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HCT0104:
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MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS
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DEFINITIONS:
1. Data: raw facts about an entity
2. Information: processed data.
3. Data definition: Creation, modification and removal of definitions that define the
organization of the data.
4. Data modelling: is a process used to define and analyze data requirements needed to
support the business processes within the scope of corresponding information systems
in organizations.
5. Database: is an organized collection of data. Or a collection of logical data. It is a
collection of related data organized in a way that data can be easily accessed,
managed, and updated.
6. Database management systems (DBMS): It is software that allows the creation,
definition, and manipulation of databases.
Or Software that allow users to define, create and manages database access, e.g.
MySQL, Oracle etc.
7. Database schema: it is a descriptive detail of the database, which can be depicted by
means of schema diagrams. It defines entities and relationships among them.
 FUNCTIONS OF A DBMS
i. Perform any kind of operation on data in a database.
ii. Provide protection and security to database.
iii. Concurrency control: maintains data consistency in case of multiple users.
iv. Provide utility services.
v. Provide data independence.

Well known DBMS’ are:

i. MySQL COMPONENTS OF A DATABASE SYSTEM
ii. Oracle iv. Microsoft Access
iii. Sybase v. Microsoft SQL Server
vi. SAP etc.

Typical examples of DBMS use include: i.

Accounting systems
ii. Human resourcessystems v. Automated teller machines
iii. Customer support systems vi. Flight reservation systems
iv. Computerized library systems vii. Computerized parts inventory
systemsetc.

i. Hardware: the actual computer system used for keeping and accessing the database. ii.
Software: the actual DBMS. It is a mediator between the database and the users. iii. Data:
raw facts about an entity.

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iv. Procedures: instructions and rules that govern the design and use of the database.

v. Users: these may be of many various types including DB administrator, System developer
and end users.

TYPES OF USERS

i. Naive Users: those users who need not be aware of the presence of the database system
or any other system supporting their usage. They are end users of the database who
work through a menu driven application program, where the type and range of
response is always indicated to the user.
ii. Online Users: those who may communicate with the database directly via an online
terminal or indirectly via a user interface and application program. These users are
aware of the presence of the database system and may have acquired a certain amount
of expertise with in the limited interaction permitted with a database.
 iii. Sophisticated Users: Such users interact with the system without, writing programs.
Instead, they form their requests in database query language. Each such query is
submitted to a very processor whose function is to break down DML statements into
instructions that the storage manager understands.
iv. Specialized Users: Such users are those who write specialized database application
that do not fit into the fractional data-processing framework. For example: Computer
aided design systems, knowledge base and expert system, systems that store data with
complex data types.
v. Application Programmers: Professional programmers are those who are responsible
for developing application programs or user interface. The application programs could
be written using general purpose programming language or the commands available to
manipulate a database.
vi. Database Administrator: The database administrator (DBA) is the person or group in
charge for implementing the database system, within an organization. The "DBA has
all the system privileges allowed by the DBMS and can assign (grant) and remove
(revoke) levels of access (privileges) to and from other users. DBA is also responsible
for the evaluation, selection and implementation of DBMS package.

ADVANTAGES OF DBMS
1. Improved data sharing: The DBMS helps create an environment in which end users
have better access to more and better-managed data.
2. Improved data security: The more the users access the data, the greater the risks of
data security breaches. This is the reason DBMS provides a framework for better
enforcement of data privacy and security policies.
3. Better data integration: It is much easier to see how actions in one segment of the
company affect other segments.
4. Minimized data inconsistency: Data inconsistency exists when different versions of
the same data appear in different places. The probability of data inconsistency is
greatly reduced in a properly designed database.

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5. Improved data access: The DBMS makes it possible to produce quick answers to ad
hoc queries. From a database perspective, a query is a specific request issued to the
DBMS for data manipulation.
6. Improved decision making: Better-managed data and improved data access make it
possible to generate better-quality information, on which better decisions are based.
Data quality is a comprehensive approach to promoting the accuracy, validity, and
timeliness of the data. While the DBMS does not guarantee data quality, it provides a
framework to facilitate data quality initiatives.
7. Increased end-user productivity: The availability of data, combined with the tools
that transform data into usable information, empowers end users to make quick,
informed decisions that can make the difference between success and failure in the
global economy.
 DISADVANTAGES OF DBMS
1. Complexity: The provision of the functionality that is expected of a good DBMS
makes the DBMS an extremely complex piece of software. Failure to understand the
system can lead to bad design decisions, which can have serious consequences for an
organization.
2. Size: The complexity and breadth of functionality makes the DBMS an extremely large
piece of software, occupying many megabytes of disk space and requiring substantial
amounts of memory to run efficiently.
3. Performance: The DBMS file based system is written to be more general, to cater for
many applications rather than just one. The effect is that some applications may not
run as fast as they used to.
4. Higher impact of a failure: The centralization of resources increases the vulnerability
of the system. Since all users and applications rely on the ~vailabi1ity of the DBMS,
the failure of any component can bring operations to a halt.
5. Cost of DBMS: The cost of DBMS varies significantly, depending on the environment
and functionality provided. There is also the recurrent annual maintenance cost. 6.
Additional Hardware costs: To achieve the required performance it may be necessary to
purchase a larger machine, perhaps even a machine dedicated to running the DBMS. The
procurement of additional hardware results in further expenditure. 7. Cost of
Conversion: In some situations, the cost of DBMS and extra hardware may be
insignificant compared with the cost of converting existing applications to run on the new
DBMS and hardware. This cost is one of the main reasons why some organizations feel
tied to their current systems and cannot switch to modern database technology.

