computational thinking for information technology

STUDENT SCENARIO:ASSECT DATABASE PROJECT

In this scenario, you will work in a team to design and create a database to keep track of medical

records for a small-town doctor’s office.

Dr. Dudley will be your virtual client for the assignment, and your instructor will be your

project manager.


ObjectivesThis course will enable you to develop logical thinking skills, including:• Asking probing questions to uncover details of a problem• Clearly defining a problem• Defining clear success criteria for the project including

measurable objectives• Seeing “the big picture”• Deconstructing the problem into its component parts• Correlating the relationships between components and

prior knowledge


Objectives (cont.)This course will enable you to develop logical thinking skills, including:• Identifying the steps required to solve a problem• Identifying available resources• Measuring and adapting the solution to optimize resource

utilization• Measuring and evaluating solutions against the success

criteria• Adjusting the design and implementation as needed


WELCOME

Project Scope


Hi, I’m Dr. Dudley. I am looking forward to having you help us organize and

manage our database.


Scope of the projectYou were hired to develop a database for our office.

We will use the database to keep track of inventory,

patients and employees as well as print reports, bills

and payroll. You will work in a team to design and

create the database. It is your job to gather

information for the database by interviewing people in

the office, gathering information from your own

personal experience and performing research.


Scope of the project (cont.)I want to be able to keep track of my employees

because I have several employees with expertise in

different areas. I also want to keep track of my five

employees’ expertise and their wages. They have

different specialties different job descriptions, so I want

to store their credentials and when they need to update

their credentials. I would like to hire employees with

expertise in more than one area. I’d also like to be able

to use the system to produce the bi-weekly payroll.

The system should also be able to keep track of our

patients’ contact information, their appointments and

send reminders for their next appointment.


Scope of the project (cont.)I also would like to use the system to determine if my

business is profitable. If the business is not

profitable, I would like to be able to see where costs

can be reduced. One example would be to reduce the

amount of inventory that sits on the shelf for over one

week.

Some insurance companies take more than 30 days

to send the reimbursement, so I also want to

understand which patients use those companies

because I may need to limit the number of patients

with those companies.


TASKS AND ASSIGNMENTS

You will be assigned specific tasks for you or your team to

complete. After you have completed each task, you will

have some debrief questions to review that confirm your

learning and understanding of the task.

Use the navigation menu to discover more details

about each individual task.


TASK 1: TEAMWORK RESEARCH

The first step is to meet with your team members to determine how you want to solve this problem.


Deliverables: 1. Review team building skills

2. Assess team’s skill set

3. List and describe five important team building skills

4. Develop a list of team members’ related skills

Action Plan:5. Meet with team members

6. Assign a project leader

7. List the database skill set and level


Debrief1. What have you learned about each

other as teammates?

2. How can you use each others’ strengths to work more effectively on the next task?

3. Do your team members have the correct skill set to design and create a database?

4. What are the strengths of your team?

5. What are the weaknesses of your team?


TASK 2: DATABASE DESIGN

The purpose of this step is to work as a team and brainstorm about

data items that will be stored in the database and how the various

data items relate to one another. Analysis is done to give meaning to

the data items by defining the more detailed attributes of the data and

define the constraints (if needed). The database design elements are

intended to describe the software in sufficient detail that skilled

programmers may develop the database with minimal additional

input.


Deliverables:

You will deliver to the client a non-technical

summary of the data items for potential

inclusion into the database and a list of

reports and forms to address the client’s

needs. All the ideas from the brainstorming

session must be logically organized in

separate lists that can be easily understood

by the client. The lists will eventually become

separate tables. A model of the how the

information is viewed by the database

system is created by the team members.


Action Plan:1. You must begin by brainstorming about

everything you currently know about the data required by the doctor’s office. Consider all creative ideas and be as exhaustive as possible and non-judgmental.(See file task_2_Database_Fields.docx)

2. Move to all items you might not know or understand about the doctor’s office that may be relevant to this task. Again, consider all ideas as valid and reserve judgment.


Action Plan:3. Begin to identify the gaps between what

you know and what you don’t know. The client asks you to be thorough. Be sure to consider what else you might have missed.

4. Take a look at the results and notice the repetition of data items or ideas. Begin to sort and group logically these data items into a few descriptive but broad categories.

5. Interview the stakeholders for data items to include in the database.


Action Plan:6. Each category may become a table in the

database.

• Note the relationship between the tables(See file Task_2_Database_Design.docx)

• List the constraints on the data entered into the table

• List the attributes for each data item(See file Task_2_Database_Attributes.docx)


Debrief1. Do you feel like you included all

necessary fields in the database design? Which fields are missing?

