Proposed Design of an Inventory Database System at Process ...

Proposed Design of an Inventory Database System at

Process Research ORTECH

System Design

Prepared by

Andrew Ramadeen

Manojav Sridhar

Kunendran Deivendran

Junaid Yousuf

Monday, April 16, 2001

Introduction......................................................................................... 5

Identifying the Problem....................................................................... 5

Requirements ..................................................................................... 6

Functional Requirements ..................................................................................6

Nonfunctional Requirements .............................................................................7

Design Phase ..................................................................................... 8

1.

Global System Architecture........................................................................8

Hardware................................................................................................................................. 8

Networking .............................................................................................................................. 9

Software Platform ................................................................................................................... 9

Hardware............................................................................................................................... 10

Network ¨C LAN...................................................................................................................... 10

Software ¨C MS Windows and MS Applications..................................................................... 10

2.

Diagrammatic Modeling............................................................................11

State Diagrams ..................................................................................................................... 12

Activity Diagrams .................................................................................................................. 13

E-R Diagram ......................................................................................................................... 14

3.

Software Architecture...............................................................................16

Three-Tier Design ................................................................................................................. 16

Repository-Based Design ..................................................................................................... 16

4.

5.

Database Design......................................................................................17

User Interface Design ..............................................................................20

Conclusions ...................................................................................... 22

Appendix 1 ....................................................................................... 24

Brainstorming Session 1 ¨C March 27th 2001....................................................24

Appendix 2 ....................................................................................... 25

Explanation of Appendices ¨C March 27th 2001 ................................................25

Appendix 3 ....................................................................................... 26

Organizational Chart ¨C March 27th 2001..........................................................26

Appendix 4 ....................................................................................... 27

PRO Inventory System Flow Chart ¨C March 27th 2001....................................27

Appendix 5 ....................................................................................... 29

Functional Requirements ¨C March 27th 2001...................................................29

I.

II.

III.

IV.

Details of data storage ................................................................................................. 31

Details of output ........................................................................................................... 31

Details of input.............................................................................................................. 32

Details of Information Processing ............................................................................ 32

Appendix 6 ....................................................................................... 33

Non-functional Requirements ¨C March 27th 2001 ............................................33

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Software Requirements................................................................................................ 34

Hardware Requirements .............................................................................................. 34

Security Requirements................................................................................................. 34

Reliability/Survivability Requirements .......................................................................... 34

Interface Requirements................................................................................................ 35

Lifecycle Requirements................................................................................................ 35

Economic Requirements .............................................................................................. 35

Appendix 7 ....................................................................................... 36

2

Brainstorming Session 2 ¨C March 29th 2001....................................................36

Appendix 8 ....................................................................................... 37

Information Gathering Summary ¨C March 30th 2001........................................37

Appendix 9 ....................................................................................... 38

Current Computing Capabilities ¨C March 30th 2001.........................................38

1.

2.

3.

4.

Server Computer - (Glass box) .................................................................................... 38

Client Computer(s) - (Glass box) ................................................................................. 38

Networking Components.............................................................................................. 39

Software Licenses ........................................................................................................ 39

Appendix 10 ..................................................................................... 41

Hardware Considerations ¨C April 1st 2001 .......................................................41

Appendix 11 ..................................................................................... 43

Network Considerations ¨C April 1st 2001 .........................................................43

Appendix 12 ..................................................................................... 44

Software Platform Considerations ¨C April 1st 2001 ..........................................44

Appendix 13 ..................................................................................... 45

Global System Architecture Conclusions ¨C April 3rd 2001 ...............................45

Hardware............................................................................................................................... 45

Network ¨C LAN...................................................................................................................... 45

Software ¨C MS Windows and MS Applications..................................................................... 45

Appendix 14 ..................................................................................... 46

Explanation of Diagrams ¨C April 5th 2001 ........................................................46

Appendix 15 ..................................................................................... 47

Class Diagram for Inventory System ¨C April 5th 2001 ......................................47

Class Staff Member .............................................................................................................. 47

Class Office Staff .................................................................................................................. 47

Class Technical Staff ............................................................................................................ 47

Class Upper Management .................................................................................................... 48

Class Reports ....................................................................................................................... 48

