Troy Technologies USA

MCSD
STUDY GUIDE
Analyzing Requirements & Defining Solution
Architectures
Exam 70-100
Edition 3
 Congratulations!!

You have purchased a Troy Technologies USA Study Guide.

This study guide is a selection of questions and answers similar to the ones you
will find on the official Analyzing Requirements & Defining Solution Architec-
tures MCSD exam. Study and memorize the following concepts, questions and an-
swers for approximately 10 to 12 hours and you will be prepared to take the exams.
We guarantee it!

Remember, average study time is 10 to 12 hours and then you are ready!!!

GOOD LUCK!

Guarantee

If you use this study guide correctly and still fail the exam, send your official score
notice and mailing address to:

Troy Technologies USA

8200 Pat Booker Rd. #368
San Antonio, TX 78233

We will gladly refund the cost of this study guide. However, you will not need this
guarantee if you follow the above instructions.

This material is protected by copyright law and international treaties. Unauthor-

ized reproduction or distribution of this material, or any portion thereof, may re-
sult in severe civil and criminal penalties, and will be prosecuted to the maximum
extent possible under law.

 Copyright 2000 Troy Technologies USA. All Rights Reserved.

Facade Lumber
Background

Background:
Facade would like to automate the way it tracks its manufacturing costs, from start to finish of
the manufacturing process. The costs to be tracked include initial purchase price, and machine
and labor costs incurred during processing.

Overview:
After purchasing raw lumber, Facade incurs costs in a number of processes, as the lumber is
made ready for sale. After each process, the resulting pieces of lumber are given new inventory
part numbers and can be sold.

Purchasing Overview:
Facade buys lumber directly from lumber mills. Purchase orders indicate the Facade ship to ad-
dress, the Facade bill to address, the lumber mill address, the purchase order date, and the em-
ployee placing the order.

A purchase order is created prior to receiving lumber. A purchase order may include one or
more purchase order lines. Each purchase order line indicates the type of process performed, the
part number of the lumber going into the job, the date of the job, and the part number of the lum-
ber coming out of the job.

Job Costs:
Lumber accrues many costs that stay with it until it is sold. The receiving yard annotates the
purchase price of the lumber on a receiving ticket line when the lumber arrives. Each job adds
machine run time and labor costs. All jobs require labor, but not all jobs require machines. Job
cost details include the employees and any machines used in the job, the minutes used for each
employee and any machines used in the job, and the per-minute rate for each employee and any
machines used in the job.

Process Overview:
Facade has many processes. Facade adds or drops processes, depending on market demand for
different product types. All processes are identified by a unique process code, description, pur-
pose, and status of the process.

Receiving tickets are created when lumber is received. These tickets include receipt date, the
receiving individual, the lumber mill received from, the Facade location received to, and the Fa-
cade purchase order number.

Lumber is not received unless a purchase order for the lumber exists. But, employees might re-
ceive many shipments before a purchase order is filled. A receiving ticket includes one line per
species of lumber that notes the total board feet and total price for each species. Receiving lum-
ber accrues costs on receiving shipments before a purchase order is filled. Receiving costs con-

1
sists of the employees used and the labor costs incurred to create the receiving ticket. No ma-
chine cots or run-time costs are incurred in the process of receiving lumber.

Other processes begin with lumber being moved out of inventory and into the process. All proc-
esses end with lumber being moved out of the process and back into inventory, so moving lum-
ber is considered a process itself. Moving any lumber records the location that the lumber is
moved from and the location that the lumber is moved to. Moving lumber accrues costs on a re-
ceiving ticket line. Costs consist of the machines, run-time costs, employees, and the labor costs
involved in the moving process.

Machines Use:
Many machines are used in processing lumber. Some machines are multifunctional and can be
used for different processes. The cost of using a machine differs depending on the process for
which it is used. All run-rime costs are allocated on a per-minute basis to the jobs in which the
machines are used. Facade has calculated the cost associated with each minute of use for each of
the machines when used for a specific process. Each machine is also described by a unique ma-
chine number, manufacturer, purchase date, serial number, model number, description, and
status.

Labor Costs:
A worker’s pay rate is converted to a per-minute rate and allocated as a cost to the job. Each
employee is indicated by a unique employee number, full name, address, telephone number, date
of hire, and a status.

