Lab: Create Database

This alternative assignment may be completed in Microsoft Excel. You have received the following file Nonprofit-Flawed-Dataset.xlsx

from a nonprofit organization that has been using a single spreadsheet to track employees, projects, funding sources, and time allocation. Upon review, it is immediately clear that the data structure contains significant redundancies and errors, including inconsistent project naming, duplicated employee information, and unreliable funding reports. In addition, the workbook is not structured relationally; the flat file does not meaningfully link to the detail tabs for employees, projects, funding sources, or time allocation, and therefore cannot reliably support accurate reporting or data integrity. The nonprofit has asked you to correct these structural issues and to create a method for generating accurate summaries, specifically total hours by project, total hours by employee, and total hours by funding source.First, provide a written explanation, with examples, describing how a relational database structure could resolve these problems. Your explanation should include sample tables or simple graphics illustrating what a relational design might look like, including the use of primary keys and foreign keys to link tables. Be sure to explain why this approach would be preferable to the organizations current flat-file system, particularly in terms of data integrity, consistency, and reporting reliability.

Next, demonstrate how the existing Excel file could be modified to reflect a relational structure and eliminate the identified errors. Submit the revised workbook along with a brief explanatory document outlining what you changed, how you structured the relationships, and why those changes improve the accuracy and usability of the organizations reporting.