Software Requirements Specification

1.1 Purpose 

These specifications are reflective of guidelines and minimal functional and design requirements to aid in the actual Design and Engineering phases.

1.2 Scope

The product is geared towards providing Blockbuster Video Club with an Information and Database retrieval Point of sale SystemPOS. It will be called the Video Shop Management System VSMS.

 The VSMS is targeted towards management of all the facets of Blockbuster Video. From Video Inventory, Online /Walk-in or Instore Rental Tracking, Customer Information/account Status and Rental and Sales Accounting. It is to be used as the majordomo Application for Blockbuster Video Clubs Nationwide.
 Blockbuster Video Club is a syndicated Video Rental Shop located around the United Kingdom except Wales.

A need has been defined to produce an Enterprise Management system to facilitate and augment Walk-in and the ongoing transition to Online Store with the Video on Demand Integration.

1.3 Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations. 

Structured Systems Analysis Design Methodology (SSADM) is used as the principal Engineering methodology. Therefore a Waterfall approach towards the structured cascading modules and core engine will be used to present the development process. Logical Data Modeling, Data Flow Modeling and Entity Event modeling tools will be employed.
The main Structures of SSADM Feasibility, Requirements analysis, Requirements Specification, Logical system specification and actual Physical Design are explained alongside the core functions of the project.

Acronyms see Glossary
Abbreviations see Glossary

1.4 References

See Appendix

Overview 

Client Server Systems within distributed Networking applications have long become the Architectural standard within Database Systems. Their Applications have directly consolidated from the Networking Ability of most computer Systems today. The introduction of TCP/IP and Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) standards have added to the distributed usage of Client Server designs for most Applications.

Overheads and Returns on Investment (ROI) are further cut down because of the Centralization of Data. The proliferation of Web Browsers as System Clients has also sent Costs spiraling down because of their availability and recently the Zero Cost of this Software on Open Source licenses.

With this in mind the design considerations are primarily focused on achieving a Client Server Solution using Microsoft Access 2002 Data Access pages.
Although Internet Explorer is a much better companion for Data Access pages than other non Microsoft products, the wide availability of Microsoft products will not hinder these features as Components that enhance these capabilities are eventually bundled within later versions of Microsoft software.

This VSMS Requirements & Specification will treat the Blockbuster Video like any other Business .Therefore Business Process Management (BPM) processes that affect most business from Product ordering to Customer Sales and the ensuing Business life cycle will be considered.
Simple Entities like movies are to be treated as any other product. Normal factors like Inventory, Ordering and Maintenance must be put into business considerations when preparing the Final Specifications and Design.

The VSMS will be the tool of reference for Block Buster staff (Administration, Teller and Support), it will also be the backend for the web Presence and the website will be an interface for Customers of Blockbuster. The design strategies of the website will not be described within this document but the basic functions and requirements will be presented without recourse to aesthetics and Web design terminology.
Using the SSADM approach to system design, the Feasibility Study, Requirements Analysis, Requirements Specification, Logical system Specification and the Physical Design.
While noting that Customers will certainly not require this document, Developers and Blockbuster System Users must bear in mind the requirements 

(Physical Design) contained within this documentation.

The online users help for the website will be well documented by the Web Design Team.
Any Request for Changes must be submitted so a Change Request form must be filled and Approved by the Authors and rehashed within the next version of this document.

From Inception Database design has taken into consideration the impact Management Information Systems (MIS) has on the underlying Database Design structure.

As a database at its base level is simply a repository for data. The application of MIS towards extending the functionality of Database design can not be overlooked when analyzing the Requirements and Specification needs of any Database design.

Today different kinds of database exist for example:

Relational Database
Object Relational Database
Object Oriented Database

Relational and Object relational Databases are inter related as they share certain characteristics that Relational and Object Oriented Databases possess. Object oriented databases are the new kid on the block although widespread applications are still being sought in their deployment of Data Structures in terms of Object oriented programming concepts.
This has helped in  extending their traditional Structured query Interface into the more powerful Object oriented programming languages that exist today fro example Java,C++ etc.
Microsoft Access used in the implementation is purely a Relational database.