REQUIREMENT FOR A DBMS

The software responsible for the management data in computers i.e. DBMS (like Oracle,
Foxpro, SQL Server etc.) should meet the following requirements:

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i. Provide data definition facilities: It should support Data Definition Language (DDL)
and provides user accessible catalogue Known as Data Dictionary.
ii. Provide facilities for storing, retrieving and updating data: It should support Data
Manipulation Language (DML), so that required data can be inserted, updated,
deleted and retrieved.
iii. Supports multiple views of data: The end user should have the facility of flexible query
language so that required information can be accessed easily.
iv. Provides facilities for specifying Integrity constraints: It should support the
constraints like Primary key, foreign key during creation of tables so that only the
valid information is stored in the database. As soon as, we try to insert any incorrect
information it should display the error message.
v. Provide security of data: It should have the facilities for controlling access to data and
prevent unauthorized access and update.
vi. Provide concurrency control mechanism: It should allow simultaneous access and
update of data by multiple users
vii. Support Transactions: It should support all the properties of transaction known as
 ACID properties. It means a sequence of operations to be performed as a whole. In
other words all operations are performed or none.
viii. Provide facilities for database recovery: It should bring database back to consistent
state after a failure such as disk failure, faulty program etc.
ix. Provide facilities for database maintenance: It should support maintenance operations
like unload, reload, mass insertion, deletion and validation of data.

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DATABASE MODELS
It is a type of data model that determines the logical structure of a database and
fundamentally determines in which manner data can be stored, organized, and manipulated.
They define the logical design of data.
Data model tells how the logical structure of a database is modelled. They define how data is
connected to each other and how it will be processed and stored inside the system.

TYPES OF DATABASE MODELS

i. Flat file database model
ii. Hierarchical database model
iii. Network database model
iv. Relational database model
v. Object-Oriented database model

1. Flat file Database Model

 Exercise: Discuss this model, stating its advantages and disadvantages

2. Hierarchical Model
This database model organises data into a tree-like-structure, with a single root, to which all
the other data is linked. The hierarchy starts from the Root data, and expands like a tree,
adding child nodes to the parent nodes.
In this model, a child node will only have a single parent node.
This model efficiently describes many real-world relationships like index of a book, recipes
etc.
In hierarchical model, data is organised into tree-like structure with one one-to-many
relationship between two different types of data, for example, one department can have many
courses, many professors and many students.

Fig 1. Hierarchical model

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Advantages of the Hierarchical Model

i. It is easy to design
ii. It is cheap to maintain
iii. It is easy to use
iv. Data sharing and security can be enforced since all data are stored in a common database.
v. A certain degree of data independence can be maintained

Disadvantages of the Hierarchical Model

i. It is inflexible to information.
ii. Relationships are difficult to implement.
iii. Extensive programming activities required. Navigation inside the tree is complicated.
iv. Difficult to solve the problem of single child with multiple parents
v. Difficult to navigate through: with the exception of the root record, all records have to be
accessed through the parent.
vi. Alteration of data is difficult due to rules governing the relationship of records.
 3. Network Model
The network model is a bit like an extended hierarchical model. But instead of talking about
parents & children we talk about owners and members.
However, it is much more flexible, in that members can have many owners.
Pointers link records in the set. It is possible to navigate in all directions.

Some data can be modelled with more than one parent per child. The network model permits
the modelling of many-to-many relationships in data. Since the data is more related,
accessing the data is easier and fast.

The data model is a simple network, and link and intersection record types may exist, as well
as sets between them.

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Fig 2: Network Model

Advantages of Network Database Model

i. Ease of data access – the data access is easier and flexible.
ii. Data integrity – this model does not allow a member to exist without an owner. Thus, a
user must first define the owner record and then the member record. This ensures
 the data integrity.
iii. Capability to handle more relationship types: The network model can handle the one
to- many (l:N) and many to many (N:N) relationships, which is a real help in
modelling the real life situations.
iv. Data independence: The network model is better than the hierarchical model in
isolating the programs from the complex physical storage details.

Disadvantages of Network Database Model

i. System complexity: All the records are maintained using pointers and hence the whole
database structure becomes very complex.
ii. Operational Anomalies: network model's insertion, deletion and updating operations
of any record require large number of pointer adjustments, which makes its
implementation very complex and complicated.

4. Relational Model

In this model, data is organised into a collection of two-dimensional tables and the
relationship is maintained by storing a common field.

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A table is a collection of records (rows) and each record in a table contains the same fields
(columns).

A relational database allows the definition of data structures, storage and retrieval operations
and integrity constraints.

Any database file can be a component of more than one of the database’s tables in a database
system. It is a database system in which the database is organized and accessed according to
the relationships between data items without the need for any consideration of physical
orientation and relationship. Relationships between data items are expressed by means of
tables.
A database maintains a set of separate, related files (tables), but combines data elements from
the files for queries and reports when required.

Terminologies
i. Entity instance: represents an object of interest. For example, a student record is an
entity instance that represents an individual student.
ii. Entity class: a collection of entity instances with a common structure. For example, a
whole collection of student records forms an entity class.
iii. Attribute: a piece of interesting information, about the instances of an entity class. For
example, 'name' is a fact about students that is represented as an attribute of all the
instances of the class Student.
 In a relational data model, the identity of an entity instance is defined by the values of
its attributes; no two entity instances can have the same attribute values.
iv. Relationship: an association between entities. Entities are often identified by nouns in a
requirements specification, and relationships by verbs. For example, 'takes' indicates a
relationship between Student and Module. Relationships can be between entity
classes, or between entity instances.

Properties of Relational Databases

1. Values are atomic: Columns in are not repeating groups, this property ultimately
simplifies data manipulation logic.
2. Each column and row has a unique name: The columns and rows are not distinctive by
position and therefore they must have a name which is distinct from the rest of the
table in order to identify them.
3. Each row is unique: No two rows are identical which ensures that every row has
significance without duplication.
4. The sequence of columns and rows is insignificant: This allows the information in the
table to be retrieved with ease and without and disruption to the data within the table.
Also, it allows many more users of the table because the data is not confined to one
format and is not changed when information is added or removed.
5. Column values are of the same kind: Each value within a specific column holds the
same type of information and is of the same units as all the other.
6. Data is stored in tables called relations

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7. Relations can be normalized

Publisher
PubID
Publisher AuthorBday
PubAdd
Fig4: Relational model
Book
Author ISBN
AuthorID PubID
AuthorName AuthorID Date
Title

i. Better security. By splitting data into tables, certain tables can be made confidential. ii.
Cater for future requirements: By having data held in separate tables, it is simple to add
records that are not yet needed but may be in the future.
iii. Ease of use: The revision of any information as tables consisting of rows and columns is
much easier to understand.
 iv. Flexibility: Different tables from which information has to be linked and extracted can
be easily manipulated by operators such as project and join to give information in the
form in which it is desired.

