Project Task : Background

In project task one you should have identified requirements for your eCommerce database.

Below is a list of minimum requirements that I have identified for your eCommerce system. There is obviously more information and functionality that can be implemented than what we have here, but for this class we will simplify things.

• Minimum Requirements for eCommerce

o What type of data is used for eCommerce?

Customer data

Product data

Sales data

o Where will data come from?

Product data will come from the organization

Customer and sales data will come from eCommerce users

o Who will use the database?

Customers of the organization

Marketing department

• Identify products to be sold online

• Set prices

• Sales promotions.

o What is the purpose of the database?

To market, promote and sell products to our customers.

o What functionality is needed?

Product display

Shopping cart (sales data)

• Potential business rules

o Basic business rules need to be developed for cross-sales and up-sales. We will not worry about identifying the formulas for these recommendations. However, this is an example of business rules that we will discuss this semester. For now, just understand what cross-sales and up-sales are, we will discuss how to implement these business rule at a later date.

Cross sales - This is the sale of products that are not related to other products purchased by the customer but recommended by the system. Often based on purchase habits of other customers who bought non-related products together.

Up Sales - This is the sale of products that are related to previous (or current) purchases that provide benefits to the products the customer has already purchased. These recommendations are often made based on a customer's purchase history or items that appear in their shopping cart.

Project Task 2: Requirements

For this task, you are to look at the "Minimum requirements" identified above and determine the entities, attributes and primary keys required for your database. You DO NOT need to identify foreign keys or relationships at this point. Your main task is to determine what data should be collected and how it is grouped together.

You may create a Word or Visio document displaying the tables and attributes that you identify. The tables and attributes will be based on the requirements we identified in task 1.