RELATIONAL

DATABASE DESIGN
DATABASE IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS
 Eng. Steve Jerry A. Thompson, PhD, MSc, BSc

2
DATABASE IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS
1. Information System and Organisation

2. Database Design and Implementation

1.2 The Database Application Life Cycle

1.3 Conceptual Database Application Design

1.4 Logical and Physical Database Design

2. UML Diagrams: An Aid to Database Design Specifications

2.1 UML Class Diagrams and Database Design

2.2 UML Based Design Tools

3. Automated Database Design and Implementation Tools

 Eng. Steve Jerry A. Thompson, PhD, MSc, BSc

INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

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4 DATABASE IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS

INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

For any organisation, information provides the key to success. In the present day world, information
technology and management of information resources is very important for the success of an
organisation. It is said that an organisation today cannot last for more than 48-72 hours if its information
resources have failed. The basis of information in any organisation is the data. The information and the
data have the following properties:
• Information is one of the most important corporate resources. Data should be properly controlled and
managed for the effective working of the organisation.
• The need of up-to-date data is ever increasing as more and more functions of organisations are being
made electronic.
• The complexity of applications is increasing, as complex relationships among the data are needed to
be modelled and maintained.
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5 CONTINUATION…
INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

• The long lasting data may be cleaned, consolidated and archived for future decision
making.
• Information is very useful for future planning. It provides the major input for supply
chain management, enterprise resource planning, financial control and many other
managerial functions of an organisation.
• For the day-to-day financial, retail good transactions, a publicly accessible and updatable
operational database must be designed and made available for the transactions.
• Electronic selling and purchasing is cutting the cost of business transactions.
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6 CONTINUATION…
INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

Information, which is generated from data, is a very important aspect for survival of an organisation.
But, why is the Database Management System important for generating information for an
organisation? The following are the major characteristics of database management that make it very
valuable for an organisation.
• Data Independence: DBMS protects data base application programs from the changes in the logical database
design and the physical database structure including access paths and storage structures.

• Controlled Data Sharing: DBMS allows the same data to be used for multiple applications with each
application having its own view of the data. This data of views can also be suitably protected.

• Simple Operation and Query Mechanism: SQL provides a very simple style query language across the
DBMS. Easy data handling, support for transactions, and security are the other major features of a DBMS.
DBMS also has the extended feature of knowledge generation. Thus, DBMS are major tools for an organisation.
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7 CONTINUATION…
INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

Thus, the database is typically a part of the information system. But, what are the activities required in
an information system?
a. Collection of data.
b. Management of data using DBMS software.
c. Use of the hardware and storage Media.
d. Dissemination of the information Resources to the persons who use and manage the data.
(Also known as DBA).
e. The Application software that accesses and updates the data, and the application
programmers.
We can easily conclude that the Database system is part of a much larger organisational information
system.
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8 CONTINUATION…
INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

Information System Development

The information system development follows the complete Software Development Life
Cycle (SDLC). The information System Life Cycle is quite fuzzy for information systems
where databases are a major integral component. What does it typically include? Well
typically it includes all the basic phases involved in the waterfall model of SDLC.
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9 CONTINUATION…
INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

Communication Planning Modelling Construction Deployment

Project
Estimating Analysis Coding Management,
Information
Delivery,
Support &
Feedback
Requirements Test
Scheduling Design
Gathering 1. Acceptance
testing
2. Validation
testing
Tracking

Figure 1: The information system life cycle

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10 CONTINUATION…
INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

Let us define these phases briefly.

Communication: This basically includes:
• Analysing potential application areas.
• Identifying the economics of information.
• Performing preliminary cost-benefit studies.
• Determining complexity of data and processes.
• Setting up priorities among applications.
• Gathering detailed requirements by interacting with users and user groups.-
• Identification of inter-application dependencies, communication and reporting procedures.
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11 CONTINUATION…
INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

Planning: This basically includes:

• Estimating the cost and time.
• Estimating the resource requirements.
• Identification of step-by-step (micro) procedure for each phase of SDLC.
• Scheduling of resources as per the needs.
• Tracking the resources as the project progresses.
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12 CONTINUATION…
INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

Modelling: Now let us see what we do in modelling:

• We create and refine analysis and design models.
• The information system is designed, it includes:
o Design of the database system and the design of Application systems.
o Design of information needs at different levels, system architecture design.
o Forms and report design.
o Design of Database Transactions and processes in detail.
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13 CONTINUATION…
INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

Construction: Construction mainly includes:

• Coding and implementing the system as per the detailed design.
• Creation of database and loading some sample data.
• Implementation of database transactions.
• Testing of all the above.
• Checking acceptability of the system in meeting user’s requirements and performance criteria.
• The system is tested against performance criteria and behaviour specifications.
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14 CONTINUATION…
INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ORGANISATION

Deployment: This is the last stage but necessarily an important one:

• Operational phase checks whether all system functions are operational and have been
validated.
• New requirements and applications are validated and tested.
• Maintenance and monitoring of system performance is an important activity done here.