Disadvantages of a Relational Model

i. Performance: A major constraint is machine performance. If the number of tables
between which relationships to be established are large and the tables themselves
effect the performance in responding to the SQL queries. Slow extraction of meaning
from data: if the data is naturally organized in a hierarchical manner and stored as
such, the hierarchical approach may give quick meaning for that data.
ii. Data Complexity: Data in an RDBMS resides in multiple tables, which are linked to
each other through shared key values.
iii. Broken Keys and Records: Relational databases require shared keys to link information
spread across several tables. For example, a customer table may include client
demographics, with a unique index number identifying the record within the table. A
sales table may identify the customer only by that index number. If the data types
linking the keys are different, the database cannot link the records without additional
rework by the report developer. Likewise, if a table lacks a unique key, the database
may return inaccurate results. If the application accessing a database isn't coded to
lock records during an edit, users could inadvertently corrupt data, leading to broken
records.

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iv. Developer Expertise: As the complexity of a relational database increases, the skill set
required by the RDBMS administrator, various users and report developers also
increases.
v. Hardware Performance: Complex queries require sophisticated processing power. A
database with external data sources or very complex data structures may require more
powerful servers to return results within an acceptable response time.

5. Object-Oriented Database Model

An object oriented data model (OODM) is a logical data model that captures the meaning of
objects of the kind used in object oriented programming.
It is a model in which information is represented in the form of objects as used in object
oriented programming.
This model defines a database as a collection of objects, or reusable software elements, with
associated features and methods. There are several kinds of object-oriented databases. i.
Multimedia database incorporates media, such as images, that could not be stored in a
relational database.
ii. Hypertext database allows any object to link to any other object. It is useful for
organizing lots of disparate data, but it’s not ideal for numerical analysis.

An object-oriented data model is one of the most developed data models which contains
 video, graphical files, and audio. This consists of the data piece and the methods in the form
of database management system instructions.

Object DBMSs add database functionality to object programming languages (such as Delphi,
Ruby, Python, JavaScript, Perl, Java, C#, Visual Basic .NET, C++). A major benefit of this
approach is the unification of the application and database development into a seamless data
model and language environment.
As a result, applications require less code, use more natural data modelling, and code bases
are easier to maintain. Object developers can write complete database applications with a
modest amount of additional effort.

This makes object DBMSs better suited to support applications such as financial portfolio
risk analysis systems, telecommunications service applications, World Wide Web document
structures, design and manufacturing systems, and hospital patient record systems, which
have complex relationships between data.

Object-Oriented Model Components

i. Object: abstraction of the real world entity.
ii. Attributes: describes the properties of an object. E.g. an object Person has attributes
such as name, D.O.B, age, gender etc.

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iii. Class: objects with similar characteristics are grouped into classes. Therefore, a class is a
collection of similar objects with shared attributes and behaviours (methods). It is a
template from which objects are created.
iv. Behaviours/methods: represents a real world action that the object can perform.

Features of Object-Oriented model

1. Encapsulation
It is the wrapping together of data and its methods so as to enhance data integrity and
security.
The object classes in the OODM allow for encapsulation.
For example, the implementation of takes is hidden by Student and Module, and can only
be accessed by invoking the relevant methods.

2. Inheritance
It is the ability of an object (the child class) to acquire some or all the characteristics of
the class above it (the base class). This means that attributes that are shared by different
kinds of entity can be represented once, using super-classes or generalization. Sub
classes, or specializations of a superclass can inherit these shared attributes. We have three
major types of inheritance; single inheritance, multiple inheritance and hierarchical
inheritance.
3. Polymorphism
It is the ability of an object to take many forms. It is a mechanism in which different
 objects react differently to the same message.

4. Abstraction
It is the principle that helps the programmer focus on the essential inherent aspects of an
entity and ignore its accidental properties.

5. Data/information hinding
It refers to the restriction of external access to information or attributes.

Example:
Person
name: string
bday: integer
age(): integer

Emp changeSal():boolea n Dept

job: string name:string location:string
sal:float Works in Employs budget(): string

Fig5: Object – oriented model

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Advantages of Object-Oriented Database Model

∙ Cost reduction. Because of its inheritance property, we can re-use the attributes and
functionalities. This reduces the cost of maintenance.
∙ Security. Encapsulation of information provides security and therefore there is no fear
being misused by other objects.
∙ Scalability: If we need any new feature we can easily add new class inherited from
parent class and adds new features
∙ Codes reusability. Codes are re-used because of inheritance.

∙It is more understandable. Since each class binds its attributes and its functionality, it is
same as representing the real world object. We can see each object as a real entity.

Disadvantages of Object-Oriented Database Model

∙ It is not widely developed and complete to use it in the database systems. Hence it is not
accepted by the users.
∙ It is an approach for solving the requirement. It is not a technology. Hence it fails to put
it in the database management systems.

DATABASE DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

 EXERCISE: Discuss the above database development life cycle stages.

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DATABASE DESIGN PHASES

Database design – it is the process of producing a detailed data model of the database to
meet an end users requirements.
The process starts with the Requirements Analysis, which identifies the users' needs and then
translates those needs into Conceptual, then Logical and finally Physical design. We can say
that the consistency of a data is achieved when the database is designed in such a way so it
can store only useful and often most required data.

Qualities of a good database design.

i. Reflects real world structure of the problem.
ii. Can represent all expected data over time.
iii. Avoids redundancy and ensures consistency.
iv. Provides efficient access to data.
v. Supports the maintenance of integrity over time.

Database design has three main phases.

i. Conceptual database design
ii. Logical database design
iii. Physical database design
 1. Conceptual Design
When every data requirement is stored and analyzed, the next thing that we need to do is
creating a conceptual database plan. This is the process of creating a conceptual schema for
the database, using a high-level conceptual data model, once all the requirements have been
collected and analysed.
It helps us understand at high level what are the different entities in our data and how they
relate to one another.

It describes how different entities (objects, items) are related to each other. It also describes
what attributes (features) each entity has.

The result of this phase is an Entity-Relationship (ER) diagram or UML class diagram.

