Preface
This book is designed as a supplement for an information systems or information technology introductory course. It contains 22 small business case scenarios that will help your students understand the use of database applications, spreadsheet applications, and Web design.
The book has seven chapters, with three cases in each chapter. Cases 1 through 9 are Access database small business scenarios. There is an additional capstone case in Access. Cases 10 through 18 are Excel spreadsheet scenarios. Cases 19 through 21 are website design scenarios. The cases have been designed to fit into a one-hour instructor demonstration.
The first case in every chapter is used as a teaching case to be demonstrated to your students during class. The second and third cases match the skill set of the demonstrated teaching case, allowing the students to practice what they have learned in these additional assignment cases. These small business cases include tracking business revenue within multiple stores, projecting the cost of remodeling a restaurant, managing inventory in a chiropractic office using a client database, and many other scenarios. The skill level for each set of cases progresses from beginning to intermediate to advanced. The capstone case in Access encompasses the majority of skills taught in the previous Access cases.
BREAKDOWN OF CASE DESIGN
The cases in the book have a consistent design that begins with a preview of the small business scenario, skill level, and background. The cases include case specifications, design, and implementation. There are questions at the end of each case.
Preview gives a quick synopsis of the small business case and what is to be accomplished in the case.
Skill Set is a listing of the skills that are taught in the case and the skills that are duplicated in the assignment cases to follow.
Background gives a complete description and expanded explanation of the goal to be completed at the end of the small business scenario.
Case Analysis includes three requirements:
- Output Requirements are a description of the completed goal of the scenario.
- Input Requirements are instructions for inputting information that is needed to begin the scenario.
- Processing Requirements are the set of instructions on how to complete the case study.
Design and Implementation gives instructions on the design aspects and proper formatting of the scenario for completing the case specifications.
Using the Application allows the students to use the application as a tool to answer questions and solve problems. The goal is to have the students shift from designer of the application to the end user of the application.
SUPPLEMENTS
This text is accompanied by Instructor and Student files. The instructor files are the completed cases and the student files are a starter kit for each case. The answers to the questions for the Excel files are included in the Instructor file on an additional sheet in the Excel workbook. The answers to the questions for the Access files are included as a Word document. There are no Instructor files for the Web component.
If you have any questions or comments about the book, please e-mail Cynthia Gardner-Nitsch at [email protected].
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful for the support of multiple people through the process of completing this second edition. We would like to thank Executive Editor Beth Golub and Assistant Editor Samantha Mandel for helping us complete this book. We would like to especially thank our book representative Brian Hinshaw, who initially invited us to write this book.
We would like to thank the reviewers for this book, from whom we received great suggestions and feedback:
Sherry Grosso, University of South Carolina at Sumter
Gina M. Jones, Aims Community College
Elizabeth Baker, Wake Forest University
Carol Wysocki, Columbia Basin Community College