DATABASE MANAGEMENT – DHA NURSERY K-BLOCK

INTRODUCTION

DHA Nursery is a nursery located in K-Block Defence, Lahore. The nursery primarily sells flowers and plants in the
form of seeds, bulbs or cuttings and along with a selection of garden supplies.

OPERATIONS

The nursery has one owner and 17 employees.

These include professional gardeners/farmers, flower workers, harvestors, potters and consultants with expert
knowledge called botanists and florists. Some of them, like farmers, harvestors and potters work daily to maintain
the nursery while the consultants come each week or fortnight to check the management of plants and give advice
and suggestions.

There are also employees who manage manual record keeping of plants/seeds, employees (and their pay), sales
and supply.

Inventory levels are updated and adjusted by reviewing the sales weekly and monthly, though this task is done
manually.

In terms of competition, the nursery faces direct competition from other nurseries that also sell plants of similar
variety and price. Competition gets stronger from those selling at relatively low prices. Those located in urban
districts (DHA, Gulberg) also get more customers with high buying capacity. Other nurseries that have a large
inventory also get large contractors.

Indirectly, the nursery faces competition from gardeners hired by individual homes. These gardeners may buy
plants for the house from one of these nurseries or from their own farms and sell them at lower prices.
Sometimes, they also manage to get rare plants from other cities.

RECORDS KEEPING

Currently, the nursery’s record keeping is managed by two people who divide record keeping of plants/seeds,
employees (and their pay) and sales and supply. This record keeping is done manually on registers where a record
looks like this:

Plant Name Common Name Category Rare/Common Batch

available
Japanese Maple Shrub/Trees Rare 20
Acer Palmatum

When a customer comes and requests to see a plant, the plant name from the register is read and found from the
inventory or the pot or placard corresponding to the label in the register is shown to the customer.

Sales records are updated in a similar manner on a register.

SYSTEM ANALSIS & PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

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As far as efficiency is concerned, the current system has a number of problems.

Firstly, the manual listing of products is a time consuming task, especially if a huge batch is delivered at once. A
possibility of human error also remains where the product details may be written wrongly or not written at all.

The employees usually do remember where every plant is located, but they have to visually look and find the piece
required by the customer. They also have to rely on their memory to tell the customer if a particular piece has
gone out of stock. Problems also come up if an employee in charge of a set area/number of plants is absent.

Physical means of recording data can easily be destroyed by fire, water or they could just be lost. Maintaining a
backup is very time consuming and cumbersome in this case too.

No analysis whatsoever is made on unpopular plants so that they aren’t ordered in the next season. Similarly, the
nursery can run out of an in-demand plant without any reorder placed in time.

When calculating sales and profits, all the mathematics is done on paper with a calculator. This again comes with
the problem human error and inaccuracy.

Overall, here the manual record keeping system isn’t as efficient as a nursery with such a high level of stock and
customers should have. A computerized database system would help improve the quality and ease with which the
recordkeeping is maintained.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND SOLUTIONS

The only way to get the nursery perform its record keeping operations in a more efficient way is via a
computerized database system implemented directly. This implementation strategy will see the nursery changing
straight to the new database system and start maintaining their records on that while completely giving up the old
manual system. The database system is the most suitable way of keeping nursery records because since several
tables need to be created, a lot of data has to be input and managed. Doing this manually will be time consuming
and at times inaccurate while running both the manual and computerized system will be very burdensome, time
consuming and purposeless.

A database will allow for tables to be created with a key field that holds unique values to distinguish every record.
Staff won’t have to enter detail in every table because the relational nature of the database will allow related
tables’ similar fields to be linked to each other and thus help reduce data duplication by a very significant amount.
While staff may have a few initial problems, the database is very user friendly and isn’t likely to give rise to any
major difficulties.

