Usefulness of Databases for the Food Industry
Almost every company that exists can benefit from some sort of automation by utilizing databases to store information. A database provides a business with the ability to more effectively manage the information about their business. As databases have advanced, the ease of implementing such databases has advanced too. A database can be utilized to remove much of the manual paperwork that is required in the form of administrative work that would normally be handled by people. In that regard a database can actually save the company money as there is a reduced need for employees to manage the data and instead the database is used for this.
The purpose of this project is to allow the company to move from paper records to a database system to track their recipes. Since it is a small food company the goal would be to start small and then grow from there as the business grows. In addition, the database should help the company become more efficient at their business allowing them to make more money in the long term.
Based on the size of the company the best possible option for this company would be to utilize Microsoft Access for its ease of implementation as well as the price of the database. This database would provide the company the jumpstart they need to have a database that would create value for the company. As the company grew there would be the opportunity to upgrade to a more robust database platform such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. Both of these databases would provide the company with additional capabilities to support a larger customer base as well as additional functionality that would be needed to support a larger database. Even though the company is small they need the ability to manage their business more efficiently and utilize the database to actually grow the company. There are an exceedingly large number of companies that involve recipes. These companies for example could benefit from a database in many ways. A database for these sorts of companies would be quite simple to create and maintain. Data elements for a basic recipe company would include: the recipe, the ingredients, the food type, how many people the recipe would feed, and the directions as to how to go about making the recipe. The process would primarily consist of two phases: recipe entry and recipe searching. The entry would be utilized when creating the initial recipes in the system from the current form of storing recipes such as: multiple notecards and slips of paper. The recipe-searching phase has a multitude of possible ways in which it can be accomplished. The user could search for a specific recipe, or the user could run a search based upon ingredients. The user could also search based upon the type of meal they would like to prepare such as a dinner or desert item.
The database would primarily be intended to be the backend storage for either a web application or a mobile application. A user would be presented with a choice to search for a recipe or create a new one. When creating a new one the user would be prompted to fill in information in regards to the recipes ingredients, name, and also be able to add new ingredients into the system. As well, if the user were to search for a recipe they would be able to search based upon multiple criteria such as: meal type, a specific ingredient, and also a specific recipe name.
The keys for this database would include: FoodTypeId, FeedTypeId, IngredientTypeId, IngredientId, RecipeID, and RecipeIngredientId. The FoodTypeId key would uniquely identify the food type such as: dinner, lunch, desserts, etc. The FeedTypeId key would identify the amount of people that could be fed using the recipe. Values for this key would consist of: 1, 2, 3-4, 6-8. This key would also allow for the customization of recipes based upon amount of people it should feed. As for the IngredientId key, this key would identify each possible ingredient. This would allow a list of all possible ingredients and which recipes utilize a specific ingredient. The RecipeId key would identify each recipe. Each recipe would have a name as well as the directions needing to be followed to successfully make the dish. This would also allow the recipe to be specified as a specific type of food as well as the amount it could feed. Last but not least the RecipeIngredientId key would identify each ingredient corresponding to each recipe. This would allow ingredients to be added and removed independently of the recipe. This key would also specify the amount of each ingredient that would be needed to make the recipe. Ultimately this key would add easily modifiable entries for when a recipe needed to be updated.
The functional dependencies for this database would be carry the following primary keys: RecipeId, RecipeIngredientId, IngredientId, FeedId, and FoodId. The functional dependencies would be as follows: RecipeId -> RecipeName, FoodTypeId, FeedTypeId, Directions
RecipeIngredientId -> RecipeId, IngredientId, Amount
IngredientId -> IngredientName
FeedTypeId -> FeedType Name
FoodTypeId -> FoodTypeName This database would contain three different normalization forms of which you would contain: the first normalization form (1NF), the second normalization form (2NF) and the third normalization form (3NF). These normalization formats are as follows: 1NF
Recipe (RecipeName, Ingredients, FoodType, Feeds, Directions)
2NF
Recipe (RecipeId, RecipeName, FoodType, Feeds, Directions)
FoodType (FoodTypeId, FoodTypeName)
Ingredients (IngredientId, IngredientName, RecipeName, Amount)
3NF
Recipe (RecipeId (PK), RecipeName, FoodTypeId, FeedTypeId, Directions)
RecipeIngredients (RecipeIngredientId (PK), RecipeId (FK), IngredientId (FK), Amount)
Ingredients (IngredientId (PK), IngredientName)
FeedType (FeedTypeId (PK), FeedTypeName)
FoodType (FoodTypeId (PK), FoodTypeName) Once this database is created it would grow quite exponentially with help from users and fellow culinary expertise. The database would later give the user the ability to enter a variation of an existing recipe such as: “Add 1 tbps of butter for more flavor.” The database could also be used to export a list of ingredients into a grocery list based on the recipes the user wanted to add to their weekly meal schedule. If used on a public website this database could be used to associate each recipe with a particular user in such a way to create a fan base system or a top overall user. This would then be able to be enhanced to give a rating for each recipe. And if the website owner or database owner chose to do so they could at any time charge a monthly subscription to increase revenue to better serve its users.