Characteristics:
i. Includes the important entities and the relationships among them.
ii. No attribute is specified.
iii. No primary key is specified.
iv. Contains relationships between entities but may not include cardinality or nullability. v.
Entities will have definitions
vi. Designed and developed to be independent of DBMS, data storage locations or
technologies

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2. Logical Design
It is a process of constructing a model of information, which can then be mapped into storage
objects supported by the DBMS. It describes the data in as much detail as possible, without
regard to how they will be physically implemented in the database.
It is a data model that is independent of DBMS, technology, data storage or organizational
constraints. It describes data requirements. It defines a database in a data model of a specific
DBMS.
The result of the logical design phase (or data model mapping phase) is a set of relation
schemas. The Entity Relationship diagram or class diagram is the basis for these relation
schemas. A relation schema (or relation scheme) is a set of attributes. A relation schema is
also known as table schema (or table scheme).

Characteristics:
i. Contains relationships between entities that address cardinality and nullability of the
relationships.
ii. It is designed and developed to be independent of DBMS, data storage locations and
technologies.
iii. Data attributes will typically have datatypes with precisions and lengths assigned
iv. Entities and attributes will have definitions.
v. Normalization is done.
vi. Primary keys and foreign keys are specified.
 vii. All attributes for each entity are specified.

3. Physical Design
It specifies the physical configuration of the database on storage media. It refers to exactly
how the database will be implemented.
It shows all the table structures, including column name, column data type, column
constraints, primary key, foreign key, relationship between tables, security etc and the
database’s hardware and software specifications of the system.

The goal of this phase of database design is to implement the database. At this phase one
must know which database management system (DBMS) is used. For example, different
DBMS's have different names for datatypes and have different datatypes. The database is
created, tables are created, indexes, integrity constraints (rules) and the users' access rights
are defined. Finally, the data to test the database is added in.

In parallel with these activities, application programs are designed. The implementation of
the programs can start when the database is created and data has been added in.

Characteristics:

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i. It contains relationships between tables that address cardinality and nullability of the
relationships.
ii. Columns will have datatypes with precisions and lengths assigned.
iii. Tables and columns will have definitions
iv. It includes other physical objects such as views, primary key, constraints, foreign key
constraints, indexes, security roles, store procedures etc

DATABASE SCHEMA

Database schema is the skeleton structure of database and it represents the logical view of
entire database. It tells about how the data is organized and how relation among them is
associated. It formulates all database constraints that would be put on data in relations, which
resides in database. It is designed when database does not exist at all and is very hard to do
any changes once the database is operational. It does not contain any data or information.

A database schema defines its entities and the relationship among them. It is a descriptive
detail of the database, which can be depicted by means of schema diagrams. A database
schema indicates which tables or relations make up the database, as well as the fields
included on each table. Thus, the terms schema diagram and entity-relationship diagram are
often interchangeable.

Database schema can be divided broadly in two categories:

 ∙ Physical Database Schema: This schema pertains to the actual storage of data and its
form of storage like files, indices etc. It defines the how data will be stored in
secondary storage etc.
∙ Logical Database Schema: This defines all logical constraints that need to be applied
on data stored. It defines tables, views and integrity constraints etc.

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DATABASE INSTANCE
Database instance, is a state of operational database with data at any given time. This is a
snapshot of database. Database instances tend to change with time. DBMS ensures that its
every instance (state) must be a valid state by keeping up to all validation, constraints and
 condition that database designers has imposed or it is expected from DBMS itself.

Any point in time, there is a continuous change to the records in the database objects. There
will be either increase or decrease in the number of records or there will be changes in the
existing data. Any particular point in time, there would be one particular set of records exists
in each of the objects, satisfying all the conditions of a database.

This is called an instance of a database. i.e.; at any particular point in time, what is the state of
database with data values in its object is called database instance. It changes from time to
time.

DATA INDEPENDENCE

A database system normally contains a lot of data in addition to users’ data. For example, it
stores data about data, known as metadata, to locate and retrieve data easily. It is rather
difficult to modify or update a set of metadata once it is stored in the database. But as a
DBMS expands, it needs to change over time to satisfy the requirements of the users. If the
entire data is dependent, it would become a tedious and highly complex job.

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Data about data itself is divided in layered architecture so that when we change data at one
layer it does not affect the data layered at different level. This data is independent but mapped
on each other.

There are two levels of data independence:

1. Logical Data Independence

2. Physical Data Independence

1. Logical Data Independence

Logical data is data about database, that is, it stores information about how data is managed
inside. For example, a table (relation) stored in the database and all constraints, which are
applied on that relation.

Logical data independence is a kind of mechanism, which liberalizes itself from actual data
stored on the disk. If we do some changes on table format it should not change the data
residing on disk.

2. Physical Data Independence

All schemas are logical and actual data is stored in bit format on the disk. Physical data
independence is the power to change the physical data without impacting the schema or
logical data.

For example, in case we want to change or upgrade the storage system itself, that is, using
SSD instead of Hard-disks should not have any impact on logical data or schemas.
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ENTITY RELATIONSHIP MODEL

Entity relationship model defines the conceptual view of database. It works around real world
entity and association among them. At view level, ER model is considered well for designing
databases.

ENTITY RELATIONSHIP Diagram

It is a graphical representation of entities and their relationships to each other. There are 3
main components of an ER diagram; entity, attributes and relationship. The process is
modelled as components (entities) that are linked with each other by relationships that
express the dependencies and requirements between them Every object like entity, attributes
of an entity, relationship set, and attributes of relationship set can be represented by tools of
ER diagram.

1. Entity

A real-world thing either animate or inanimate that can be easily identifiable and
distinguishable. For example, in a school database, student, teachers, class and course offered
can be considered as entities. All entities have some attributes or properties that give them
their identity.

An entity set is a collection of similar types of entities. Entity set may contain entities with
attribute sharing similar values. For example, Students set may contain all the student of a
school; likewise Teachers set may contain all the teachers of school from all faculties.
Entities sets need not to be disjoint.

Entities are represented by means of rectangles. Rectangles are named with the entity set they
represent.

