Planning a Working Relational Database
A: Purpose and Audience for the Database

Purpose of the data base:

Chester-le-Street Motors is a business which buys and sells cars. They have a large amount of customers, so a wide range of information is used. With CLS Motors selling and buying cars, it means that data input can become quite difficult and unorganised. The main purpose of creating the database is to organise data about the cars and the customers in such a way that it allows the information to be easily accessible and organised. Whilst also have the option to be updated and edited.

The main objectives are:

• Have an easy to use management information system.

• Have the ability to store information about the customers and the car.

• Be able to enter data easily and quickly.

• Have an option where you can find out certain information about a car or customer. For example: be able to search for Citroens under £3000, or females who are 21 or under.

• Improve organisation by having data available for the use of the CLS Motors staff.

• Reduce the amount of paper documents; this is because the majority of information will be stored within the database. It will include different lists, such as the car type, engine size, colour, model etc...

• All user interfaces will be customised with user-friendly menus.

• The main menu should be displayed automatically when the data base is opened and loaded.

• Increase organisation of the system for all of the CLS Motors staff.

• The database should be menu-driven.

Audience of the database

The user of the database will be the administrative staff and normal staff

The audience of the database will be the staff of Chester-le-street Motors. Information can be requested from other individuals but only the CLS motor staff will have access.

B: Table Structure

Table 1: Customer Table

|Primary Key |Field Name |Field Types |Field Lengths |Validation Methods |Input Masks |Combo Boxes |
|Primary Key |Customer ID |Text |7 |Required Field | | |
| |First Name |Text |25 | | | |
| |Surname |Text |25 | | | |
| |House Number |Number |Long Integer | | | |
| |Street |Text |50 | | | |
| |Town/City |Text |20 | | |Value List: |
| | | | | | |Chester-le-street; |
| | | | | | |South Pelaw; |
| | | | | | |Waldridge; Newcastle; |
| | | | | | |Sunderland |
| |County |Text |20 | | |Value List: Tyne, |
| | | | | | |Wear, Durham |
| |Post Code |Text |7 | |Input Mask: | |
| | | | |