MIS Cases: Solving Small Business Scenarios Using Application Software, 2nd Edition

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DEVELOPING A SPREADSHEET APPLICATION

A spreadsheet application is a software tool used to analyze a situation or solve a problem by manipulating numeric information. Think of a spreadsheet application as a numeric representation, or model, of a situation that a person can use to calculate answers. Many business situations can be structured as spreadsheets that provide business professionals with an effective way of supporting their analysis and decision-making needs.

Just as you did with developing a database application, you should follow a threephase approach to create a spreadsheet application: analysis, design, and implementation.

In the analysis phase, you want to understand as well as you can the intended purpose of the person who will be using the spreadsheet, especially the desired output. Also, you want to identify the required numeric inputs and assumptions of the spreadsheet. Finally, you need to identify the required processing, or calculations, the spreadsheet needs to perform with the inputs to produce the desired output. Each of the following cases presents the input, processing, and output requirements. In the real world you determine these requirements through interviews with the intended users of the spreadsheet application.

In the design phase, you need to decide how to lay out the spreadsheet's input, processing, and output features identified in your analysis. ...