DATA:

Data is a collection of raw facts, figures, numbers or ideas that can be organized and processed. Data
may or may not be meaningful and cannot be used for decision making process.

Information:

When facts, figures, numbers are processed and converted into meaningful form that can be used for
decision making or any other useful activity.

Example:

Student’s names in a class are data while names of students in a alphabetic order is an information.

Student’s subject’s marks are data while his percentage of marks, grade and position are information.

 File Management System:

It is also known as conventional file system or simply it is method of storing and organizing collection of
data in the form of files on the secondary storage devices. These files are accessed with the help of
certain file handling program developed in programming language like C, BASIC and Pascal.

It is no longer used due to its demerits and limitations as mentioned below.

Limitations of file management system

1. Data redundancy:

Independent file data files including a lot of duplicated data: the same data is recorded and
stored in several files. This data redundancy causes problems when data is to be updated.

2. Inconsistency:

Data is not consistent due to redundancy storage. If a data item is changed all the files
containing that data item need to be changed and updated properly.

3. Intensive Coding:

The process tasks like searching, updating, insertion, editing should have separate program. It
means there are no built in functions available and need coding every time to perform these operations.

4. Integrity Problems:

It means reliability and accuracy of data. Data values may need to satisfy some integrity
constraints. E.g: the balanced field value of a bank account must be greater than 5000. We have to
handle through program code.
5. Poor Data Security:

All the files stored as text file. These files can be easily located and trapped because file
management system has no centralized data security. Enforcing security constraints such as effective
passwords protections, locking parts of file in file processing system are very difficult to program.

Database Systems

1. Database

2. Database Management systems (DBMS)

 Database:
It is a shared collection of logically and related data, design to meet the information needs to multiple
users in an organization. Or

A collection of related data in the form of tables.

[Link] Name Adress Contact

1 abc xyz 111111111
 Database Management Systems (DBMS)

It is a set of programs that allow users to creates, Maintain and manipulate database, and store or
retrieve data from those database files. Manipulation of data include the following:

 Adding new data, e.g: adding new detail of new students.

 Deleting unwanted data.
 Changing existing data

It helps to create an environment in which users better access of data. DBMS make it possible to share
the data in the database among multiple application and users.

 Customers information system

 Library management system
 University management systems

Typically DBMS Includes

a. Microsoft Access
b. Microsoft SQL Server
c. Oracle
d. MySQL
 Advantages of DBMS over the File Management System
The DBMS is preferred over Conventional File Management System due to the following advantages:

i. Controlled Data Redundancy

In the Conventional File Management System, every user maintains its own files for handling data. The
database approach combines redundant data into a single, logical structure. Every primary fact is stored
at only one place in the database.

ii. Data Consistency

Minimal data redundancy leads to consistent data. By controlling data redundancy, data inconsistency is
greatly reduced. If a data item appears only at one place it is easy to maintain. Any change will
automatically take effect at all places wherever this data is used.

iii. Data Sharing

A database is designed as shared resource compared to Conventional File System. Authorized users are
granted access to use the shared database according to their needs and rights.

iv. Enforcement of Standards

Since all access to database must be through DBMS so standards are easier to enforce. Standards may
relate to the naming of data, format of data, and structure of data.

V. Security

In Conventional filing systems there is no centralized security system which restricts users according to
their role in the organization. DBMS makes it easier to enforce security restrictions since database is
centralized. Users are provided permissions to access data according to their rights.

vi. Reduced Program Maintenance

Many DBMS provide several tools to use in program development and maintenance. It reduces the
overall time for developing and maintenance of programs.

vii. Backup and Recovery

DBMS provides facilities for backup and recovery from failures including disk crash, power failure,
software errors, which may bring the database from the inconsistent state to a state prior to the failure.

viii. Program-Data Independence

The separation of data from the application programs that use the data are called data independence. In
database approach data descriptions (metadata) is stored in a central location called the repository.
With data independence, user can change data without changing the application programs that process
the data.
ix. Support for multiple views

DBMS may allow different users to see different "views" of the database, according to the perspective
each one requires. For example, the people using the payroll system may not require to see data about
students and class schedules.

X. User-friendliness

Using DBMS user can easily access and manipulate data in database. DEBMS provide a user friendly
interface for interaction with database. In most cases, DBMSS also reduce the reliance of individual
users on computer specialists to meet their data needs.

 Database Models
A database model is a set of rules or specifications which state that how data can be stored, organized
and manipulated in a database system. It provides tools for describing data, data relationships, data
semantics and consistency constraints. Several models have been suggested. Few common models

include:

a. Hierarchical Database Model

b. Network Database Model

C. Relational Database Model

d. Object Oriented Database Model

e. Object Relational Database Model

a. Hierarchal Database Model

In this type of model, data is organized into a tree-like structure. There is a hierarchy of parent and child
segments. This structure implies that a record can have repeating information, usually in the child data
segment. Each parent can have many children but each child has only one parent.

Company

Invoice Contacts

Payment Letters Emails

b. Network Database Model

A network database is similar to a hierarchical database model except that each child can have more
than one parent record. A child record is. referred to as a "member" and a parent record is referred to
as an "owner. The advantage of the network database is its ability to establish relationships between
different branches of data records and thus offer increased access capability for the manager.