Types of Entities

i. Strong entities exist independently from other entity types. They always possess one or
more attributes that uniquely distinguish each occurrence of the entity.
ii. Weak entities depend on some other entity type. They don't possess a primary key and
have no meaning in the diagram without depending on another entity. This other entity
is known as the owner.
iii. Associative entities are entities that associate the instances of one or more entity types.
They also contain attributes that are unique to the relationship between those entity
instances.

Entity Associative Entity

Weak Entity
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2. Attributes

Entities are represented by means of their properties, called attributes. Attributes are
represented by means of eclipses. Every eclipse represents one attribute and is directly
connected to its entity (rectangle). All attributes have values. For example, a student entity
may have name, class, age as attributes.

There exists a domain or range of values that can be assigned to attributes. For example, a
student's name cannot be a numeric value. It has to be alphabetic. A student's age cannot be
negative, etc.

Types of attributes:
i. Simple attribute: are atomic values, which cannot be divided further.
For example, student's phone-number is an atomic value of 10 digits.
ii. Composite attribute: are made of more than one simple attribute.
For example, a student's complete name may have first_name and last_name. iii.
Derived attribute: are attributes which do not exist physically in the database, but their
values are derived from other attributes presented in the database. For example,
average_salary in a department should be saved in database instead it can be derived. For
another example, age can be derived from date_of_birth.
iv. Single-valued attribute: contain on single value.
For example: Social_Security_Number.
v. Multi-valued attribute: may contain more than one values.
For example, a person can have more than one phone numbers, email_addresses etc.

These attribute types can come together in a way like:

∞ simple single-valued attributes
∞ simple multi-valued attributes
∞ composite single-valued attributes
∞ composite multi-valued attributes

If the attributes are composite, they are further divided in a tree like structure. Every node is
then connected to its attribute. That is composite attributes are represented by eclipses that
are connected with an eclipse. Multivalued attributes are depicted by double eclipse. Derived
attributes are depicted by dashed eclipse.

Attribute Derived

Keys Multivalued Attribute Attribute

Key is an attribute or collection of attributes that uniquely identifies an entity among entity

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set. Keys are the attributes of the entity, which uniquely identifies the record of the entity.
Certain fields may be designated as keys.
For example STUDENT_ID identifies individual students.

i. Super Key: is the one or more attributes of the entity, which uniquely identifies the record
in the database. Also a set of attributes (one or more) that collectively identifies an
entity in an entity set.
ii. Candidate Key: it is any field, or combination of fields, that uniquely identifies a record.
The field/s of the candidate key must contain unique values, and cannot contain a null
value.
iii. Primary key: This is one of the candidate key chosen to uniquely identify the entity set.
Or chosen to identify unique records in a particular table. Though a person can be
identified using his ID#, or passport#, one can choose any one of them as primary key
to uniquely identify a person. Rest of them will act as a candidate key.

For example;

Characteristics of the primary key–

a) Uniquely identify a record in the table
b) It can’t accept null values
c) It is clustered index and data in the database table is physically organized in the
sequence of clustered index
d) We can have only one primary key in a table

iv. Foreign key: is a field in the table that is primary key in another table. It can also be
referred to as the entity attribute in the entity, which is the primary key of the related
entity. Foreign key helps to establish the mapping between two or more entities. For
example;
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Characteristics of the foreign key:-

a) It can accept multiple null values
b) It does not automatically create an index, clustered or non – clustered. You can
manually create an index on foreign key.
c) We can have more than one foreign key in a table
d) Foreign keys allow us to ensure what is called "referential integrity". This means a
foreign key that contains a value must refer to an existing record in the related table.

3. Relationship

The association among entities is called relationship. For example, employee entity has
relation works_at with department. Another example is for student who enrolls in some
course. Here, Works_at and Enrolls are called relationship.

Relationships are represented by diamond shaped box. Name of the relationship is written in
the diamond-box. All entities (rectangles), participating in relationship, are connected to it by
a line. Weak relationships, or identifying relationships, are connections that exist between a
weak entity type and its owner.

Relationship Set:

Relationship of similar type is called relationship set. Like entities, a relationship too can
have attributes. These attributes are called descriptive attributes.

Relationship Weak
Relationship
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Degrees of Relationships
In a relationship two or more number of entities can participate. The number of entities who
are part of a particular relationship is called degrees of relationship.

There are three types/degrees of relationships that exists between entities:

i. Recursive Relationship: this refers to when an entity is related with itself. ii. Binary
Relationship: means relation between two entities. Its divided into One to One, One to
Many and Many to Many
iii. Ternary Relationship: this is a relationship of degree three

Cardinality of Relationships

Cardinality defines the number of entities in one entity set which can be associated to the
number of entities of other set via relationship set. It is the number of instance of an entity
from a relation that can be associated with the relation.

A relationship where two entities are participating is called a binary relationship.

i. One-to-one (1:1): one entity from entity set A can be associated with at most one entity
of entity set B and vice versa.
For example; HOD of the Department. There is only one HOD in one department.
That is there is 1:1 relationship between the entity HOD and Department.
ii. One-to-many (1:M): One entity from entity set A can be associated with more than one
entities of entity set B but from entity set B one entity can be associated with at most
one entity from entity set A.
For example; One manager manages multiple employees in his department. Here
Manager and Employee are entities, and the relationship is one to many. Similarly,
one teacher teaches multiple classes is also a 1: M relationship.
iii. Many-to-many (M:N): one entity from entity set A can be associated with more than
one entity from entity set B and vice versa.
For example; Multiple Students enroll for multiple classes/courses makes this
relationship M:N.

Associations

Generalization: it is a bottom-up approach in which two lower level entities combine to

form a higher level entity. In generalization, the higher level entity can also combine with
other lower level entity to make further higher level entity.
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Account

Bottom up
Is Saving Current
A Approach

Specialization: it is a top-down approach in which one higher level entity can be broken
down into two lower level entity. In specialization, some higher level entities may not have
lower-level entity sets at all.

Student
Top-down
approach
Is
A

Ex-student Current student

Aggregation: it is a relationship where the child can exist independently of the parent.
Example: If you have class (parent) and student (child), when you delete the class, the
students still exists.