2
1. Which are the Primary keys, foreign keys and other attributes for the tables?

Table Name Attribute Field Name

Processes PK Process Key
FK
OA Description
Type
Machine Process Rates PK Machine Process Rate Key
FK Machine Key
Process Key
OA Per minute Rate
Machines PK Machine Key
FK
OA Status
Manufacturer
Purchase Date
Serial Number
Model Number
Purpose
CostPerMinute
Jobs PK Job Key
FK Process Key
OA BeginningInventoryNumber
EndingInventoryNumber
Date
Job Machine Costs PK Job Machine Costs Key
FK Job Key
Machine Key
OA Minutes Used
Rate per minute
Job Employee Costs PK Job Employee Costs Key
FK Job Key
Employee Key
OA Minutes Used
Rate per minute
Purchase Orders PK Purchase Order Key
FK Lumber Mill Key
Ship To Key
Bill To Key
Employee Key
OA Order Date
Purchase Order Number

3
Table Name Attribute Field Name
Purchase Order Lines PK Purchase Order Lines Key
FK Purchase Order Key
OA Expiration Date
Total Board Feet
Species
Line Sequence
Employee PK Employee Key
FK
OA ID
Name
Address
Phone Number
Social Security Number
Status
Lumber Mill PK Lumber Mill Key
FK
OA
Ship To PK Ship To Key
FK
OA
Bill to PK Bill To Key
FK
OA
Receiving Ticket PK Receiving Ticket Line Key
FK Line Number Key
Employee Key
Receiving Location Key
OA Cost
Date

4
5
Manson Brothers
Manson Brothers manufactures hair care products. They have a headquarters and subsidiaries,
which are spread worldwide. Manson Brothers have different product lines, which are subdi-
vided into product families, which are subdivided into products, which are subdivided into dif-
ferent packaging forms of a special product.

Their goal is to have a system that allows the input of projection values and gathers sales values.
It should allow comparing the data and providing reports. Sales projections are broken down to
territories and to products.

Overview:
A sales report is compiled from data from each of the subsidiaries and sent to each of the mana g-
ers throughout the company. The System Analyst has identified several problems. These in-
clude a language barrier in that all systems are localized to the native language of the subsidiary
location. Data contains product names in various languages. To avoid language problems, que-
ries must be done by ID numbers, rather than product names. The lack of currency conversion
does not allow comparisons across all subsidiaries to include sales prices, and cost of goods sold.
The System Analyst is also concerned with sporadic feedback. It is crucial to provide and re-
ceive daily information, as the market is very volatile. The market experiences unexpected sales
surges and shortfalls.

System Needs:
Data must be shown in as much detail as possible. Different detail levels across subsidiaries are
allowed, as long as the totals are comparable. Accuracy of the data is crucial. Besides needing
correct data, Manson needs to understand what information they don’t have. The new system
should not make guesses where it does not have all the necessary data. All data should be con-
solidated into a single repository. The data will be consolidated from servers at subsidiaries to a
server at HQ. Crucial features to be implemented include localization of text, currency conver-
sion, and sales projections.

Product names and division names should be localized into three languages (French, Spanish,
and English). All product families and lines will start with the English descriptions filled in. A
separate utility should allow employees from the subsidiaries to fill in localized descriptions
where they don’t exist. This should not be a problem, as all subsidiaries have some English-
speaking employees.

For comparison value, all figures should be shown in both native currency, and US dollars. The
currency conversions must be performed daily. Daily sales are converted to US dollars based on
the daily conversion rate. The exchange rate must be applied consistently across all locations
within a given day.

The sales reporting and sales projection system will work in conjunction with each other to pro-
vide data. Managers will provide month-by-month projections for the region, and the products
they are responsible for. The projections will be integrated into the sales reports, allowing for
6
comparisons between projected and actual sales. The accuracy of the projections will be a factor
in the allocation of pay bonuses for the management.

The sales projection system should allow regional mangers to set sales projections for their re-
gions. The managers for the territories within a given region will then enter their projected sales
forecasts. The sales totals for the territories do not have to be consistent with the totals of the
region.

1. At a non English-speaking subsidiary, localized text for an SKU’s may be missing some-
times. What should the system do? (Choose two)

A: Log an error to the administrative system.