Store

Customer Manager SalesMan

Order Items

C. Relational Database Model

A relation is a table with columns and rows. The Relational model uses a collection of tables/relations to
represent both data and the relationship among those data. Each table has multiple columns and each
column has a unique name. Information about particular entity is represented in rows (also called
tuples) and columns.

d. Object-Oriented Database Model

Object-Oriented database Model is a database model in which information is represented in the form of
objects as used in object-oriented programming. Object oriented databases are different from relational
databases and belong Together to the broader database management system. When database
capabilities are combined with object-oriented programming language capabilities, the result is an
object-oriented database model.

e. Object Relational Database Model

Object relational database model add new object storage capabilities to the relational database systems
at the core of modern information systems. Theo new facilities integrate management of traditional
fielded data, complex object such as time-series and geospatial data and diverse binary media such o

audio, video, images, and applets. By encapsulating methods with data structures, an ORDB Model
server can execute complex analytical and data manipulation operations to search and transform
multimedia and other complex objects.
  Database languages for Relational Database:
To manipulate data, one approach is to interact directly with the DBMS using a special language called a
query language.

Structured Query Language (SQL)

Almost all relational database management systems use SQL (Structured Query Language) for data
manipulation and retrieval. SQL is the standard language for relational database systems. SQL is further
divided into the following languages:

a. DDL (Data Definition Language)

b. DML (Data Manipulation Language)

c. DCL (Data Control Language)

a. Data Definition Language (DDL)

Data definition language (DDL) is a database language that defines the structure in which data are
stored. These structures may include database, table, query fields and records.

b. Data Manipulation Language

A data manipulation language (DML) is a language that enables users to access or manipulate data. The
types of access are:

 Retrieval of information from database

 Insertion of new data into the database
 Deletion of data from database
 Modification of data stored in the database

c. Data Control Language

Data Control Language is a database language used to control access to the data in a database. Examples
of DCL are:

 Giving rights to the users

 Revoking of the already given rights
 BASIC DATABASE TERMINOLOGIES
The following are some basic database terminologies.
a. Field/Attribute/Column

Database Fundamentals An attribute is a property or characteristic of an entity that is of interest to the

organization. Following are some attributes:

STUDENT: student no, name, address, phone no

EMPLOYEE: employee no, name, address, skill

In Relational Database Model, an attribute is represented by column. Whereas the term field is usually
used for a column but it is more correct to use field to specify a single item that exists at the intersection
of a row and column.

b. Record/Tuple/Row

A Collection of related fields treated as a single unit is called a record. For Example a student's record
includes a set of fields that contains Roll No, Name, Class, Date of Birth and Address.

In Relational database, a Row or a Record or Tuple represents a single Occurrence of an entity.

c. Table/Relation

A table is set of values that are organized using vertical named column horizontal rows. A table has a
specified number of columns, but may have number of rows. Whereas in terms of relational database, a
table can be considered as relation, but the two are not equivalent. For example a table may contain
duplicate rows, but a true relation cannot contain duplicate rows

d. View

A view is a dynamic and virtual table that may not exist in the database but is derived from one or more
base tables. In simple words there is no stored table that represents the view instead a definition or
query representing the view is stored in the database. Data type is the classification of a particular type
of information. It is easy for human beings to distinguish among different types of data but most
database systems require the user to specify the type of each data field. Integer, floating-point and
character (text) are the common data types.

f. Key

In order to track and analyze data effectively, each record in a table requires an identifier that uniquely
identifies it, is called a key. The key must be completely unique to a particular record. For example
student's roll number, employee number, and customer number, etc. are key fields.

 PLANNING A DATABASE
Database planning is a systematic approach to the development of database that moves from concept
to design and development to implementation. A well-designed database promotes consistent data
entry and retrieval.
The process of database design is divided into different steps. These are:

a. Problem identification/definition

b. Feasibility Study

c. Requirement Analysis

d. identifying Entities and Attributes

e. Assigning Names to Tables and Columns

a. Problem identification/definition

One must know what the problem is before it can be solved. In this step a statement is prepared
specifying the scope and objective of the problem. For example, the Admission Section Head has been
getting complaints of poor service from student. This may lead an initial investigation to find whether a

new system can solve the problem. If the report suggests a new system, the leads to the next phase
which is the feasibility study of the new system.

b. Feasibility Study

Feasibility Study also known as pilot study is conducted to determine whether new database system
should be developed or not. Feasibility study depend on various factors which may include time needed
for development, cost of development, resources needed in and after development, training of
personals, and maintenance of the new system after implementation.

c. Requirement Analysis

Requirements analysis is the process of understanding the customer needs and expectations from the
proposed system. Requirements are a description that how new system should behave or features to be
included in it. In order to collect all these required information, a database analyst need to spends lot of

time within the business organization observing the current system, talking to the end-users and
examine the overall system.

d. Identifying Entities and Attributes

After requirements identification, the next step is to identify the entities and its attributes. An entity is
the main data object that is of significant interest to the organization. It is usually a person, place, thing,
or event to be recorded in the database. An Attribute is a property that describes an entity. For example
if employee is an entity then, the employee's name, age, address, salary and job etc. are the attributes.

e. Assigning names to Tables and Columns

Entities are converted to tables and attributes to columns of the tables, once entities and attributes are
identified. There are no standard conventions to naming tables and columns but all names should be
meaningful and consistent throughout the database. Table names represent business object so meaning
full words should be used for naming tables. For Example “customers” for customer table. In case of
attributes, meaningful names should be used whenever possible.