Every system design must therefore bear in mind the various analyses and design methodology that exists within the Software Engineering world. They are quite many and varied but they are all inter woven within their terms and concepts of conceptualizing the design process from idea to actuality e.g.

SSADM (Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology) this looks at a methodology that information systems design must clearly state in advance all the Procedures and Stages and expected results within the Life cycle of that product design .In essence it takes a cascading style like an automobile assembly line where each phase of engineering has to be completed before another begins.

MERISE: (Quang and Chartier-Kastler, 1991)This is used mainly in the European community within Design Engineering cycles    it looks at the decision cycle the Life Cycle and the abstraction cycle the abstraction cycle ties this methodology together as procedures and Data are progressed from the conceptual model to the Logical and then to the fully functional or physical level.

YSM: (Yourdon Systems Method, Yourdon, 1993). YSM, this looks at design methodology in the same way as STRADIS but instead of looking at it from the top it takes a middle branching approach and focuses on the usage of Data Structures.
EUROMETHOD: (CCTA, 1994) this is a method that has taken all the concepts of all the others and consolidated them into one.

STRADIS: (Structured Analysis, Design and Implementation of Information Systems) this was introduced by Gane and Sarson (1979). This method is focused on Results and final deliverables broken down by functions and uses Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs).

3. Overview Feasibility Study

Blockbuster Video presently runs a simple semi manual process.
Manual in the sense that all transactions are paper based and entered within books which are called ledgers. Each entity has a corresponding ledger.

There are computer terminals within each shop for customers to browse and search for the availability and location of Movies but these are not linked to the sales terminals.

An attempt was made to develop feedback as to what movies customers regularly borrow.
This was dependent on the Sales staff correctly filling out each ledger book manually at the end of day process after all Sales had been taken into account.
The ledgers below were to be filled and this has been a time / cost consuming procedure, eventually this was scrapped and only relevant ledgers were summarily filled.

The Customer Ledger
The Movie Ledger
Sales book Ledger
Staff /User Ledger

Account Status Ledger
Movie Status Ledger
Bad movie ledger

Entries are made when any transaction takes place by Staff. Video On Demand has not been implemented yet and is a major deliverable for the proposed new system. We shall look at requirements for Video on demand but not provide a Requirements Specification because of its complex nature.

3.1Present Procedures:

Customer (New or Existing) Every Customer must register except it is for a movie Purchase.
Customer walks into shop and browses through the available Movies .Customer also looks at the New Movie entries and makes a selection .Borrowing Limit (6) Return Time (3days).

One movie rental is 50p each extra day charge of 1pound after Return Time Expires.

 Customer takes the movies selected to the cash point and a cost calculation is made at the Sales Terminal computer and he pays by Blockbuster Credit or by Cash.
Blockbuster Credit purchases attract a 5% discount so long as a balance of 20 Pounds is in the account after each Transaction.

This is straight through procedure for the general customer. Other issues might arise during this simple base transaction like bad DVDs etc.

Factors that can affect these transactions include issues like Age restrictions for particular movies and the ability of staff to recognize correct identification when minors want to rent DVD’s.
This criterion is further extended to the Web store where Credit Cards are used for payment.
Suitable statements must be placed within movie pages on content that have age restrictions within their genre.

All Movies are stored in shelves according to category. New Releases are kept in a separate category.

The broad categories are:

Action
Horror
Musical
Documentary
Romance
Comedy
Adult

This is the picture of the present system in its simplicity .From this basic relational flow a lot of concepts are transferred into the Electronic and online Interactions.

The desire for an easy search and retrieval database complete with accounting modules for the Staff has become a necessity as blockbuster Video has grown its business to an unprecedented scale. Turnover has exceeded projections by 65% over the 18months that Blockbuster has been in operation. This is expected to grow to 150% within six months.