Cancel the processing until the problem is rectified.

2. A set of sales data for a sub might be unavailable because of system or network failure.
How should the data consolidation subsystem resolve this situation?

A: Missing data should be noted to the user.

3. All of the locations report their financial data in local currency. This presents a pro b-
lem for the Financial Analyst. How should the exchange rate be provided?

A: Convert using a daily rate at HQ.

4. Which business rule is to be applied to the sales projection system?

A: No business rule should be applied.

7
Lost Lakes Travel Agency

Lost Lakes provides corporate travel services. These services include management of travel,
meetings, and expenses.

Overview:
The company would like to consolidate information about reservations and invoicing into their
Traveler database. Reservation data is collected from three different Customer Reservation
Systems (CRS). Invoice information is stored in their accounting system, Travelers Data System
(TDS). Information from the CRSs and the TDS must be collected, checked for completeness,
and accuracy, and consolidated into the Traveler database. Data accuracy and completeness are
of utmost importance to Lost Lakes.

Data Flow:
The travel agent enters reservation details into the CRS. A reservation may include two flights
(outbound and return). Each flight includes at least one segment. If a traveler changes reserva-
tions, the travel agent will update the CRS, and issue a new ticket. Some customers want infor-
mation stored with their reservations (e.g. project numbers associated with flights). The CRS can
provide complete access to data about individual reservations, but does not support queries
across reservations. It cannot get total spending by a customer for flights from one destination to
the next over a period of time.

Trips are often cancelled. The tickets need to be refunded or exchanged, but Lost Lakes admit-
ted that they often just end up in a file folders.

The CRSs do not maintain historical data. 24 hours after a traveler’s flight, all information about
the reservation is discarded. Each of the three CRSs use a different coding scheme to identify
airlines, airports, hotels, and car rental agencies.

The company has an enterprise database that runs on an MS SQL Server. All company applica-
tions use the same tables for common data, to include airlines, car rentals, airport locations, cus-
tomers, etc. Unfortunately, travel agents are inconsistent about entering reservation data. They
often omit important items, or put them into the comment field in the CRS. This inaccurate data
is then passed to the TDS.

Proposed Solution:
The system should:
• capture data from each CRS and from the TDS,
• transform the data to a standard data model,
• validate data for completeness and accuracy,
• load the validated data into the SQL Server database,
• match invoices to reservations, and
• generate reports.

8
For each CRS a data collector application will extract reservation data from the CRS and load it
into a traveler-centered staging database. Another data collector application will extract invoice
data from TDS and load it into the same staging database.

A validation engine will read data from the staging database, check for accuracy and complete-
ness and translate CRS-specific codes for airlines, airports, hotels, and rental agencies to data-
base keys from the Traveler database. Translations and validations will be based on rules that
are read from a rules database. Validation rules vary greatly, and change frequently. A rules
editor is required.

The validation engine will pass invalid data to an exception handler. The exception handler will
route invalid CRS data back to a travel agent for correction at the host CRS. The exception ha n-
dler will also route invalid TDS data to an account manager for correction in TDS. Validated
data will be passed from the validation engine to the data loader. The data loader will merge
validated data into the Travels database, matching invoices to reservations. Only validated data
will be loaded into the Traveler database. Reports will be generated from data in the Traveler
database.

1. Associate Business Requirements with components that implement a solution to the re-
quire ments.

Component Business Requirement

CRS Data Collector
TDS Data Collector
Data Validation Engine Translate CRS codes to database
Ensure Data Accuracy and completeness
Data Validation Rules Editor Support Validation Rules
Data Validation Exception Handler Route CRS data back to travel agent
Data Loader Merge validated reservations data and invoicing
data
Reports Provide Reports

2. Split 6 business rules into three categories, Domain Rules, Translation Rules, and
Relational Rules.

Validation Rule Type Business Rule

Domain Rule
Translation Rule
Relational Rule
The flight number must be numeric.
Each flight segment must have a flight number
The TDS customer number for Arbor Shoes is 12345.
The TDS airline code for Blue Sky Airlines is BL.
A ticket must be related to at least one flight segment.
If the customer is Arbor Shoes, then the flight segmet
must include a cost center code.

