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THE INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION, PART 2—GLOBAL COMMUNICATION

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

  1. Understand what it means to localize software.
  2. Understand the problems and issues of localizing and distributing databases worldwide.
  3. Understand the consequences of global data communication.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

  • What Does It Mean to Localize Software?
  • What Are the Problems and Issues of Localizing and Distributing Databases Worldwide?
  • What Are the Consequences of Global Data Communication?

ANSWERS TO APPLICATION EXERCISES

1. / / Suppose that you work in a sales office and your boss asks you to create a “computer file” to keep track of product prices offered to customers. Suppose you decide to use a spreadsheet for this purpose as follows.

a.Create a spreadsheet with the following columns: CustomerName, CustomerLocation, MeetingDate, ProductName, UnitPrice, Salesperson, and Salesperson_Email.

b.Suppose you have three customers: Ajax, Baker, and Champion. Suppose Ajax is located in New York City, Baker is located in Toronto, and Champion is located in New York City. Assume you have two salespeople: Johnson and Jackson. (Make up email addresses for each.)

Assume you have three products: P1, P2, and P3. Periodically, your salespeople meet with customers, and during these meetings, they agree on product prices. The salespeople pitch one, two, or three products in each of these meetings. Some customers negotiate better prices than others, so the price varies by customer.

Using this information, fill your spreadsheet with at least 20 rows of sample data. Make up the price data. Assume that prices increase and decrease over time. Enter data for some meetings in 2008 and for some meetings in 2009.

c.Copy your spreadsheet to a new worksheet. Suppose that you made a mistake and Champion is based in San Francisco, not New York City. Using this second worksheet, make the necessary changes to correct your mistake.

d.Suppose that you learn that the product P1 was renamed P1-Turbo in 2008. Explain the steps you need to take to correct this mistake.

The user of the spreadsheet will have to search for every occurrence of P1 in column D after 1/1/2008 and change it to P1-Turbo.

e.A real sales-tracking application would have hundreds of customers, many salespeople, hundreds of products, and possibly thousands of meetings. For such a spreadsheet, how would you correct the problems in parts c and d? Comment on the appropriateness of using a spreadsheet for such an application.

There is not a quick and fool-proof way to make these corrections and updates in a spreadsheet with hundreds or thousands of rows. As the quantity of data increases, it becomes more cumbersome to use a spreadsheet as a way to manage the data.

2. / / Consider the same problem as in question 1, except use a database to keep track of the price quotations.

a.Create a new database using Microsoft Access and create the following three tables:

CUSTOMER (CustomerName, Location)

SALESPERSON (SalespersonName, Saleperson_Email)

PRICE_QUOTE (Date, Product, Price, CustomerName, SalespersonName)

Assume the following: CustomerName is the key of CUSTOMER; SalespersonName is the key of SALESPERSON; and the three columns (Date, Product, and CustomerName) are the key of PRICE_QUOTE. Make appropriate assumptions about the data types for each table column.

b.Use Access to create a 1:N relationship between CUSTOMER and PRICE_QUOTE. Create a 1:N relationship between SALESPERSON and PRICE_QUOTE. Check Enforce Referential Integrity for both relationships.

c.Fill your tables using the same data that you used in question 1.

d.Make the changes necessary to record the fact that customer Champion is based in San Francisco rather than in New York City. How many items do you need to change?

e.Make the changes necessary to change the name of product P1 to P1-Turbo for all quotes after 2008.

f.Using the Access Help system, learn about update action queries. Create an update action query to make the change in part e.

g.Compare spreadsheets and databases for this application. Which is better? Why? What are the characteristics of an application that would cause you to choose a database over a spreadsheet? A spreadsheet over a database?

The database is preferable here because it is easier to enter, edit, and view the data and to make corrections and updates. In this example, we are keeping track of three things: customers, salespeople, and price quotes. Databases are better when the data involves more than one topic or theme. Spreadsheets work best when the data involves just one topic or theme.

3. / / / Read the Guide on page 112. Suppose you are given the task of converting the salesperson’s data into a database. Because his data is so poorly structured, it will be a challenge, as you will see.

a.Download the Excel file named Ch05Ex02 from This spreadsheet contains data that fits the salesperson’s description in the Guide. Open the spreadsheet and view the data.

b.Download the Access file with the same name, Ch05Ex02. Open the database, select Database Tools, and click Relationships.Examine the four tables and their relationships.

c.Somehow, you have to transform the data in the spreadsheet into the table structure in the database. Because so little discipline was shown when creating the spreadsheet, this will be a labor-intensive task. To begin, import the spreadsheet data into a new table in the database; call that table Sheet1 or some other name.

d.Copy the Name data in Sheet1 onto the clipboard. Then, open the Customer table and paste the column of name data into that table.

e.Unfortunately, the task becomes messy at this point. You can copy the Car Interests column into Make or Model of Auto, but then you will need to straighten out the values by hand. Phone Numbers will need to be copied one at a time.

f.Open the Customer form and manually add any remaining data from the spreadsheet into each customer record. Connect the customer to his or her auto interests.

