Business Finance Homework Help
UAGC WK 1 Steps of The Database Development Life Cycle Memorandum
Discussion : Due May/20
Prior to beginning work on this interactive assignment, read Chapters 1 and 2 of your textbook as well as the Relational Databases 101: Looking at the Whole Picture Online Resources,
and review any relevant information in this week’s lecture.
In an attempt to manage their data, small to midsized organizations use Excel spreadsheets or file sharing systems. This may be sufficient when the company is small, but as companies grow these methods exhibit some major shortcomings and limitations. For this interactive assignment, you will take on the role of a consultant who has been employed by a growing business to evaluate whether or not Excel is still a viable solution. For several years, the company has opted to use Microsoft Excel to track its inventory due to its ease of use and flexibility. However, the current Excel inventory spreadsheet includes over 20,000 records and the company has recognized that searching for specific inventory records or generating reports is difficult. As part of your position, you must generate a memo to the executive board that explains the following elements and suggests a course of action for the company. Be sure to support the views presented in your memo with statements from your required resources. (Information on Writing a Business Memo
, as well as a Business Memo Template
, and a Sample Business Memo
are provided for your convenience.)
In your memo, describe at least three limitations associated with the use of Excel and explain in general how they might affect business operations for a growing company. Describe how databases can help address these limitations, particularly with the search and reporting capability. Explain how databases can help the organization better manage its data than the current Excel solution. Describe some of the different database functions that would be involved in this data management. Use your required resources to support your statements.
Your memo must be a minimum of 250 words and may be submitted within the body of the discussion post or as a document attached to your initial post.
Assignment Due : May/24
Prior to beginning work on this assignment read Chapters 1, 2, and 9 of your textbook, review the Database Lifecycle
and (DBLC) Database Life Cycle
online resources, and review any relevant information in this week’s lecture. These sources will be used to support your work in the assignment. It is also recommended that you log in to your virtual lab environment and make sure you can access the Structured Query Language (SQL) server housed there.
Successful database development must appropriately reflect the information system of which the database is a part. In order to ensure that the database captures the needed information for the target information system, database architects must work within a framework known as the Database Development Life Cycle (DBLC). The DBLC includes steps ranging from initial assessment and analysis to operation and maintenance. This assignment will be the first step in the creation of your Week Six Database Design Project.
For this assignment, analyze the user needs laid out in the ISM641 DBLC Scenario
in order to facilitate the development of a database life cycle for the project. Within your paper describe the steps of the Database Development Life Cycle as it relates to the ConstructCo needs. Explain the analysis, design, implementation and testing tasks needed to complete each step within the DBLC for ConstructCo. For the conceptual design phase of the development, describe how unstructured data can be converted to structured data. Explain a minimum of two challenges, either business or technical, you might face when implementing the DBLC process and suggest ways in which you would overcome these challenges. Use evidence from your required resources to support your statements.
The final portion of your paper will be a one-page professional memo that will explain the DBLC steps to the ConstructCo executive team. The objective of the memo is to gain buy-in for the database development process in order to ensure successful project implementation. (Information on Writing a Business Memo
, as well as a Business Memo Template
, and a Sample Business Memo
are provided for your convenience.)
The assignment
Resources :
Text
Coronel, C., & Morris, S. (2018). Database systems: Design, implementation, & management (13th ed.). Retrieved from https://vitalsource.com/
- Chapter 1: Database Systems
- Chapter 2: Data Models
Websites
Ambler, S. (n.d.). Relational databases 101: Looking at the whole picture (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.agiledata.org/essays/relationalDatabase…
- This online resource discusses relational databases. This will explain the role of the relational model in addressing the data oriented business needs.
Accessibility Statement does not exist
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MariaDB. (2016). Database lifecycle (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mariadb/database-lifecyc…
- This online resource provides information on all the phase of the database life cycle.
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Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
RelationalDBDesign. (n.d.). (DBLC) Database life cycle (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.relationaldbdesign.com/relational-data…
- This online article provides information on the database life cycle including the five defined stages.
Accessibility Statement does not exist.
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
Recommended Resources
Text
Coronel, C., & Morris, S. (2016). Database systems: Design, implementation, & management (12th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning
- Chapter 9: Database Design
Website
MISM Credible Resource Guide (Links to an external site.). (http://ashford-mism.weebly.com/)
- This resource site will provide assistance in researching additional sources for the assessments within this course.
Weekly Lecture:
Week One Lecture
As we are all aware, one of the first and most visible uses for a computer is data management and record keeping. Keeping data in an organized and easily retrievable format is a major concern for any organization. In most cases, we use a database to store and organize data. A database (DB) is as a collection of related data organized in such a way that a computer can quickly select desired pieces of data (Chapple, n.d). You can think of a DB as an electronic filing system.
Imagine any one of the following scenarios:
- An airline reservation system with information about passengers, flights, personnel, and planes.
- A school with information about students, classes, and teachers.
- A catalog store with information about orders, customers, and products.
These scenarios are examples of situations where data has to be processed and stored. This data may be used over and over by different people and applications on a regular basis. This data is stored in a DB while the software used to manage this data and allow one or many people to access this data is called a database management system (DBMS).
All DBMSs must have a few simple objectives. These include integrity, redundancy, and evolution. However, data integrity is by far the most important. Data that any business keeps in a DB must be counted on to always be there and never change unless modified on purpose. Once the data is entered into the DB, we must have the confidence that what we entered will be there when we want to retrieve it. It should also be accurate, but that is not under the control of the DBMS system itself. One way of controlling this is to allow data to be validated based on other tables. For example, when the user enters an employee record with a department, the department could be verified to be a record in the department table. This does not prevent the wrong department from being chosen, but it does prevent an invalid department from being entered. Another approach is to implement integrity constraints which are also used to implement business rules.
Data redundancy in a given DBis another issue DB administrators should watch for. You want to prevent any data from being repeated anywhere in the DB, therefore making the size of the DB as small as possible and preventing inaccuracies to occur when data is changed. Fortunately, the normalization process which will be discussed in details in the next lecture deals with this issue.
DBs should also be able to evolve, meaning that as a company changes and needs to add more information the DB should allow this without much pain. For example you should be able to add a country to an address without needing to revamp your entire DB.
The relational DB is designed with all these objectives in mind. It is a great model and fills all these needs if the DB is designed well. In addition the programs that are written to access the data should be designed to use the DBMS capabilities to help ensure these objectives are met.
There are four different types of data stored in a DB. These include
- The user data stored in tables.
- The metadata that describes the structure and format of the user data and of the overall DB and is stored in DB system tables.
- Indexes, which are also called overhead data.
- The application metadata that is used to store the structure and format of user forms, reports, and queries.
Other components of a DB system are the application programs that are written in a language for the DBMS or in a standard language like Structured Query Language (SQL) that interfaces with a DBMS through a predefined program interface like Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) and Java Database Connectivity (JDBC).
Over the next few weeks, we will have an opportunity to review all of these components and appreciate the critical role relational databases play in today’s business world.
References
Chapple, M. (n.d.). Relational databases 101: Looking at the whole picture (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.agiledata.org/essays/relationalDatabase…
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