9
3. Draw a data flow as specified. You may be asked to draw from the CRS/TDS to the staging database, or to draw from the
staging database to the generation of month end reports, including validation and exceptions. The entire diagram is in-
cluded:

10
Business Consultants
Business Consultants provides marketing campaigns. The scope of the Budgeting Tool project
will includes:
• Specifying a detailed description of a marketing program.
• Providing the customer with a price quote for the marketing program.
• Estimating the company’s cost of producing the marketing program.

Organization:
The company is aligned by major product line, by sales region, and by business unit. Within
each alignment, each specification, price quoting, and cost estimating process varies from a cen-
tralized function to assembling a team for each new customer. Reorganizations can change the
total number of users on the system, but overall functionality remains unchanged. The organiza-
tion structure is dynamic, and expected to change. The business process includes three regions,
encompassing three time zones. Flex time is provided for the employees.

Specifications :
The sales organization assesses customer’s needs. These needs are enter into the Work Order
system. The marketing programs are then described in detail within the Work Order system.
The system provides output, in paper form, to those who produce price quotes, cost estimates,
and customer presentations.

Price Quotes:
Marketing programs are printed from the Work Order system and used as a basis for creating
price quotes. Price quotes are initiated within spreadsheets that are designed by the person who
is creating the price quote. The price quote spreadsheets are printed, and manually entered into
the Price Quote systems on the mainframe. They are then refined based on current market con-
ditions.

Cost Estimates:
Details and price quotes of programs are printed and used to formulate cost estimates. Cost es-
timates are organized into three categories: labor, materials, and outside vendor purchases.
Within each category, details are created. Cost estimates are created in spreadsheets, with auto-
calculation disabled. Cost estimate spreadsheets are designed by the person who is creating the
cost estimate. The cost estimates are summarized by category, printed, and manually entered
into the Actuals Tracking system.

Actual Costs:
The Actuals Tracking system has the ability to store and track both cost estimates, and price
quotes at detailed levels, but is only used for cost estimates. Labor, materials and outside ve n-
dor costs are entered into the Actuals Tracking system at the summary level.

Customer Presentations:
Program details and price quotes are printed, organized, and consolidated by clerical staff to pro-
duce customer presentations. The accounting staff reviews the first presentation and cost esti-
11
mate for financial feasibility before the presentation goes to the customer. The sales staff and
customer negotiate a completed marketing program after a series of customer presentations. The
completed program includes detailed specifications, price quotes, and a scheduled delivery.

Negotiations:
During negotiations with customers, the sales organization requests price quotes during phone
conversions. These are referred to as phone quotes.

Business Problem:
Slow response to customers’ Request for Proposal (RFP) causes the company to lose opportuni-
ties. Competitors are able to respond much more quickly. Many times, competitors respond to
customers and complete a business contract before Business Consultants can finish the first pres-
entation.

Consolidation and formatting of information from different systems takes too long. The format
varies depending on the employee who designs the presentation, and does not present a consis-
tent look to pre-existing customers. Customers expect consistency and lose confidence when the
presentations vary.

During negotiations, the sales team stated that they cannot get accurate phone quotes fast
enough. They felt they have the right products, and know how to produce them, but have trouble
selling them.

Inaccurate cost estimating is causing much of Business Consultant’s business to fall short of their
profitability standards. Formulating price quotes without estimating cost does not allow an early
business analysis of profitability. Inaccurate sales price quotes result in bad revenue projections.
The inaccuracy of phone price quotes is a major problem. Phone quotes are usually low and re-
sult in low profitability. The sales staff continues to use phone quotes, and customers expect
them to be binding.

Detailed cost estimates and details of actual costs incurred, along with revenues, are not entered
into the Actuals Tracking system. No change management practices are in place. This results in
customers not being billed for changes and additions to market programs.

The work order and price quotes systems are not year 2000 compliant, and must be replaced. All
new systems will use client/server architecture. Business Consultants does not have the current
staff to create client/server systems, but they have excellent relational DBMS skills.

Entry of cost estimates into the Actuals Tracking system at a detailed level is difficult and time
consuming. Users need more support for developing advanced functionality into the spread-
sheets that are used for price quotes and cost estimates. With so many applications involved,
phone quotes are almost impossible. They are simply educated guesses instead of price quotes.
Users did not mention response times of individual applications as an issue.

