IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Introduction to Database
Modelling

Lecture - 04

1
SLIIT - Faculty of Computing
IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Introduction to Database
To better understand what drives the design of databases,
first need to understand the difference between data and
information.
 What is Data?
 What is Information?
 What is Database (DB)?
 What is Database Management System (DBMS)?

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

File based Approach

This is one of the obsolete approach which used to data
management. Such a system would typically consist of a
set of application programs (separate computer files) that
perform various tasks. Each program would define and
manage its own data.
Basic File Terminologies
 Data
 Field
 Record
 File

Cont.
SLIIT - Faculty of Computing
IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling
Cont.

File based Approach

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling
Cont.

File based Approach

Billing Purchasing
Program Program

Accounts Buyer Inventory Vendor

Customer
receivable file file file
file
file

Sales Order
Accounts Payable Processing Payroll
Program Program Program

Inventory Employee
Vendor Invoice Customer
file file
file file file

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling
Cont.

Database Approach
Limitations of Conventional File-based Approach:

 Uncontrolled redundancy ( data redundancy)

 Data inconsistence
 Inflexibility
 Limited data sharing
 Poor enforcement of standards
 Extensive program maintenance

Directed Reading Section 1.1 and 1.2 in Elmasri and Navathe.

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Database Approach
 Arose because:
Definition of data was embedded in application
programs, rather than being stored separately and
independently
No control over access and manipulation of data
beyond that imposed by application programs

 Result:
The Database and Database Management System
(DBMS).

Cont.
SLIIT - Faculty of Computing
IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Database Approach
Order Dept. Accounting Payroll
Dept. Dept.

Program Program Program

A B C

Ordering Invoicing Payroll

filing System System
System

Back Inventory Customer Inventory Employee

Orders Master Master Pricing Master
file file file file file

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Database Approach

Cont.
SLIIT - Faculty of Computing
IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling
Cont.

History in a Nutshell
 First DBMS: Bachman at General Electric, early 60’s
(Network Data Model). Standardized by CODASYL.
 Late 60’s : IBM’s IMS (Inf. Mgmt.Sys.) (Hierarchical Data
Model).
 1970: Edgar Codd (at IBM) proposed the Relational Data
Model. Strong theoretical basis.
 1980’s -90’s: Relational model consolidated. Research on
query languages and data models => logic-based
languages, OO DBMSs => Object-relational data model
(extend DBMSs with new data types)

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling
Cont.

Database system Environment

Database system environment normally can be considered
to have five major parts.
Hardware
 Software - Operating System Software, DBMS Software
Application Program and Utilities
 People - System Administrators, DB Administrators, DB
Designers, System Analyst and Programmers, End
Users
Procedures
Data

Directed Reading Section 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 in Elmasri and Navathe.
SLIIT - Faculty of Computing
IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling
Cont.

Database Management System

“Database is a logically coherent collection of data with
some inherent meaning.”

DBMS is a collection of programs that enables users to

create and maintain a database

“DBMS is a general-purpose software system that facilitates

the processes of defining, constructing, manipulating, and
sharing databases among various users and applications”

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling
Cont.

Three-Tier Architecture of a DBMS

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling
Cont.

Three-Tier Architecture of a DBMS

The main objective of the three-schema architecture is to
separate a user’s views of the database from the way that
the data is physically represented.
All users should be able to access same data
A user’s view is immune to changes made in other views
Users should not need to know physical database storage
details
DBA should be able to change database storage structures
without affecting the users’ views
Internal structure of database should be unaffected by changes
to physical aspects of storage
DBA should be able to change conceptual structure of database
without affecting all users

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Three-Tier Architecture of a DBMS

Defines DBMS schemas at three levels:
Internal schema at the internal level to describe physical
storage structures and access paths. Typically uses a
physical data model.
Conceptual schema at the conceptual level to describe
the structure and constraints for the whole database for
a community of users. Uses a conceptual or an
implementation data model.
External schemas at the external level to describe the
various user views. Usually uses the same data model as
the conceptual level.

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling
Cont.

Three-Tier Architecture of a DBMS

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling
Cont.

Data Independence
Data Independence is the capacity to change the
schema at one level of a database system without
having to change the schema at the next higher
level.

Logical Data Independence: Change conceptual

schema without having to change external schemas
and their application programs.
Physical Data Independence: Change internal
schema without having to change conceptual
schema.
SLIIT - Faculty of Computing
IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Data Independence

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Database Design
Why is Database Design important?