Composition: it is a relationship where the child cannot exist independent of the parent.
Example: If you have house (parent) and room (child), rooms cannot exist separate to a
house.

HOW TO DRAW AN E-R DIAGRAM

When given a scenario, follow the steps below:

Step 1 : Identify the Entities

Stem 2 : Identify the relationships
Step 3: Identify the key attributes
Step 4: Draw complete ER diagram

Example:
A school has a library. The library contains books. Each book has a publisher although
several books maybe published by the same publisher. The library has staff who manages the
books. Each book can be borrowed by a student. A student can borrow more than one book.
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A book is identified by a book ID, staff by staff ID, publisher by publisher ID and a student
by student registration number.
Draw an E-R Diagram

Solution:
Step 1 : Identify the Entities
The entities are book, publisher, staff, student

Stem 2 : Identify the relationships

Student borrows book
Publisher publishes book
Staff manages book

Step 3: Identify the key attributes

Book: Book_ID, Title, Author, Available.
Publisher: Pub_ID, Name, Address.
Student: Stu_Reg_No, Name, Address.
Staff: Staff_ID, Name, Address

Step 4: Draw complete ERManage Publisher

diagram Staff_ID
Publish es
Pub_ID Stu_Reg_N
Staff Book s Borrow
o

Student
s
Book_ID

Transform ER Diagram into Tables

Since ER diagram gives us the good knowledge about the requirement and the mapping of
the entities in it, we can easily convert them as tables and columns. i.e.; using ER diagrams
one can easily created relational data model, which nothing but the logical view of the
database.

The basic rule for converting the ER diagrams into tables is:
i. Convert all the Entities in the diagram to tables.

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ii. All single valued attributes of an entity is converted to a column of the table. All the
attributes, whose value at any instance of time is unique, are considered as columns of
that table.
iii. Key attribute in the ER diagram becomes the Primary key of the table.
iv. Declare the foreign key column, if applicable.
v. Any multi-valued attributes are converted into new table.
For example; if we have a hobby attribute in the Student table it would be a
multivalued attribute since any student can have any number of hobbies. So we cannot
represent multiple values in a single column of STUDENT table. We need to store it
separately, so that we can store any number of hobbies, adding/ removing / deleting
hobbies should not create any redundancy or anomalies in the system. Hence we
create a separate table STUD_HOBBY.
vi. Represent the relationships/cardinalities. (1:1, M:1, M:N)

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NORMALIZATION
Normalization is the last part of the logical design. Normalization is a set of
rules/guidelines/technique that is used while designing a database. It is a technique by which
one can modify the relation schema to reduce the redundancy. Each normalization phase adds
more relations (tables) into the database.
There are two goals of the normalization process:
i. To eliminate redundancy and potential update anomalies.
Redundancy means that the same data is saved more than once in a database. Update
anomaly is a consequence of redundancy. If a piece of data is saved in more than one
place, the same data must be updated in more than one place.
ii. To ensuring data dependencies make sense (only storing related data in a table). Both of
these are worthy goals as they reduce the amount of space a database consumes and ensure
that data is logically stored.

Advantages of Normalization
1. Reduces data duplication: databases hold millions perhaps billions of information,
normalizing a database helps reduce its size and prevents data duplication by ensuring
that each piece is stored only once.
2. Increased storage efficiency.
3. Security: it gives a better handle at database security
4. Smaller database: by eliminating duplicate data, you will be able to reduce the overall
size of the database.
5. Better performance: Narrow tables: having more fine – tuned tables allows your tables
to have less columns and allows you to fit more records per data page. And fewer
indexes per table mean faster maintenance tasks such as index rebuilds.

Disadvantages of Normalization
1. Slows database performance: this is because there are many tables. By spreading out
your data into tables, you increase the need to join tables.
2. Requires detailed analysis and design: normalizing a database is a complex and
difficult task. Large databases require careful analysis and design before they are
normalised.
3. It is very time consuming and difficult process in normalizing relations of higher
degree.
4. Cost: its expensive to set- up, i.e. requires more CPU, memory and I/O to process thus
increasing the expenses.
5. Tables contain codes of real data: repeated data is sorted as codes rather that
meaningful data. Therefore, there is always a need to the lookup table for the value. 6.
Data model is difficult to query against: the data model is optimized for applications, not
for ad hoc querying.

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Without Normalization, it becomes difficult to handle and update the database, without facing
data loss. Insertion, Updation and Deletion anomalies are also frequent.

Anomalies Possible:
i. Updation anomaly: if a record appears twice or more, then we have to update it twice or
more else our data becomes inconsistent.
ii. Insertion anomaly: suppose we are admitting a new student who does not have marks
for the unit yet, we will have to insert NULL, leading to insertion anomaly. iii. Deletion
anomaly: if a student drops a unit, we will have to delete the entire row, hence deleting the
entire student record along with it

RULES OF NORMALIZATION
There are rules of normalization:
i. First Normal Form (1NF)
ii. Second Normal Form (2NF)
iii. Third Normal Form (3NF)
iv. Boyce-Codd Normal Form (BCNF)
v. Fourth Normal Form (4NF)
vi. Fifth Normal Form (5NF)

Although there are discussions even on 6th Normal Form (proposed), in most practical
applications, normalization achieves its best in 3rd Normal Form.
Normal Description
Form

1NF A relation is in 1NF if it contains atomic values.

2NF A relation will be in 2NF if it is in 1NF and all non-key attributes are fully functional
dependent on the primary key.

3NF A relation will be in 3NF if it is in 2NF and no transitive dependency exists.

FIRST NORMAL FORM

First normal form (1NF) sets the very basic rules for an organized database:

∙ Eliminate duplicative columns from the same table.

∙ Create
separate tables for each group of related data and identify each row with a unique
column or set of columns (the primary key).

The first rule dictates that we must not duplicate data within the same row of a table. Do not
use multiple fields in a single table to store similar data. This concept is referred to as the
atomicity of a table. Tables that comply with this rule are said to be atomic.

It states that an attribute of a table cannot hold multiple values. It must hold only single valued
attribute. 1NF disallows the multi-valued attribute, composite attribute, and their
combinations.
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Example: Relation EMPLOYEE is not in 1NF because of multi-valued attribute

EMP_PHONE.