2. How did you determine which tables each team member would create?

3. What information about the doctor's office did you have to research?

4. What skills did you use to interview the stakeholders?


TASK 3: DATABASE DEVELOPMENT

In this task, you will physically develop the

database design. To implement the database

Access, Oracle, MySQL or another relational

database software package can be used.


Deliverables:

You will deliver to the client a non-technical

summary of the data items for potential

inclusion into the database and a list of

reports and forms to address the client’s

needs. All the ideas from the brainstorming

session must be logically organized in

separate lists that can be easily understood

by the client. The lists will eventually become

separate tables. A model of the how the

information is viewed by the database

system is created by the team members.

Divide tables between the members of the

group.


Action Plan:1. Create the database tables

Use the lists that you created in Task 2 to create the database tables using database management system (DBMS) software. The Create Table code contains the details of all the data items (CUSTOMER, SUPPLIER, EMPLOYEE etc.), their attributes (names, ages, addresses and other details), the relationship between the tables, the keys (primary and foreign) and integrity rules.

Use Task_3_Database_Development.docx as an example


Action Plan:2. Populate the tables

Use the DBMS software to populate each table with specific data (such as employee names, ages, wages etc.)

3. Create the forms

Create forms requested by the client

4. Create the reports

Create reports requested by the client


Debrief:1. What skills are needed to produce the

forms required by the client?

2. What skills are needed to produce the reports required by the client?

3. What problems did you encounter while creating the tables with the constraints?


TASK 4: TESTING AND IMPLEMENTATION

User acceptance testing is often performed.

Involving the user at this stage can prevent

inaccurate output.


Deliverables:

The database tables, reports and forms are

tested using SQL commands. Write SQL

statements to obtain information and

knowledge about the company, e.g. number

of employees and profits.


Action Plan:1. Test the database in different

environments

2. Write SQL commands to test all possible conditions:- At least 1 query must include an OR criteria

- At least 1 query must include an AND criteria

- At least 1 query must output specific records

- At least 1 query must output specific fields

- Use the Find Duplicates Query Wizard

- Use the Find Unmatched Query Wizard

- Use an Aggregate function in a query


Action Plan:2. Write SQL commands to test all

possible conditions (cont.):- Create a query to group the records based

on the contents of one of the fields

- Filter data by form to filter records in a table

- Filter data by form to filter records in a query

- Filter data by form to filter records in a form

- Filter data by form to filter records in a report


Action Plan:3. Test data integrity rules (entity and

referential integrity)

4. Enforce integrity by ensuring that, if two tables are related to each other, an attribute of one relation must be the same as the primary attribute (primary key) of the other one

5. Create reports using queries- Create a report using one of the tables

- Create a report using one of the queries

- Create a report with fields from multiple tables

- Create mailing labels


Action Plan:6. Create forms using queries

- Create a form using one of the tables

7. Test primary and foreign keys (e.g. ensure primary key is not null)


Debrief:1. Did you receive the correct output from

the queries?

2. Did you receive the correct output from the forms?

3. Did you receive the correct output from the reports?


TASK 5: FEEDBACK


Deliverables:

You will deliver the database tables, reports

and forms to the client for their feedback.


Action Plan:1. Conduct interviews, roundtable

discussions and surveys to receive feedback.

2. Involve as many stakeholders as possible

3. Incorporate feedback into the database (if appropriate)


Debrief:1. What process did you use to receive

feedback from the user?

2. How many and what type of stakeholders did you include?

3. How responsive were the stakeholders to giving feedback?

4. What changes did you make to the database to incorporate the user's suggestions?


TASK 6: PRESENTATION

Congratulations on finishing the database

development for Dr. Dudley's office! You’ll need

to make a presentation to the stakeholders and

request their comments on the finished product.


Deliverable:

You will develop a presentation using

either a live demonstration of the

database or screen shots.


Action Plan:1. Develop a presentation for the customer

2. Develop a user manual outlining the features of the database by creating reports and forms


Debrief:1. What process did you follow while creating

the user manual?

2. Do you fell that your team performed its' best work in creating and producing a high quality and professional user manual?

3. Was your presentation persuasive?

4. What would you do differently were you to prepare and give the presentation again?

5. If the client told you that some of your database forms/reports were not usable, would you be able to either defend why they are, or provide alternatives?


INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION

eMail:

Phone:

Office location:

Office hours:

Other info:


computational thinking for information technology

Documents

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database design

database developmentin

database access

assect database projectin

employees expertise

office location

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