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Co-­Founded  by:

Tanner  Stuewe,  Ryan  Spetnagel,  Dylan  Hawthorne,  Evan  Hammer

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Table  of  Contents I. Company’s  Needs              3

II. Benefits              3

III. Implementation  Challenges            4

IV. Calculations            4

V. Access  Screen  Shots

a. Tables              5

b. Forms            9

c. Queries          14

d. Reports          16

e. Relationships        22

VI. Team  Member  Contributions        23

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Access  Database  Information:

Company’s  Needs: At  Hawthorne  Distribution  we  feel  it  is  necessary  to  incorporate  a  database  as  part  of  our  business  processes.  We  believe  the  addition  of  a  database  will  allow  Hawthorne  Distribution  to  maintain  efficiency  in  daily  business  operations  as  the  company  moves  towards  becoming  a  transportation  logistics  company  in  the  global  market.

Benefits: The  database  will  provide  Hawthorne  Distribution  with  several  key  benefits.  A  database  will  provide  the  company  with  intangible  benefits  such  as  improving  the  company’s  efficiency  of  business  processes,  more  accurate  data,  reduced  time  for  data  entry  and  retrieval,  and  allows  Hawthorne  Distribution  to  reach  an  increased  number  of  customers.  The  addition  of  a  database  will  also  result  in  multiple  tangible  benefits  such  as  reduction  of  paper  use,  improved  productivity  of  employees,  increased  reliability  of  data,  and,  most  notably,  reduced  costs  for  our  business.  

By  using  this  database,  Hawthorne  Distribution  will  input  detailed  customer  information,  for  both  current  and  potential  customers,  so  that  the  company  will  always  know  how  to  get  in  touch  with  customers  for  order  negotiations  or  delivery  of  products.  Also,  including  order  information  will  help  Hawthorne  Distribution  to  keep  track  of  important  details  for  current  orders,  such  as  the  pick-­up  and  delivery  dates  and  locations,  weight  of  product,  cost,  and  vehicle  assigned  to  the  delivery.  Each  order  and  vehicle  will  be  assigned  an  identification  number  so  that  they  can  be  tracked  in  both  the  “Order  Information”  as  well  as  our  “Vehicle  ID”  forms.  Having  these  identification  values  are  important  because,  through  multiple  forms,  

As  previously  mentioned,  the  plans  for  a  database  are  to  keep  track  of  customer  information,  order  information,  and  vehicle  information  for  Hawthorne  Distribution.  Essentially,  each  of  these  categories  will  help  the  business  to  better  operate  because  the  output  of  information  will  be  incredibly  useful.  With  the  “Vehicle  ID”  form,  for  example,  the  company  can  determine  what  vehicles  are  currently  in-­use  or  available  for  delivery  of  a  product  within  the  various  regions  (West,  South,  and  East)  of  operation.  This  information  is  visible  across  multiple  forms,  and  the  result  is  reduced  time  and  effort  as  well  as  fewer  mistakes  in  the  company’s  processes.  

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Implementation  Challenges: There  are,  of  course,  several  benefits  for  incorporating  a  database  into  the  business  processes.  However,  it  is  also  important  to  analyze  potential  challenges  of  implementing  this  system.    For  example,  incorporating  a  new  method  of  managing  business  actions  will  require  multiple  employees  across  all  regions  of  operation  to  be  trained  for  proper  use  of  this  database.  This  is  critical  because  the  information  system  would  be  used  across  all  stages  of  the  company  and  would  demand  knowledgeable  users  to  keep  our  company  operating  at  maximum  efficiency.  We  recognizes  there  will  be  challenges  anytime  business  processes  are  altered.  Nonetheless,  we  believe  that  incorporating  this  system  would  ultimately  provide  a  tremendous  benefit  to  Hawthorne  Distribution’s  growing  business.

Calculations: One  of  the  main  reasons  Hawthorne  Distribution  would  use  an  information  system  is  to  properly  calculate  shipping  costs  for  various  orders.  The  order  cost  for  services  provided  by  Hawthorne  Distribution  is  calculated  by  multiplying  the  weight  of  the  product  being  shipped  by  the  number  5.  Hawthorne  Distribution  charges  $300  for  an  order  requiring  truck  transportation  and  $500  for  an  order  requiring  airplane  transportation.  Finally,  an  extra  $1,000  fee  is  added  onto  the  final  order  if  there  is  an  additional  Just-­in-­Time  stipulation  that  requires  a  more  exact  arrival  time.