Revenues and Budget requirements have put Software Development at 75% of the total Information Technology Department. This requirements and Specification analysis was contracted on the basis of a swift Approval and Project commencement timescale.

.
3.2 Product Perspective 

The proposed VSMS is required to meet industry standards as regards Management information Systems (MIS) and the available software within the Market.
It must be able to measure up to the Top Ten products available for customer Relationship models (CRM), Content Management Ecommerce Systems and Enterprise Design Architectures.

The various logical and physical interfaces like the Website and ecommerce store, point of sale (POS).Magnetic Ink recognition (MICR) readers for DVD recognition
Search Terminals within the Store premises Display TVs that show trailers or Previews of new movies simultaneously all around the Store, Terminals/Monitors designed to demonstrate the Video on demand via the Web are to be linked together.

The system is designed to be a customized solution for Blockbuster Video although modular design is to take place in stages with the essentials coming first because of the immediate and present need for the reengineering of Blockbuster Video Club.

4.1Requirements Analysis

Arrange a Session or sessions with all Blockbuster staff including Top Management Staff and term it a Question and Answer Session. Also make arrangements to interview customers. Gather Data and Answers.

It might be advisable to carry out Separate Sessions with management.

A questionnaire can be used but most times Q & A sessions are best.
Compare with Requirements Specifications outputs.

 System Interfaces

The system is divided into 6 broad modules, they are:

The Sales module
Customer module
Movie module
Admin or Staff module
Config Module  Super users only
VideoOn Demand  with the Now playing Feature

Each Module has its Security Access Restrictions and the customer Module is available to the registered customers also. Access is restricted to Userid and password Access.

4.2Video on Demand.

The Video on demand will be totally a web experience and it is earmarked to be a separate interface to the in store VSMS.
A high speed Internet provider British Telecom been earmarked to supply Video on Demand Services to the public internet. The encryption and compression technologies and standards are based on the very best within the industry. Sun Sparc Servers running the Solaris operating system are intended to provide the supreme web Video Experience.
Cisco Voice over Internet protocols (VOIP) Technologies and the latest in buffering techniques are to be exploited as the variance in computer software and hardware across the wide customer base expected to use this service might hamper a pleasurable experience for the Web.
A bandwidth based on demand strategy is to be adopted so that each user can access the 
Web at the maximum their ISP provides to them. This will not limit the Bandwidth available at blockbuster servers which will be unlimited.

Oracle 10G Object Relational Databases is to be employed as the principal Database Application running Java applications while the local storefront will run Microsoft Access Database software running on Dell workstations/Servers and Microsoft Windows XP Operating System because the requirements of the internal Store will be more relational than the online experience so a cost reduction in terms of Computing equipment would be sufficient.
As the Applications to play video are usually focused on the Microsoft operating System Windows Media Player available to over 85% of Windows operating systems. A need for a proprietary player is not required. Although minimum System requirements are earmarked for optimum Online Theatre viewing.
The Blockbuster Box office is designed to be like the venerable now playing Movie Theatre with scheduled Movies playing daily for which online viewers can plug into at specific time intervals exactly like a regular Cinema.

The VSMS is to be designed with simplicity and robustness in the software approach .A rugged cross platform notion is to be focused on the online experience because of the disparity of accessing users and systems.

5.1 Physical Interfaces

(1)The major physical interfaces within the whole process are quite minimal and effectively they include the MICR and OCR Optical Character recognition devices. Mice and keyboards are standard equipment to each of the POS systems.

The Systems are all networked on the LAN within each Blockbuster store and routers extend each system to the Internet and the Enterprise Blockbuster environment so that File sharing of Data and video files can be successfully carried out during Replication across the Blockbuster Enterprise.