Class Diagrams:

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Relationships:

First Normal Form

Customers Table
Field Type Description
CustomerID Numeric A unique numeric ID for each customer. (Primary Key)
Name Text Customer's full name
Contact Text Customer's cell phone number
Address Text Customer's home address
Plants Bought Numeric Number of total plants the customer has bought in the month
Plants Bought Text Name of plant bought by customer
Billing Code Numeric Billing code of the transaction
Total Bill Currency Total bill the customer has paid to the nursery in the month

Plants Table
Field Type Description
PlantID Numeric A unique numeric ID for each plant. (Primary Key)
Biological Name Text A plant's scientifc/biological name
Common Name Text A plant's common name
Type Text Type of the plant (tree, flower etc.)
SupplierName Text Supplier of the plant
Outside/Local Text Where the plant is delivered from to the nursery: from within the city or another city
Rare/Common Text Plant's characterisitic based on whether it is rare or common.
Price Currency Price of the plant in rupees
Number Sold Numeric Number of sales of a plant
Available Boolean A Yes/No check of whether the plant is available in the nursery or not.
Contact Text Supplier's contact
Address Text Supplier's address

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Second Normal Form

Customers Table
Field Type Description CustomersCustomersTable Table
Field
CustomerID Type
Type
Numeric Description
ADescription
unique numeric ID for each customer. (Primary Key)
CustomerID
CustomerID
Name Numeric
Numeric
Text AAunique
uniquenumeric
Customer's numeric
full nameIDIDfor
foreach
eachcustomer.
customer.(Primary
(PrimaryKey) Key)
Name
Name
Contact Text
Text
Text Customer's
Customer'sfull
Customer's fullname
cell name number
phone
Contact
Contact
Address Text
Text
Text Customer's
Customer'scell
Customer's cellphone
home phone
addressnumber
number
Address
Address
Total Bill Text
Text
Currency Customer's
Total bill thehome
Customer's home address
address
customer has paid to the nursery in the month
Total
Total Bill
Bill
Billing Month Currency
Currency
Text Total
Totalbill
Name billthe
of the customer
themonth
customer thehas
haspaid
paidtotothe
transactions the nursery
placeinin
nursery
took inthe
themonth
month
Billing
Billing Month
Month Text
Text Name
Nameof ofthethemonth
monththe thetransactions
transactionstook
tookplace
placeinin
Transaction Table
Field Type Description Transaction
TransactionTable Table
Field
Field Code
Billing Type
Type
Numeric Description
Description
Billing code of the transaction (Primary Key)
Billing
Billing Code
Code
PlantSold Numeric
Numeric
Text Billing code
Billingof
Name code
plantofofthe
thetransaction
sold transaction(Primary
(PrimaryKey)
Key)
PlantSold
PlantSold
Plant ID Text
Text
Numeric Name
Nameof
Numeric plant
ofID plant sold
sold
of plant
Plant
Plant ID
Price ID Numeric
Currency
Numeric Numeric
Price ID
of one
Numeric IDofofplant
plantplant
Price
CustomerID
Price Currency
Numeric
Currency Price
Priceof
Numeric ofone
ID of
one plant
customer
plant
CustomerID
Customer
CustomerID Name Numeric
Text
Numeric Numeric
NumericID
Customer's IDofofcustomer
full name
customer
Customer
