8 - Soln Database

Download as doc, pdf, or txt
Download as doc, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 4

Tutorial 9

Question 1:

The relational data model represents data as being stored in tables. Spreadsheets are another tool that
accountants use to employ a tabular representation of data. What are some similarities and differences in the
way these tools use tables? How might an accountant’s familiarity with the tabular representation of
spreadsheets facilitate or hinder learning how to use a relational DBMS?

Answer:
Ability
1) A major difference between spreadsheets and databases is that spreadsheets are designed primarily to
handle numeric data, whereas databases can handle both text, numbers, and how the different tables are
linked.
2) Consequently, the query and sorting capabilities of spreadsheets are much more limited than what can
be accomplished with a DBMS that has a good query language.

User and design issues


3) Accountants’ familiarity with spreadsheets might hinder their ability to design and use relational DBMS
because many links in spreadsheets are preprogrammed and designed in, whereas a well-designed relational
database is designed to facilitate ad-hoc queries. Accountants’ familiarity with spreadsheets sometimes leads
them to use a spreadsheet for a task that a database could handle much better.

Question 2:

Why is it so important to have good data?

Answer:
1) Data is used for compliance (recording, producing, verifying and reporting, e.g. financial statements, tax
lodgments, & audit).
2) Data is also used for decision making to understand the business, environment and competition (financial
statements for external users and management reports for internal users {Management accounting and
Finance})

Question 3:

a) Narrate this ER diagram:

Answer:
Each cash record MAY or MAY NOT be linked any receive payment records, but can be linked to MANY
receive payment records. Each receive payment record MUST be linked to only ONE cash record.

b) Narrate this ER diagram:

Answer:
Each inventory record MAY or MAY NOT be linked to any customer order records, but can be linked to at least
ONE customer order records. Each customer order records MUST be linked to at LEAST one inventory
record.
Question 4:

Joe’s is a small ice-cream shop located near the local university’s baseball field. Joe’s serves walk-in
customers only. The shop carries 26 flavours of ice cream. Customers can buy cones, sundaes, or shakes.
When a customer pays for an individual purchase, a sales transaction usually includes just one item. When a
customer pays for a family or group purchase, however, a single sales transaction includes many different
items. All sales must be paid for at the time the ice cream is served. Joe’s maintains several banking accounts
but deposits all sales receipts into its main checking account.

Note to tutor: pick 1 student to narrate each numbered relationship. For example, Student A narrate
relationship labelled (1), Student B narrate relationship labelled (2), and so on.

(1) (left to right) An inventory record may or may not be linked with any sales record, but (when inventory
record is linked to sales record) can be linked with more than one sales record. (right to left) A sales record
must be linked to at least one inventory record.
(2) (left to right) A sales record must be assigned to one and only one customer record. (right to left) A
customer record may or may not be assigned to any sales record, but can assigned to many sales records.
(3)  (top to bottom) A sales record must be linked to one and only one receive cash record. (bottom to top) A
receive cash record must be linked to one and only one sales record.
(4)  (left to right) A cash record may or may not be linked to any receive cash record, but can be linked to
many receive cash records. (right to left) A receive cash record must be linked to one and only one cash
record.
Question 5:

Subang Fan-tastic Sdn Bhd is the largest table fan manufacturer and exporter globally (Figure 1).

Left image source:


https://my.element14.com/pro-elec/pel01916/desk-fan-152-4mm-x-290mm-15w-240vac/dp/3287433?
gclid=CjwKCAjwy7CKBhBMEiwA0Eb7amskHkAgwvZS34XRePiNhMzeeJYdrpfA-
D0NheJrNk7MC0OvPD4TIBoCzjsQAvD_BwE&mckv=_dc|pcrid|544367741203|pkw||pmt||slid||product|
3287433|pgrid|129448578680|ptaid|pla-57456869290|&CMP=KNC-GMY-GEN-SMART-SHOPPING-
PRIVATE-LABEL
Right image source:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffanyv88.com%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fwww.senheng.com.my%2Fpensonic-16-table-fan-
pen-
pf41a.html&psig=AOvVaw3g4Nm937a69yj8Aoula1A6&ust=1632531070435000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved
=2ahUKEwjWwMmlspbzAhVg3nMBHRnvCe4Qr4kDegUIARCXAg

Subang Fan-tastic is trying to implement a new and comprehensive enterprise accounting software that the
company purchased. You are the accountant for the company and are required to work with the internal IT
development team to help them determine the inputs and outputs needed for the accounting software.
Currently, the inventory system is the focus of the implementation.

a) Recommend five (5) data elements (item identification(ID) or item description) that should be included in
the new accounting software to describe the inventory item. Your recommendations should be other than
the ones described in this question.

Any 5 below:
• Cost
• Inventory on hand
• Inventory available for sale
• Vendor
• Delivery time
• Safety stock
• Lead times
• Average order size

b) For each of the data items you described in a) above, explain how your recommended data elements
would help the business.

The reasons could be to provide better information about inventory levels to help the business minimise
inventory investments or help in generating reports for decision-making. Note to tutor: students need to
link reasons to the data items. There are many reasonable answers that students need to link.

c) A comprehensive enterprise software typically requires a database. Explain why?

A comprehensive enterprise software (ERP) integrates and automates many different functions (such as
accounting, purchasing, customer relationship management, and supply chain operations) of the
organization. The purpose of ERP is to aid the decision-makers in planning, budgeting, predicting, and
accurately assessing an organization’s processes and finances. Many of the info supplied by ERP is real-
time to enable relevant and swift responses to be made.

The key to this objective is to have a centralized database. Every organization function will input, update
and retrieve data from this centralized database. Note to student and tutor: please refer to the slides of the
benefits of a centralized database for more points. Due to just having one centralized system, then,
enforcing just one standard for data quality and format standards is easier. If the organization has different
data formats, converting that data format to another format will take time. With just a standardized data
quality and format, the ERP could easily retrieve and share data across different organization functions to
produce real-time reports.
d) What is business analytics? How is business analytics connected to database?

“Business analytics refers to the use of methodologies such as data mining, predictive analytics, and
statistical analysis to analyze and transform data into useful information, identify and anticipate trends and
outcomes, and ultimately make smarter data-driven business decisions.”
- https://www.omnisci.com/technical-glossary/business-analytics

To analyze and predict data, a business analyst requires good quality data. The analytical techniques
(regardless of how good they are) cannot overcome data that are irrelevant, non-timely, incomplete, and
inaccurate. A database helps maintain quality and standards to ensure that data is usable and decision-
makers can act upon it. Note to students: this is linked to Question 2 above on data quality.

e) How does business analytics help make AIS more effective?

Business analytics (BA) is used to describe the organization's context, diagnose the problem, and predict
and prescribe actions for the organization to overcome its problems. One of the essential roles of AIS is to
supply info and reports to decision-makers. Thus, BA makes AIS more effective by supplying the required
info and, in addition, further analyses for decision-makers.

You might also like