(2)The In store Customer Movie Search systems will also incorporate Touch Screens that display the Customer module of the VSMS application and also allow the user to search and select the movies he requires using his fingers. These touch screen systems are basically networked and respond to physical touch to activate the various simplified menus.
At eighteen inches they present the user with the Stand Up or Sit down Touch screen monitor interfaces. Suitable drivers to facilitate touch screen monitors will exist for windows systems. See MSDN Microsoft Developer Network for more info. Or see Keytech or Dynapro produce very good touch screens.

Attached to each touch screen a Printer can print orders of selection which are submitted to the Sales Desk and the movies are retrieved and costs calculated.

 The design is purely Enterprise in nature with a collective emphasis on Replication and Large Storage Area Networks SAN.As On demand Video will greatly decrease DVD collections .The sun Servers employed to provide these functions will be connected to large databanks with the latest in optimal Redundancy techniques.

Within the Local VSMS extreme simplicity is to be employed as Store screens are all LCD Flat 21inch monitors to provide customers with comfortable experience when they are within the premises.

5.2 Software Interfaces

The major software interfaces have been briefly stated already.

Microsoft Access 20002 (In store Database)
Crystal Reports & fonts
Microsoft Visual Basic interface Programming language (In store Application)
Microsoft Windows Media Player version 6 and above (Video on demand)

Verisign Site Security Encryption and Compression (Web Interface)

Sun Solaris Sparc Servers

Oracle 10G database

Microsoft Windows XP Operating System

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Operating System.

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

Java Database connectivity (JDBC)

Internet Explorer 5.x & above

Microsoft office XP Web components (MSOWC) 

Communications Interfaces

TCP/IP Transmission Control protocol
Ethernet hardware Interfaces (3Com)
Routing information protocol (RIP, Cisco Systems)
Voice over Internet Protocol (Cisco Systems)
Hyper Text Transfer protocol (Website)
HTTPS (Secure connections)

Memory Constraints:

All in store Systems must be running on at least 512KB of Ram or more.
System specs for the Web interface will be specified within the FAQs and Help sections.

6. Logical System Specifications

Technical System Options & Logical Design:

The VSMS will focus on a design methodology that is purely User Access functional with respect to the foundational database.

Therefore the access entities provide the system experience

Data Access profiles (Daps) and Functional Access profiles (FAPS)

DAPs are groups assigned to users that allow them access to specific tables, they are purely informational specific. For example a 12 year old with a minor DAP on his registration bracket can not even access the Adult movie content within the store .They are unaware of its existence.

FAPs on the other hand allow Users to be able to run modules that allow them do something. For example a FAP can be created that if Sales Staff are not assigned within their Sales group profile restricts them from printing for example “Touch Screen Slips”, See below VSMS Specification processes.

The Broad groups of user categories are.
Client
Staff
Admin

Clients fall into three sub categories Web access,Webondemand, online Web access with Store,WebALL and Store Access only. Registration fees for these are classified according to management regulations as each of their profiles provide varying levels of functionality and Service.

The Staff are to be classified as StaffPOS, Staffmgt and Staffadmin.

StaffPOs will be access group for all Point of Sale staff and will grant them privileges to system resources that will be assigned by management.
Staffmgt will be used by Management staff and may also be further classified into StaffSuperMgt and StaffMgt possessing highest and higher privileges respectively.

Admin
The admin will belong to the system Administrators and Development users. This will be used for Admin tasks like Creating new users and Backup procedures and System Updates etc.The DAPS and FAPS within the admin can be extended to any category.

In summary Data and functional Access are purely management assigned.

Automated Tasks within the System will be done unattended like Server Replication and Monitoring of usage .Various Alerts would be set up within the System to provide a statistical understanding of Resource usage like Bandwidth and movie Category availability within both the Online and Walk in Store. Applicable triggers must be set up to calculate Inventory stock and maintain an ideal Economic Order quantity according to accounting inventory standards. A suitable discussion with an Inventory Accountant would greatly enhance this module as the VSMS especially the Walk in Modules would greatly depend on excellent inventory techniques.

