Database Management System

Lecture 1
Ways data is organized in…

Word Proces
Characters in
group of words
 Spreadsheet Format – Store data in rows and columns :

Patient A
Several things to note about the above table:
Data to be stored has uniform format. Same kind of information

John Smith 12
about each patient
1. File size will increase as the number of patient records
increases
2. Frequently accessing the table for new or existing patients

Jim Words 12
3. Table will be useful for all like the doctor or administrators
4. Other people may need print out of the information .
Potential problems that can arise:

 Patientsincrease – file size too so access

to the table will become slower and slow
when access concurrently;

 Takes time to manipulate the table i.e. Get

specific information, correct an error,
repetition of data will have to be dealt with.
Traditional File Systems

 Information system specialist became aware of the

problems
 So they devised ways of managing them.
 Rather then keeping data in a single large file,
 Data was separated into many different files according to
the nature of the information to be stored.
 Then special software programs were written to manage
the files.
 These programs could perform tasks such as:
 add new records
 update old ones;
 search for selected data within files
 and delete unwanted records.
Traditional File System
 Thus: The data about the Hospital patients in the
spreadsheet can be separated into the following files
under the traditional file system.

File Information Stored

Patients - Surname, First name, age, date
admitted, date discharged
Doctor - Surname, First name, Phone contact
Ward - Ward number, number of rooms
Room - Room number, beds, ward number
Traditional method of file management

P a tie n t s P a t ie n ts p ro g ra m U sers

D octors D o c to pr sro g ra m U sers

W ards W a rd s p ro g ra m Use r s

Ro oms R o o m s p ro g ra m U sers
Traditional method of file management
 Although this is an improvement over the spreadsheet
method of storing and accessing data, there are still some
problems.
 For instance, information about the wards is closely related to
the information about rooms but they are in different files.
How do you link them ? Often extra programming effort.
 Not every organization can afford to have a programmer
 Getting access to the required information often takes a
number of steps.
 To speed up the retrieval of information you can create
indexes for the file and/or split it up to avoid repetition of
information and reduce the total size of the file.
Disadvantages of TFM
Since data is stored in many related files you can
end up with:

 Data redundancy – keeping many copies of the same type

of data
 Data inconsistency – updating some of the copies but not
the others
 Data Dependency – data access is tied to the program so
change in data will also change in programs
 Excessive maintenance and upgrade costs – Modifying the
programs and structure of the data files require a lot of
effort.
The Evolution of Database System
 What is a database:- is nothing more than
a collection of information that exists over
a long period of time.

 The term database refers to a collection

of data that is managed by a DBMS
DATABASE
A collection of data that is managed and organized
by a DBMS. Not all collection of data are
databases. Databases have the following
characteristics:
1. They represent some aspects of the real world
• Hospital patients
1. They are logical and have some meaning
• Related in some way
• Information has some meaning.
1. They are created for specific purposes.
• Information for a specific purposes.
Database Approach

User 1
Patients User 3
Database
Doctors User 6
Management
Ward System User 9
Room User 12

Data are all in one database but kept in a separate logical units or tables.
The DBMS provides users with one interface to access the database and
present the database information to each users according to preferences.