Hello everyone, I have to design a database from a case study for a class project and I am having some problems. Wondering if you can tell me if I am on the right track and if possible advice me o which areas I need work on.

The question is as follows:

"The short course institute runs computing courses for members of the public and IT professionals. The institute offers certification from many of the major computing organizations (e.g. Oracle Certification, .Net Certification , C# etc.). The organizations provide the certification tests.

The courses are scheduled a year in advance and then marketed in trade magazines and on the internet. Bookings are received either by phone or over the web. Bookings are taken from individuals or from companies who may choose to take advantage of a discount available for multiple bookings. A multiple booking will be for more than two places and a discount of 20% is available. The number of places on a course is limited based on the size of the room where it will be delivered. Applicants will pay 10% of the course fee to reserve a place and will be invoiced for the remainder of the fee two weeks before the start of the course. An applicant may cancel and request a refund up to one week in advance of the course but they will lose their deposit.

The institute has 6 rooms of varying sizes available for delivery of on-site courses. All the rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
On completing the course applicants may opt to do the certification test. This must be paid in advance. An applicant can apply to take the certification anytime within one year of having taken the course. The tutors mark the test and a certificate is sent to the successful applicants.

A company can also arrange to have a course delivered on-site. There is a one off payment for this regardless of the number of employees who attend. These courses can be arranged at reasonably short notice. This must be agreed with the tutor who will deliver the course. However the company must pay in advance and there is no cancellation permitted for this form of delivery. The fee for delivering on-site is negotiated with the tutor in advance and can vary for each delivery.

The short course institute uses 15 tutors to deliver courses. These are paid on a consultancy basis for the actual courses delivered. When they complete a course they will invoice the institute.

The institute has requested an information system in order to manage the processing of the various types of booking, cancellations, assessments and the payment of tutors. They are aiming to use this specification to outsource the development of the system to a software house in India."

Develop an ERD and Data Flow Diagram before creating your database.


I have attached a copy of my diagrams which were developed the ASCENT Case Tool. Any assistance will be welcomed.

Thanking you in advance

Can anyone give any assistace or advice please? I am desperate to know if I am on the right track since I am new to databases and I have to soon build the database itself.

Any assistance welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

you didn't mention any of these problems you're having

are you on the right track? more or less, yes, but there's nothing specific about that question

we aren't going to do your assignment for you, but we will answer your specific questions

My sincerest apologies for not beig more specific. I do not want anyone to do the assignment for me, just wanted some comments on how I was going.

However, I want to know how do you cater for bookings in the ERD:

It says that bookings may be taken from individuals or companies. Do I have to create a superclass and subclass for this?

Hope this alright.