Start  Logical Data Modeling : Identify entities and model the data requirements of Blockbuster

 Data Flow Modeling; start drawing Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs) of the VSMS entities showing interactions

 Identify Entity Events  from logical Data Models and draw complete audit trails from begin to end of each entity event showing interactions

7. VSMS Specification Processes

 7.1(Customer Profile)

Customer comes into store and has two choices for selection of movies:

He logs onto the system

Search from the Touch Screens or manual Computers
Browses directly from shelves each movie has a serial number written in Barcode and Alphanumeric characters that identify the exact movie and other details etc.
Customer takes movies in hand and proceeds to the POS.Sales at Pos uses OCR or MICR readers to identify the Movies and request for the Customer’s Video Registration Card, The transaction is verified on his account and Customer is given movies and leaves Shop.
If Customer uses Touch Screen to search he can do a print out of his order which will contain the serial numbers of movies and is registration userid and he  moves directly to the waiting POS .
The POS beams his slip number on the queue list monitors and over the Loud Speakers and he moves directly to the payment and collection point. 
The calculation is already done .The payment is made and the transaction is verified on his account and the movies are already retrieved and ready by a Sales Assistant. Customer is given the movies and leaves Shop.

7.2Sales (POS Profile)

Sales Staff wait at point of Sale for customers within queue .They expect three kinds of customers.
New registrations (forwarded to Registration desk)
Customers with touch Screen slips
Customers with physical Videos from manual search

Customers with touch Screen slips:

The sales staff will look at the queue entry and alert the assistant sales staff to retrieve the Videos on queue using a First in First out strategy (FIFO).Sales Staff then calls customer touch screen slip number over microphone speakers and customer comes forward presents slip and makes payment and videos are given to him and Customer leaves shop.

Customers with Physical videos:

Sales Staff takes video from customer within physical queue scans it over the OCR or MICR readers requests for customers registration card Enters the transaction into Terminal and gives customer videos .Customer leaves Shop.

7.3Admin

Admin usually the Store Manager logs onto the system each day and prints out previous days Transactions. He looks at Stock index for each category of movie and compares it to the threshold percentage if all Stock Volumes are within the Economic order quantity range all is well if not a trigger would have been sent as an email to the appropriate Suppliers.

The admin has the ability to modify and do updates on system parameters like Prices and discounts etc 

 8. Site Adaptation Requirements

As this system is being rolled out within a specific time frame various issues would be come relevant for example:

8.1 Staff Training:

Information Technology Hiring, Either this or the maintenance will be contracted out to a suitable Firm or the developers themselves. Cost issues must be kept in mind as it is envisaged that for the first Six months an ongoing Test and Repair Stage will definitely involve the Actual System Design. It would be wise to employ permanent Staff to assist the designers during this stage for enhanced System Integration and Operability.

Efficient Data Entry operators are definitely going to come within this Category else suitable Data import of Data of globalised Movie Libraries can be done and made active according to availability. This will save time and money involved in Database population of Actual Data, Movie Tables, Title, Description, Actors, Release date etc.

8.2 Info Tech Resource Expansion:

Also purchase of Other Equipment like Universal Power Systems and Backup and Standby Generators etc would have to be done.
Certainly a dedicated Information Technology Department would have to be carved out within the Company Organizational charts as Technology would become the core backbone of Blockbuster’s services.

Licenses for the Software and Application mentioned above are to be purchased and well documented. 

9. Requirements Specification

Note: The requirements specification will focus on the in store experience only

Entity Selections and Realtionships from the manual systems exact entity relationships within the VSMS can be immediately recognized the entities are:

Blockbuster video club

All Outlets

Sales Staff

Customer

Movies

Administrators

Entity relationships and their attributes that exist between them are easy to pick out as they will assist in the database table design and determining the primary keys for each system interrelation as queries and joins are propagated within the actual design procedures.
The various relationships that exist in relational database design must be strictly adhered to. A suitable primary key that should exist across all entities within the system is the Userid or Username.

One to Many
Many to One
One to One

This userid and password sequence is to exist as a security and audit trail check. It can also co exist with a Random number code generator common with most authentication systems but might be unnecessary for the in store interface and very relevant to the Online Store.

