The Dentists Office Database (20 points)

Designing a relational database

Preview

In this case, you will design a database for a dentists office. Your first task will be to brainstorm and
sketch out the required fields and tables, and then determine how they relate to one another. Once
this is done and has been approved of by your instructor, you will begin creating the database system
from scratch. This creation process will involve the development of multiple tables, linking them
correctly, creating queries to support needed forms and reports, and creating appropriate forms
(including switchboards) and reports.

It will be important that the database can be driven by someone unfamiliar with databases or MS
Access, thus, this project will also involve the creation of a user interface that will allow the user to
use the database. Specifically, this will involve the use of Switchboards, and navigation command
buttons placed on forms.

All the basic information you need to develop the database system has been provided, however, you
may find that you need to customize certain aspects of it and be creative in your developmental
process.

Preparation
o Review all previously assigned readings and video clips related to the development of
relational databases.

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 Background
While at the dentists office, you overheard the receptionist complain about all the handwritten
paperwork required to run the office. Being familiar with database design and MS Access, you
mention to the receptionist that you may be able to help them develop a computerized database
system that would alleviate part of their paperwork problem and result in a higher level of
productivity. The receptionist has indicated that the owners may be interested in pursuing this
option and will ask them to contact you.

Below is the letter you received from the owners requesting your assistance with the
development of a database system that can facilitate the operation of the dental practice.
Dear Database Systems Developer:

We would be delighted for you to assist us in setting up a computerized database billing system for our dental
practice. Here is some basic information regarding how our office works.

Our office employs multiple dentists and dental assistants. For each appointment, we assign a single dentist and a
single dental assistant. The Dentist is on a pay system that we do NOT need to integrate into the database system.
The dental assistants, on the other hand, are paid hourly based on the length of time required for an appointment
(no appointment no pay) and we DO want to be able to track their pay.

Our patients are charged based on the individual procedures performed during each office visit, thus we have a list
of procedures and their associated costs. Please note that sometimes procedures may be performed more then
once during an office visit and thus we need a way to indicate multiple occurrences (for instance, there may be
two fillings completed during a single visit).

We want the database system to allow our office staff to do several things, these include:
Keep records related to Patients, Dentists, Dental Assistants and their pay information, Appointments and
procedures performed, and procedures available from our office.
We will need input forms to allow the entry of simple information such as that related to Patients, Dentists,
Dental Assistants and available procedures.
We will need a way to make appointments for our patients, and then be able to indicate the amount of time
required for the appointment.
When an appointment is concluded, we need a way to indicate the procedures performed on the patient during
that specific appointment.
o i.e., Mrs. Young comes in to have a root canal. When she leaves, the office staff would check her
out in the computer system by looking up the original appointment information and adding to it her
check-out time (needed to calculate Dental Assistant pay), and the procedures performed (in this case,
a root canal). Note that multiple and different procedures might be performed on a patient during one
visit. For example, Mrs. Young might have three fillings and an x-ray during one visit.

We also need to track the number of hours the dental assistants work. Even though we charge the patient a set fee
PER procedure, the dental assistant is paid by the hour. Therefore, well need to use the start and finish times of
each appointment to calculate the pay for each assistant. We would then like to generate a report based on a given
time period (start date, end date), that would indicate the pay per each dental assistant.

Third, we want to generate monthly bills to send to our patients who do NOT have dental insurance. These bills
should show the name and address of the patient, the procedures performed, the date of service, the cost for each
procedure, and the total bill. We need to be able to indicate the start and end dates for this report.

You assistance with this project is greatly appreciated and will allow us to operate in a more efficient manner.

Sincerely,
Dental Office Ownership

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Step 1: Normalization
You first must brainstorm the required fields, assign field names, and determine primary keys
and field data types, and then separate the fields into appropriate tables. Once the tables are
created, they then must be linked correctly (Primary Key to Foreign Key).

