Accounting

Information
Systems
9th Edition

Marshall B. Romney
Paul John Steinbart

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Relational Databases

Chapter 4

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Learning Objectives

1. Explain the difference between database

and file-based legacy systems.
2. Describe what a relational database is and
how it organizes data.
3. Explain the difference between logical and
physical views of a database.
4. Create a set of well-structured tables to
properly store data in a relational
database.

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Introduction

Ashton Fleming, the accountant for

S&S, believes that the best way to
provide Susan Gonzalez and Scott
Parry with easy access to the
information they need to run their
business is to build S&S’s new AIS as
a database system.

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Introduction
 Ashton decides to prepare a brief
report for them addressing the
following questions:
 What is a database system?

 What is a relational database system?

 How do you design a relational

database?

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Introduction
 This chapter explains what a
database is and how it differs from a
file-oriented system.
 It also describes the structure of a
relational database system.
 The chapter concludes by discussing
the basic steps involved in designing
a database.

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Learning Objective 1

 Explain the difference between

database and file-based legacy
systems.

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Types of Files

 Two basic types of files are used to

store data.
1 The master file, which is conceptually
similar to a ledger in a manual
system.
2 The transaction file, which is
conceptually similar to a journal in a
manual system.
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File Approach

 For many years, companies created new

files and programs each time an information
need arose.
 This proliferation of master files created
problems:
1 Often the same data was stored in two or
more separate files.
2 The specific data values stored in the
different files were not always consistent.

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 File-Oriented Approach
File 1
Fact A Sales
Fact B Program
Fact C
File 2
Fact B Shipping
Fact D Program
Fact E
File 3
Fact A Billing
Fact G Program
Fact E ©2003 Prentice Hall Business Publishing,
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4-10
Databases
 The database approach views data as an
organizational resource that should be used
by, and managed for, the entire organization,
not just the originating department or
function.
 Its focus is data integration and data sharing.
 Integration is achieved by combining master
files into larger pools of data that can be
accessed by many application programs.

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Databases

 Database management system

(DBMS) is the program that manages
and controls access to the database.
 Database system is the combination
of the database, the DBMS, and the
application program that uses the
database.
 Database administrator (DBA) is the
person responsible for the database.
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 Database Approach
Database Sales Program

Fact A
Database
Fact B Shipping
management
Program
Fact C system
Fact D
Fact E Billing
Program

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Learning Objective 2

Describe what a relational

database is and how it
organizes data.

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Relational Databases

 A data model is an abstract

representation of the contents of a
database.
 The relational data model represents
everything in the database as being
stored in the form of tables.
 Technically, these tables are called
relations.
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Relational Databases

 Each row in a relation, called a tuple,

contains data about a specific
occurrence of the type of entity
represented by that table.

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Learning Objective 3

 Explain the difference between logical

and physical views of a database.

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Logical and Physical
Views of Data
 A major advantage of database
systems over file-oriented systems is
that the database systems separate
the logical and physical view of data.
 What is the logical view?
 It is how the user or programmer
conceptually organizes and
understands the data.

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Logical and Physical
Views of Data
 What is the physical view?
 It refers to how and where the data
are physically arranged and stored on
disk, tape, CD-ROM, or other media.
 The DBMS controls the database so
that users can access, query, or
update it without reference to how or
where the data are physically stored.

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 Logical and Physical
Views of Data
Logical View User A Logical View User B
Past Due Accounts October Sales by Region
Name Balance Days
Jackson 2145 48
Houston 1595 65

Database
Operating
DBMS system

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Logical and Physical
Views of Data

Program-data independence is
the separation of the logical and
physical views of data.

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Schemas

 A schema describes the logical

structure of a database.
 There are three levels of schemas:
1 Conceptual-level schema
2 External-level schema
3 Internal-level schema

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Schemas
 The conceptual-level schema is an
organization-wide view of the entire
database.
 The external-level schema consists of
a set of individual user views of
portions of the database, also referred
to as a subschema.
 The internal-level schema provides a
low-level view of the database.

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 Schemas
Subschema A Subschema B Subschema C
r r
Jackson 210 xxxxxxx
Houston 100 xxxxxxx

Mapping external level views to conceptual level schema

Inventory Sales Customer

Cash receipt
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 Schemas

Inventory Sales Customer

Cash receipt
Mapping conceptual level facts to internal level descriptions

Inventory Record
Item number – integer (5), non-null, index =
itemx Description – character (15)
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The Data Dictionary

 The data dictionary contains

information about the structure of the
database.
 For each data element stored in the
database, such as the customer
number, there is a corresponding
record in the data dictionary
describing it.

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The Data Dictionary

 The data dictionary is often one of the

first applications of a newly
implemented database system.
 What are some inputs to the data
dictionary?
– records of any new or deleted data
elements
– changes in names, descriptions, or
uses of existing data elements
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The Data Dictionary
 What are some outputs of the data
dictionary?
– reports useful to programmers,
database designers, and users of the
information system
 What are some sample reports?
– lists of programs in which a data item
is used
– lists of all synonyms for the data
elements in a particular file
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DBMS Languages
 Every DBMS must provide a means of
performing the three basic functions:
1 Creating the database
2 Changing the database
3 Querying the database
 The sets of commands used to
perform these functions are referred
to as the data definition, data
manipulation, and data query
languages.
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DDL Language

 The data definition language (DDL) is

used to...
– build the data dictionary.
– initialize or create the database.
– describe the logical views for each
individual user or programmer.
– specify any limitations or constraints
on security imposed on database
record or fields.
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DML Language

 The data manipulation language

(DML) is used for data maintenance.
 What does it include?
– updating portions of the database
– inserting portions of the database
– deleting portions of the database

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DQL Language

 The data query language (DQL) is

used to interrogate the database.
 The DQL retrieves, sorts, orders, and
presents subsets of the database in
response to user queries.

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Learning Objective 4

 Create a set of well-structured tables

to properly store data in a relational
database.

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Basic Requirements of the
Relational Data Model
1. Each column in a row must be single
valued.
2. Primary keys cannot be null.
3. Foreign keys, if not null, must have values
that correspond to the value of a primary
key in an other relation.
4. All non-key attributes in a table should
describe a characteristic about the object
identified by the primary key.

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Anomalies That May Occur in
Non-Normalized Relational
Tables
 Update Anomaly: When changes
(updates) to data values are not
correctly recorded.
 Instead of having to update once,
each record in the single table has to
be updated individually in order to
avoid inconsistencies in the database.

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Anomalies That May Occur in
Non-Normalized Relational
Tables
 Insert Anomaly: There is no way to
store information about one entity in
the database without it being
associated with another entity
 In the text, we would not be able to
store information on new customers
without their being associated with
transactions first!
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 Anomalies That May Occur in
Non-Normalized Relational Tables
 Delete Anomaly: Unintended results
arising from deleting a row of data
pertaining to one entity and resulting in
the deletion of data regarding another
entity as well.
 In the text, if a particular Inventory item were
discontinued and hence removed from the
database table, we would lose information
on the customer associated with that
inventory item as well.
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Approaches to
Database Design
 Normalization
 Starts with the assumption that all data is
initially stored in a large non-normalized
table.
 This table is then decomposed using a set of
normalization rules to create a set of tables
in the Third Normal Form.
 Semantic Data Modeling
 The database designer uses his/her
knowledge about the business structure to
create a set of relational tables.
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Database Systems and the
Future of Accounting
 Database systems have the potential
to significantly alter the nature of
external reporting.
 Perhaps the most significant effect of
database systems will be in the way
that accounting information is used in
decision making.

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End of Chapter 4

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