Class Order Table................................................................................................................. 48

Class Order........................................................................................................................... 48

Class Inventory ..................................................................................................................... 48

Class Inventory Item ............................................................................................................. 49

Class Project......................................................................................................................... 49

Appendix 16 ..................................................................................... 51

Inventory Item State Diagram ¨C April 7th 2001.................................................51

Appendix 17 ..................................................................................... 52

Office Staff Activity Diagram ¨C April 7th 2001...................................................52

Appendix 18 ..................................................................................... 53

Order Table State Diagram ¨C April 7th 2001 ....................................................53

Appendix 19 ..................................................................................... 55

Project State Diagram ¨C April 7th 2001 ............................................................55

Appendix 20 ..................................................................................... 56

Technical Staff Activity Diagram ¨C April 7th 2001.............................................56

Appendix 21 ..................................................................................... 57

ER Diagram ¨C April 8th 2001............................................................................57

Data Dictionary................................................................................................59

3

Attributes............................................................................................................59

Business Rules................................................................................................60

Constraints............................................................................................................................ 60

Derivations ............................................................................................................................ 60

Appendix 22 ..................................................................................... 61

Software Architecture ¨C April 10th 2001 ...........................................................61

Architecture Selection ........................................................................................................... 61

Repository-Based Design ..................................................................................................... 62

Appendix 23 ..................................................................................... 64

Software Design: Systems and Subsystems ¨C April 10th 2001 ........................64

Main System ......................................................................................................................... 64

Subsystems .......................................................................................................................... 64

Modules................................................................................................................................. 65

Appendix 24 ..................................................................................... 66

Database Architecture ¨C April 11th 2001..........................................................66

Appendix 25 ..................................................................................... 67

Database Design Analysis ¨C April 11th 2001 ...................................................67

Table of Operations .............................................................................................................. 68

Table of Accesses, with Redundancy................................................................................... 68

Appendix 26 ..................................................................................... 73

Schema Translation and the Relational Model ¨C April 13th 2001 .....................73

Appendix 27 ..................................................................................... 74

Appendix 27 ..................................................................................... 75

User Interface Design ¨C April 13th 2001...........................................................75

Appendix 28 ..................................................................................... 78

Screen Designs ¨C April 11th 2001 ....................................................................78

Searching .............................................................................................................................. 78

Project Administration ........................................................................................................... 80

Inventory Administration ....................................................................................................... 81

Employee Administration ...................................................................................................... 82

Ordering ................................................................................................................................ 83

Appendix 29 ..................................................................................... 84

Work Division ..................................................................................................84

4

Introduction

The Company we are studying is Process Research ORTECH (PRO), a newly

privatized company that was part of a large government research organization

called ORTECH. PRO is part of the Metallurgy and Materials science research

industry. They are a small organization with about 20 employees. Most of the

work done at PRO is of a contract nature. When a client company approaches

them and presents them with a problem, they analyze the problem and try to

solve it on a small scale in their laboratories. If the problem is solved successfully

and in a cost-effective manner, this solution is sold to the client for a negotiated

price. Even though the organization is not a large one, the information that is

required to carry out the research is enormous. PRO has a simple management

structure. There is a board of directors who advise a company president. Under

the president are scientific and office managers who oversee day-to-day

operations of the company. And under them are the various scientists and office

staff who do the experiments and run the front office. See Appendix 3 for an

organizational chart.

Identifying the Problem

There are many steps involved in the process of solving a client¡¯s problem. The

steps involve billing the client, purchasing materials, checking inventory and so

on. Due to the rapid growth of the company, many standard procedures used to

perform these tasks are becoming insufficient to meet the needs of the company

and their clients.

We have already carried out a Feasibility Study and a Requirements Analysis at

PRO and determined that one of the areas that needs the greatest attention is

the inventory system. The management agrees that this area of their business

requires immediate attention and they are actually considering the conclusions of

our Feasibility Study.

The system was originally designed for a much smaller workforce, but with recent

growth and workforce expansion, the system has become inadequate, thus

impeding efficiency. This has resulted in relatively large project delays, inventory

wastage and increased cost of maintaining the legacy system. For a complete

description on the current system, please refer to Appendix 4.

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