Database and MS Access

Organizing Data and

Information
ODL – COHORT 3
Eddons Munthali
 DATA

INFORMATION
 Data
 Data
 Consists of raw facts, and when organized may be
transformed into information
 Database
 A collection of data organized to meet users’ needs
 Database management system (DBMS)
 A group of programs that manipulate the database and
provide an interface between the database and the
user of the database or other application programs
Attributes of Data
Sharable, Moveable, Secure, Accurate,
Timely, Relevant
 Why build a database?
 Handle large amounts of data
 Satisfy multiple users
 Make information retrieval faster
 Make data input faster
 Provide greater accuracy
 DBMS ‘Discussion’
A collection of programs that enables you to store, modify, and
extract information from a database.

There are many different types of DBMSs, ranging from small systems
that run on personal computers to huge systems that run on
mainframes.
The following are examples of database applications:
 computerized library systems
 automated teller machines
 flight reservation systems
 computerized parts inventory systems

From a technical standpoint, DBMSs can differ widely.

 DATABASE VS DBMS

Database is a self-describing collection of

integrated files

A DBMS is a complex computer program that

acts as a data librarian, supervising the transfer
of data between the end user and the database
Hierarchy of Data

Schematic
Hierarchy of data Example
Personel file

Database Department file (Project database)

Payroll file

005-10-6321 Johns Francine 10-7-65

(Personnel file)
Files 549-77-1001 Buckley Bill 2-17-79
098-40-1370 Fiske Steven 1-5-85

098-40-1370 Fiske Steven 1-5-85 598 (Record

Records containing SSN,
last name, first
name, date of hire)
Fields Fiske (Last name field)

Characters
1000100 (Letter ‘F’ in ASCII)
(bytes)
 Terminology
 Database
• A collection of integrated and related files
 File
• A collection of related records
 Record
• A collection of related fields
 Field
• A group of characters
 Character
• Basic building block of information, represented by a byte
 Data Entities, Attributes, and Keys
 Entity
• A generalized class of people, places, or things
(objects) for which data are collected, stored, and
maintained
• E.g., Customer, Employee
 Attribute
• A characteristic of an entity; something the entity is
identified by
• E.g., Customer name, Employee name
 Keys
• A field or set of fields in a record that is used to
identify the record
• E.g, A field or set of fields that uniquely identifies the
record
 Keys and Attributes
Employee # Last name First name Hire date Dept. #

005-10-6321 Johns Francine 10-7-65 257

549-77-1001 Buckley Bill 2-17-79 650

098-40-1370 Fiske Steven 1-5-85 598

Key field Entities

Attributes (fields)
(records)
 The Traditional Approach
 The traditional approach…
 Separate files are created and stored for each
application program

Schematic
 Application
Data Files programs Users

Payroll Reports
Payroll programs

Invoicing Reports
Invoicing programs

Inventory
Inventory control Reports
control programs

Management
Management inquiries Reports
inquiries programs
 Drawbacks
 Data redundancy
 Duplication of data in separate files
 Lack of data integrity
 The degree to which the data in any one file is accurate
 Program-data dependence
 A situation in which program and data organized for
one application are incompatible with programs and
data organized differently for another application
 Database Approach
 The database approach…
 A pool of related data is shared by multiple
application programs
 Rather than having separate data files, each
application uses a collection of data that is
either joined or related in the database

Schematic
 Payroll Reports
program
Payroll data

Inventory Inventory
program Reports
data Database
management
Invoicing system
Data Invoicing
Reports
program
Other
data
Other Reports
programs

Database Interface Applications programs Users

 Advantages
 Improved strategic use of corporate data
 Reduced data redundancy – duplication
 Improved data integrity
 Easier modification and updating
 Data and program independence - Programs are
independent of the data format
 Better access to data and information
 Better overall protection of the data
 Shared data and information resources
 More info from the same data
 Disadvantages
 Relatively high cost of purchasing and
operating a DBMS in a mainframe operating
environment - Added expense, More hardware
may be needed, Additional training.
 Increased cost of specialized staff -
Sophisticated design and programming
required
 Increased vulnerability - Security is critical
 Data Modeling and
Database Models (2)
 Data model
 A map or diagram of entities and their relationships
 Enterprise data modeling
 Data modeling done at the level of the entire
organization
 Entity-relationship (ER) diagrams
 A data model that uses basic graphical symbols to
show the organization of and relationships between
data
 Hierarchical Database Model
 Hierarchical database model
 A data model in which data are organized in a
top-down, or inverted tree structure