Do not proceed to Step 2 until you have confirmed with your instructor that your tables fields
and table relationships are correct.

o Determine the required fields.

o Do not create a field if its value could be created by calculated field, i.e., you
SHOULD NOT create a field called Total_Dental_Ass_Pay because this will be
a calculated field that can use the Check-in, Check-out and
Dental_Ass_Pay fields as the basis for the calculation.
o Determine data types and field properties for each of the fields (i.e., date fields,
limit the size of the text fields (Zip Code does not need to be the default setting of
50 characters in length), currency, text, etc.).
o One of your tables should contain a logical (yes/no) field.
Hint. Insurance (did you know that pressing the space bar is an easy way
to check/uncheck a logical (yes/no) field.
o Remember you need fields to record the start and finish time for each
appointment.
o Assign the identified fields to the appropriate tables. It is a good idea to start with your
simple lookup tables first, i.e. Patients, Procedures, etc.
o Remember, proper table structure should minimize data redundancy. Look up
this term if you dont remember its meaning.
o Dont forget to look for determinants to determine the tables needed (see
previous video clips).
o Create your transaction tables after you create the lookup tables. You will likely need
an Appointments table and an Appointment_Details table.
o Note. Refer back to the development of the simple business database table
structure covered in previous modules. The Appointments form you will need is
equivalent to the Invoice form and the Appintment_Details form youll need
is equivalent to the Invoice_Details form.
o It is probably beneficial to sketch out the database design on paper, or use Excel, before
actually creating it within the database application.
o Create and relate you tables in Access.

Before moving into the next Steps of this project, please confirm with
you instructor that your fields, tables and table relationships are
correctly established.

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Step 2: Forms

Step 2A: Creating Forms for data entry

Create the necessary forms for entering data into the Lookup tables (Dentists, Dental
Assistants, Patients and Procedures tables).
These all represent forms that allow us to enter/edit data within the lookup tables.
Use these forms to enter the following information into the database.

Enter data into each of the Lookup tables

Dentist Data:
Enter data for two dentists into the Dentist table. Use YOUR NAME as one of the dentist and
make up the other one.

Dental Assistants:
Enter data for three dental assistants. You will need to make up the specific data.

Patients:
Enter the provided patient data.
o Half of the patients should NOT have dental insurance; you choose who they are.

Greg Hapless 10 15th Ave., Rochester NY 14566

Mary Morris 108 Main St., Rochester NY 14566
Joe Brady 008 Purnell, Newark NY 14899
Ellen Monk 009 Purnell, Newark NY 14899
Maria Ortez 16 E. 5th Ave., Potsdam NY 14666
Larry Goldstein 217 Oak Ave., Potsdam NY 14666
Patricia Buckley 27 DePue, Pensville NY 14665
YOUR NAME Address Zip Code
Fig: 4-1

Procedures:
Enter the following dental procedures and assign a retail price to each.
o Available Dental Procedures
Cleaning
Crown
Filling
Root canal
X-ray
Teeth Whitening.

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Step 2B: Multi-table forms w/sub-forms
Create the necessary forms for entering data into the Transaction tables. Be patient with this
one and refer back to previous video clips that covered the creation of an Invoice form for a
simple business scenario for help.
***YOU SHOULD HAVE A PRINTOUT OF YOUR TABLE RELATIONSHIPS IN
FRONT OF YOU BEFORE YOU DO THIS.***

o The transaction tables are the Appointments and Appointments_Detail tables; however,
the forms built to populate these tables will also include fields from the lookup tables.
i.e., There should be a Patient_ID_F (the F indicates its the foreign key) that is part
of the Appointments table.
This field should be included in the Appointments form, when the field is populated
with data you will want other information pulled (LookUp) from the Patients
table to appear. In other words, the user will select the Patient_ID_F value and then
other fields such as the Patient_FN, Patient_LN, etc., should automatically populate
within the form.
Hint. The Appointments form can also be the same form used to check-out
patients.
o The main transaction form will be the Appointment form; within this form will also be a
subform (you can call it the Appointment Details Subform, that will be used to enter the
procedures for each appointment.
Dont forget, youll need a Quantity field to indicate how many times the procedure
was done.
o Test your form (your form should be a form with a sub-form) to ensure it works correctly.
This form will include the use of multi-table forms and subforms.
o Once you have it working as you want, enter a number of appointments and appointment
procedures.
o Make sure some patients have multiple procedures performed on them during a single
appointment.

