Database

Application
Life Cycle
LECTURE FOUR
Introduction
Database development is just one part of the much wider field of software engineering, the
process of developing and maintaining software.
We start with an overview of the waterfall model such as you will find in most software
engineering text books.
The waterfall model could apply to any computer system development.
It shows the process as a strict sequence of steps where the output of one step is the input to
the next and all of one step has to be completed before moving onto the next.
However, in reality there is usually some degree of refinement and feedback as the product
proceeds through the development stages (it would be rare to find that each task is performed
perfectly and never needs revisiting – although that is one possibility!).

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Waterfall
Model

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Introduction
The database life cycle is a cycle that traces the history
of the database in an information system.
The database life cycle incorporates the necessary steps
involved in database development, starting with
requirements analysis and ending with monitoring and
modification.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

The DBLC never ends because database monitoring,
improvement, and maintenance are part of the life cycle, and
these activities continue as long as the database is alive and
in use.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

 Four-phase database life cycle
(1) Requirements analysis (concept).
(2) Design.
(3) Implementation (physical design).
(4) Maintenance (database implementation,
monitoring, and modification).

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Database Application Life Cycle
DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022
Data Requirements Analysis
The database development process begins with a general analysis of the
organization’s business functions, the scope, user groups involved in it,
required data, and examples of reports or existing documents. For this
reason, it is necessary to collect facts whose sources include
interviews, observations, the examination of various documents, such
as forms, reports, and other related archives. You can obtain points
from multiple users through a questionnaire. By collecting relevant
facts, you can specify users’ data requirements wholly and accurately.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Database Design
Based on the results of the data requirements analysis, carry out the design
process. There are two database design approaches, namely:
1.The top-down design uses an entity-relationship (ER) model. The design begins
with identifying entities, followed by relationships between entities and
cardinality or multiplicity. Each entity consists of attributes, primary keys, and
foreign keys (if any).
2.The bottom-up design uses the process of normalization. Design starts with
identifying attributes, then grouping them into data sets to form relations.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Design…
The two approaches are complementary. The design process
begins with conceptual data modeling and continues to the
logical database design and physical database design stages.
The conceptual data modeling uses the ER model. In the early
ER model, carry out normalization on entities or relationships
that have data redundancies. Use the normalization results to
obtain a better final ER model.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Conceptual Data Modeling
Conceptual data modeling is free from implementation, hardware,
software, operating systems, DBMS, application programs,
programming languages, etc. Later, it can be implemented on any
platform.
Conceptual data modeling using the entity-relationship (ER) model
must represent existing business functions in the organization and
describe the users’ data requirements entirely and accurately.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Logical Database Design
Based on the conceptual data model and mapping rules, every entity
and relationship with attributes are converted into relations. Relationships that
have attribute groups with data redundancies result in anomalies when adding,
updating, or deleting data.
Such tables need to be normalized, at least up to 3NF (third normal form).
Each relation attribute is determined by its data type and domain, including
whether the data must be unique or not. The result is a specification for each
relation.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Physical Database Design
It is during the Implementation stage that we determine
how records and files are organized. It is in this same
phase where the use of indexes is determined.
The goal is to design a data store that provides adequate
performance and ensures proper database integrity,
security, and recovery.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Implementation
If the DBMS is not already installed, installation must be performed.
The DBMS can be installed on a new server or an existing server.
Another option is to use a cloud database service such as
Microsoft’s Azure SQL Database Service, Amazon Relational Database
Service (Amazon RDS), or Google’s Cloud SQL.
This new generation of services allows users to create databases that can
be easily managed, tested, and upgraded as needed.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Implementation…
After installing the DBMS, the next step is to create a database using
the standard database language, Structured Query Language (SQL), in
the selected DBMS.
Many DBMS have provided a diagram feature for database creation without
having to type SQL statements, for example, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft
Access, Oracle, and others.
Another option is using the tool, for instance, Erwin (Entity Relationship for
Windows), Embarcadero ER /Studio, SQL Power Architect, and others.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Implementation…
Next, the data must be loaded into database tables. Usually, data has to be imported from the
previous system.
When all data is in the same relational database format, data transfer to the new database can
be done quickly. In some cases, data may have to be imported from other relational
databases, non-relational databases, text files, spreadsheets, etc.
If the data format does not support direct importing, a conversion program may have to be
created to reformat the imported data. In the worst case, most of the data may have to be
entered manually into the database.
Furthermore, administrators and application developers test and evaluate the database.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Database Maintenance
When the database comes into operation, monitoring
is carried out to see if performance requirements are
being met; whether user expectations increase with
demands for better performance. If not, modifications
must be made to improve performance.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Maintenance…
Database administrators perform routine database maintenance.
Some of the regular maintenance activities required include:
• Preventive maintenance (backup)
• Corrective maintenance (restoration)
• Adaptive maintenance (improves performance, adds entities and
attributes, and so on).

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Maintenance…
• Assignment of access permissions and their maintenance for new and old users
• Database access statistics to improve efficiency and usability of system audits
and to monitor system performance.
• Periodic security audits based on system-generated statistics
• Summarize usage of the monthly, quarterly, or yearly system for internal
billing or budgeting purposes.
Other modifications may be required as needs change. Thus, the life cycle
continues with monitoring, redesign, and improvement.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022

Summary
The database life cycle consists of four phases: requirements analysis, design,
implementation, and maintenance.
The requirement analysis specifies relevant data to the users entirely and accurately.
The design phases consist of conceptual data modeling, logical design, and physical
design. In the implementation phase, a database can be created using SQL or
diagrams features existing in the DBMS or tools.
The database must be maintained to ensure that evolving information requirements
are met.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - DRAKE NATURINDA. 10/14/2022