Analyzing data

As the park staff members begin to plan their animal management application, they analyze the data by answering these questions:

• What types of data do they need to capture?
• How is this data stored in their current system (for example, in a legacy database or in paper forms)?
• What forms (main and supporting) and fields need to be created?
• Should they include menus on the forms and, if so, which kinds are most appropriate to help staff members fill in fields?

The staff determines that they need these forms (shown in the following figure) to capture information:

• Animal form — Contains detailed information about each animal. The staff considers using panel fields to organize the form modularly, keeping related fields together.
• Species Info form — Contains details about a particular species, such as feeding requirements, life span, medical needs, and whether it is endangered. This is a supporting form.
• Feeding form — Contains information about each animal's feeding schedule.
• Enclosure form — Contains information about the number and types of animals each enclosure can hold and so forth.
• Medical History form — Contains the complete medical history of each animal.
• Former Resident form — Contains information about animals that no longer reside in the park.

 Forms for animal tracking application