CIA3002 ADVANCED ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS

SEMESTER 1 2021/2022

GROUP DISCUSSION (GROUP A)

No. Name Matrix No.

1 PRISCILLA NG YOONG KEI 17177663/2

2 SHAMMITA RAM A/P RAMAINGAM 17206821/1

3 ANIS MARISSA BT AZMI 17064897/1

4 CHAI XIN YEE 17204665/1

5 ZAINOL ASHRAF BIN ZAINOL ABIDIN 17114597/1

INSTRUCTOR: DR SHAMSHUL BAHRI BIN ZAKARIA

DATE OF DISCUSSION : 1ST NOVEMBER 2021

 Tutorial 1

Question:

1) What are the four primary elements of the database environment?

Answer:
- User access
- The Database Management Systems (DBMS)
- The database administrator
- The physical database

2) What flat-file data management problems are solved as a result using the
database concept?
Answer:
- Data storage problem
- Data update problem
- Currency problem
- Task-data dependency problem

3) Explain the relationship between the three levels of the data definition language.
As a user, which level would you be most interested in?
Answer:
- The data definition language is primarily used to describe the physical
characteristics of the database management system. There are three levels of data
definition language which are internal view, conceptual view, and user view. Each
of the views represents a particular arrangement of data.
○ Internal View: The arrangement of data and its physical appearance for the
programmer
○ Conceptual View: The logical arrangement of the data for the programmer
○ User View: the view of the data for the user.
 - The three views assist both programmers and users in reading and interpreting
data from the database.This allows users to see database information in a more
business-related way rather than from a technical, processing viewpoint. Different
departments need different views of the company's database. They assist in
differentiating the levels at which programmers and users can view and receive the
data.
- As a user, I am interested in the User View. This is because the level is more user
friendly for the user to retrieve data and it’s easier to understand.

4) Discuss the potential aggravations you might face as a student because of your
university’s use of a flat-file data management environment.
Answer:
- If my university were to use a flat data system, many more forms would have to be
filed out. A flat file system would create more paperwork for everyone and be
difficult to keep students files up to date. Without the up to date files, it would
create delays in grades, graduation, and solving issues that arise.

- For instance, I would have to fill out forms for the registrar, library and parking.
Filling out all those forms would take valuable time. Then, I would have to make
sure each service received a copy of my information. Next, there is always the risk
of one service not having any information correct. Incorrect information would
cause problems when paying for classes or parking passes. Also, without a central
database, I would have to contact each service to verify my information was
correct. Again, contacting each service would be time consuming and frankly
frustrating.
5) Discuss why control procedures over access to the data resource become more
crucial under the database approach than in the flat-file environment.
Answer:
Definition of Flat file Database System
Plain text files usually contain one record per line (Wikipedia) .Examples of flat files
include /etc/passwd and /etc/group. Another example of a flat file is a name-and-address
list Handwritten with the fields Name, Address, and Phone Number.
Role of Database Management System (DBMS)
● It gives the end user a clear, integrated picture of the data and translates all apps
into sophisticated actions that satisfy those needs.
○ Users and application programmes, on the other hand, are unaware of most
of the database's inherent complexities.
● From allowing many apps or users to share data in a database to providing users
with a single all-encompassing data source
● Control Access in Database Management System
○ The motivation of DBMS is to provide control access for the database. DBMS
is a privileged software program created to know the data record of the user in
a secured and protected access.
○ Access control is mainly useful for defining rules and restrictions and giving
access to database files.
○ If any user wants to access database files then the user should provide the
credentials (identification, password)
■ Credentials may be a combination of numbers or alphabetical
which can be sent to the database to access the files.
■ The access control compares the credentials given by the user
and then permits them to login into the database. If the user
gave wrong credentials then he cannot login and access the
database files. This case is known as access to denial. All
these logs are saved into the database. Access control helps
to ensure that only authorized users can access the database.