CECS-323 :: Database Model Documentation

Database Design Phase

Deliverables

You will turn in a printed report that includes the UML class diagram you create in Visio and the documentation for your model.  The UML class diagram and documentation must also be sent as an attachment via e-mail.  All of this must be submitted by the deadline specified.

Printing the UML class diagram

The UML class diagram that you end up with will likely not fit in a single page -- do not try to squeeze it into a page because it makes it hard to read and therefore hard to grade. You should expect to create the model over several pages which you then tape together using clear tape that is as unobtrusive as possible.

Documentation

Documentation to accompany the UML class diagram:

• Each UML Class must be described in English. What does the class model? Are there restrictions or assumption to the kind of objects that are part of the class? The description needs to be in terms that the client/users of the database will understand.
• Each association and association class must be described in English. This does not mean you are to provide the two sentences per association that define the association. Rather, this should be a description targeted to the client. What part of the enterprise does the association capture?
• Each attribute whose name is not descriptive enough must be described in English.
• Explicit description of all assumptions which you may have made if you did not get the information from the client. Your model must be based on information provided by the client and from information you've obtained via your research of the problem. If, for some reason, parts of your model were designed on some assumptions then these must be described explicitly in your documentation.

Format of the report

Here is a guideline for formatting the report that you will submit. This is just a guideline, what's important is that the report be organized and that every page be numbered Your report needs to include the following sections.

1. Cover sheet with pertinent class and project information, and names of students in the group
2. Table of contents
3. Introduction
   The description summarizes the complete proposal that you submitted. It should provide a context for the database being modeled. The contents of this section will allow the report to be read by someone outside of this class and understand the work being presented.
4. The UML Class Diagram
5. The descriptions of the UML classes, associations, and attributes as described above.
6. Analysis of the model
   In this section you are to explain in what ways your model can be used to address the functionality that you proposed to support.
7. Conclusion/Summary
   In this section, you are to provide information about any modelling decisions that you struggled over (if any) and other information that you feel pertinent to your model.
8. Supporting Information
   In this section, you are to provide the list of resources (e.g. URLs of websites, books, etc.) that you used in your research. Please provide accurate URLs and briefly describe the ways in which you used each resource.
9. Work distribution
   Here you are to explain specifically what each student in the group was responsible for in this phase. You must also provide an indication of the amount of time (outside of lab time) each student spent on the project.

Database Resources