Thus, information system development is a major system development life cycle. However, in this
unit we will focus our attention mainly on database application system development.
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15

DATABASE DESIGN AND

IMPLEMENTATION
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16 DATABASE IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS

DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

The database application design activity in an organisation is very important. This activity
determines the overall quality of the information system.
The database application design involves database design and application system design.
The Figure 2 shows the steps of these processes and the linkages for database application
design and implementation.
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17 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
Database Design Application System Design

• Transactions & data processing

Design of Conceptual Schema design
• Constraints specification

• View designs for various

applications
• Index design

• Implementing Database using

Implementing transactions using
SQL or Database implementation Performance
embedded programs/ SQL/ other
tools Tuning Data
implementation tools
• Performance tuning

Figure 2: Database application system design and implementation

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18 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

The Database Application Life Cycle

The database application life cycle defines the phases of development of a database application. Let us list the
activities that help us to create a database:
1. System definition: In this activity, the scope of the database system, its users and its applications are defined
with the help of users information.
Other activities of this phase are:
• To find the interfaces for various categories of users.
• To find the response time constraints.
• To identify the storage and processing needs.

NOTE: Before we discuss the further activities, it is necessary to know that this part of the database application design and implementation is
part of the information system life cycle.
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19 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

2. Design of Conceptual Database Application: It involves design of the complete conceptual schema of
the database and the transaction and Data processing. We will discuss it in more detail in the next sub-
section.
3. Logical and Physical Database Design: This involves creation of views, creation of storage structure,
indexes etc. This is also discussed in more detail later.
4. Database Implementation: This is the process by which we implement the following:
• Conceptual Database
• External Database
• Internal Database
• The mappings among these designs
• Creating empty database files
• Implementing the software applications
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20 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

5. Application Conversion: Any software application from a previous system is converted to the
new system. The data is populated either by loading the data directly or by converting existing
files into the database system format.

6. Testing and Validations: The new system, which is made needs to be tested and validated for
good results. Testing and validation is done for this particular purpose.
7. Operations: During this phase, the old as well as the new systems are operated in parallel.
8. Monitoring and Maintenance: Change is an unchanging phenomenon. Similarly, modifications
and reorganisation are unavoidable and may be needed from time to time. During this phase, the
system is constantly monitored and maintained.
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21 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

Let us now discuss the two major stages as above, Conceptual Database Application Design and
Logical and Physical Design in more detail. Performance tuning is a specialised area and DBMS
specific so this topic has not been discussed in this unit.

A. Conceptual Database Application Design

The process of conceptual database design is given in Figure 3.

Figure 3: The conceptual

database design
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22 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

Conceptual Schema Design

The following details are produced during the conceptual database design:
• Database structures and data types associated with each field.
• Keys and constraints.
• Data interrelationships such as referential constraints
• Data dictionary.

But how do we do the conceptual schema design?

The process of conceptual schema design requires primarily modification and conversion of E-R diagram
into tables keeping the following points in consideration:
1. Proper identification of entities, relationship, and attributes; 2. Identification of key attributes; 3.
Identification of cardinality of relationship; 4. Identifying weak entities, specialisation/generalisation, etc.
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23 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

We have already discussed how an ER diagram is converted into. Let us discuss the two common
approaches for conceptual schema design:
a. Single Schema Design
b. View Integration

i. Single Schema Design: This process results in the development of single schema. This process
is explained with the help of an example:
Consider the following EER diagram of a University:
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24 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

Programme Types are:

Full time or part time. Please note the ER
diagram is further refined to have an ‘is-a’
relationship.
The simple conceptual tables can now be
designed in such case as:

STUDENT (st-id, dob)

FULL-TIMEPROG (p-code, duration)
PART-TIMEPROG (p-code, duration)
REGISTERS (p-code, st-id)

Figure 4: Design of database

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25 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

Please note that the design above is not complete; a complete design would require all types defined
and constraints identified. All such information is made available by the detailed analysis document.
ii. View Integration: A commercial database may be very complex. It may be a good idea to
model this database as per the viewpoints of various stakeholders, thus creating many views. A
conceptual schema may be an integration of all such views. Such integration may have the
following steps:
• Find out the common entities and relationships of interest.
• Find out if any conflicting requirements exist, such as name, type, constraints etc.
• Modify and manage the views.
• Refine the final model, if necessary.

