DATABASES IN IN BUSINESS

Database is a collection of related information on a particular subject or purpose. A

database is formed when a collection of information is organised for quick and easy
retrieval of needed information. Database helps to maintain all relevant data in such a
way that it will be useful to its owner for record keeping and decision making. A database
is an electronic filing cabinet which makes it easy for you to quickly work with the data
sort them, create reports, merge the data with other documents, and so forth
Database Management System
A database is a collection of organised data with relationship in their elements. This can
be achieved by using software usually referred to as database management system
(DBMS). With DBMS softwares, you will be able to enter data, manipulate data, and
report information from the data. A DBMS is a software system designed to allow the
definition, creation, querying, update, and administration of databases. Well-known
DBMSs

include MySQL,MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Microsoft

Server, Oracle, SAP

HANA, dBASE, FoxPro, IBM

SQL

DB2, LibreOffice

Base and FileMaker Pro, Ministry of Sports and Gender Access etc.
The interactions catered for by most existing DBMSs fall into four main groups:

Data definition Defining new data structures for a database, removing data
structures from the database, modifying the structure of existing data.
Update Inserting, modifying, and deleting data.

Retrieval Obtaining information either for end-user queries and reports or for
processing by applications.

Administration Registering and monitoring users, enforcing data security,

monitoring performance, maintaining data integrity, dealing with concurrency
control, and recovering information if the system fails.

A DBMS is responsible for maintaining the integrity and security of stored data, and for
recovering information if the system fails.
Features/characteristics of good DBMSs

A command language that allows you to create, delete and alter the database (data
description language or DDL)
A way of documenting all the internal structures that make up the database (data
dictionary)

A language to support the manipulation and processing of the data (data

manipulation language)
Support the ability to view the database from different viewpoints according to
the requirements of the user
Provide some level of security and access control to the data
Represents complex relationship between data, ensures data sharing, controls data
redundancy and enforces user defined rules.
It has automatic and intelligent backup and recovery procedures.

Advantages of DBMs
Application areas of databases
Creating a Database Environment
To create a database environment, you must understand the relationships among the data,
the type of data that will be maintained in the database, how the data will be used, and
how the organization may need to change to manage data from a company-wide
perspective.
Designing Databases
To create a database, you must go through two design exercises: a conceptual design and
a physical design. The conceptual, or logical, design of a database is an abstract model of
the database from a business perspective. The conceptual database design describes
how the data elements in the database are to be grouped, relationships among data
elements and the most efficient way of grouping data elements to meet information
requirements.
Physical design shows how the database is actually arranged on direct-access storage
devices. Logical design requires a detailed description of the business information needs
of the actual end users of the database.
Entities
An entity is anything in which we are interested in that exists independently.
e.g student, customer, employee etc.
An instance of an entity is one specific thing of the type defined by the entity.
For example, EMPLOYEE in a small company with three employees might have
instances of Marge Evans, Roberto Garcia, and Arte Singh.
In a relational database, the entity is represented as a table and the three instances of the
entity are represented as rows in that table.
Attributes
Attributes are items of data that characterizes an entity or relationship. For example to
fully describe an STUDENT entity we need to record several attributes such as
Name, Address, Contact_Person, Age, Adm_No, Email_Address Phone_Number etc.

Attributes that consist of multiple subattributes are referred to as composite attributes e.g
Address.

Attribute Hierarchy for Entity Client

Key Attributes
A unique attribute/value is needed to locate the desired record in the database
An attribute with a unique value is known as a key attribute. In implementing the
database, the key attribute becomes the primary key.
Relationships
Relationships are associations between entities. Entities must be logically linked to show
the relationships between them These relationships map and define how data can be
extracted from the database
Relational databases
At present, the DB-market is completely dominated by systems supporting the relational
model of data. Leading (commercial) manufacturers of relational DB-products include: Oracle Sybase
Microsoft (Access,
SQL Server)
Postgres (Freeware)
IBM (DB2, Informix)
MySQL (Freeware)
Relational databases are collections of one or more relations. In practice, relations can be
visualized as tables, the rows of which are individual records of data with the same
(homogeneous) field structure.
Relational Database Concepts
A relation is a collection of data representing multiple occurrences of instances of an
entity.