9.1 Searching & Querying

The major search target would be for movies and their availability status
The Structured Query Language (SQL) would be used extensively to design the search routines
The search Algorithms are designed to be simplistic and would base searches according to Movie title or Actors name or New Releases etc or a concatenation of these to generate the desired results.
Searching should be fast and maintain anti SQL injection compatibilities and respond to normal Distributed Data systems integrity

Microsoft’s Data Access Objects 3.6 (DAO) should be utilized within the design to reduce memory consumption as odbc calls are made so that the Microsoft Jet Database Engine would be loaded less. Batch updates are to utilize the Microsoft Access update cursor as this will facilitate the Admin staff to make Movie updates as new Stock Arrives.

9.2 Inventory Management

Within the inventory modules usually responsible to the Admins the tasks can be run with simple macros or Visual Basic procedures .Choice will depend on the abstraction involved as visual Basic although simple to master may involve debugging issues that the  average admin might not readily grasp .

Easy macros can be set upon relevant tables like the Movie Table to generate triggers when thresholds are breached on the whole Movie Tables or subsets fast moving categories.
Like earlier discussed the inventory management system would be developed alongside experienced Stock Taking techniques utilized within standard warehousing environments.
 
Trends are usually built up along time so from previous manual Stock taking, definite ranges of movie categories will exist that are more likely to run out of Stock or otherwise.
The Economic Order quantity has long been the Industry Standard for determining optimal Stock Control Techniques.
Suitable pseudocode can work alongside its concepts with (without) an Accountant to design the inventory module.

9.3 Security, Access & Maintenance

Microsoft Access provides many methods for embedding security. As we discussed within the Security Requirements portion of this document .Also various ways exist for keeping maintenance tasks to a minimum and hassle free.

Specifics include:

User Level Security Wizard

Visual Basic for Applications Password

Compact Utility

Conversion

9.4 Microsoft Access Database Objects

Forms   Allow you to enter and display data in a customized format

Macros Tools that are easy to simulate programming.

Queries allow you to search sort and retrieve Data

Reports   Allows you to display and print formatted data and calculations .Use for displaying Customer Total Amount, for displaying printable Queries and Searches etc

Pages the ability to publish forms on the Network or Enterprise. So Forms can reside within HTML pages and can be viewed via an Internet or LAN browse like Microsoft Internet Explorer

Modules   Programming language in Visual Basic

10. Physical Design

A medium Knowledge of Microsoft Access is required for the eventual implementation Guidelines supplied within the Physical design will aid within the 
Final Software Engineering phase.

10.1 Constraints 

Microsoft Access uses a .mdb file to represent its database and the maximum size is 2Gigabytes, but since linked tables to other database files are available then capacity is further enhanced to an unlimited size.
Also should file linking impact performance as time goes by exporting to Microsoft’s SQL Server would be an optimal Database upgrade with maximal Return on Investment (ROI).

10.2 Data Modeling

Normalization

This should be at a moderation as the existence of two many entity relationships may invalidate the Entity Relationships that are occurring .Do not create Tables you don’t need and keep Table Data and columns to a minimum.
Try to restrict design objects like forms macros, queries, reports, pages & Modules to one database whilst your tables reside within another Database. This makes maintenance easier and hassle free.

Functional Dependency Diagrams must be well drawn out and relevant dependencies mapped out.
Design must be approached in modules obtained from the Relationships between Modules

10.3 Install and Configure Microsoft Access 2002

Later you can put support for the Jet Database engine that allows interaction with Microsoft SQL server.

Start Physical Design proper.