We do not attempt a detailed discussion of this topic here, since it is beyond the scope of this unit.
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26 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

Transaction Design
Transaction design specifies the functional requirements of a database system. The three types of
transactions that may need to be designed are:
I. Retrieval Transaction: These transactions will not update data in a database but help to access some
information, for example, finding the status of a booking in a Railway reservation database. Such
transactions can be executed concurrently without any problems.
II. Updating Transactions: Such transaction modifies some data value and requires careful concurrency
control. For example, booking a ticket in a railway reservation system would update a lot of data items.
III. Mixed Transactions: A third type of transaction may have both these characteristics, that is, it reads
some data and also updates some data. These are called mixed transactions.
NOTE: The dataflow models created during the modelling phase help in identifying the transactions/ procedure etc. on a
database.
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27 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

Selecting the desirable DBMS

Once we are through with conceptual design, we need to make a choice of the DBMS. Some of the factors
on which the selection depends are:
1. Technical: The technical issues we need to consider:
• Type of DBMS (Relational, object-relational etc.)
• Storage Structures and Access paths supported by DBMS.
• The simplicity of user/ programmer interface.
• Support for SQL.
• Availability of development Tools.
• Ability to interface with other DBMS like conformance to ODBC.
• Support for client-server architecture.
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28 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

2. Non-Technical: These include factors like cost and status of the organisation, which is supplying
the product. The following cost factors may be considered while choosing DBMS:
• Software Acquisition Cost: It not only includes the cost of software, but also any utility cost,
development tool cost or any other cost that the selling organisation may charge.
• Additional Hardware Acquisition Cost: If the DBMS requires additional memory, disk controllers, etc.
then it must be included in the overall cost calculation.
• Maintenance Cost: The cost for maintaining and keeping the database perfect.
• Operating Cost: The cost related to continuous operation of the DBMS. It includes hiring cost of
personnel employed only for DBMS such as DBA. It may also include the training cost.
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29 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

B. Logical and Physical Database Design

The next phase aims to create an external schema and physical schema, including the mapping. Some
of the important considerations at this stage of database design are:
• The database views should be identified.
• The security considerations and constraints on the view should be identified and duly specified.
• The performance criteria for views may be identified.
• The physical database design which includes specific storage structure (e.g., clustered file organisation)
and access paths (indexes etc.) may be identified.
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30 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

But why is physical database design required?

A high-performance transactions processing systems requires continuous operation of the system.
Transactions performance, in terms of the average number of transactions per minute and maximum
transaction response time, is critical. Hence, a careful physical database design that meets the
organisation’s transaction processing needs is a must.
Why do we choose a specific physical structure?
We do it so that the database applications can achieve good performance. The physical database
design process is restricted to choosing the most appropriate structure for the database files from
among the options offered by that DBMS.
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31 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

Let us discuss the criteria on which the choice of physical database design lie:
1. Response Time: The elapsed time between the start of a database transaction to receive a
response on it.

Please note that response time is also a factor of non-DBMS controlled issues like:
• Access Time of the database
• Present user Load
• Scheduling operation of operating system
• Communication Delays on a client-server system etc.

2. Space Utilisation: This is the amount of storage space used by the database files including index.
It also includes the storage of the physical database on the disk.
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32 CONTINUATION…
DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

3. Transaction Throughput: The average number of transactions that are processed per minute. It
is measured under peak conditions on the system. This is very important in applications like
Railway reservations or banking.

The outcome of the physical database design phase is an initial determination of storage structures
and access paths for the database files. These structures do change in the lifetime of a database.
 Eng. Steve Jerry A. Thompson, PhD, MSc, BSc

33

UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN

SPECIFICATIONS
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34 DATABASE IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS

UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

First of all, before defining UML, we should first ask the question why UML? When there are so
many database implementation tools/ languages available why has UML become so popular?
Let us consider this issue in detail.

