Databases and Database Users

OUTLINE
• Types of Databases and Database Applications
• Basic Definitions
• Typical DBMS Functionality
• Example of a Database (UNIVERSITY)
• Main Characteristics of the Database Approach
• Types of Database Users
• Advantages of Using the Database Approach
• When Not to Use Databases
Types of Databases and Database Applications
• Traditional Applications:
• Numeric and Textual Databases
• More Recent Applications:
• Multimedia Databases
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Biological and Genome Databases
• Data Warehouses
• Mobile databases
• Real-time and Active Databases
 Recent Developments (1)
• Social Networks started capturing a lot of information about
people and about communications among people-posts, tweets,
photos, videos in systems such as:
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Linked-In
• All of the above constitutes data
• Search Engines- Google, Bing, Yahoo: collect their own
repository of web pages for searching purposes
 Recent Developments (2)
• New Technologies are emerging from the so-called non-database
software vendors to manage vast amounts of data generated on web.
Big Data storage systems involving large clusters of distributed
computers
• NoSQL (Not Only SQL) systems
• A large amount of data now resides on the “cloud” which means it is
in huge data centers using thousands of machines
 Basic Definitions
• Database:
• A collection of related data
• Data:
• Known facts that can be recorded and have an implicit meaning
• Mini-world:
• Some part of the real world about which data is stored in a database. For example, student
grades and transcripts at a university
• Database Management System (DBMS):
• A software package/ system to facilitate the creation and maintenance of a computerized
database
• Database System:
• The DBMS software together with the data itself. Sometimes, the applications are also
included
Impact of Databases and Database Technology
• Businesses: Banking, Insurance, Retail, Transportation, Healthcare,
Manufacturing
• Service Industries: Financial, Real-estate, Legal, Electronic Commerce, Small
businesses
• Education : Resources for content and Delivery
• More recently: Social Networks, Environmental and Scientific Applications,
Medicine and Genetics
• Personalized Applications: based on smart mobile devices
Simplified database system environment
 Typical DBMS Functionality
• Define a particular database in terms of its data types, structures, and constraints
• Construct or Load the initial database contents on a secondary storage medium
• Manipulating the database:
• Retrieval: Querying, generating reports
• Modification: Insertions, deletions and updates to its content
• Accessing the database through Web applications
• Processing and Sharing by a set of concurrent users and application programs –
yet, keeping all data valid and consistent
 Application Activities Against a Database
• Applications interact with a database by generating
- Queries: that access different parts of data and formulate the result of a request
- Transactions: that may read some data and “update” certain values or generate
new data and store that in the database
• Applications must not allow unauthorized users to access data
• Applications must keep up with changing user requirements against
the database
 Additional DBMS Functionality
• DBMS may additionally provide:
• Protection or Security measures to prevent unauthorized access
• “Active” processing to take internal actions on data
• Presentation and Visualization of data
• Maintenance of the database and associated programs over the lifetime of
the database application
• Called database, software, and system maintenance
 Example of a Database
(with a Conceptual Data Model)
• Mini-world for the example:
• Part of a UNIVERSITY environment.
• Some mini-world entities:
• STUDENTs
• COURSEs
• SECTIONs (of COURSEs)
• (academic) DEPARTMENTs
• INSTRUCTORs
 Example of a Database
(with a Conceptual Data Model)
• Some mini-world relationships:
• SECTIONs are of specific COURSEs
• STUDENTs take SECTIONs
• COURSEs have prerequisite COURSEs
• INSTRUCTORs teach SECTIONs
• COURSEs are offered by DEPARTMENTs
• STUDENTs major in DEPARTMENTs

• Note: The above entities and relationships are typically expressed in a conceptual
data model, such as the ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP data model (see Chapters 3, 4)
Example of a simple database
 Main Characteristics of the Database Approach
• Self-describing nature of a database system:
• A DBMS catalog stores the description of a particular database (e.g. data
structures, types, and constraints)
• The description is called meta-data
• This allows the DBMS software to work with different database applications.
• Insulation between programs and data:
• Called program-data independence
• Allows changing data structures and storage organization without having to
change the DBMS access programs
Example of a simplified database catalog
Main Characteristics of the Database Approach
(Contd..)
• Data Abstraction:
• A data model is used to hide storage details and present the users with a
conceptual view of the database.
• Programs refer to the data model constructs rather than data storage details
• Support of multiple views of the data:
• Each user may see a different view of the database, which describes only the
data of interest to that user.
Main Characteristics of the Database Approach
(Contd..)
• Sharing of data and multi-user transaction processing:
• Allowing a set of concurrent users to retrieve from and to update the database.
• Concurrency control within the DBMS guarantees that each transaction is correctly
executed or aborted
• Recovery subsystem ensures each completed transaction has its effect permanently
recorded in the database
• OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) is a major part of database applications. This
allows hundreds of concurrent transactions to execute per second.
 Database Users
• Users may be divided into
• Those who actually use and control the database content, and those who
design, develop and maintain database applications (called “Actors on the
Scene”), and
• Those who design and develop the DBMS software and related tools, and the
computer systems operators (called “Workers Behind the Scene”).
 Database Users – Actors on the Scene