12
Target Environment:
The company wants to standardize processes, practices, procedures, and outputs. The applica-
tion should be developed in the following phases:
• cost estimates, price quotes, specifications, and standardized customer presentations;
• standardized internal reports and change management;
• production workflow; and
• a customer communications repository.

The company would like to have an integrated tool that brings together all processes. The sys-
tem should feed information automatically into the existing Actuals Tracking system, and reuse
as much of the existing relational DBMS as possible. The company will own the developed
system after the first phase, maintain the current release, and develop further releases, all without
external expertise.

1. Which constraints affect the implementation schedule? (Choose two)

A: The information systems staff has a low level of experience in developing client-server
applications.
Immediate remote access is needed

2. Which problems should be addressed in the first phase of this project?

A: inaccurate cost estimates, inaccurate phone quotes, inconsistent customer presentations,

and slow response to RFPs

3. Which is the most important performance requirement?

A: The time required for generating price quotes.

4. What are the business problems that contribute to the company’s low profitability?
(Choose all that apply)

A: Inaccurate cost estimates

Inaccurate price quotes
Inconsistent presentations
Slow response to RFPs
Lack of advanced spreadsheet functionality
Lack of change management practices

13
5. Select and arrange chronologically the current business processes. You may be asked
to arrange to arrange price quote information, cost estimate information, presentation
information, or any combination thereof. All steps are in order chronologically.

A:

Assess the customer’s needs Price Quote

Enter the customer’s needs into the Work Order system
Describe the marketing program in detail
Start formulating customer price quotes
Enter the price quotes in the price quote system
Refine the price quotes based on current market conditions Cost Estimate
Start formulating cost estimates for the marketing program
Summarize cost estimates for the marketing program
Enter cost estimate for the marketing program into Actuals
Create a customer presentation Presentation
Review the customer presentation for financial feasibility
Present the marketing program to the customer

6. What is the phone quote business problem?

A: Too many applications are involved.

7. Which two business needs does this project address? (Choose two)

A: More detailed marketing program specifications

More functionality in spreadsheets that are used for price quotes and cost estimates

8. What is the maintainability requirement?

A: The solution will need to be maintained by internal staff who have minimal client/server
experience.

9. Why are details of cost estimates missing from the actual tracking system?

A: Entering cost estimates into the Actuals Tracking system at a detailed level is too difficult
and time-consuming.

14
Contusion Inventory System

Background:
Contusion is a document archive company that stores documents and business papers for its
customers. Contusion has created an inventory control system that will be used to track the loca-
tion of these documents. A box of documents will be referred to as an “item”. Contusion has
placed restrictions on the technology that can be used to construct the inventory control system.

System Requirements:
Contusion or the document archive companies who purchase its inventory control system will
maintain the system. The system architecture must be kept simple, as Contusion cannot attract,
hire, or retain highly skilled developers. The inventory control system will consist of three major
functional components, the database, the data warehouse component, and the business office
component.

Application Requirements:
• Contusion does not want transaction management software or Web systems.
• The bar code processing application and the business office application must both be written
in Microsoft Visual Basic.
• Business rules must be stored in a single location as much as possible.
• The inventory control system must use the Microsoft SQL Server DBMS.

Inventory Requirements:
• The inventory control system must manage 10 million items.
• The inventory control system must provide quick access to the shelf location for each item.
• Each shelf must be labeled with a unique location number.
• The inventory control system must track the location of each item in the warehouse.
• Each item must have one or more bar codes, each of which will have a unique number.
• The inventory control system must provide a history of all changes in the location of an item
while the item is in the warehouse.
• An item will average five location changes while it is in the warehouse.
• Each shelf can hold one or more items.

Warehouse Requirements:
• The database must record all movements of an item in the warehouse.
• A bar code reader must be used to track the movement of items within the warehouse.
• The bar code reader must store the item number, the location number and the date and time
of the last move.
• The physical structure of the warehouse makes radio frequency bar code readers impractical.
• The bar code reader must store the item information and the location information until the
information is uploaded into the database.
• The bar code processing application must support up to 20 concurrent bar code readers.

