Automobile-Project

IS-201
Fundamental Database Management Systems
August, 2023

• Due Monday September 11, 2023

Goal: The goal of this project is to provide a realistic experience in the conceptual design,
logical design, Query implementation, and maintenance of a relational database. First, I shall
describe the application, then the categories of requirements, and then some suggestions on
how deeply you need to go in each category. A real project of this sort would require a
substantial development team working for several months (or more). You will do this alone
over several weeks. I have chosen to go with group projects because the goal of this project is
to have you specialize in just one aspect (and rely on others for the rest).
The project can go well beyond the minimal requirements I outline at the end. I
encourage such extensions. They could turn into a senior design project or other independent
work.
Application description: The application is an automobile company, such as General Motors,
Ford, Toyota, or Volkswagen (or maybe a company from yesteryear like Studebaker, Hudson,
Nash, or Packard).
The company needs to keep quite a bit of data, but we shall focus on the following
aspects of corporate operations.
• vehicles. Each vehicle as a vehicle identification number (VIN). Lots of stuff is encoded in
real VINs (they are well described on Wikipedia), but you can just make them up if you want.
• brands: Each company may have several brands (for example, GM has Chevrolet, Pontiac,
Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Saturn, Hummer, Saab, Daewoo, Holden, Vauxhall, and Opel and
Volkswagen has Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Skoda, and SEAT)
• models: Each brand offers several models (for example, Buick’s models are the Enclave,
LaCrosse, and Lucerne, and Mercury’s models are the Mariner, Milan, Sable, and Grand
Marquis). Each model may come in a variety of body styles (4-door, wagon, etc.)
• options: We’ll stick to color, and maybe engine and transmission.
• dealers and customers: dealers buy vehicles from the manufacturer and sell them to
customers. We’ll keep track of sales by date, brand, model, and color; and also by dealer. This
will allow us to use SQL’s OLAP tools. Note that a dealer may not sell some of the car
company’s brands. Dealer’s keep some cars in inventory. Some of course, are already sold, but
the dealer still keeps track of that fact.
• suppliers: suppliers supply certain parts for certain models
• company-owned manufacturing plants: Some plants supply certain parts for certain
models; others do final assembly of actual cars.
• customers: In reality, lots of demographic data are gathered. We’ll stick to name, address,
phone, gender, and annual income for individual buyers. The customer may also be a company
(e.g. Hertz, Avis, or other companies that maintain corporate fleets, but we’ll skip that).
• We’ll skip data on corporate finance, pending bailouts, bankruptcy status etc. Not that these
data are unimportant, but we need to keep the project within bounds.
Data Generation: For simplicity, I will not require realistic data. You can just create some
names or get real ones from the car company web site.

Client Requests:
1. E-R Model
• Construct an E-R diagram representing the conceptual design of the database.
• Be sure to identify primary keys, relationship cardinalities, etc.

2. Relational Model
• After creating an initial relational design from your E-R design, refine it based on the
principles of relational design.
• Create the relations in Mysql database you used.
• Create indices and constraints as appropriate.
• If as you refine your design, you discover flaws in the E-R design, go back and change it
(even if the earlier design passed the checkpoint.) Your final E-R design must be consistent
with your relational design.

3. Populate Relations
• Include enough data to make answers to your queries interesting and nontrivial for test
purposes.

4. Queries: You should run a number of test queries to see that you have loaded your database
in the way you intended. The queries listed below are those that your client (the manager from
the package delivery company) wants turned in. They may provide further hints about database
design, so think about them at the outset of the project.
• Show sales trends for various brands over the past 3 years, by year, month, week. Then break
these data out by gender of the buyer and then by income range.
• Suppose that it is found that transmissions made by supplier Getrag between two given dates
are defective. Find the VIN of each car containing such a transmission and the customer to
which it was sold. If your design allows, suppose the defective transmissions all come from
only one of Getrag’s plants.
• Find the top 2 brands by dollar-amount sold in the past year.
• Find the top 2 brands by unit sales in the past year.
• In what month(s) do convertibles sell best?
• Find those dealers who keep a vehicle in inventory for the longest average time.

The final version of the project is to be turned in as a book of hard copy.