Data Modeling for Accountants

1
Semantic Modeling ofAccounting Phenomenon
2
SMAP Modeling Overview

• Identify the entities
• Only model entities with more than one instance
• Identify business rules for those entities
• Relationships between entities
• Cardinality of those relationships
• Integrate the transaction cycles

3
Microwave Warehouse, Inc.

• Arnold Fitzmeyer is the sales manager of
  Microwave Warehouse, Inc. (MWI), a distributor of
  small kitchen appliances and has asked you to
  help him design an effective accounting system
  for MWIs revenue cycle.

4
Microwave Warehouse, Inc.

• MWI considers companies that make inquiries to
  be customers, even if they have not placed an
  order yet. Customers can order any number of
  appliances on a single order. Sometimes,
  customers order an appliance that MWI does not
  have in inventory. In these cases, MWI ships
  partial orders however, MWI never includes items
  from multiple orders in a single shipment. MWI
  records a sale and sends an invoice when they
  make a shipment.

5
Microwave Warehouse, Inc.

• Customers pay for appliances received in several
  ways. Some customers pay on receipt of the
  invoice. MWI sends a bill to customers with
  established credit records at the end of each
  month for all shipments made in that month. MWI
  sends an average of five shipments per month to
  its customers. Most larger customers pay the
  total of each months invoices in full at the end
  of the month. However, some customers pay the
  total of their invoices over several months,
  particularly when the amount is large or business
  is slow. MWI deposits all checks received each
  day in their one bank account intact at the end
  of each day.

6
Identify the Entities

• Entities are the things about which we are
  interested
• But not accounting artifacts
• Can use several approaches, including the
  McCarthy REA model
• Resources
• Events
• Agents
• REAL model includes Locations

7
Identified Entities
Resources Events Agents




8
Expanded Set ofRevenue Cycle Entities
Resources Events Agents





9
Identify Business Rules

• Identify relationships between entities
• Evaluate the cardinality of those relationships

10
Identify Relationships

• Is Inventory related (directly) to
• Sales Order?
• Shipment?
• Cash Receipt?
• Customer?

11
Identify Relationships

• Is Sales Order related (directly) to
• Shipment?
• Cash Receipt?
• Customer?

12
Identify Relationships

• Is Shipment related (directly) to
• Cash Receipt?
• Customer?

13
Identify Relationships

• Is Cash Receipt related (directly) to
• Customer?

14
Identified Relationships
15
Evaluate Cardinality
(min, max)
A
B

• Minimum constraint on A
• Does A occur before B? no0, yes1
• Maximum constraint on A
• Can B have only 1 (1), or many (N) As related to
  it?

16
Evaluate Cardinality
(min, max)
A
B

• Minimum constraint on B
• Does B occur before A? no0, yes1
• Maximum constraint on B
• Can A have only 1 (1), or many (N) Bs related to
  it?

17
View Integration