• Actors on the scene

• Database administrators:
• Responsible for authorizing access to the database, for coordinating and
monitoring its use, acquiring software and hardware resources, controlling its
use and monitoring efficiency of operations
• Database Designers:
• Responsible to define the content, the structure, the constraints, and functions
or transactions against the database. They must communicate with the end-users
and understand their needs
Database Users – Actors on the Scene (Contd..)
• End-users: They use the data for queries, reports and some of them update
the database content. End-users can be categorized into:
• Casual: access database occasionally when needed
• Naïve or Parametric: Their main job is of constantly querying and updating the database
•Sophisticated:
• These include business analysts, scientists, engineers, others thoroughly familiar
with the system capabilities.
• Many use tools in the form of software packages that work closely with the stored
database.
•Stand-alone:
• Mostly maintain personal databases using ready-to-use packaged applications.
• An example is the user of a tax program that creates its own internal database.
• Another example is a user that maintains a database of personal photos and videos.
Database Users – Actors on the Scene (continued)
• System Analysts and Application Developers
This category currently accounts for a very large proportion of the IT work force.
• System Analysts: They understand the user requirements of naïve and
sophisticated users and design applications including canned transactions to
meet those requirements.
• Application Programmers: Implement the specifications developed by
analysts and test and debug them before deployment.
• Business Analysts: There is an increasing need for such people who can
analyze vast amounts of business data and real-time data (“Big Data”) for
better decision making related to planning, advertising, marketing etc.
Database Users – Actors behind the Scene
• System Designers and Implementors: Design and implement DBMS
packages in the form of modules and interfaces and test and debug them.
The DBMS must interface with applications, language compilers,
operating system components, etc.
• Tool Developers: Design and implement software systems called tools
for modeling and designing databases, performance monitoring,
prototyping, test data generation, user interface creation, simulation etc.
that facilitate building of applications and allow using the database
effectively.
• Operators and Maintenance Personnel: Manage the actual running
and maintenance of the database system hardware and software
environment.
Advantages of Using the Database Approach
• Controlling redundancy in data storage and in development and
maintenance efforts.
• Restricting unauthorized access to data. Only the DBA staff uses
privileged commands and facilities.
• Providing persistent storage for program Objects
• Providing Storage Structures (e.g. indexes) for efficient Query
Processing.
Advantages of Using the Database Approach
(Contd..)
• Providing optimization of queries for efficient processing.
• Providing backup and recovery services.
• Providing multiple interfaces to different classes of users.
• Representing complex relationships among data.
• Enforcing integrity constraints on the database.
• Drawing inferences and actions from the stored data using deductive
and active rules and triggers.
Additional Implications of Using the Database
Approach
• Potential for enforcing standards:
• This is very crucial for the success of database applications in large
organizations. Standards refer to data item names, display formats, screens,
report structures, meta-data (description of data), Web page layouts, etc.
• Reduced application development time:
• Incremental time to add each new application is reduced.
Additional Implications of Using the Database
Approach (Contd..)
• Flexibility to change data structures:
• Database structure may evolve as new requirements are defined.
• Availability of current information:
• Extremely important for on-line transaction systems such as shopping, airline,
hotel, car reservations.
• Economies of scale:
• Wasteful overlap of resources and personnel can be avoided by consolidating
data and applications across departments.
 When not to use a DBMS
• Main inhibitors (costs) of using a DBMS:
• High initial investment and possible need for additional hardware.
• Overhead for providing generality, security, concurrency control, recovery, and
integrity functions.
• When a DBMS may be unnecessary:
• If the database and applications are simple, well defined, and not expected to
change.
• If access to data by multiple users is not required.
• When a DBMS may be infeasible:
• In embedded systems where a general purpose DBMS may not fit in available storage
 When not to use a DBMS (Contd..)
• When no DBMS may suffice:
• If there are stringent real-time requirements that may not be met
because of DBMS overhead (e.g., telephone switching systems)
• If the database system is not able to handle the complexity of data because of
modeling limitations (e.g., in complex genome and protein databases)
• If the database users need special operations not supported by the DBMS
(e.g., GIS and location-based services).
THANK YOU