Schematic
 Project 1

Department A Department B Department C

Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee

1 2 3 4 5 6
 Network Data Model
 Network data model
• An expansion of the hierarchical database model
with an owner-member relationship in which a
member may have many owners

Project 1 Project 2

Department A Department B Department C

 Relational Data Model
 Relational data model
 All data elements are placed in two-
dimensional tables, called relations, that are
the logical equivalent of files
Relational Database Rules:
• Every row must have exactly the same number of columns (fields
or attributes)
• Each row can have only one value stored in each column (fields or
attributes)
• A column must contain the same kind of value in every row of that
column
• No two rows can be exactly the same
• The order of the rows or of the columns can’t be used to provide
information
Data Table 1: Project Table Data Table 2: Department Table

Project Number Description Dept. Number Dept. Number Dept. Name Manager SSN

155 Payroll 257 257 Accounting 421-55-99993

498 Widgets 632 632 Manufacturing 765-00-3192

226 Sales manager 598 598 Marketing 098-40-1370

Data Table 3: Manager Table

SSN Last Name First Name Hire Date Dept. Number

005-10-6321 Johns Francine 10-7-65 257

549-77-1001 Buckley Bill 2-17-79 650

098-40-1370 Fiske Steven 1-5-85 598

Relational Database Terminology
 Selecting
 Data manipulation that eliminates rows according to
certain criteria
 Projecting
 Data manipulation that eliminates columns in a table
 Joining
 Data manipulation that combines two or more tables
 Linked
 Relating tables in a relational database together
Linking Data Tables to Answer
an Inquiry

Schematic
Project Number Description Dept. Number
155 Payroll 257
498 Widgets 632
226 Sales manager 598

Dept. Number Dept. Name Manager SSN

257 Accounting 421-55-99993
632 Manufacturing 765-00-3192
598 Marketing 098-40-1370

SSN Last Name First Name Hire Date Dept. Number

005-10-6321 Johns Francine 10-7-65 257
549-77-1001 Buckley Bill 2-17-79 650
098-40-1370 Fiske Steven 1-5-85 598
 Building and Modifying a
Relational Database
 Using Microsoft Access

Screen snap
 Schemas and Subschemas
 Schema
 A description of the entire database
 Subschema
 A file that contains a description of a subset of
the database and identifies which users can
perform modifications on the data items in that
subset
Schematic
 DBMS

Schema

Subschema Subschema Subschema

A B C

User User User User User

1 2 3 4 5
 Schema ‘Discussion’
the structure of a database system, described
in a formal language supported by the database management
system (DBMS).
In a relational database, the schema defines the
tables, the fields in each table, and the relationships between fields
and tables.

Schemas are generally stored in a data dictionary. Although a

schema is defined in text database language, the term is often used
to refer to a graphical depiction of the database structure.
 Data Definition Language
 Data Definition Language (DDL)
 A collection of instructions and commands
used to define and describe data and data
relationships in a specific database

Schematic
SCHEMA DESCRIPTION
SCHEMA NAME IS XXXX
AUTHOR XXXX
DATE XXXX
FILE DESCRIPTION
FILE NAME IS XXXX
ASSIGN XXXX
FILE NAME IS XXXX
ASSIGN XXXX
AREA DESCRIPTION
AREA NAME IS XXXX
RECORD DESCRIPTION
RECORD NAME ISXXXX
RECORD ID IS XXXX
LOCATION MODE ISXXXX
WITHIN XXX AREA FROM XXXX THRU XXXX
SET DESCRIPTION
SET NAME IS XXXX
ORDER IS XXXX
MODE IS XXXX
MEMBER IS XXXX
.
.
.
 Data Dictionary
 Data Dictionary
 A detailed description of all data used in the
database

Schematic
 NORTHWESTERN MANUFACTURING

PREPARED BY: D. BORDWELL

DATE: 04 AUGUST
APPROVED BY: J. EDWARDS DATE: 13 OCTOBER
VERSION: 3.1
PAGE: 1 OF 1

DATA ELEMENT NAME: PARTNO

DESCRIPTION: INVENTORY PART NUMER
OTHER NAMES: PTNO
VALUE RANGE: 100 TO 5000
DATA TYPE: NUMERIC
POSITIONS: 4 POSITIONS OR COLUMNS
 Data Dictionary Features
 Provide a standard definition of terms and data
elements
 Assist programmers in designing and writing
programs
 Simplify database modification
 Reduce data redundancy
 Increase data reliability
 Faster program development
 Easier modification of data and information
 Logical and Physical
Access Paths
 Logical access path (LAP)
 Application requires information from the
DBMS
 Physical access path (PAP)
 DBMS accesses a storage device to retrieve
data