15
Business Office Requirements:
The business office user processes orders from Contusion's customers. Orders consist of request
for the pickup of items from the customer, delivery of items to the customer, and an inventory of
the customer's items in the warehouse.

Requirements:
• The application must support up to ten concurrent users.
• The business office application must provide an on-screen or printed inventory of items for
each customer.
• The application must provide an on-screen or printed physical location of the customer's
item.
• The application must provide a method of scheduling the return of an item from the ware-
house to the customer.

Proposed Database Tables

• Customers: contains information about the owner.
• Items: contains information about an item in warehouse.
• Locations: contains information about the various shelves in the warehouse.
• ItemNumbers: contains information about the bar code assigned to an item.
• ItemLocationHistory: contains information about the history of an item location.

16
1. Specify the primary key, foreign key, and other attributes of each entity.

OA = Other Attributes, PK = Primary Key, FK = Foreign Key

Entity Attribute Field Name

Customer PK CustomerID
FK
OA Name
Item PK ItemID
FK CustomerID
OA ContentsDescription
Locations PK LocationID
FK
OA LocationBarcode
ItemNumber PK ItemNumberID
FK ItemID
OA BarcodeNumber
ItemLocationHistory PK ItemLocationHistoryID
FK ItemID
LocationID
OA

17
2. How would you construct a high-level database model for the inventory control system?

Customer Item ItemNumber

PK – CustomerID PK – ItemID PK - ItemNu mberID
One to Many One to Many
OA - Name FK - CustomerID FK – ItemID
OA - ContentsDescription OA - BarcodeNumber

One to Many

Location ItemLocationHistoryID
PK – LocationID PK - ItemLocationHistoryID
One to Many FK - ItemID
OA - Location -
BarCode LocationID

18
3. How would you construct a Data Flow Diagram for the Inventory Control System?

Entity
Barcode Processing Application
Inventory Database
Business Office Application
BarcodeReader
Connector
Item Location and Barcode Data
Item Location Data
Customer Inventory Data
Item Return Data

Barcode Reader Item Location data Barcode Processing Application

+
Item Return Data
Item Location data and
Barcode Data

Item Location data

+
Customer Inventory Data Inventory database
Business Office Application

Item Return Data

19
Delude Mutual Life

Delude Mutual Life is an insurance company that writes policies for automobile drivers.

Problem Statement:
Delude’s policy management system has outgrown its mainframe. The system crashes numerous
times per week, causing downtime. Delude wants to replace the mainframe with a new system
that uses relational database technology. The budget is set, and cannot be increased. The design
of the new system should solve the business requirements, and should not include any extra data
elements or features.

Analysis:
The policy is the main piece of data. Each policy can cover multiple vehicles. An individual
might own several vehicles. Both of these vehicles would be covered under one policy. A pol-
icy can cover multiple drivers, as in a family policy. All members in the family would be cov-
ered by the one policy. A vehicle cannot be insured under more than one active policy, and a
driver cannot be insured under more than one active policy.

Effective and termination dates need to be tracked for each policy, as well as the current status of
the policy. When the user has entered all of the data, the user must direct the system to calculate
the premium. After the data is entered, and the premium is calculated, the user must direct the
system to generate a confirmation letter to the policyholder.

The policy premium is calculated based on the number of drivers per vehicle and on specific
characteristics for each driver. These may include the number of driving violations, the number
of years licensed, and the age of the driver.

Specific violations for each driver will need to be tracked. The insurance agent will enter the
violation data for each driver when the policy is set up. A specific violation counts against a
driver until three years after the violation date. The Motor Vehicle Registration office sends
Delude Mutual a master file of all possible violation codes, along with a description of each vio-
lation.

The number of insured vehicles affects the policy premium. The vehicle characteristics that af-
fect the policy premium include the vehicle’s value, year, make, and model. The vehicle manu-
facturer assigns a unique identification number to each vehicle. The identification number is
called the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). The VIN is different from the vehicle’s license
number.

Drivers can be excluded from driving a specific vehicle. Policyholders often exclude teenage
children from driving sports vehicles to save premium charges. The policyholder would be de-
creasing the number of drivers on one car, and excluding a high-risk driver from driving an ex-
pensive car. All drivers must be explicitly associated with cars that they can drive and cars that
they are excluded from driving.

