Databases Reference
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or at a vendor). In addition to managing the day-to-day
movements of the costumes, the system also provides a
rich data analysis capability. The industrial engineers in
Disney's business planning group use the accumulated
data to decide how many garments to keep in stock and
how many people to have staffing the garment check-
out windows based on the expected wait times. They
also use the data to determine whether certain fabrics
or the garments made by specific manufacturers are not
holding up well through a reasonable number of uses or
of launderings.
GUS, which was inaugurated at Disneyland in
Los Angeles in 1998 and then again at Walt Disney
World in Orlando in 2002, replaced a manual system
in which the costume data was written on index cards.
It is implemented in Microsoft's SQL Server DBMS and
runs on a Compaq server. It is also linked to an SAP
personnel database to help maintain the status of the
cast members. If GUS is ever down, the process shifts to
a Palm Pilot-based backup system that can later update
the database.
parts and cast members, not surprisingly, there is a
relational table for costume parts with one record for
each garment and there is a table for cast members
with one record for each cast member. The costume
parts records include the type of garment, its size, color,
and even such details as whether its use is restricted
to a particular cast member and whether it requires
a special laundry detergent. Correspondingly, the cast
member records include the person's clothing sizes and
other specific garment requirements.
Ultimately, GUS's database precision serves several
purposes in addition to its fundamental managerial value.
The Walt Disney Company feels that consistency in how
its visitors or ''guests'' look at a given ride gives them
an important comfort level. Clearly, GUS provides that
consistency in the costuming aspect. In addition, GUS
takes the worry out of an important part of each cast
member's workday. One of Disney's creeds is to strive to
take good care of its cast members so that they will take
good care of Disney's guests. Database management is
a crucial tool in making this work so well.
In order to keep track of
the costume
products. The E-R diagram in Figure 2.2 tells us that a salesperson ''sells'' products.
Conversely, products are ''sold by'' salespersons. That's good information, but we
can do better than that at the price of a very small increase in effort. Just knowing that
a salesperson sells products leaves open several obvious and important questions.
Is a particular salesperson allowed to sell only one kind of product, or two, or
three, or all of the available products? Can a particular product be sold by only a
single salesperson or by all salespersons? Might we want to keep track of a new
salesperson who has just joined the company but has not yet been assigned to sell
any products (assuming that there is indeed a restriction on which salespersons can
sell which products)?
SALESPERSON
PK
PRODUCT
Salesperson
Number
Salesperson
Name
Commission
Percentage
Year of Hire
PK
Product
Number
Product
Name
Unit Price
Many
Salespersons
Many
Products
Sells
Sold by
FIGURE2.2
A binary relationship
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