jobs and requirements.

* f. Could TOOL be modeled as an associative entity? Why or why not?

No, different tools could be used on different tasks. Some jobs might require different combinations of tools to complete the task.

16. The owner of two pizza parlors located in adjacent towns wants to computerize and integrate sales transactions and inventory management within and between both stores. The point-of-sale component must be easy to use and flexible enough to accommodate a variety of pricing strategies and coupons. The inventory management, which will be linked to the point-of-sale component, must also be easy to use and fast. The systems at each store need to be linked so that sales and inventory levels can be determined instantly for each store and for both stores combined. The owner can allocate $40,000 for hardware and $20,000 for software and must have the new system operational in three months. Training must be short and easy. Briefly describe three alternative systems for this situation and explain how each would meet the requirements and constraints. Are the requirements and constraints realistic? Why or why not?

Option 1

The first option would be the low cost method. This option would most likely be significantly under the price limit. Furthermore, this option would also be completed well before the three-month limit and the training time would also be short. However, the performance and capabilities would not be as comprehensive and the system would not be able to upload in real time.

Option 3

The final option is the high cost method. This option would allow the company to get all the features in the system that they were looking for. This system would have real time data as well as an easy to use interface. Since the system is easier to use, training would be faster and would be done in the fast period they are looking for. However, the cost of the system and the implementation time would both be higher than the initial budget called for. The original project constraints were most likely unrealistic given the time frame and budget. Building a system that can update in real time is generally a more expensive and more complicated than This is hard to do with the difficult features he wants like real-time updates.

17. Compare the alternative systems from Problem and Exercise 16 using the weighted approach demonstrated in Figure 7-19. Which system would you recommend? Why? Was the approach taken in this and Problem and Exercise 16 useful even for this relatively small system? Why or why not?

Most likely the best system for the project would be options B. Or C. But this is dependent on how firm they are with time and price requirements. If the company could wait a little longer and expand their budget, then they could go with the system that would be meet there requirements. Option B. is something of a compromise in which time or money would be the limiting factors. Option C. does not really cover any of the desired objectives in regards to the system capabilities and should not be considered.