the company began as a local supplier 15 years ago and has grown rapidly to become a 574901

Pnadio Electrical Supplies distributes electrical components to the construction industry.

The company began as a local supplier 15 years ago and has grown rapidly to become a major competitor in the north central United States. As the business grew and the variety of components to be stocked expanded, Bonadio acquired a new computer and implemented an inventory control system and a computerized accounting sysem. Because of its operational importance, the inventory system has been upgraded to an online system, while all the other applications are operating in batch mode. Over the years, the company has developed or acquired more than 100 application programs and maintains hundreds of files.

Bonadio faces stiff competition from local suppliers throughout its marketing area. At a management meeting, the sales manager complained about the difficulty in obtaining immediate, current information to respond to customer inquiries. Other managers stated that they also had difficulty obtaining timely data from the system. As a result, the controller engaged a consulting firm to explore the situation. The consultant recommended installing a database management system (DBMS), and the company complied, employing Jack Gibbons as the database administrator.

At a recent management meeting, Gibbons presented an overview of the DBMS. Gibbons explained that the database approach assumes an organizational, data oriented viewpoint, as it recognizes that a centralized database represents a vital resource. Instead of being assigned to applications, information is more appropriately used and managed for the entire organization. The operating system physically moves data to and from disk storage, and the DBMS is the software program that controls the data definition library that specifies the data structures and characteristics. As a result, both the roles of the application programs and query software, and the tasks of the application programmers and users are simplified. Under the database approach, the data are available to all users within security guidelines.

a. Explain the basic difference between a file oriented system and a database management system.

b. Describe at least three advantages and at least three disadvantages of the database management system.

c. Describe the duties and responsibilities of Jack Gibbons, the database administrator.

(CMA Adapted)

Purchase Order Number	Date	Customer Number	Customer Name	Customer Phone Number	Item Number	Item Description	Unit Cost	Unit	Quantity Ordered
12345	8/19/03	123 8209	Charles Dresser, Inc.	(752) 433 8733	X32655	Baseballs	$33.69	dozen	20
					X34598	Footballs	53.45	dozen	10
					Z34523	Bball Hoops	34.95	each	20
123456	8/19/03	123 6733	Patrice Schmidt’s Sports	(673) 784 4451	X98673	Softballs	35.89	dozen	10
					X34598	Footballs	53.45	dozen	5
					X67453	Soccer balls	45.36	dozen	10

systems but is not well organized. In fact, because of the repeating groups in the right most columns, it cannot even be stored in a computer system.

Requirements

Store this data in a spreadsheet to make it easy to manipulate. Then perform each of the following tasks in turn:

1. Reorganize the data in first normal form and print your spreadsheet. Why is your data in first normal form?

2. Reorganize the data from part 1 into second normal form and print your spreadsheet. Why is your data in second normal form?

3. Reorganize the data from part 2 into third normal form and print your spreadsheet. Why is your data in third normal form?