Stage 1

DESIGN FLOW CHART IN ACCESS

Use Seven Step Process Flow Chart

Overall System Design
              ↓

Report Design (define all the outputs and reports you might want here)
              ↓
Data Design    (Assign field types to all Data Sets)
              ↓
Table Design (Normalization and Entity, attributes and Relationships etc)

               ↓
Field Design   (validate your field types to data they represent)
              ↓
 

Menu Design   (List required menus Design menus for forms, Querys, modules)

Create Movie Database

Create Tables within this:  

Action
Horror
Musical
Documentary
Romance
Comedy
Adult
Religion
.
.
.

Normalize Tables

Create Database Objects for Movie Database

Database Objects include

Create Blockbuster Database

Create Forms within this:

Sales _module
      Customer_ module
      Movie_ module
      Staff_module
      Config_Module 
Video_OnDemand * 

Create Tables within this

Sales
Customer
Staff
Video On Demand *

  *Restrict to Online Specification

Define General system Tasks as an Access Design State

Entering & Update Tasks:

Enter and maintain movie Information, Serial number,  title, Actors, Date Type etc
Enter and maintain customer information   Registration number,Name,Address,Orders History, Telephone number etc 
Enter and maintain Staff Details Staffidnumber,name,position,address etc

Query, Viewing and Reporting Tasks
Search movies, View Movies and print
Search Customer, View …
Print Daily, monthly etc Balances
Querying all kinds of Data within Blockbuster Databases

 
Start Prototyping using minimal data

Begin Report design.

Compare present Report Formats with Expected End designs .Compare with Company letter headed paper. Ask Questions on how formats should be represented Aesthetically.
Check Crystal Reports compatibility. 

Note:
 Draw Data Flow Diagrams for ALL Data Objects again and compare with earlier diagrams. Usage of Visio and Smartdraw are recommended but not required. Freehand can give greater flexibility as not all SSADM diagram concepts are strictly adhered to

Reviews & Prototypes:

Create Scenarios of Data flows for entities within one module and Test within Prototype

Test Search on singular Fields

Combine Searches across Singular Tables, Across Multiple Tables etc.

Review Normalization across Tables start 2nd and 3rd Normal form normalization (2NF&3NF)

Prepare Test Data

Prepare Test data across al Tables .Test limits of variables Length and Also introduce Bad Test data and See the Effects on system performance.

Actual Form design

Start designing your Forms .Start with the Customer Interface Forms.Review with Blockbuster management and apply Company logos and letterhead allowances.
Review Movie Interface forms also.
All other Forms must be checked at implementation as their Aesthetic importance might not be overly Critical to the deliverables and timelines. Also loading of Extra objects within forms might slow processing speeds.

Review Table designs

Focus on the Customer, Movie and Staff Tables, Normalization should be okay now.

Review Overall Databases.

Let us take a look at how Microsoft Access 2002 handles data. Data is stored in tables within the .mdb file the primary access “Database container”.

Sensible Applications rely on sharing Tables and Data objects in different databases as earlier mentioned. This is to enhance maintenance, as this enhances response time to issues that require Whole Databases to be shutdown.This in effect might reduce the downtime of the whole System.

Although this method is recommended for professional approach to Access programming It is not mandatory as the Database splitter can perform the function of Transferring Tables & Objects to a different Database even if you use One Database at Design time.

Although Database creation Wizards speed up the Table and objects .It is recommended that the Datasheet view be used to for these functions using Datasheets presents a behind the scenes operation of Access and It presents the Design process at a sub layer of complexity that will improve overall System Understanding to the implementation.

Field Creation & Manipulation:

Fields are used to define where data is to be kept. A field Name is and Data type has to be defined.

Note on Fields:

Field names are between 1-64 characters The longer the better for self explanation

They can include numbers, letters and some “special characters” See the Access Language reference.

They can not include a period (.)brackets [] or accent characters used in languages like French.
Fields can not start with a blank Space
Always be wary when modifying Field name a will affect wherever within the data objects they exist as this must be modified also.

Field Data types:

A field can exist as the following and their description is completely optional.