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A

ccess  Database  Screenshots

Tables:

Curren

t  Custom

ers

The  Current  Customers  table  is  a  listing  of  our  customers’  persona

l  information.  It  con

tains  ou

r  customers’  

company

 nam

es,  p

hysical  add

resses,  email  add

resses,  and

 pho

ne  num

bers.  It  a

lso  ha

s  a  drop

 dow

n  op

tion

 on  each  

custom

er’s  nam

e  that  allo

ws  the  da

tabases  users  to  see  th

e  past  and

 current  orders  that  th

at  com

pany

 has.  

Hyperlin

ks  are  posted  for  the  em

ails  so  that  each  custom

er  can

 be  qu

ickly  contacted.

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  Order  Inform

ation

Th

e  Order  Information  table  is  a  listing  of  past  a

nd  current  orders  that  Haw

thorne  Distribution  ha

s  on

 file.  T

he  

inform

ation  in  th

is  ta

ble  tell  us  each  order’s  Tracking

 ID,  origina

l  customer,  the  date  the  order  was  origina

lly  placed,  

whether  or  no

t  the  order  has  a  Just-­In-­Tim

e  stipulation,  th

e  pickup

 and

 drop-­off  locations  and

 dates,  the  Vehicle’s  ID  

number,  th

e  order’s  weigh

t,  the  order’s  cost,  and

 whether  or  no

t  the  order  has  been  completed  already

.  This  Ta

ble  uses  

a  look

up  wizard  to  find

 the  pickup

 add

resses  from

 the  Current  Customers  Ta

ble.  It  also  uses  num

eric  fields  fo

r  Order  

Weigh

t  and

 Tracking  ID

 Num

ber.

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Potential  Custom

ers

The  Po

tential  C

ustomers  table  is  a  listing  of  customers  who

 either  contacted  us  or  that  we  ha

ve  con

tacted  abo

ut  doing

 bu

siness,  but  we  do

n't  h

ave  an

y  orders  or  contracts  with  them

 yet.  T

his  table  contains  our  potentia

l  customers’  

company

 nam

es,  p

hysical  add

resses,  email  add

resses,  and

 pho

ne  num

bers.  H

yperlin

ks  are  posted  for  the  em

ails  so  

that  each  custom

er  can

 be  qu

ickly  contacted.

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Vehicle  ID

Th

e  Vehicle  ID  ta

ble  is  a  listing  of  all  of  th

e  vehicles  th

at  Haw

thorne  Distribution  ha

s  available  to  th

em.  T

his  table  lists  

out  e

ach  vehicle's  ID

 num

ber,  whether  th

at  vehicle  is  a  truck  or  airplan

e,  how

 old  th

at  vehicle  is,  the  next  inspection  

date  on  that  vehicle,  the  region  that  th

at  vehicle  works  in

,  and

 whether  or  no

t  the  vehicle  is  available  to  deliver  

something

.

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Forms:

Curren

t  an

d  Potential  Custom

ers

The  Current  and

 Potential  Customers  Fo

rm  is  a  re-­form

atted  listing

 of  all  of  th

e  po

ssible  customers  that  Haw

thorne  

Distribution  ha

s  an

d  could  ha

ve  with  all  of  their  in

form

ation  in  one  easy  to  read  area.  T

his  form

 is  a  com

bina

tion

 of  

the  Current  Customers  Fo

rm  and

 the  Po

tential  C

ustomers  Fo

rm.  T

his  is  con

sidered  a  “M

ulti-­Table,  M

ulti-­Record”  

Form

.

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Curren

t  Custom

ers

The  Current  Customers  Fo

rm  is  a  re-­form

atted  listing

 of  a

ll  of  th

e  current  customers  that  Haw

thorne  Distribution  ha

s  with  all  of  their  in

form

ation  in  one  easy  to  read  area.

