Analyzing the Business System › Step 1: Defining General Business Functions

Step 1: Defining General Business Functions

What is a business function?

A business function is an activity performed during the day-to-day operations of an organization. The types of functions performed by a company determine the logical organization of the corporate database. To develop a complete logical design for a database, you therefore need to list all functions performed at your organization.

Often a business function can be broken down into several smaller functions. To avoid getting lost in the details, you should begin by listing the most general business functions.

Deriving the function list

By reviewing the company description, you can derive a list of the most general business functions. The following list of functions might be derived from the company description for the Commonweather Corporation:

• Hire employees
• Terminate employees
• Maintain employee information
• Maintain office and department information
• Maintain information about salaries and jobs
• Maintain skills inventory
• Maintain personnel information about projects
• Maintain information about employee insurance