MSc-IT Study Material
January 2011 Edition

Computer Science Department, University of Cape Town
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Case study

We shall be using the following case study to explore different aspects of data-flow modeling and diagrams.

Video-Rental LTD case study

Video-Rental LTD is a small video rental store. The store lends videos to customers for a fee, and purchases its videos from a local supplier.

A customer wishing to borrow a video provides the empty box of the video they desire, their membership card, and payment – payment is always with the credit card used to open the customer account. The customer then returns the video to the store after watching it.

If a loaned video is overdue by a day the customer's credit card is charged, and a reminder letter is sent to them. Each day after that a further card is made, and each week a reminder letter is sent. This continues until either the customer returns the video, or the charges are equal to the cost of replacing the video.

New customers fill out a form with their personal details and credit card details, and the counter staff give the new customer a membership card. Each new customer's form is added to the customer file.

The local video supplier sends a list of available titles to Video-Rental LTD, who decide whether to send them an order and payment. If an order is sent then the supplier sends the requested videos to the store. For each new video a new stock form is completed and placed in the stock file.