CC204 Database Design

Database System Development Lifecycle

1. Planning
The management activities that allow the stages of the database application to be
realized as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Should take account of:

 The work to be done.
 The resources available to do the work.
 The money available to pay for the work.

2. System Definition
The scope and boundaries of the database application including its major application
areas and user groups.

3. Requirements Collection and Analysis

Information gathered by:
 Interviewing individuals within enterprise, particularly those regarded as
experts within an area of interest.
 Observing the enterprise in operation.
 Examining documents, in particular those used to record/display information.
 Using questionnaires, to gather information from the wide number of users.
 Using experience from design of similar systems.

4. Design
At the end of this phase, a complete logical and physical design of the database
system on the chosen DBMS is ready.

5. Implementation
This comprises the process of writing the conceptual, external, and internal database
definitions, creating empty database files, and implementing the software
applications.

6. Data loading and Conversion

The database is populated either by loading the data directly or by converting existing
files into the database system format.

7. Testing
The new system is tested and validated.

8. Operational Maintenance
During the operational phase, the system is constantly monitored and maintained.
Major modification and reorganizations may be needed from time to time.

Note: Not all program uses database are considered database application, only
database that managed by a standard DBMS such as Oracle. Examples of database
application: Amazon.com (uses Oracle RDBMS) and Facebook (built on top of
MySQL). Other examples: airline reservation system and accouting system
(characteristics – updates and queries from multiple users) .
 CC204 Database Design

Reference: Connolly T. and Begg C., Chapter 10 (page 343)

Page 348 (Figure 10.1)
 CC204 Database Design

Definition - What does Primary Key mean?

A primary key is a special relational database table column (or combination of
columns) designated to uniquely identify each table record.  For example,
students are routinely assigned unique identification (ID) numbers, and all
adults receive government-assigned and uniquely-identifiable
Social Security numbers.
Foreign keys are the columns of a table that points to the primary key of
another table. They act as a cross-reference between tables. For example: if
Stu_Id column is the primary key of the Student table. the Stu_Id column in
Course_enrollment table is a foreign key as it points to the primary key of the
Student table.