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The Main Stages of Database Design

The main stages of database design are conceptual design, logical design, and physical design. Conceptual design involves creating a semantic data model of the information without considering a specific database system. Logical design maps the conceptual model to specific data models like relational. Physical design specifies how the database will be implemented considering a specific database management system's restrictions and storage environment. The key steps in database design are defining objectives, collecting data, distributing data into tables, identifying primary keys, and determining relationships between tables. Normalization rules are then applied to reduce data anomalies.

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653 views4 pages

The Main Stages of Database Design

The main stages of database design are conceptual design, logical design, and physical design. Conceptual design involves creating a semantic data model of the information without considering a specific database system. Logical design maps the conceptual model to specific data models like relational. Physical design specifies how the database will be implemented considering a specific database management system's restrictions and storage environment. The key steps in database design are defining objectives, collecting data, distributing data into tables, identifying primary keys, and determining relationships between tables. Normalization rules are then applied to reduce data anomalies.

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The main stages of database design

What is Database Design?


Database Design is a collection of processes that facilitate the designing,
development, implementation and maintenance of enterprise data management
systems. Properly designed database are easy to maintain, improves data
consistency and are cost effective in terms of disk storage space. The database
designer decides how the data elements correlate and what data must be stored.
The main objectives of database design in DBMS are to produce logical and
physical designs models of the proposed database system.

Database development life cycle

The database development life cycle has a number of stages that are followed when
developing database systems.
The steps in the development life cycle do not necessarily have to be followed
religiously in a sequential manner.
On small database systems, the process of database design is usually very simple
and does not involve a lot of steps.
In order to fully appreciate the above diagram, let’s look at the individual
components listed in each step for overview of design process in DBMS.

Importance of Database Design


Database design defines the database structure used for planning, storing, and
managing information. To ensure data accuracy, you must design a database that
only stores relevant and valuable information.
A well-designed database is essential to guarantee information consistency,
eliminate redundant data, efficiently execute queries, and improve the database’s
performance. A methodological approach toward designing a database will save
you time in the database development phase.
The reliability of data depends on the table structure, whereas creating primary and
unique keys guarantees uniformity in the stored information. You can avoid data
replication by forming a table of probable values and using a key to denote the
value.

Conceptual (infological) design


Construction of a semantic model of the subject area, that is, an information model
of the highest level of abstraction. Such a model is created without focusing on any
particular DBMS and data model. The terms "semantic model", "conceptual
model" and "infological model" are synonymous.

The specific form and content of the conceptual model of the database is
determined by the formal apparatus chosen for this purpose. Graphical notations
similar to ER diagrams are commonly used.
Most often, the conceptual model of the database includes:
 description of information objects or concepts of the subject area and
connections between them.
 description of integrity constraints, i.e. requirements for permissible data
values and relationships between them.
Logical design
Creating a database scheme based on a specific data model, for example, a
relational database model. For a relational data model, this is a set of relationship
schemas, usually specifying primary keys, as well as "links" between relationships,
which are foreign keys.
The transformation of a conceptual model into a logical model is usually carried
out according to formal rules. This step can be largely automated.
At the stage of logical design, the specifics of a specific data model are taken into
account, but the specifics of a specific DBMS may not be taken into account.

Physical design
creation of a database scheme for a specific DBMS. The specifics of a specific
DBMS may include restrictions on the naming of database objects, restrictions on
supported data types, and others. In addition, the specificity of a specific DBMS
during physical design includes the choice of solutions related to the physical data
storage environment (choice of disk memory management methods, database
division by files and devices, data access methods), creation of indexes, and others.
The entity-relationship model (ER-model) (Entity-relationship model or entity-
relationship diagram) is a data model that allows you to describe conceptual
schemes using generalized block structures. An ER model is a data meta-model,
that is, a means of describing data models. There are a number of models for
knowledge representation, but one of the most convenient tools for a unified
representation of data independent of the software that implements it is the entity-
relationship model. The fact that all available data models (hierarchical, network,
relational, object) can be generated from the "entity-relationship" model is
important, so it is the most general.

Steps:

1. Define the objective of your database


The first step is to determine the purpose of your database. For example, if you are
running a small home-based business, you can design a customer database that
maintains a list of consumer info to generate emails and reports. Hence,
understanding the importance of a database is vital.
At the end of this step, you will have a strong mission statement that you can refer
to throughout the database design process. It will help you concentrate on your
objectives when making important decisions.

2. Locate and consolidate the necessary data


The next step is to collect all kinds of information you might want to store in the
database. Begin with the existing data and mull over the questions you want your
database to answer. It will help you decide which data needs to be recorded.

3. Distribute the data into tables


Once you have amassed all the necessary data items, the next step is to divide them
into main entities or subject areas. For example, if you are a retailer, some of your
main entities could be products, customers, suppliers, and orders. Each entity will
then become a separate table.

4. Change data items into columns


Data is segregated into tables, such that every data item becomes a field and is
shown as a column. For instance, a customer table might include fields like name,
address, email address, and city.

5. Identify primary keys


The next step to improve your database design is to select a primary key for every
table. This primary key is a column or a set of columns that pinpoint each row
distinctively. For instance, in your customer table, the primary key could be
customer ID. It will allow you to identify unique rows based on the customer ID.

6. Determine how tables are related


After dividing data into tables, information needs to be brought together in a
meaningful manner. So, you can explore each table and Identify the connection
between the tables. If required, you can add fields or form new tables to simplify
the relationship based on the types of information.

7. Enhance your database design


Now that you have all the required tables, fields, and relationships, the next step is
to refine your database design by creating and populating your tables with mockup
information. Experiment with the sample data by running queries or adding new
items. It will help you analyze your design for faults, and you will be able to
highlight possible errors. If needed, adjust your design to mitigate those problems.

8. Implement the normalization rules


The last step is to implement the normalization rules for your database design. A
systematic approach removes redundancy and unwanted characteristics, such as
Insertion, Update, and Deletion irregularities. The multi-step process stores data in
a tabular form, which helps eliminate redundant data from the relation tables.

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