A tuple is a set of data that describes a single instance of the entity represented by a
relation. Tuples are also called a row. For example, one employee is an instance of the
EMPLOYEE relation.
Attributes represent an item of data that characterizes an entity. Attributes are often
called fields.
An Example of a relation

Database Design
In the Relational Database model, each of the entity is transformed into a table. The
attributes (fields) of each of the entities for the corresponds to the fields (columns) in the
table.
Microsoft Access
Access is a relational database management system. An Access database is able to contain
thousands of records. Records contain fields. Each field contains entries made up of text,
numbers, which are the basic building blocks of data. A database thus contains records;
records have fields; the fields contain entries. These entries are made accessible by the
Data View (Table), Query, Form, and Report functions of the Access database.
A Microsoft Access database is made up of several objects, grouped into a single file such
as:a) Tables: - A table is made up of rows and columns of cells that you can fill with
text and graphics. Tables are often used to organize and present information.
Examples of tables include Admission table, Accounts table, and student details
table e.t.c.
b) Query: -Gives a means of finding all the records stored in a data source that fit a
set of criteria you name. A query can be created for a students table to search for
the records of those students who have a fees balance of 30,000 and above.
c) Forms: - These are documents that contain fill-in blanks, or form fields, in which
you enter information. For example an online registration form that uses dropdown lists, from which users can select entries.

d) Reports: - These are Ms Access database objects which are used to output or
display information that is in the database in an organized manner for the purpose
of printing.
e) Pages: - these are web pages, published from Access that has a connection to a
database. In a data access page, you can view, add to, edit, and manipulate the
data stored in the database
f) Macro: - This is an action or set of actions you can use to automate tasks e.g. a
macro can be created for opening a form in add mode so as to allow addition of
records to the specified form.
g) Modules: - A module is a collection of Visual Basic declarations and procedures
that are stored together as a unit. But this tutorial focuses on the first four tabs
namely; Tables, queries, forms and reports.
Creating a New Database
You are going to start a new database of Student Records.
1) Open Access (Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Access 2007)
2) Click on the Office button and, from the menu, select New...
Access now presents you with the Getting Started with Microsoft Access screen
Note: Before you type the name for the new database, you need to locate where you
want to save it on your disk.
3) Type Student Records .accdb for the new database name and click on OK, then
click on the Create button in the lower right corner of the window.
4) Click on the Create Tab so that you can check out the Ribbon for creating Tables,
Forms, Reports and other database items
5) In the Tables group, click on Table Design
You will now see the Tables Design View dialog box like one shown below

Access field names can be up to 64 characters in length, by the way, more than enough
for any purposes.
Table below provides you the complete list of all the field names for this Students
Records database. You also can easily change, add or delete fields.

6) In the Field Name column, type field names for the table, in the Data Type
column specify the data type which tells you what kind of values to store in the
field. The other columns in the table below (Required, Length and Comments
columns) are there to help you as you enter each field name and data type and
explain whether data is to be "Required" for that field and what size (in text
characters) the field is allowed to be, along with tips on what to do.
7) Before naming the rest of the fields in the database, click on the Office button and
select Save As, then in the dialog box that pops up type the name Student
Records Table
8) Click on No to tell Access you don't want a Primary Key field in the database

Practical task
Create a database and a table and enter records below into your table
Admission

Admission

Age

No

Date

StudentName

(Number

Gender

(Text)

(Date/Time)

(Text)

(Text)

ZC/2007/00

Total Fees

Fees Paid

Course

(Currency

(Currency

(Text)
Informantio

1
ZC/2007/00

06-Feb-07

Mike Gitau

23

Male

Technology

$40,000.00

$10,000.00

2
ZC/2007/00

06-Apr-07

Izol Chepkite

22

Female

Secretarial

$28,000.00

$15,000.00

5
ZC/2007/00

07-Dec-07

Mary Aloo

18

Female

Comp. Eng.

$28,000.00

$18,000.00

3
ZC/2007/00

06-Apr-07

Mael Kimono

19

Male

Comp. Eng.
Tours
&

$35,000.00

$20,000.00

4
ZC/2007/00

07-Dec-07

James Kanyeki

25

Male

Travel

$30,000.00

$22,000.00

08-May-07

Jane Kariuki

24

Female

Comp. Eng.

$35,000.00

$30,000.00

SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
a) Discuss the advantages of using database management system over the traditional
file-based system in a business organization (20 Marks)
b) Identify and describe any five application areas of database management systems
(10 marks)