Businesses of every size organize data records into collections called databases. The purpose of a database is to keep track of things. At one extreme, small businesses use databases to keep track of customers; at the other extreme, huge corporations use databases to support complex sales, marketing, and operations activities.

Suppose that a county planning department wants to build a new database system to keep track of building permit applications for both residential and commercial projects. The database should be available to the applicants over the Internet. You have been hired as a consultant to recommend the best strategy for creating such a database.

In an well-formed essay,

Address each of the following in your recommendation:

• What requirements would you need to collect from the stakeholders before proposing your solution? **Hint - these will drive your decisions on all of the following items

• What type of database (would you use MS Access, Oracle, etc.)? Explain why you are using the approach you select

• Storage location - Would this be on site? What about virtual? Explain reasoning

• Based on storage location, what would the client have to buy, setup?

• Who manages the database? What skills do they need?

• Is it able to scale? (i.e., what if company quickly grows? What if we hit another recession?)