Bead Bar Network Paper

The Bead Bar is a small business that allows its costumers to produce their own costume jewelry using gear such as wire, beads and string. Originally the company was completely digital, it had no physical offices. The company's consultants either worked from home or at the client site. Presently, there are three branches of the business composed of one studio, two franchises, and three bead Bars on Board. The role of the Bead Bar studio is to oversee the six Bead Bar studios that have 2 locations in New York City, Long Island Boston, Washington D.C. and the flagship in New Canaan, Connecticut. The franchise sector has the task of promoting beading supplies to stores that wish to open their own studio location. The franchise locations are located in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Chicago, Seattle, and Miami. Bead Bar on Board is a special bead bar designed for cruise ships. The bar is portable and can be placed on deck or in a lounge. The cruise ships' employees also purchase their supplies through the Bead Bar.

The Bead Bar has different types of software to try and fulfill its technology needs. It has fifteen fulltime and twenty part time employees that work under the current network setup. There are two laptops, fourteen printers and fourteen personal computers. Each of the computers uses the Microsoft Windows XP Professional operating system. There is no additional cost for the operating system, as it comes standard with the PCs. Currently they have software's that include Intuit's QuickBooks, Interact Commerce Corporation's Act! Contact management software, and Adobe's PageMaker desktop publishing software. All of these application software packages are available for both personal computers and Apple Macintosh computers. Since the desktop publishing software runs on personal computers, Stan determined that it should have a PC with a 2.8 MHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, a 120 GB hard drive, and a CD-RW drive. The larger amount of RAM and hard drive space are needed to support digital images. A number of the Bead Bar's software needs can be met with the purchase of database software. This software would be especially helpful in managing the large amount of data the company now stores on paper forms.

A database is a set of logically related data stored in a shared repository. The software that creates and manipulates databases is a database management system (DBMS). DBMSs perform several different functions. They manage data storage, transform data into information and present it to users, provide security for data, allow for multiuser access, contain a database programming and query language, and provide a data dictionary.

Databases fall into two categories, those that are used only on the desktop for a small number of users and those that are used enterprise-wide for many users. The Desktop database management systems are designed for use by individuals or small groups. They are suitable for applications where only one or very few people need to access the database. Many small companies use desktop databases to run their entire business. I would recommend the Bead Bar to use an enterprise-wide database. Enterprise DBMSs are appropriate for organizations that have multiple locations and store large amounts of data. The databases that are developed using these DBMSs can provide price information, show current inventory levels to potential buyers, track sales leads, and is best to help integrate the franchises as the upper management at Bead Bar preferred.

Both desktop and enterprise databases have certain models. A database model is a relationship between structures in a database. Four database models are the most common; flat file, the hierarchical model, the network model, and the relational model. The Bead Bar's data is too complex for the use of a flat-file database, so the company will use a relational database system. Since the company has many locations, a distributed database is appropriate. The use of Oracle 9i will allow the Bead Bar to add these features