2. Tiny College is so pleased with your design and implementation of its student registration/ tracking system that it wants you to expand the design to include its motor pool. A brief description of operations follows:
Faculty members may use the Tiny College-owned vehicles for officially-sanctioned travel. For example, its vehicles may be used by faculty members to travel to off-campus learning centers, to travel to locations at which research papers are presented, to transport students to officially sanctioned locations, and to travel for public service purposes. The vehicles used for such purposes are managed by Tiny College's TFBS (Travel Far But Slow) Center.
Using reservation forms, each department may reserve vehicles for its faculty, who are responsible for filling out the appropriate trip completion form at the end of each trip. The reservation form includes the expected departure date, vehicle type required, destination, and the authorized faculty member. When the faculty member arrives to pick up the vehicle, (s)he must sign a check-out form to log the vehicle out and to pick up a trip completion form. (The TFBS employee who releases the vehicle for use also signs the check-out form.) The faculty member's trip completion form includes the faculty member's identification code, the vehicle's identification, the odometer readings at the start and end of the trip, maintenance complaints, if any, gallons of fuel purchased, if any, and the Learnwell College credit card used to pay for such fuel. If fuel has been purchased, the credit card receipt must be stapled to the trip completion form. Upon receipt of the Faculty Trip Completion form, the faculty member's department is billed at a mileage rate based on the vehicle type (sedan, station wagon, panel truck, minivan, minibus) used. HINT: Do NOT use more entities than are necessary. Remember the difference between attributes and entities!
All vehicle maintenance is performed by TFBS. Each time a vehicle requires maintenance, a maintenance log entry is completed on a pre-numbered maintenance log form. The maintenance log form includes the vehicle identification, a brief description of the type of maintenance required, the initial log entry date, the date on which the maintenance was completed, and the identification of the mechanic who released the vehicle back into service. (Only mechanics who have an inspection authorization may release the vehicle back into service.)
As soon as the log form has been initiated, the log form's number is transferred to a maintenance detail form; the log form's number is also forwarded to the parts department manager, who fills out a parts usage form on which the maintenance log number is recorded. The maintenance detail form contains separate lines for each maintenance item performed, the parts used, and the identification of the mechanic who performed the maintenance item. When all the maintenance items have been completed, the maintenance detail form is stapled to the maintenance log form, the maintenance log form's completion date is filled out, and the mechanic who releases the vehicle back to service signs the form. The stapled forms are then filed, to be used later as the source for various maintenance reports.
TBFS maintains a parts inventory, including oil, oil filters, air filters, belts of various types, and so on. The parts inventory is monitored daily to monitor parts usage and to re-order parts that reach the "minimum quantity on hand" level. To track parts usage, the parts manager requires each mechanic to sign out the parts that are used to perform each vehicle's maintenance; the parts manager records the maintenance log number under which the part is used.
Each month, TFBS issues a set of reports. These reports include the mileage driven by vehicle, by department, and by faculty members within the department. In addition, various "revenue" reports are generated by vehicle and department. A detailed parts usage report is also filed each month. Finally, a vehicle maintenance summary is created each month.