Plants Name
bought Text
Numeric Customer's
Number full name
of total
Customer Name Text Customer's full plants
name the customer has bought in the month
Plants
Total bought Numeric
Currency Number
Amount of total plants the customer
plant has bought in the month
Plants bought Numeric Numbermultiplied by price
of total plants the of
customer has bought in the month
Total
Billing Currency Amount multiplied by price of plant
Total Month Text
Currency Name
Amount of the month the
multiplied transactions
by price of planttook place in
Billing Month Text Name of the month the transactions took place in
Billing Month Text Name of the month the transactions took place in
Plants Table
Field Type Description Plants Table
Plants Table
Field
PlantID Type
Numeric Description
ADescription
unique numeric ID for each plant. (Primary Key)
Field Type
PlantID
Biological Numeric A
AAunique numeric ID for eachname plant. (Primary Key)
PlantID Name Text
Numeric plant's
uniquescientifc/biological
numeric ID for each plant. (Primary Key)
Biological
Common Name Text A
AAplant's scientifc/biological name
BiologicalName
Name Text
Text plant's common name
plant's scientifc/biological name
Common
Type Name Text
Text A plant's
Type common
of the nameflower etc.)
plant (tree,
Common Name Text A plant's common name
Type
SupplierName Text
Text Type of the
Supplier of plant
the (tree, flower etc.)
plant
Type Text Type of the plant (tree, flower etc.)
SupplierName
Outside/Local Text
Text Supplier
Where of plant
the the plant
is delivered from to the nursery: from within the city or another city
SupplierName Text Supplier of the plant
Outside/Local
Rare/Common Text
Text Where
Plant's the plant is delivered
characterisitic based on from to theitnursery:
whether rare orfrom within the city or another city
Outside/Local Text Where the plant is delivered from to the is
nursery: common.
from within the city or another city
Rare/Common
Price Text
Currency Plant's
Price ofcharacterisitic
the plant in based on whether it is rare or common.
rupees
Rare/Common Text Plant's characterisitic based on whether it is rare or common.
Price
Number Sold Currency
Numeric Price
Number of the
of plant
sales in rupees
of a plant
Price
Number Sold Currency
Numeric Price of of
Number thesales
plantofin rupees
a plant
Number Sold Numeric Number of sales of a plant
Suppliers Table
Field Type Description Suppliers Table
Suppliers Table
Field
Supplier Code Type
Numeric Description
ADescription
unique numeric ID for each supplier (Primary Key)
Field
Supplier Code Type
Numeric A unique numeric ID for each supplier (Primary Key)
SupplierName Text Supplier's official name
Supplier Code
SupplierName Numeric
Text A unique official
Supplier's numericname ID for each supplier (Primary Key)
Local/Outside Text Whether the supplier is located within the city or another city
SupplierName
Local/Outside Text
Text Supplier's
Whether theofficial name
supplier is located within the city or another city
Contact Text Supplier's contact
Local/Outside
Contact Text
Text Whether the supplier is located within the city or another city
Supplier's
Address Text Supplier's contact
address
Contact
Address Text
Text Supplier'saddress
Supplier's contact
Address Text Supplier's address