EMPLOYEE table:
EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_PHONE EMP_STATE

14 John 7272826385, UP
9064738238

20 Harry 8574783832 Bihar

12 Sam 7390372389, Punjab

8589830302

The decomposition of the EMPLOYEE table into 1NF has been shown below:
EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_PHONE EMP_STATE

14 John 7272826385 UP

14 John 9064738238 UP

20 Harry 8574783832 Bihar

12 Sam 7390372389 Punjab

12 Sam 8589830302 Punjab

SECOND NORMAL FORM

Second normal form (2NF) addresses the concept of removing duplicative data :

∙ Meet all the requirements of the first normal form.

∙ Remove subsets of data that apply to multiple rows of a table and place them in separate
tables.
∙ Create relationships between these new tables and their predecessors through the use of
foreign keys.

These rules can be summarized in a simple statement: 2NF attempts to reduce the amount of
redundant data in a table by extracting it, placing it in new table(s) and creating relationships
between those tables.

Remove partial dependencies. It means that each column in the table that is not part of the
primary key must depend upon the entire key for its existence. If any column depends only
on one part of the key, then the table fails Second normal form.

NOTE: Partial Dependency exists, when for a composite primary key, any attribute in the
table depends only on a part of the primary key and not on the complete primary key. To
remove Partial dependency, we can divide the table, remove the attribute which is causing
partial dependency, and move it to some other table where it fits in well.
 Example:
Let us consider following table which is in first normal form:
Employee Department No Employee Name Department
No

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1 101 Amit OBIEE

2 102 Divya COGNOS

3 101 Rama OBIEE

In above example we can see that there is composite key as{ Employee No, Department
No}.Employee No is dependent on Employee Name and Department is dependent on
Department No. We can split the above table into 2 different tables:

Table 1:Employee_NO table

Employee Department No Employee Name
No

1 101 Amit

2 102 Divya

3 101 Rama

Table 2:Department table

Department No Department

101 OBIEE

102 COGNOS

THIRD NORMAL FORM

Third normal form (3NF) goes one large step further:

∙ Meet all the requirements of the second normal form.

∙ Remove columns that are not dependent upon the primary key.

Third Normal form applies that every non-prime attribute (attribute that does not occur in
any candidate key) of table must be dependent on primary key. The transitive functional
dependency should be removed from the table. The table must be in Second Normal form.
Functional dependency occurs when one attribute in a relation uniquely identifies/determines
another attribute.
Transitive functional dependency occurs when there is an indirect relationship that causes
functional dependency. E.g like saying that since A is related to B and B is related to C,
 therefore A is related to C.

Example:

EMPLOYEE_DETAIL table:
EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_ZIP EMP_STATE EMP_CITY

222 Harry 201010 UP Noida

333 Stephan 02228 US Boston

444 Lan 60007 US Chicago

555 Katharine 06389 UK Norwich

666 John 462007 MP Bhopal

EMPLOYEE table:
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EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_ZIP

222 Harry 201010

333 Stephan 02228

444 Lan 60007

555 Katharine 06389

666 John 462007

EMPLOYEE_ZIP table:
EMP_ZIP EMP_STATE EMP_CITY

201010 UP Noida

02228 US Boston

60007 US Chicago

06389 UK Norwich

462007 MP Bhopal

Boyce-Codd Normal Form (BCNF)

Even when a database is in 3rd Normal Form, still there would be anomalies resulted if it has
more than one Candidate Key.
Sometimes is BCNF is also referred as 3.5 Normal Form.
 4NF (Fourth Normal Form) Rules
If no database table instance contains two or more, independent and multivalued data
describing the relevant entity, then it is in 4th Normal Form.

5NF (Fifth Normal Form) Rules

A table is in 5th Normal Form only if it is in 4NF and it cannot be decomposed into any
number of smaller tables without loss of data.

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SQL STATEMENTS
SQL, Structured Query Language, is a programming language designed to manage data stored
in relational databases. SQL operates through simple, declarative statements. This keeps data
accurate and secure, and helps maintain the integrity of databases, regardless of size.

SQL statements are often divided into three categories:

DDL (Data Definition Language). These SQL statements define the structure of a database,
including rows, columns, tables, indexes, and database specifics such as file locations.
DML (Data Manipulation Language). These SQL statements are used to retrieve and
manipulate data. This category encompasses commands such as DELETE, INSERT,
SELECT, and UPDATE.
DCL (Data Control Language). These SQL statements control the security and permissions
of the objects or parts of the database(s). DML SQL commands include the following:

- GRANT: used to allow specified users to perform specified tasks.

- DENY: used to disallow specified users from performing specified tasks.
 - REVOKE: used to cancel previously granted or denied permissions.

DATA DEFINITION LANGUAGE AND DATA MANIPULATION LANGUAGE

1. DATA DEFINITION LANGUAGE (DDL)
It is a computer language used to create and modify the structure of database objects in a
database. These database objects include views, schemas, tables, indexes, etc. DDL
statements create, modify, and remove database objects such as tables, indexes, and users.
Common DDL statements are CREATE, ALTER, USE, and DROP.

Commonly used DDL in SQL querying are:

i. CREATE: This command builds a new table and has a predefined syntax. The CREATE
statement can be used to create DATABASES AND TABLES.

Its syntax is: CREATE TABLE [table name] ([column definitions]) [table
parameters].

For example,

a. The command:

CREATE DATABASE employees

creates an empty database named "employees" on your DBMS.

b. The command:

CREATE TABLE personal_info (first_name char(20) not null, last_name

char(20) not null, employee_id int not null)

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establishes a table titled "personal_info" in the current database. In our example,

the table contains three attributes: first_name, last_name and employee_id.

ii. USE: The USE command allows you to specify the database you wish to work with
within your DBMS.

For example, if we're currently working in the sales database and want to issue some
commands that will affect the employees database.

USE employees

iii. ALTER: An alter command modifies an existing database table. This command can add
up additional column, drop existing columns and even change the data type of
columns involved in a database table. An alter command syntax is ALTER object
 type object name parameters.

For example:

a. ALTER TABLE personal_info

ADD salary money null

iv. DROP: A drop command deletes a table, index or view. Drop statement syntax is DROP
object type object name.

