Background
The book rental company rents books throughout out USA through its various branches. The records of the company are organized in the following manner –
- Every employee is given a staff number which is unique.
- The name, position and salary of every staff member are kept on record.
Branches –
- Every branch has a unique number.
- The address of the Branch including street, city, state and zip code.
- Telephone Number of the branch
Books –
- A Catalog Number which uniquely identifies a book
- Book Number – the ISBN code of the book
- When there are several copies of a book, each copy is given a Copy Number.
- The main authors of the book
- The Publisher of the book
- The Title of the book
- Books are categorized into Social Science, Natural Science, Fiction, or Engineering.
- The daily rental of the book (charges for one day)
- The cost of the book
- Status (Available / Not Available)
Member –
- Every member is given a number which is unique throughout the company
- The address of every member.
Books Rented -
- Every book is given a Rental Number which is unique throughout the company
- The Name and Number of the member renting the book
Mission Statement
The purpose of creating a database system for The Book Rental Company is to maintain a record of books held in stock and the details regarding rental of the books. This will not only support the day to day operations of the company but will also help in identifying the most popular books, the most errant customers and books which are not popular. Based on this, decisions regarding purchase of books can be taken and errant customers can be warned while patrons can be rewarded.
Mission Objectives
System Definition Phase
Focus: Our group focused on the ‘Book Rental’ at The Book Rental Company. The focus is limited to the details of books which have been rented to the customers and are due to be returned.
The entities involved in the process include:
- Books
- Staff Member
- Customer
Users Views
The user views for the Book Rental Company database include the following –
- Manager Vies – this includes all aspects of the database including stock of books and rental details. However, inventory is beyond the focus area of this project.
- Staff View – Every member of the staff can see books available within the branch and the status i.e. Rented or Available. He can also see the number and name of the customer. Address would be visible only to the backend staff that is responsible for issuing notices etc. However, that is beyond the focus area of this project. The table below shows the cross reference of the various views and access details.
- Requirements Analysis Phase
- User Requirements
Staff – Every member of the staff should be able to –
- Identify which books are available for rental within the branch
- Identify which books within the branch have been rented out and when
- Identify which of the branch books are due for return
- Identify books that are over-due with customer details.
- Update the details of rentals such as renting and return of books and any fines that may be imposed within the branch where he works.
Branch Managers should be able to –
- Identify which books are in stock
- Identify details of rentals of books
- Identify which books are mutilated
- Identify specific customer requests for books
- Identify details of staff
- Maintain the books, rental, and employee’s database of his own branch.
- Security Requirements
Security is an integral part of database design. Access to the database should be via password. Every manager and staff member should be given a unique password and permissions for accessing and retrieving information depending on his position.