Databases are an integral part of any information system and there exists many database
implementation tools. Thus, the industry is in need of a standard approach that spawns all the phases
of SDLC, requirement analysis, modelling, design, implementation and deployment. Also, the
industry is looking for techniques to automate the production of software having an improved quality
and reduced cost and time.
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35 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS
Since UML is accepted by the Object Management Group (OMG) as the standard for modelling object-oriented
programs it becomes one of the automatic choices. Now the next question is why only UML? UML has quickly
become one of the popularly used tools for modelling business and software application needs. The UML became
popular due to the following reasons:
1. It is very flexible. It allows for many different types of modelling. Some of them include:
• Business Process modelling event workflow,
• Sequencing of events,

2. It is language and platform - independent. It allows software architects to model any application, on any
operating system in any programme language or network.
3. UML supports object-oriented methodologies. Please note however, that even if the concepts are based on
object-oriented methods, the resulting structure and behaviour of UML can be used to design both relational
and object-oriented models.
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36 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

4. The integration of various SDLC stages through UML tools has brought the analysts, modeler,
designers, and the software application developers closer to each other.
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37 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

Types of UML Diagrams

You have studied UML diagrams in course MCS-032. Let us briefly recapitulate those concepts again.
Figure 5 defines the various types of UML diagrams.

Figure 5: The UML

diagrams
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38 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

Structural/Static Diagrams: These diagrams are used to model the structural or static relationship
among various objects or their components.
Class Object Component Deployment
• Backbone of • Subset of class • describes the • Depicts the
almost every diagrams, organisation of physical resources
object-oriented sometimes treated physical software in a system.
method, including as separate components • Includes nodes,
UML. techniques. including source components and
• Describes the • Organises code, run time connection.
static class elements of a code and
structure of a system into related executables.
system viz., groups to Figure 6:
classes, interfaces, minimise The structural/static
dependencies etc. dependencies. diagram
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39 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

Behavioural/dynamic Diagrams: These diagrams are used to model the behavioural or

dynamic relationship among various objects or their components.

NOTE: Below is Figure 7: The behavioural/dynamic diagrams

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40 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

Figure 7: Use Case Sequence Collaboration State Chart Activity

• Models the • Describes • Represents • Describes the • Defines an
functionality interaction interactions dynamic activity
of system between between objects behaviour of a representation
using Actors classes in as a sequence of system in operation on
and use cases. terms of an messages. response to some class in
exchange of • Describes both external the system
messages static structure stimuli. that results in
over time. and dynamic • Useful in a change in
behaviour. modelling the state of the
objects where system.
states are
triggered by
specific
events.
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41 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

Use of UML Diagrams: During the construction of an application system design we use all the major
UML diagrams. But how are these diagrams useful for the database design.
Let us first discuss the behavioural/dynamic diagrams of UML. The use Case Diagrams are used to
gather information during the requirement analysis phase. Likewise the sequence diagram is used to
visualise the execution of the use cases, while the collaboration diagram defines the sequence of
messages. The state Chart Diagram and activity diagram are used to graphically represent some of the
states and activities of a system.
Thus, these diagrams are very useful for providing the behavioural or functional information about
databases. Thus, they may be useful for transaction and processing design. For example, a use case
diagram of a student of an on-line University may be:
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42 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

This use case diagram is indicating that the student and staff may have
to login first, thus, the implementation of such a system would require
a table for user-name and password and for taking admission a student
may need to have a valid user name and password. It also indicates
that the process of admission will be certified by a staff member, who
will allow the student to take admission after due checking. Thus,
Figure 8: A simple UML behavioural diagrams may be useful to define
use case diagram for a university processing/transactions. They also provide some information about
entities and attributes. However, the UML diagram is closely
associated with database structure design in the class diagram. Let us
discuss these diagrams in more detail in respect of database design and
implementation.
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43 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

1. UML Class Diagrams and Database Design

To begin with, let us first recollect what we have learnt about class diagrams. The class diagrams
sometimes may be considered as an alternative notation to E-R diagram. In UML class diagram
contains:
• ‘Class’ – is displayed as a box. It has three sections:
“Top Section” – Class Name
“Middle Section” – Attributes
“Last Section” – Operations
• Associations: Relationship Types are called Associations.
• Links: Relationship instances are called Links.
• Binary Association: Represented as a line connecting the participating classes.
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44 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

• Linked Attribute: Connected to the Association’s line by dashed line.

• Multiplicities: The (Minimum and Maximum) constraints.
• Reflexive Association: A Recursive Relationship.
• Aggregation: To represent a relationship between a whole object and its component parts.
• Different unidirectional and bi-directional Associations.

