**Introduction**

In this activity, you will be presented with a business-related scenario to explain the importance of planning before designing a database. Documenting the needs of the enterprise before starting the creation of a database is very important. This scenario is to help you practice this. Review the scenario carefully, read the instructions, and answer the discussion questions.

**Scenario Outline: Requirement Gathering**

You are part of the team hired to design a database for ProAudio, a music-selling business. After interviewing the owner and some of the management, your team is tasked with creating a requirements document to outline the needs of the database. The requirements document has three parts:

1. **Mission Statement**: Briefly describes the business from the standpoint of database design.
2. **Transactions**: How will the database be used and by whom?
3. **Entities**: A thing in the real world with an independent existence, physical or conceptual, about which you are storing data.
4. **Attributes**: The properties that describe an entity and what data will be stored about each entity.

**The Mission Statement**

The ProAudio business intends to sell CDs via as many outlets as possible. We will provide our customers with the best selection, the lowest prices, and the best service possible. We will also provide the best follow-up customer service available while striving to grow to meet the changing demands of the marketplace.

**The Transactions**

- **Employees**: Take orders and input order information. Can input customer information if the customer did not already enter it. The application must check if the customer is a returning customer or a new customer. Employees can search for CDs via CD title, artist, or producer.
- **Customer**: Can place orders via a traditional store location or via the ProAudio website. Customers provide customer and shipping information. Customers can access a webpage to check on the status of their orders. Customers can search for CDs via CD title, artist, or producer.
- **Orders**: Contain customer and delivery info, items, quantities, and price.
- **Data Access Application**: May need to run reports returning:
- Total number of orders (per location, per sales rep, via website, per customer)
- Total sales (per location, per sales rep, via website, per customer)
- Best-selling items
- Least-selling items
- Items per distributor
- Wholesale cost vs. retail cost

**Entities and Attributes**

You and another member of the team are tasked with identifying the entities and attributes that will make up the database. This is what your teammate has so far (primary keys are designated with an *):

- **Customer** (*c_num, c_first_name, c_last_name, c_street, c_city, c_state, c_zip, c_phone, c_cc_num, c_exp_date*)
- **Distributors** (*d_num, d_name, d_street, d_city, d_state, d_zip, d_phone, d_contact, d_contact_extension*)
- **Orders** (*o_num, *c_num, s_num, o_date, o_filled*)
- **Items** (*i_num, i_title, d_num, i_price, i_release_date, i_genre*)
- **Musicians** (*m_num, m_first_name, m_last_name*)
- **Producers** (*p_num, p_first_name, p_last_name*)
- **Sale Reps** (*s_num, s_first_name, s_last_name*)
- **Locations** (*l_num, l_street, l_city, l_state, l_zip, l_phone, l_fax*)

**Discussion Questions**

Do you think the entities are sufficient to meet the business needs as described in the mission statement and the transactions?