Form Summary
At this point, you should have forms created that allow the user to enter/edit data for Dentist, Dental
Assistants, Patients, Procedures and Appointments (including the details of the appointments such as
the procedures performed).
Refine the functionality of the forms by adding appropriate drop down boxes, formatting and
other navigation features.
Protect/Disable the form fields that are not needed for data input. This would be mostly
applicable to the Appointments and Appointments Details form.

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Step 2B: Multi-table forms w/sub-forms (continued)
Sample Appointments form showing the main part of the form (multi-table form) and the
included sub-form (which also happens to be a multi-table form). Your form should be similar
in functionality but may look and operate a bit differently.

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Step 3: Generating Reports

Report 1
Create a report that displays the total pay for the dental assistants.
o Should be based on a parameter prompt query that prompts the user for a start & end date.
o Within the query, calculate pay per assistant per appointment
o Total_Pay: ([End_Time]-[Start_Time])*24*[HourlyRate]
o Use this query as the Record Source of Report 1.
o Display total pay for each Dental Assistant for each Day and include a total for all hours
worked for each assistant.
o This will require you to set up grouping sections within the report:
Group by Dental Assistant, then by Date
o Preview the report
o Refine the formatting of the report.
o The format of your report may look similar to the portion of the one that follows (actual dates
and pay will vary)

Report 2
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Create an itemized bill for each customer who is NOT insured.
o Again, create a query to serve as the record source of the report.
o The itemized bill should include patients name, address, date of procedure, type of
procedure, and cost of procedure.
o Total Cost for each patient should also show on the bill
o After your adjustments, the format of your report will look similar to the portion of the report
that follows.

Report 3
Generate a report of all patients who do not have insurance.

Additional Forms & Reports

Create additional Forms & Reports as you see necessary.

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Step 4: The User Interface
Once all the essential Forms and Reports are ready, its time to create an interface that ties all the
objects together into a system that the user will use to operate the database.
Your goal is to create a user interface that allows the user to interact with the database but does
not allow them to change the database structure or programming. This means you want the user
to be able to access forms and reports but nothing else (NO TABLES, QUIRIES or MACROS).
This goal can be accomplished through the use of Switchboards and command buttons placed on
individual forms.
o The command buttons activate Macros; they can do things like close one form and
open another, among many other processes.
Create a Switchboard from which the database can be operated.
Make use of command buttons placed on individual forms to facilitate the operation of the
database.
The user should be able to start with your switchboard and using it as the starting point, operate
the entire database.

Step 5: Final Refinement

Set Start-up options so that when the database is opened the Switchboard (or home form) is
automatically opened, and the Navigation Pane is NOT accessible to the user.
o This is a weak form of security but will keep the casual user from having access to
the tables, queries and macros that facilitate the operation of the database.
Remember. Your goal is to create a user interface that allows the user to
interact with the database, but not to change the database structure or
programming. This means you want the user to be able to access forms and
reports but nothing else.
o The startup options can be over-ridden by holding down the shift key when opening
a database file (thus the reason it is a very weak form of security).
To set the start-up options:
1. Click the Microsoft Office Button (upper left corner).
2. Click the Access Options button in the bottom right corner of the menu.
3. Click the Current Database category on the left side of the Access Options dialog
box.
4. Under Application Options section look for the option called "Display Form. Select
your form name from the combo box (keep in mind the Switchboard is a type of
form).
5. Look for the Display Navigation Pane option and make sure it is NOT selected.
6. Click Ok to close the Access Options.
7. The next time you open the database your form will load on Startup and the
Navigation Pane will not be displayed.

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Step 6: Test the Database:
When the database file is opened, the switchboard should automatically be displayed.
The Database Window should not be accessible (due to the start-up options).
All forms should be accessible through the switchboard allowing the user to enter/edit any data
necessary.
All reports should be accessible through the switchboard allowing the user to view and print any
of them.
Practice entering data, review the report output, test your navigation features (drop down boxes,
command buttons, etc.). DOES it all work?

Once you have ensured you have a functioning database system, please submit the completed file to
your instructor.
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