The specialisation/generalisation can be represented in UML class diagrams as:

• Basic notation is to connect the subclass by vertical lines to horizontal lines.
• A blank triangle indicates a specialisation /generalisation with the disjoint constraint and a filled
triangle indicates an overlapping constraint.
• The root super class is known as the base class and the leaf nodes are called terminal nodes.
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45 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

Let us explain the role of class diagrams with generalisation/specialisation hierarchy in a database
structure design with the help of an example. Consider the following UML class diagram for a
University.

Note: Figure 9: A UML class diagram

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46 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

Please note that in the diagram above,

you can make clear-cut table design.
One such possible design may be:

STUDENT (ID, Name, Phone, type (PT, FT))

PT (ID, numberofhrs)
PROGRAMME (Programmecode, Name,
Fee)
Stuprog (ID, Programmecode)

Figure 9: A UML class

diagram
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47 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

You can also identify several functions/data processing functions/ triggers relating to
functions of classes. For example, feecalculation( ) may need to be implemented as a stored
procedure while calculating the fee of part-time students, whereas addprogramme( ) is a
simple data entry function. Thus, UML Class diagram with generalisation/specialisation is a
very useful database design tool.
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48 CONTINUATION…
UML DIAGRAMS: AN AID TO DATABASE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

2. UML Based Design Tools

There are many tools used in the industry to develop information system. These tools provide the
initial specification in UML that eventually leads to the database development. These tools provide
support for conceptual, logical and physical database modelling design. Some of the features of these
tools are:
• Support for Reverse Engineering: These tools allow the user to create a data model based on the already
existing database structure.
• Forward Engineering and creation of database definitions: The tools can read the schema of the data
models available in UML diagram – class diagram and create the database and the data storage model and
generate appropriate DDL code for the same.
• Conceptual Design in UML notation: It allows modelling of databases using UML notations.
Note: You must search for different tools and the facilities provided by them on the World Wide Web.
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49

AUTOMATED DATABASE DESIGN AND

IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS
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50 DATABASE IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS

AUTOMATED DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS

Database design was initially handled manually. But as the complexity and volume of data increased,
automation of the same became essential. So, why was Database design automated? The reasons are:
• As the complexity of a system increases, the number of options or in other words different design models
that can represent the information model also increase rapidly. Hence it becomes difficult to deal with the
complexity and the corresponding design alternatives manually.
• The size and volume of some databases may contain hundreds of entity types and relationship types.
Manually managing such a design becomes extremely difficult.

Thus, because of the above two reasons, the Database Design Process had to be automated.
However, database design is not a process in isolation and as discussed earlier, database application
design is part of SDLC. Thus, database design tools are part of tools or commercial database
management system development environment.
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AUTOMATED DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS

Some of the essential facilities that need to be provided by the database design tools are:
1. Facility for drawing a conceptual schema Design: It basically allows the database designers to
represent the database diagrammatically. Thus, a tool must support the representation of the
following:
• Entity Types
• Relationship Types
• Cardinality Constraints
• Attributes, Keys, foreign keys etc.
• Showing inheritance hierarchies or generalisation/specialisation hierarchy.

The diagrams should be stored and should allow modifications whenever necessary.
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AUTOMATED DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS

2. Allows Model Mapping: Mapping Algorithms for external schemas, security etc. should be
creatable and implementable. Such mapping is mostly system-specific.
3. Support of Normalisation: Normalisation process uses a set of functional dependencies. Such
FDs should be represented with the help of this tool at the time of logical design.
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What should be the characteristics of good design tools?

A good design tool must have the following features:
1. An easy Interface: Graphical user interfaces are commonly used by such tools so that the designer
can concentrate more on complex high level abstraction and concepts rather than lower level
implementations. Different interfaces may be tailored to suit beginners and expert designers.
2. Analytical Capabilities: Such tools need to provide analytical capabilities for tasks that are difficult to
perform manually. One such capability may be evaluating design alternatives. Such capabilities may
also detect conflicting constraints among views. The designer should also be able to compare
multiple alternatives. This helps in the process of physical design in a given system.
 Eng. Steve Jerry A. Thompson, PhD, MSc, BSc

54 CONTINUATION…
AUTOMATED DATABASE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS

3. Display of Design: Some of the features expected here are:

• diagrammatic display results such as schemas representation.
• well laid out diagrams (easily creatable automatically).
• easy to read design.
• the design should be automatically implemented as tables, lists, or reports.

4. Support for Design Verification: The tool should enable verification of the resulting design. It
should allow checking whether the design satisfies the initial requirements. We have avoided
detailing any proprietary tool here, but you can refer to websites for many such tools.
The CASE tools address both schema design and application design concurrently.