Without careful planning you may create a database that…

• contains unnecessary data which occupies the storage space
• omits data required to create critical reports
• takes a considerable time to respond to user questions
• produces results that are incorrect or inconsistent
• is unable to accommodate changes in the user's requirements

A poorly designed database will require more time in the long-

term…!

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Database Design process

1. Requirements Analysis
What does the user want?

2. Conceptual Database Design

Model Data requirements using a Conceptual Data Model --> ER model

3. Logical Database Design

Model Data requirements using a Logical Data Model  Relational Data Model

4. Schema Refinement
Fine tune the result

5. Physical Database Design

Implementation of the design using a Database Management System

6. Security Design
Implement Controls to ensure security and integrity

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Data Modeling
What is a Data Model?
• A data model focuses on what data should be stored in
the DB and how it should be organized
• Without representing the data as a database would see
it, a data model represents the data as the user sees it in
the ‘real world’
• A data model can be considered similar to an architect's
building plan

The goal of the data model is to make sure that all data objects
required by the database are completely and accurately represented

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Types and Examples of Data Models

1) High Level Conceptual Data Models

• Provide concepts for presenting data in ways that
are close to the way people perceive data.

Ex: Entity Relationship Model/Diagram

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Entity Relationship (ER) Model

Represents data as ‘real world’ Objects (Entities)

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Types and Examples of Data Models

2) Record-based Logical Data Models

• Provide concepts users can understand but are not
too far from the way data is stored in the computer

Ex: Hierarchical Model,

Network Model,
Relational Model,
Object Oriented Model, etc…

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Hierarchical Model

Represents data as a hierarchical tree structure. Each branch of the

hierarchy represents a number of related records.

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Network Model

Represents data as record types

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Relational Model

Represents data as relations/tables

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Properties of a good Data Model

• Completely and accurately represents the data
requirements of the end users/application
• Uses simple notations and natural language so it can be
easily understood by the end user
• Detailed enough to be used by a database designer to build
the database.
• Eliminates redundant data
• Independent of any hardware and software constraints
• Adapts to changing requirements with minimum of effort

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Database Design process (Revisited)

1.Requirements Analysis
What does the user want?

2.Conceptual Database Design *

Model Data requirements using a Conceptual Data Model --> ER model
3.Logical Database Design *
Model Data requirements using a Logical Data Model  Relational Data Model
4.Schema Refinement *
Fine tune the result
5.Physical Database Design
Implementation of the design using a Database Management System

6.Security Design
Implement Controls to ensure security and integrity

* Will be discussed in this module

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Step 1: Requirements Analysis

The goals of the requirements analysis are:

• to determine the data requirements of the database in terms of

objects
• to identify and describe the information about these objects
• to identify the relationships among these objects
• to identify different transactions that will be performed on the
database
• to identify performance, integrity, security or administrative
constraints to be imposed on the database
• to identify design and implementation constraints if any (ex: specific
technologies, hardware and software, programming languages,
policies, standards, etc…)

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Step 1: Requirements Analysis…

Information needed for the requirements analysis can be gathered in
several ways:

• Review of existing documents –

Can become familiar with the organization/ activity you need to model
by reviewing the existing documentation. Ex: existing forms and reports,
written guidelines, job descriptions, personal narratives, etc…
• Interviews with end users –
Can organize individual/group meetings with the end users. Can use a
blackboard, flip chart, or overhead transparencies to record information
gathered from the interviews.
• Review of existing automated systems –
Can review the system design specifications and documentation, if the
organization already has an automated system
SLIIT - Faculty of Computing
IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Step 2: Conceptual Database Design

The information gathered in the requirements analysis phase is used

to create a:

high-level description of the data in a conceptual data model or

Semantic Data Model.

E.g. ER Model

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Step 3: Logical Database Design

• In this step, we determine the DBMS to implement the

database & also the data model.

• We utilize the conceptual schema created in the

previous step and convert it into a schema of a
particular data model* (E.g. Relational Data Model)

• *We will cover this in the next two lectures.

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Step 4: Schema Refinement

The schema created by the logical database design

phase is further refined for potential problems such
as redundancies.

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Step 5: Physical Database Design

In this step, performance criteria are taken into

consideration and further enhancements to the
schema & creation of indexes are considered.

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Step 6: Security Design

Different user groups and their roles are identified.
Appropriate levels of access are then provided to the
data ensuring that users have access to only the
necessary data.

Eg. Bank
Customer – read access
Teller – read/update (limited)
Manager – read/update

SLIIT - Faculty of Computing

IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

End of Lecture - 04

Questions ?

37
SLIIT - Faculty of Computing