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Order  Inform

ation

Th

e  Order  Information  Fo

rm  is  a  re-­form

atted  listing

 of  a

ll  of  th

e  orders,  old  and

 new

,  tha

t  Haw

thorne  Distribution  

has  in  one  easy  to  read  area.

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Potential  Custom

ers

The  Po

tential  C

ustomers  Fo

rm  is  a  re-­form

atted  listing

 of  all  of  th

e  po

tential  customers  that  Haw

thorne  Distribution  is  

talking  to  with  all  of  their  in

form

ation  in  one  easy  to  read  area.

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Vehicle  ID

Th

e  Vehicle  ID  Form  is  a  re-­form

atted  listing

 of  all  of  th

e  vehicles  th

at  Haw

thorne  Distribution  ha

s  available  for  

use  in  tran

sporting

 goo

ds.

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Queries: Ongoing  Orders  for  “Apple” This  query  is  a  collection  of  data  from  the  Orders  Table  and  the  Customers  Table.  It  shows  all  ongoing  orders  that  the  customer  “Apple”  has  at  the  time  that  the  person  runs  the  query.  At  the  time  that  the  query  was  run  in  this  screen  shot,  Apple  only  had  one  on-­going  order.  This  is  a  “Multiple  Criteria”  Query.

Order  Costs This  query  is  a  collection  of  data  from  the  Orders  Table  and  the  Vehicle  ID  Table.  It  shows  all  of  the  factors  that  go  into  the  cost  to  the  customer  for  each  order  and  then  then  it  calculates  the  actual  cost  to  the  customer.  The  final  column  is  “Order  Cost”  which  is  calculated  through  multiplying  the  Order  Weight  by  5,  and  then  adding  $300  for  truck  transportation  and  $500  for  airplane  transportation.  Finally,  $1000  is  added  if  the  order  has  a  Just-­In-­Time  stipulation.  This  is  both  a  “Calculated  Field”  and  an  “Aggregate”  Query.

Overweight  Orders This  query  is  a  collection  of  data  from  the  Orders  Table  and  the  Vehicle  ID  Table.  It  shows  all  orders  that  are  over  the  weight  limit  of  500  lbs.  so  that  Hawthorne  Distribution  know  to  take  extra  care  with  these  orders  as  they  are  considered  “overweight”  orders.  This  is  an  “If  and  Only  If”  Query.

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Trucks  In  Use  in  the  South: This  query  is  a  collection  of  data  from  the  Vehicle  ID  Table  and  the  Orders  Table.  It  shows  the  information  about  all  of  the  trucks  that  Hawthorne  Distribution  has  that  are  being  used  in  the  Southern  Service  Region.  This  is  a  “Multiple  Criteria”  Query.

Vehicles  By  Service  Region This  query  is  a  collection  of  data  straight  from  the  Vehicle  ID  Table.  The  only  difference  between  the  Vehicle  ID  Table  and  the  Vehicles  By  Service  Region  query  is  the  ability  for  the  query  to  section  off  a  specific  service  region’s  vehicles  for  separate  analysis.  This  is  a  “Parameter”  Query.

Average  Costs This  query  is  a  collection  of  data  from  the  Order  Table  and  Order  Costs  Query.  This  Query’s  purpose  is  to  show  the  average  cost  of  an  order  for  a  customer  of  Hawthorne  Distribution.

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Reports: Available  Vehicles The  Available  Vehicles  Report  tells  its  readers  which  vehicles  are  available  by  grouping  the  company’s  Vehicle  by  vehicle  availability  and  placing  the  ones  that  can  be  used  at  the  top,  and  then  sorting  every  vehicle  by  its  service  region.  The  report  has  totals  based  on  its  grouping  at  the  end  of  each  subsection  and  at  the  entire  report.

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Company  Vehicles The  Company  Vehicles  Report  shows  its  readers  how  many  of  each  type  of  vehicle  (Truck  or  Airplane)  the  company  owns,  grouped  by  the  vehicle  type  and  sorted  by  the  service  region.  The  report  has  totals  based  on  its  grouping  at  the  end  of  each  subsection  and  at  the  entire  report.  It  also  totals  the  unavailable  vehicles  at  the  subsections  and  end.