20
 PK = Primary Key, Foreign Key = FK, OA = Other Attributes

1. Specify the primary key, foreign key, and other attributes for each entity.

Entity Attribute Field Name

Policy PK Policy Key
FK
OA Policy Effective Date
Policy Expiration Date
Policy Number
Vehicle PK Vehicle Key
FK Policy Key
OA VIN
Make
Model
Year
Value of Vehicle
Vehicle Driver PK Vehicle Driver key
FK Driver key
Vehicle key
OA
Driver PK Driver Key
FK Policy Key
OA First Name
Last Name
Birth Date
Date Licensed
Violation Codes Master List PK Violation Codes Master List Key
FK
OA Violation Code
Violation Description
Driver Violations PK Driver Violations Key
FK Driver Key
Violation Codes Master List Key
OA Violation Date

21
Violation Codes Master List Driver Violations

PK – Violation Codes Master List Key PK – Driver Violations Key

FK – FK – Driver Key
OA – Violation Code Vio lation Codes Master List Key
Violation Description OA – Violation Date

Policy Driver

PK – Policy Key PK – Driver Key

FK – FK – Policy Key
OA – Policy Effective Date OA – First Name
Policy Expiration Date Last Name
Policy Number Birth Date
Date Licensed

Vehicle

PK – Vehicle Key Vehicle Driver

FK – Policy Key
OA - VIN PK - Vehicle Driver Key
Make FK – Vehicle Key
Model Driver Key
Year OA –
Value of Vehicle

22
2. What is the order of tasks that must be included for creating a new policy?

A: Initiate the entry of policy information

Enter the driver information
Enter the vehicle information
Initiate calculation of the premium
Generate a confirmation letter

23
Woody Bank
Woody Bank is a regional bank that runs its applications on a mainframe computer. They have a
client/server environment, which runs their Accounts Payable application. This application must
use MS Windows 3.1 as the client computer operating system. The current AP uses an older
version of MS SQL Server as the database software. This older version of SQL is not certified to
run on MS Windows NT 4.0. The client computers have 8 MB of memory. The AP department
receives paper invoices from many vendors. The format varies greatly from invoice to invoice.

Problem Statement:
Woody Bank would like to upgrade and enhance its Account Payable (AP) application.

Proposed Solution:
The bank will upgrade the packaged client/server application to the new version, 5.0. Version
5.0 is certified to operate on only a 32-bit MS Windows client computer operating system, and
on the latest release of MS SQL Server. Version 5.0 will also require more memory on the client
computers. Both the current and new (5.) versions of the AP application use ODBC to connect
to the database.

Interfacing Systems:
General Ledger (GL)
The new AP application must feed transactions to the GL system on a monthly basis.

Purchase Order (PO)

The PO system tracks the status of each purchase order. The status can be open or closed.
The new AP application must validate that the invoice has an open purchase order. The AP
application must close the purchase order on the PO system when the full amount of the pur-
chase order has been paid.

Check Issuance
Once an invoice is approved for payment, the new AP application must transfer data to the
Check Issuance system.

Data Warehouse
The new AP application must update the Data Warehouse system on a daily basis.

Users:
Typical users have minimal exposure to the MS Windows environment. They are temperame n-
tal, and their acceptance of this new system will strongly impact the success of the implementa-
tion.

Twenty Accounts Payable processors each handle an average of 15 invoices per day. They can
barely keep up with the invoice activity for the existing business load. A new branch that is
opening soon will increase the workload by 50 percent. The average AP processor earns
$40,000 per year.

24
There are three jobs in the AP department: supervisor, proofer, and processor. The processors
enter the invoice data into the AP system. Managers outside of the AP department approve the
invoices. The processors cannot process an invoice without manager approval. The proofers and
the supervisors review the invoices and data for accuracy. Only supervisors can post the in-
voices in the AP system.

Requested AP Enhancements:
Payment Term Savings
Some of Woody’s vendors discount the invoice amount if the invoice is paid early. The AP
department manger estimates that 30 of the vendors offer these terms. Each vendor bills an
average of $25,000 per year to Woody bank. The discount is five percent. The AP manager
suggested adding a feature that would allow early payment of these invoices. Cost to imple-
ment: $40,000.