For example:

a. DROP TABLE personal_info.

If you want to remove the entire employees database:

a. DROP DATABASE employees

2. DATA MANIPULATION LANGUAGE

These are statements that are used to work with the data in tables. It is used for selecting,
inserting, deleting and updating data in a database. Data manipulation language comprises
the SQL data change statements, which modify stored data but not the schema or database
objects. Manipulation of persistent database objects, e.g., tables or stored procedures, via
the SQL schema statements, rather than the data stored within them, is considered to be
part of a separate data definition language. The functional capability of DML is organized
in manipulation commands like SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT INTO and DELETE
FROM

In the case of SQL, the syntaxes are:

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i. SELECT ... FROM ... WHERE ...

ii. INSERT INTO ... VALUES ...
iii.UPDATE ... SET ... WHERE ...
iv.DELETE FROM ... WHERE ...

For example:

a. SELECT: This command is used to retrieve rows from a table. The syntax is SELECT
[column name(s)] from [table name] where [conditions].

For example:
i. SELECT *
FROM personal_info

The command shown above retrieves all of the information contained within
the personal_info table. The asterisk is used as a wildcard in SQL. It literally
 means "Select everything from the personal_info table."

ii. SELECT last_name

FROM personal_info
WHERE salary > ksh50000

Above command limits the attributes retrieved from the database. It retrieves a
list of the last names of all employees in the company from the table
personal_info, where salary is above ksh 50,000. The WHERE clause is used
to limit the records that are retrieved to those that meet the specified criteria.

b. UPDATE: This command modifies data of one or more records. An update command
syntax is UPDATE [table name] SET [column name = value] where [condition].

For example:
UPDATE personal_info
SET salary = salary + ksh5000
WHERE employee_id = 12345

The above command is used to update the information of employee no. 12345. It
increments his salary by ksh 5000.

c. INSERT: This command adds one or more records to a database table. The insert
command syntax is INSERT INTO [table name] [column(s)] VALUES [value(s)].

For example:

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INSERT INTO personal_info

values('bart','simpson',12345,ksh45000)

The above command adds a new employee to the personal_info table. The four values
corresponds to the table attributes in the order they were defined: first_name,
last_name, employee_id, and salary.

d. DELETE: This command removes one or more records from a table according to
specified conditions. Delete command syntax is DELETE FROM [table name] where
[condition].
For example:
DELETE FROM personal_info
WHERE employee_id = 12345

The above command deletes from our personal_info table, the employee with ID No.
12345.
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DATABASE MAINTENANCE

Database maintenance is an activity designed to keep a database running smoothly. Databases

are used to maintain a library of information in a well-organized, accessible format. They
keeps changing, because changes are constantly being made as material is added, removed,
and moved around. People may also change parameters within the database, decide to use
different indexing systems, etc. Over time, this can cause the database to start to malfunction.
Database maintenance is used to keep the database clean and well organized so that it will not
lose functionality.

A number of different systems can be used to build and maintain databases, with one popular
example being MYSQL. A database that is not maintained can become sluggish, and people
may start to experience problems when trying to access records.

Important aspects of maintaining a database are:

i. Backing up the data so that if anything happens there will be another copy available. ii.
Checking for signs of corruption in the database.
iii. Looking for problem areas.
iv. Rebuilding indexes.
v. Removing duplicate records.
vi. Checking for any abnormalities in the database.

DATABASE SECURITY
It concerns the use of a broad range of information security controls to protect databases
against compromises of their confidentiality, integrity and availability. It is designed to
protect the data, the database applications or stored functions, the database systems, the
database servers and the associated network links.

Database Security Objectives

There are three main objectives
1. Confidentiality: the protection of data from unauthorized disclosure.
2. Integrity: the protection of data from improper modifications either intentionally or
accidentally.
3. Availability: it is making resources available to the authorised users.

Database security requirements arise from the need to protect data from:
∙ Accidental loss and corruption.

∙ Deliberate unauthorized attempts to access or alter that data.

∙ Against undue delays in accessing or using data

 ∙ Against interference of the database to the point of denial of service.

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Reasons for database insecurity are:

i. Data theft: When the data is being accessed by many people, the chances of data theft
increases.
ii. Monetary gain: To gain money selling sensitive information, which includes credit card
numbers, Social Security Numbers, etc?

Security risks to database systems include:

i. Inappropriate access to sensitive: Unauthorized or unintended activity or misuse by

authorized database users.
ii. Malware infections: these can caused by incidents such as unauthorized access, disclosure
of personal data, deletion of or damage to the data or programs, denial of authorized
access to the database, etc.
iii. Overloads: resulting in the inability of authorized users to use databases as intended iv.
Physical damage to database servers: this can be caused by computer room fires, floods,
overheating, lightning, accidental liquid spills, static discharge, etc. v. Design flaws and
programming bugs in databases: this creates various security vulnerabilities, data
loss/corruption, performance degradation etc.
vi. Data corruption/loss: this can be caused by the entry of invalid data or commands,
mistakes in database or system administration processes, sabotage/criminal damage
etc.

Implementing database security

i. Physically locking the rooms: Computers must be made physically inaccessible to

unauthorized users by keeping them in a secure physical environment.
ii. The people responsible for the physical security, system administration, and data security
of the site must be reliable. Performing background checks on DBAs before making
hiring decisions is a wise protective measure.
iii. Access Control: the primary method used to protect data is limiting access to the data.
Most users are usually authorized or assigned defined privileges to specific resources.
Access control refines the process by assigning rights and privileges to specific data
objects and data sets.
iv. Auditing: Database auditing is used to track database access and user activity. Auditing
can be used to identify who accessed database objects, what actions were performed,
and what data was changed. Database auditing does not prevent security breaches, but
it does provide a way to identify if breaches have occurred.
v. Authentication: it is used by most database systems to restrict access to the system.
Example: username and password pair.
vi. Encryption: the sender of the information encrypts the information using a secret code
and specified receiver only can decrypt using the same or different secret code. vii. Anti-
virus: a piece of software designed to prevent viruses from entering a computer system or a
network.
 viii. Backups: it ensures that if anything happens to the data, there will be another copy
available.

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