Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Thisisagoodopen-endedquestionbecauseitfocusesontheissueyetgivestheparticipant
the freedom to respond with what she feels is a complete answer. Furthermore, this type
of question will typically generate a response that you can translate directly into a mission
statement.
Now assume you received the following reply:
“We supply entertainment services to our clientele for any and all
occasions. We take care of all the details for the engagement so
that it is as worry-free for the client as possible.”
You can easily rewrite this type of response and turn it into a mission statement. When a
responsesuchasthisoneconsistsoftwoormoresentencesorphrases,oneofthesentences
or phrases typically indicates the purpose of the database. For example, you can use the
first sentence from the preceding reply to construct the mission statement. Here is one of
several ways you could rewrite the reply:
ThepurposeoftheAll-StarTalentdatabaseistomaintainthedata
we use in support of the entertainment services we provide to our
clientele.
The most important point to remember is that the mission statement should make sense to
you(thedatabasedeveloper)andtothoseforwhomyouaredesigningthedatabase.Differ-
ent groups of people have different ways of phrasing statements, and the specific wording
of the statement can depend greatly on industry-specific terminology. Your mission state-
ment is complete when you have a sentence that describes the specific purpose of the data-
base and that is understood and agreed upon by everyone concerned.
Here are a few sample questions that you can use to arrive at your mission statement:
How would you describe the purpose of your organization to a new client?
What would you say is the purpose of your organization?
What is the major function of your organization?
How would you describe what your organization does?
How would you define the single most important reason for the existence of your
organization?
What is the main focus of your organization?
You may have noticed that some of these questions seem to be the same question rewritten
in a different manner. Keep in mind that the observation regarding the phrasing of mission
statementsalsoappliestotheinterviewquestionsyou'llusethroughoutthedatabasedesign
process. You can pose the
same question
to several people and receive different responses
because each person may interpret the meaning of the question a little differently. In some
