Hello!I'm new here on the forum!
I have a work to do on a class which consists on creating a database and this's a work by checkpoints,which means,I have a limit date to give away part of the work I've done until the next checkpoint.The prob lem is,I don't know where to start!The first thing I'm asked to do is to propose a theme(Managing a bar was what I had in mind) and have its preliminary specification.What do they want to say with 'preliminary specification'?Next I'm supposed to give away the inicial specification and the applicational funcionalities that uses this database...Again I'm not sure what they mean by that...Any help is extremely appreciated!

Which school is it? Full name and address, please.

Why? Perhaps someone (among Forum members) goes to that school, or even works there. Then it will be easier to answer such a question. Because, if YOU, who attend those classes (or, at least, you are supposed to) don't have a clue what your teacher wants, how do you expect US to read his mind?

Whatever we think "preliminary specificatons" or "functionalities" are, it is your teacher who EXACTLY knows what he wants you to do. Therefore, I'd suggest you to take a walk, knock on his door and get all required information there.

Then return back and show what you've already done, explain problems you have and someone will surely help you. But, it is a little bit impolite to expect Forum members to do your school assignment from the beginning. Gosh, you don't even know how to start!

"Managing a bar" could be OK if you know to manage a bar (it is not just "a barman pours a drink into my glass"), i.e. know business rules. If not, you'll have to spend some time to get into the business - you can't design something you don't know at all. Therefore, choose a theme you are familiar with.

To make things easier for you, select a data model here.

PS: You may need to mention the site/author in the 'bibliography' or 'references' section of your paper.

At least you can explain all the time you spend in the bar as "research".

It could have been worse. The assignment could have been for a sewage treatment plant.

Well we are freely to choose a theme we like...

After giving some more thought to the "Bar management" theme I've decided to change themes,not only because I'm on a tight schedule and I need to send the theme by mail to the teacher until Monday, but also because it would involve lots of research(and field research) and it's not one of the most easiest subjects to deal with.Also the teacher values originality and a database about a bar is something overused this days(at least I see it that way).
After someone suggested to speak with the teacher about what he really wanted to say with "preliminar specification" ,I mailed my teacher with the question and got a response:

"A preliminar specification could be,for example,

'Café Management Application' will allow:

- do the stock management of all products(inserting shops and sales,deliveries,invoices,etc.)
- staff management(personal data,contracts,prizes,remunerations)

'Café Management Application' should have:

- an application of POS(cash register) to be used by the waiter
- a backoffice application to be used by the cafe manager"

My new theme deals with 'Dog's house management'.This's what I've got so far concerning my preliminar specification:

'Management application of a dog's house' will allow:

- when the owners are away the dog's house would be their new home.
- register the dogs' breed and type
- manage the the type of treatments and medical care needed
- register information about the dogs(name,age,color,gender,etc.)
- manage the dogs' family details(name,adress,city,state,contact,etc.)
- manage the vacancies and reservations

Does this preliminar specification looks ok?Should I include something more?Also, what does the term "backoffice" means?
Any help on this is greatly appreciated!Thanks in advance!

Any help,please?