Chapter AE, Problem AE1.2

Explanation of Solution

a.

• Mention a query as a manager of Denver plant to know the amount of time employees are spending on special project:

  To know the amount of time employees are spending on special project can be answered directly by the Denver Sum query which is accurate, relevant and sufficient. The answer to amount of time employees are spending on special project can also be answered by the Plant Sum query for Denver and the other two plants.

• Mention a query as a manager of Reno plant to find the amount of time employees are spending on special projects:

  There is not a single query that answers the amount of time employees are spending on special project directly; however, Plant sum query can answer this question. Plant sum query is accurate and sufficient but adds extra information as it calculates the total hours for Denver and Chicago plants also.

• Mention a query to know how much time employees are spending on Quota Computation project:

  The total amount of time employees are working on Quota computation project can be calculated using Sorted Query 1. These query lists the total hours worked by employees in quota computation project in Chicago project which can be manually added to find the total hours spend on quota computation project by Chicago plant employees. Here the data is sufficient but needs manipulation to produce relevant result and hence accuracy is questionable. The data is sufficient as there is information in the query that is not really needed.

• Mention a query to find the number of hours worked by employees in the quota computation project in all three plants:

  To find the number of hours worked by employees in the quota computation project in all three plants cannot be answered directly by any query...

Explanation of Solution

b.

Mention the conclusion that can be drawn by this exercise:

It can be said that one can create queries to answer questions quickly and easily but queries need to be formulated ...

Explanation of Solution

c.

Mention the advantages and disadvantages of databases as compared to spreadsheet:

• It can be inferred that queries in databases are easy to use and can be constructed to produce specific answers...