Third Normal Form

Customers Table
Field Type Description
CustomerID Numeric A unique numeric ID for each customer. (Primary Key)
Name Text Customer's full name
Contact Text Customer's cell phone number
Address Text Customer's home address
Total Bill Currency Total bill the customer has paid to the nursery in the month
Billing Month Text Name of the month the transactions took place in

Transaction Table
Field Type Description
Record Number AutoNumber Identifies record number of the table where each record displays one product sold (Primary Key)
BillingCode Numeric Billing code of the transaction
PlantSold Text Name of plant sold
PlantID Numeric Numeric ID of plant
Price Currency Price of one plant
Amount Numeric Number of plants bought
Customer ID Numeric Numeric ID of customer
Total Currency Amount multiplied by price of plant
Billing Month Text Name of the month the transactions took place in

Student Number |140268571 Monthly Bills Table 4

Field Type Description
BillingCode Numeric Billing code of the transaction (Primary Key)
CustomerID Numeric Customer's unique ID
Field Type Description Customers Table
CustomerID
Field Numeric
Type A unique numeric ID for each customer. (Primary Key)
Description
Name
CustomerID Text
Numeric Customer's
A full name
unique numeric ID for each customer. (Primary Key)
Contact
Name Text
Text Customer's cell name
Customer's full phone number
Address
Contact Text
Text Customer's cell
Customer's home address
phone number
Total Bill
Address Currency
Text Total bill the customer
Customer's home address has paid to the nursery in the month
BillingBill
Total Month Text
Currency Namebill
Total of the
the month thehas
customer transactions
paid to thetook placeininthe month
nursery
Billing Month Text Name of the month the transactions took place in
Transaction Table
Field Type Description Transaction Table
Record Number
Field AutoNumber Description
Type Identifies record number of the table where each record displays one product sold (Primary Key)
BillingCode
Record Number Numeric
AutoNumber Billing code
Identifies of thenumber
record transaction
of the table where each record displays one product sold (Primary Key)
PlantSold
BillingCode Text
Numeric Name of
Billing plant
code soldtransaction
of the
PlantID
PlantSold Numeric
Text Numeric
Name ID of plant
of plant sold
Price
PlantID Currency
Numeric Price of one
Numeric plant
ID of plant
Amount
Price Numeric
Currency Number
Price of plants
of one plant bought
Customer ID
Amount Numeric
Numeric Numeric of
Number ID plants
of customer
bought
Total
Customer ID Currency
Numeric Amount multiplied
Numeric by price of plant
ID of customer
Billing Month
Total Text
Currency Name ofmultiplied
Amount the monthby theprice
transactions
of plant took place in
Billing Month Text Name of the month the transactions took place in
Monthly Bills Table
Field Type Description Monthly Bills Table
BillingCode
Field Numeric
Type Billing code of the transaction (Primary Key)
Description
CustomerID
BillingCode Numeric
Numeric Customer's
Billing code unique ID
of the transaction (Primary Key)
Total Bill
CustomerID Currency
Numeric Total
Customer's unique ID
BillingMonth
Total Bill Text
Currency Name of the month the transactions took place in
Total
BillingMonth Text Name of the month the transactions took place in
Plants Table
Field Type Description Plants Table
PlantID
Field Numeric
Type A unique numeric ID for each plant. (Primary Key)
Description
Biological Name
PlantID Text
Numeric A unique
A plant's scientifc/biological
numeric ID for eachname
plant. (Primary Key)
Common Name
Biological Name Text
Text A plant's
A plant's scientifc/biological
common name name
Type
Common Name Text
Text Type
A of the
plant's plant (tree,
common nameflower etc.)
SupplierName
Type Text
Text Supplier
Type of the
of the plant
plant (tree, flower etc.)
Price
SupplierName Currency
Text Price of the
Supplier plant
of the in rupees
plant
Rare/Common
Price Text
Currency Plant'sofcharacterisitic
Price based on whether it is rare or common.
the plant in rupees
BatchAvailable
Rare/Common Numeric
Text Number of stock of plant
Plant's characterisitic based remaining
on whether it is rare or common.
BatchAvailable Numeric Number of stock of plant remaining
Suppliers Table
Field Type Description Suppliers Table
SupplierCode
Field Numeric
Type A unique numeric ID for each supplier (Primary Key)
Description
SupplierNAme
SupplierCode Text
Numeric Supplier's
A official name
unique numeric ID for each supplier (Primary Key)
Local/Outside
SupplierNAme Text
Text Whether the supplier
Supplier's official nameis located within the city or another city
Contact
Local/Outside Text
Text Supplier'sthe
Whether contact
supplier is located within the city or another city
Address
Contact Text
Text Supplier's contact
Supplier's address
Address Text Supplier's address

The following are representations of tables with a few records.

Bills Table:

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Customers Table: Suppliers Table:

Plants Table:

Transactions Table:

Input Forms:

Whenever a new customer, plant or supplier needs to be added to the records of the nursery, the following
Customer Details, Plant Details and Supplier Details forms are used to input the new data.

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When a customer buys a plant or plants, one transaction for a particular product is added to the transaction
table(no matter what the amount). The user inputs the details including the calculated price and amount of the
product bought in one record. If the customer has
bought another different product, another record
is added, the record number in the table
incremented and its details entered. This is to
keep a track of each product sold and which
customer(s) bought it. The user also updates the
updated amount of plant available in the plants
table.

In the Bills form, the user enters the total amount

of the bill the customer pays.

Queries:

Query to display customers

with bills greater than Rs.
15,000.

Query to calculate the number of rare and

common plants sold.

Query to calculate number of sales

according to suppliers:

Query to calculate total bills of each

customer.

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Reports:

The following reports were produced by the queries above:

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