  1. Numerous Web sites are available that will test your Internet data communications speed. You can find a good one at Speakeasy( (If that site is no longer active, perform a search for “What is my Internet speed?” to find another speed-testing site. Use it.)
  1. While connected to your university’s network, go to Speakeasy and test your speed against servers in Seattle, New York City, and Atlanta. Compute your average upload and download speeds. Compare your speed to the speeds listed in Figure 6-11.

Student answers will vary, depending on the specific data communication configuration in use.

  1. Go home, or to a public wireless site, and run the Speakeasy test again. Compute your average upload and download speeds. Compare your speed to those listed in Figure 6-11. If you are performing this test at home, are you getting the performance you are paying for?

Student answers will vary, depending on the specific data communication configuration in use.

  1. Contact a friend or relative in another state. Ask him or her to run the Speakeasy test against those same three cities.

Student answers will vary, depending on the specific data communication configuration in use.

  1. Compare the results in parts a, b, and c. What conclusion, if any, can you make from these tests?

Student answers will vary, depending on the specific data communication configuration in use.

Answers to Case Studies

Case 2-1: Aviation Safety Network

  1. All of the data included in this database are available in public documents. Since this is the case, what is the value of the Aviation Safety Network? Why don’t users just consult the online version of the underlying references? In your answer, consider the difference between data and information.

The value of the ASN is the fact that the data is compiled together in one location, is searchable, and has been summarized to enable users to quickly identify trends in airliner accidents. In other words, the data has been transformed into information.

  1. What was the cause of the incident shown in Figure 2? That incident, in which no one was injured, occurred in an Airbus 320 airplane that was flown by Lufthansa Airlines out of an airport in Germany. It would be illogical to conclude from this one incident that it is dangerous to fly Airbus 320s, Lufthansa, or out of Germany. Suppose, however, that you wanted to determine whether there is a systematic pattern of maintenance problems with the A320, Lufthansa, or airports in Germany. How would you proceed? How would you use the resources of aviation-safety.net to make this determination?

This particular incident was caused by improper maintenance of the captain’s flight controls. The Web site contains a number of links to facilitate a search for answers to the question of a pattern of maintenance problems. For example:

“The database can be accessed in different ways:
» Type indexes: Jets, Turboprop aircraft and Piston aircraft
» Geographical region/country index
» (contributory) Cause index
» Airlines index (alphabetical listing by country)”

  1. The ASN database and Web site were created and maintained by two individuals. The database may be complete and accurate, or it may not be. To what extent should you rely on these data? What can you do to decide whether you should rely on the data at this site?

Since all the information in this resource is public information, the user could verify the accuracy of entries by going to the original source data. This would probably be a wise action when one begins to use any resource such as the ASN database until the user becomes comfortable with the quality of its content.

  1. Consider the data in Figure 3. Do you agree that there appears to be no significant difference between passengers in the front and the rear of the airplane? Why or why not? There does seem to be a difference between the number of accidents and the phase of the flight. What is that difference, and how can you use it to limit your exposure to aircraft accidents?

There are a small number of incidents for the en route phase of flight. In each of these cases, the safest location was the rear. The next highest number of incidents occurred during the take off phase of flight. There does not seem to be much difference between locations on the plane for this phase of flight. The highest number of incidents occurs during the landing phase of flight. The data shows that the safest place in the plane for this phase of flight is most often the rear of the plane. I would limit my risk by trying to obtain a seat in the rear of the plane, based on this information.

  1. Suppose you work in the marketing department for an airline. Can you use these data in your marketing efforts? If so, how? What are the dangers of basing a marketing campaign on safety?

One possibility would be to compare the data for the aircraft flown by our airline with those of aircraft flown by other airlines. There could be a better performance (lower incidents of problems) by particular aircraft types. This fact could be promoted in marketing materials. Other statistics could be sought (problems by airline; problems by geographic region) that could potentially support our claim of being one of the safest airlines. The problem with basing a marketing campaign on safety is that it calls everyone’s attention to the issue. Airlines will be better off if safety is just assumed for the entire industry, not something that is so unique it needs to be promoted for a single airline.

  1. Suppose you are a maintenance manager for a major airline. How can you use these data? Would it be wise to develop your own, similar database? Why or why not?

The maintenance manager would benefit from a great deal of detail about accidents/incidents related to maintenance. The manager would need to identify whether the problem was due to faulty parts or due to faulty actions on the part of the mechanics (incorrect installation, improper inspection, etc.). It might be most useful for the maintenance manager to create his/her own database that contains this type of detail.

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