Text      e.g. Name of Staff

Memo   e.g. Description of movie

Number e.g. How many Copies of Movie in Movie Table

Date/time e.g. The Date and time movie was ordered can be Automatic when a transaction takes place
 
Yes/No   (Boolean value for Data in one of two States) e.g. Is Customer Account Active? Yes or No

Currency     

Object Linking & Embedding (OLE) e.g. Pictures, graphics Photograph of Customer or Staff or photos of Actors and Movie posters.

Hyper link   (Link to an Internet Universal Resource locator)

Specifying relationships between Tables and Checking Referential integrity

Review the Relationships between Tables and check for Referential Integrity. Modifying or deleting a Record within the Movie database should as well affect the Movie Stock number Field Value and vice versa.
Always use the graphical Relationship window within Access to set your Relationships .As a rule of thumb enforces Referential Integrity.

There are four of these table Relationships.

One to One

One to Many

Many to One

Many to Many

At this time the Microsoft Access Table Analyzer can be run to check for normalization and other Errors within the Tables and their relationships.
 

Network & Web Interface Data Access Pages:

Core Requirements:

Internet Explorer 5.x & above

Microsoft office XP Web components (MSOWC) originally required for purchase in Microsoft Access 2000 but can be downloaded for free now.

For the Application and Data Tables and objects to gain the intranet and Web Experience the Data Access Pages have to be created .These pages can be Static Data Links to internet Web Servers of movie posters and Trailers or they can be Dynamic and Pull out information via queries to the Database from a Standard Web Browser example a list of Movies. This also helps the usage of Client Server Architectures as it reduces the number of Systems Access needs to be installed.
With a Standard Browser a Client is available to any User or Staff and as Browsers are quite Robust and Rugged in their operation greater ROI can be achieved in turning the VSMS into a Data Access Page.

At this stage your physical Design is almost ready and the program specification ready to start. The Physical design is the last step before the Actual Database is created and finalized.

According to SSADM the transition from Physical Design to Design now begins.

APPENDIX

Bibliography

Prague, C. & Irwin, M. 2001, Access 2002 Bible, Hungry Minds Inc, New York.

Goodland, M.& Ashworth, C . SSADM A Practical Approach , Mcgraw Hill Book Co Ltd.

Glossary

3COM Networking Technology Market Leader

Box office    New Movies On theatre Acceptance

Bandwidth    Internet Highway Widths

Cisco Routing/Routing company

Compression Technology to reduce File sizes and Optimise Internet Bandwidth

CRM   Customer Relationship Management

DAO      Data Access Objects Technology by Microsoft within Access Databases

DAP       Data Access Profile

Dell     Personal Computer industry Leader

Encryption   Coding Technique to secure Files Transferred over Networks

Enterprise     Company with branches in Different Geographical Locations

ENTITY       Singular occurrence of existence of Business process

Ethernet     Related to networking

FAP    Functional Access profile

HTTP    Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Internet Standard for transferring data

HTTPS    Secure form of this

KB    Kilobyte measure of computing 1024 Bytes = I KB

LAN   Local Area Network

LCD   Liquid Crystal Display   Flat Screen Monitor more expensive than conventional Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs)

LEDGER   Accounting Record for entering transactions
 MIS   Management information System

MICR   Magnetic Ink Character Recognition 

OCR   Optical Character Recognition

Oracle   Computing Industry Database Leader

ORDBMS Object Relational Database Management System   
OODBMS Object Oriented Database Management system

RDBMS Relational Database Management system

RIP   Routing information protocol

ROI   Return on investment

SQL   Structured Query Language

SRS Software Requirements Specification
SSADM Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology
STRADIS    Structured Analysis, Design and Implementation of Information Systems

SAN    Storage Area Network

Sun systems    Industry Software leader Java Language Proponent
TCP/IP   Transmission Control Protocol & Internet protocol. Networking protocol

Verisign    Computer and Ecommerce Security Industry Leader

Video on demand the ability to view Movies via the internet

VOIP Voice over Internet Protocol, Protocol to pass Voice messages and Data through the internet 

VSMS Video Shop management system
YSM Yourdon Systems Method