Building a Better Database

Presenter:

            Stanley D. Stephenson
             Department of Computer Information Systems & Quantitative Sciences
             Southwest Texas State University
             San Marcos, TX 78666
            512-245-3222
            SS02@SWT.EDU

 Abstract:

            Typically, many students taking a required sophomore-level business statistics course view statistics as a stand alone course unrelated to the other business courses already completed or currently being taken.  A few Business Statistics textbooks partially address that problem by having a case or project that is re-visited every chapter.  However, the emphasis is still on statistics and not the overall business environment.

            In an attempt to attack this problem, I am developing a database that can be used across all freshman and sophomore business courses.  At SWT, these six courses are:

COURSE

TITLE

COURSE

TITLE

CIS 1323

Computer Applications (MS Office)

ECO 2314           

Principles of Microeconomics

ACC 2361

Introduction to Financial Accounting

ECO 2315

Principles of Macroeconomics

ACC 2362

Introduction to Managerial Accounting

QMST 2333

Business Statistics

            An initial database has been created designed to give an instructor in any of these courses the capability to assign a problem from that database and have it be relevant for that particular course.  Currently, the Excel file contains worksheets with the following types of data:

Employee Data

Corporate Income Statement

Corporate Sales Data

Accounts Receivable

Corporate Balance Sheets

Payroll

Corporate Cash Flow

Supply and Demand

Corporate Stockholders’ Equity

Global Forecasting

            By having a common database, we hope, starting in the freshman year, to encourage students to develop an integrated view of the business world.  For the specific business statistics view, the goal of this database is to demonstrate to the students that statistics is but a tool to aid in the total corporate business environment; i.e., statistics is useful across all dimensions of a corporation.  If found workable at the lower level, I plan to incorporate more data that would serve junior-and senior-level courses such as Finance, Marketing Research, Production and Operations Management, and Policy.

            At the MSMESB Conference, I will share this draft database with other members of the business statistics community (I will e-mail a copy of the file to all those who request one).  Equally important, I hope that other business statisticians will have suggestions for other types of data that could be useful and who would be willing to share their information with me.