Schematic
 Data
on
storage
devices

Physical access path (PAP)

DBMS

Logical access path (LAP)

Management Other Application

inquiries software programs
 Manipulating Data
 Concurrency control
 A method of dealing with a situation in which two or
more people need to access the same record in a
database at the same time
 Data manipulation language (DML)
 The commands that are used to manipulate the data in
a database
 Structured query language (SQL)
 A standardized data manipulation language
Structured Query Language (SQL)
 “Invented” at IBM’s Almaden Research
Centre (San Jose, CA) in the 1970s
 E.g.,
SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE
JOB_CLASSIFICATION = “C2”

Select all (“*”) columns from the EMPLOYEE

table in which the JOB_CLASSIFICATION field
is equal to “C2”
 SQL ‘Discussion’ (1)
Abbreviation of structured query language, and pronounced either
see-kwell or as separate letters. SQL is a standardized query
language for requesting information from a database.
The original version called SEQUEL (structured English query language)
was designed by an IBM research center in 1974 and 1975. SQL was
first introduced as a commercial database system in 1979 by Oracle
Corporation.

Historically, SQL has been the favorite query language for database
management systems running on minicomputers and mainframes.
 SQL ‘Discussion’ (2)
Increasingly, however, SQL is being supported by PC database
systems because it supports distributed databases (databases that
are spread out over several computer systems). This enables
several users on a local-area network to access the same database
simultaneously.

Although there are different dialects of SQL, it is nevertheless the

closest thing to a standard query language that currently exists. In
1986, ANSI approved a rudimentary version of SQL as the official
standard, but most versions of SQL since then have included many
 SQL ‘Discussion’ (3)
extensions to the ANSI standard. In 1991, ANSI updated the
standard. The new standard is known as SAG SQL.
Database Output

Screen snap
 Popular Database Management
Systems for End Users
 Microsoft Access
 Lotus Approach
 Inprise (formerly Borland) dBASE
 DBMS Selection Criteria
• Database size
• Number of concurrent users
• Performance
• Integration
• Features
• The vendor
• Cost
 Distributed Databases

 Distributed database…
 A database in which the actual data may be
spread across several smaller databases
connected via telecommunications devices

‘Pretty’ picture
 Data Warehouse
 Data warehouse
 A relational database management system designed
specifically to support management decision making
 Current evolution of Decision Support Systems (DSSs)
 Data mart
 A subset of a data warehouse for small and medium-
size businesses or departments within larger
companies
Schematic
Relational
databases

Data
Hierarchical extraction
databases process

Network
databases Data
cleanup
process
Flat files

Spreadsheets Data
End user access wharehouse

Query and
analysis
tools
Designing a Customer Data Warehouse

 Sharply define your goals and objectives

before you build the warehouse
 Choose the software that best fits your goals
 Determine who/what should be in the database
 Develop a plan
 Measure results
 Data Mining Applications
 Data mining
 The automated discovery of patterns and relationships
in a data warehouse
 Data mining applications
• Market segmentation
• Customer queries
• Fraud detection
• Direct marketing
• Market basket analysis
• Trend analysis
 On-Line Analytical
Processing (OLAP)
 On-line analytic processing (OLAP)
• Access to multidimensional databases providing
managerially useful display techniques
• Now used to store and deliver data warehouse
information
 Data warehouse and OLAP
• Provides top-down, query-driven analysis
 Data mining
• Provides bottom-up, discovery-driven analysis
 Open Database
Connectivity (ODBC)
 Open database connectivity (ODBC)
• A set of standards that ensures software written to
comply with these standards can be used with any
ODBC-compliant database

Schematic
 dBASE

ODBC Import

ACCESS Paradox
database database
ODBC Export

ODBC Link

Lotus 1-2-3
spreadsheet
Object-Relational Database Management
Systems (ORDBMS)
 Object-relational database management system (ORDBMS)
• A DBMS capable of manipulating audio, video, and graphical data.
 Hypertext
• Users can search and manipulate alphanumeric data in an
unstructured way
 Hypermedia
• Allows businesses to search and manipulate multimedia forms of
data
 Spatial data technology
• Use of an object-relational database to store and access data
according to the location it describes and to permit spatial queries
and analysis