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Current  Customers The  Current  Customers  Report  shows  its  readers  a  formal  and  simplified  version  of  the  Current  Customers  Table,  titled  Customer  Information.  It  isn’t  grouped  or  sorted  at  all  because  there  is  no  need  to  group  or  sort  a  random  group  of  customers.

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Order  Information The  Order  Information  Report  shows  its  readers  all  of  the  orders  that  Hawthorne  Distribution  has  either  completed  or  is  about  to  complete.  It  is  grouped  by  the  Just-­In-­Time  stipulation  and  sorted  by  the  Order  Date.  The  report  has  totals  based  on  its  grouping  at  the  end  of  each  subsection  and  at  the  entire  report.  It  also  totals  the  Order  Costs  at  the  subsections  and  end.

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Potential  Customers The  Potential  Customers  Report  shows  its  readers  a  formal  and  simplified  version  of  the  Potential  Customers  Table.  It  isn’t  grouped  or  sorted  at  all  because  there  is  no  need  to  group  or  sort  a  random  group  of  customers.

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Relationships: This  is  the  relationship  web  for  Hawthorne  Distribution.  Here  is  where  all  of  our  tables  connect  to  one  another.  Each  line  is  a  branch  connecting  one  table  or  query  to  another  table  or  query.  Sometimes  the  effects  of  these  relationships  are  minor  and  go  almost  unnoticed,  but  sometimes  a  single  line  relationship  can  deliver  a  very  important  function.  A  lot  of  these  relationships  are  created  so  that  the  tables  are  connected  in  the  way  that  there  is  a  dropdown  menu  on  the  primary  key  that  allows  the  user  to  see  how  these  tables  are  directly  related.  For  instance,  on  the  Vehicles  table,  if  you  were  to  click  on  the  drop  down  menu  of  a  vehicle  that's  in  use,  it  would  show  the  order  that  the  vehicle  is  currently  delivering  and  all  of  that  order’s  information.  This  information  is  pulled  from  the  Orders  Table,  yet  the  Orders  Table  doesn’t  even  need  to  be  opened.  Another  useful  function  of  these  relationships  is  that  in  some  cases,  information  is  pulled  from  one  table  and  is  directly  inputted  into  another  table.  This  is  the  case  with  the  pickup  locations  on  the  Orders  Table.  When  trying  to  update  the  pickup  location  on  a  record  of  the  Orders  Table,  the  possible  options  that  the  database  will  give  you  are  part  of  a  dropdown  menu  that  consist  of    Physical  Addresses  from  the  Current  Customers  Table.  This  makes  finding  these  Addresses  extremely  easy  and  as  painless  as  possible.

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Team  Member  Contributions

Tanner  Stuewe: Tanner  built  the  vast  majority  of  the  database  because  he  is  our  company’s  Access  “Expert.”  Tanner  helped  to  build  the  web  of  complex  relationships  that  exist  within  our  company’s  processes  as  well  as  created  the  calculations  for  determining  order  costs.  Tanner  also  wrote  the  scenarios  for  each  individual  table,  query,  and  form. _______________________ Ryan  Spetnagel: Ryan  was  also  a  primary  contributor  to  the  database.  He  helped  to  build  the  database  for  Hawthorne  Distributions  by  making  important  contributions  to  tables  and  detailing  information  they  should  include.  Ryan  also  wrote  the  “Company’s  Needs”,  “Benefits”,  “Implementation  Challenges”,  and  “Calculations”  sections  of  the  database  written  report. _______________________ Evan  Hammer: Evan’s  primary  contribution  to  the  database  was  in  the  formatting  of  the  written  report.  Evan  also  helped  with  significant  idea  contribution  for  various  tables  to  be  included  in  the  database.  Evan’s  time  was  more  focused  on  other  aspects  of  the  company,  most  notably  the  Global  Written  Plan  and  creating  some  key  final  deliverables. _______________________ Dylan  Hawthorne: Dylan  also  helped  significantly  with  formatting  of  the  written  report  as  well  as  idea  contributions  during  the  initial  planning  stages  of  our  database.  Dylan’s  contributions  to  the  project  were  more  focused  on  the  Global  Written  Plan  as  well  as  creating  some  of  our  key  final  deliverables. _______________________