Let's establish the scenario. We have been called by a local car dealer to submit a proposal about a new information system. The stated goal is to produce reports about car sales and to help track the car inventory. Reports are, of course, an output of the future system. The idea hidden behind reports could be to improve sales, to understand delivery delays, or to find out why some cars disappear. The data structure itself is probably not really important in the users' opinion, but we know that this structure matters to the developers who produce the required output.
It's important to first look at the project scope, before starting to work on the details of the system. Does the project cover:
The complete enterprise
Just one administrative area
Multiple administrative areas
One function of the enterprise
An organization always has a main purpose; it can be selling cars, teaching, or providing web solutions. In addition to this, every organization has sub-activities...