Topic 1 Database Systems

Tutorial Questions for Week 2 – 3

1. Discuss each of the following terms:

(a) data- are the raw facts, for example, a customer name.
(b) field- is a character or a group of character that has a specific meaning.
(c) record- a logically connected set of one or more fields that describes a person, place or thing.
(d) file- is collection of related records.

2. What is data redundancy, and which characteristics of the file system can lead to it?
Data redundancy- same data stored unnecessarily in different place. Organizational structure of thee
file system can lead to data redundancy.

3. What is data independence, and why is it lacking in file systems?

Data independence: when changes in the data characteristics don’t require changes in the program
that access those data. It is lacking because all data access program is subject to changes when any
of the file systems data storage characteristics such as changing a data type change.

4. What is a DBMS, and what are its functions?

DBMS is the collection of programs that manages structure and controls access to data.
Functions:
• DBMS stores the definitions of a data and their relationship (metadata) in a data dictionary,
any changes made are automatically recorded in the data dictionary.
• DBMS creates the complex structure required for data storage
• backup and recovery management
• multi user access control

5. What is structural independence, and why is it important?

File structure is changed without affecting the applications ability to access the data.

6. Explain the difference between data and information.

Data is raw facts whereas information is data that has been processed.

7. What is the role of a DBMS, and what are its advantages? What are its disadvantages?
The DBMS manages the interaction between the end user and the database.
Adv
• Improved data sharing
• Improved data security
• Better data integration
• Minimised data inconsistency
• Improved data access
Disadv
• increased cost
• management complexity
• frequent updates

8. List and describe the different types of databases.

• Single user database- supports only one user at a time.
• Multi-user database- supports multiple users at the same time.
• Centralized database- data located at a single site.
 • Distributed database- data distributed across several different sites.
• Operational database- supports a company’s day to day operations.
• Data warehouse- stores data used for tactical and strategic decisions.

9. What are the main components of a database system?

• Software.
• Hardware
• Data
• Procedures
• access languages, and application program interfaces

10. What are metadata?

Provides description of data characteristics and relationships

11. Explain why database design is important.

It focuses on design of database structure used for end-user data

12. What are the potential costs of implementing a database system?

 Skills
 Implementation
 Hardware
 Software
 Location

13. Use examples to compare and contrast unstructured and structured data. Which type is more
prevalent in a typical business environment?

Unstructured data has no pre-defined format or organization, making it much more difficult to

collect, process, and analyse. Examples if unstructured data are text, video, audio, etc whereas,
Structured data is highly-organized and formatted in a way so it's easily searchable in relational
databases. Examples of structured data includes names, addresses, credit card number, dates, etc.

14. What are some basic database functions that a spreadsheet cannot perform.
• support for self-documentation through metadata.
• Queries
• enforcement of data types or domains to ensure consistency of data within a column, defined
relationships among tables, or constraints to ensure consistency of data across related tables

15. What common problems do a collection of spreadsheets created by end users share with the
typical file system?
 lengthy development time
- difficulty of getting quick answers
- complex system administration
- lack of security
- limited data sharing
- extensive programming to make changes
- creates data inconsistencies, redundancies, and anomalies

16. Explain the significance of the loss of direct, hands-on access to business data that users
experienced with the advent of computerized data repositories
With direct hands on business information, the users had the option to control the association
information. The users had the option to make new data with the previously available information.
The users wearable to make different tools to recover and manipulate organization information
according to their requirements.

Problem Solutions
Given the file structure shown in Figure P1.1, answer Problems 1 – 4.
FIGURE P1.1 The File Structure for Problems 1-4

1.

How many records does the file contain? How many fields are there per record?
Records= 7
Fields= 5

2. What problem would you encounter if you wanted to produce a listing by city? How would you
solve this problem by altering the file structure?
The city names are written together with manager address. Thus, the queries become hard to write
and it takes longer time to execute when internal string searches are conducted. To solve this
problem, it is better to store the city name as a separate attribute.

3. If you wanted to produce a listing of the file contents by last name, area code, city, state, or zip
code, how would you alter the file structure?
We can simply divide the MANAGER_ADDRESS into 4 fields
 Area code (MANAGER_AREA)
 City (MANAGER_CITY)
 State (MANAGER_STATE)
 Zip code (MANAGER_ZIP)

4. What data redundancies do you detect? How could those redundancies lead to anomalies?
Data redundancies that I have detect are, firstly, Holly B. Parker is repeated 3 times in the project
manager column as well as in the Manager_Phone and Manager_Address. On the other hand, I have
also detected that George F. Dorts is repeated 2 times in the project manager column as well as in
the Manager_Phone and Manager_Address. Due to multiple occurrences this means that there are
one to many relationships, each project is managed by one manger, however, a manager may
manage more than one project. it may become difficult to determine what the correct data are. In
addition, multiple occurrences invite misspellings and digit transpositions, thus producing the same
anomalies

FIGURE P1.5 The File Structure for Problems 5-8

5. Identify and discuss the serious data redundancy problems exhibited by the file structure shown
in FigureP1.5.
There are two entries for phone number for an employee 105. Those two entries for phone number
appears one under project hurricane and the other one appears under satellite project.
If the client were to change any information, it is possible the integrity of data would be
compromised, because it is unlikely it would be changed in every project.

6. Looking at the EMP_NAME and EMP_PHONE contents in Figure P1.5, what change(s) would
you recommend?
I recommend to separate the EMP_NAME into two components that is EMP_FIRSTNAME and
EMP_LASTNAME. This will allow us to easily organise employee’s data through employee name
component. On the other hand, the EMP_PHONE should also be divided into two field
EMP_AREACODE and EMP_PHONE. This will allow us to easily organise the employee’s phone
numbers by area code. For example, 615-233-5432 can be divided as an area code and phone
number. However, 615 becomes an area code and phone number 233-5432.

7. Identify the various data sources in the file you examined in Problem 5.
 Employee data such as phone number and name
 Job data such as job charge per hour
 The project hours

8. Given your answer to Problem 7, what new files should you create to help eliminate the data
redundancies found in the file shown in Figure P1.5?
Data sources are probably the PROJECT, EMPLOYEE, JOB, and CHARGE. The PROJECT record
should contain project attributes, for example, the project name, the project manager/organiser, the
project budget, etc. The EMPLOYEE file may contain the employee names, phone number,
address, etc. The JOB file would contain the billing charge per hour for each activity types a
database designer, an applications engineer, and accountants would produce distinctive billing
charges every hour. The CHARGE file would be utilized to monitor the quantity of hours by work
type that will be charged for every employee who worked on the project

FIGURE P1.9 The File Structure for Problems 9-10

9.Identify and discuss the serious data redundancy problems exhibited by the file structure shown in
Figure P1.9. (The file is meant to be used as a teacher class assignment schedule. One of the many
problems with data redundancy is the likely occurrence of data inconsistencies – that two different
initials have been entered for the teacher named Maria Cordoza.)

The teacher Maria Cordoza’s has occurred multiple times in this file. The first name, last name and
teachers initial has occurred three times. If changes must be made for any given teacher, those
changes must be made multiple times. All it takes is one incorrect entry or one forgotten change to
create data inconsistencies. Redundant data are not a luxury you can afford in a data environment.

10. Given the file structure shown in Figure P1.9, what problem(s) might you encounter if building
KOM were deleted?
You would lose all assignment information about teachers Williston, Cordoza, and Hawkins, as
well as the KOM rooms 204E, 123, and 34. Here is one more valid justification for keeping
information about specific entities in their own tables. This sort of an inconsistency is known as a
deletion anomaly