Invoice Approval by E-mail

This feature would automate the approval of invoices. When an invoice is first entered into
the system, the system will automatically send an e-mail to the appropriate manager request-
ing approval to pay the invoice. The manager will respond via e-mail, and the system will
update the invoice automatically as approved for payment. The AP processors currently fax
the manager for approval, and update the invoices manually once they are approved. This
feature would double the number of invoices a processor could handle in one day. Cost to
implement: $100,000.

Audit Control for Lost Invoices

This feature would eliminate the problem of invoices being lost. About one percent of in-
voices are lost. As a result, those invoices are paid late. The average late fee is $10.00. Cost
to implement: $20,000.

1. You are given a list of deployment tasks, and asked to select the least risky deployment
schedule. What steps should you do first to minimize impact on the customer’s produc-
tion?

A: Install a New MS SQL Server to a PC

Copy Database Objects from old MS SQL Server to new SQL Server
Upgrade the old MS SQL Server to the newer version
Upgrade RAM for Client PC
Upgrade Client PCs to Windows 95
Change Data Source Name to point to New SQL Server
Deploy New AP Applications with new features disabled
Enable New AP Applications New Features
Deploy both the upgraded AP application and the new features into production

2. Which application enhancement should be implemented first, based on Return on In-

vestment?

A: Invoice approval by e-mail.

25
3. You are integrating the AP application with the General Ledger. What would be the
two most important concerns?

A: The GL Platform
GL data format

4. Which of the existing system requires data to be sent both to and from the new AP sys-
tem?

A: PO

5. Which factors are the most important to consider for the maintainability of this sys-
tem?

A: Location of database, and location of database administrator.

26
Multiple-choice questions

1. You are designing an automated component for an insurance company containing sta-
tistical functions. How would you implement it for maximum performance?

A: As in process locally

2. You want to provide secure access to an online magazine. The users have to be able to
access the site from any computer by providing their password. What technology would
you use for authentication?

A: Basic Authentication

3. You design a business object. You want the business object to abstract an existing pa-
tient-tracking database. The database includes a Patients table, and a Doctors table.
There is also a PatientDoctors junction table that tracks which patients have visited
which Doctor. Which object design is best?

A: A Patients collections of patient objects that each contain a single doctor object, and a
doctors collection of doctor objects that each contain a single patient object.

4. You are designing a distributed application that will run on Windows NT. Your client
application will communicate with another component that is hosted on an NT Server
4.0. All clients and servers are on the same ne twork. What technology should you use?

A: DCOM

5. A system expects to be deployed for 100 users but within a year will be deployed to 5000
users. What will be most affected by the increase in users?

A: Scalability

6. Frank has added features to an ActiveX control that is used by a networked client ap-
plication to access data on the company Intranet. How can Frank ensure backward
compatibility between the client application and the modified control?

A: By creating a new Interface and assigning it a new Interface ID that exposes all features

7. Wanda is designing a Wizard to automatically generate Entity Relationship Diagrams.

What type of interface should be used?

A: Design the Wizard using a single secondary window for all of the Wizard pages.

27
8. Which of the following are attributes of a normalized database?

A: A table has all non-key columns dependent on the primary key.

9. You are designing an application that displays information on stocks. The information
should include the closing price, the price change, and a year high. Which control
should you use?

A: List view control

10. You program a web-based application, which has to access a SQL server. It has to be
accessible from any browser. The HTML is to be produced by ASP. What technology
do you use for database access?

A: ADO

11. You are developing a direct mail application with a database that contains the mail re-
cipients. The database does not change frequently. Business rules do change frequently.
There will be three different applications that use the data. What is the least expensive
way to set up the application?

A: User interface on the client computers, business rules on one server, database on another
server.

12. You want users to choose from 20 mutually exclusive choices. Which type of control
would you use?

A: Drop-down list

13. You are designing an application that is to be sold to companies having 2 to 200 em-
ployees. It needs to access either an Access database or a SQL database. You want to
reuse a maximal amount of code. What technology would you use?

A: ADO for both versions

14. You program a wizard-type application that allows users to design HTML pages. How
would you implement it?

A: Dialog-box

15. You are developing an application that will run on a single computer, that performs 2
complex calculations. How should you implement the system for the best performance?

A: Multiprocessor, Multithreaded

28