Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course, students will have adequate programming competence to understand both the functioning and the informatics structure of relational Data Bases and Data Warehouses.
Applying knowledge and understanding
Students will develop basic programming skills and will be able to design a small informative system based on Microsoft applications. To this aim they will master Microsoft Access and they will learn specific programming languages, such as SQL and VBA.
Making judgments
Students will be able to assess the strategic, tactic and operating impact related to the adoption of an information system. Students will also be able to evaluate the convenience (both in monetary and effectiveness terms) of developing an “in house” information system rather than purchasing a commercial one.
Communication skills
Students will acquire the vocabulary and the acronyms related to relational Data Bases. They will also be able to communicate such concepts both in conceptual terms, or making use of logical schemes, flow charts and pseudo-codes.
Learning skills
The expertise developed by the students will be enough to fully understand specialized literature and to participate in on-line forums.
Prerequisites
Although there are no compulsory prerequisites, students are advised to have passed the following modules of the BsC course in Management Engineering: (i) Basic information science, (ii) Management Accounting and (iii) Production Management.
Course unit content
To be competitive in the today global marketplace, companies must overcome the traditional tradeoff in terms of Efficiency Versus Effectiveness. To this aim, internal processes must be rethought and managed in an optimized way, aiming to eliminate all non-value-added activities. In this respect, the use of Management Information System (MIS) capable not only to automatize operations, but also to support operations planning, has become a must for competitiveness.
This part of the course belongs to this area of research and aims to provide the basic programming skills needed to fully understand the functioning and the architecture of the Information Systems. Specifically, the focus is on the design of Relational Data Base using Microsoft applications: insight on both Structured Query Language (SQL) and Visual Basic for Applications are given.
Full programme
1. Introduction
1.1 Data Base evolution
1.2 Relational Data Base
1.3 Conceptual and Logic design of a DB
2. Basic Computer Science concepts
2.2. Data Base structures: tables, relations, primary and forward keys
2.3. Normalization rules and relational algebra
2.4. How to retrieve data from a DB: the Structured Query Language (SQL)
3. Physic design: developing a DB with Microsoft Access
3.1. Building Tables and Relations
3.2. Building Forms, Queries and Records
3.3. Advanced programming topics: triggers and stored procedures, building macros with VBA
Bibliography
Couch A., Microsoft Access 2010 VBA Programming Inside Out, Microsoft Press, USA, 2010
Dorbolò D., Guidi, A., Guida a SQL, McGraw-Hill, USA, 2000
Balter, A., Using Microsoft Access 2010, QUE publications, USA, 2010
Teaching methods
The topics of the course are explained by means of lectures held in the informatics lab. To clearly explain the features and the potentialities of relational Data Bases, a comprehensive key study will be developed following a step-by-step approach.
Assessment methods and criteria
To pass the module, students have to create a small information system for the management of an industrial process. Typical areas are: (i) warehouse management, (ii) maintenance management and (iii) internal logistics and items traceability.
The information system will be developed in project groups of 3-5 people and must contain: (i) the Data Base needed for data gathering and data storing and (ii) queries and user forms needed for data manipulation and data recovering. The development of trigger, store procedure and other code in VBA will be considered as additional score.
Other information
Attendance is not mandatory, but it is strongly recommended. However, students will be provided with studying material and printable copies of the slides projected during each lecture. Also the Excel and Access files (generated during the hours in the computer labs) will be given to the students.
