The current database that your company is using keeps track of all of the customers and suppliers as well as products offered for sale, but the current environment has all of this data spread out across multiple different databases and it is difficult to see a complete picture of the environment. You have been tasked to consolidate the environment into a single database environment with the end goal of adding a data warehouse for the company.
Your manager is excited with the project description, is anxious to have a new database built for the company, and more excited that at the end of the project he will also have a data warehouse to help make strategic decisions. To start, your manager would like to understand the benefits of following a formal design methodology, especially with respect to database design. Describe how and why the company can benefit from spending time planning at the beginning of the project, instead of just jumping in and developing the applications to meet the perceived needs. To ensure that you give the best response, you choose to describe the 3-level ANSI-SPARC architecture and want to make sure you discuss how the use of this will promote data independence to save time in the long run.
You also want to take this opportunity to answer any potential questions about personnel needs with this new database environment. Describe the roles of a data administrator (DA) and a database administrator (DBA); describe the job functions of each and how the tasks they each perform differ. Would you recommend that your company has one person to perform both tasks, or should it hire two people?
Your paper should contain the following information:
Describe the 3-level architecture.
Describe data independence.
Talk about the differences between a DA and a DBA.
Discuss the pros and cons of having a separate DA and DBA or the need for 1 person doing it all.
You also should take this opportunity to create the template for your entire project, and create a Word document that you will add to for each remaining assignment. The document should follow this format:
Advanced Database Systems Project document shell
Use MS Word
Title Page
Course number and name
Project name
Student name
Date
Table of Contents
Use autogenerated TOC
Separate page
Maximum of 3 levels deep
Update fields of TOC so it is up-to-date before submitting project
Section headings (create each heading on a new page with TBD as the content, except for the sections listed under "New content" in each week's assignment)
Project Outline
The Database Models, Languages, and Architecture
Database System Development Life Cycle
Database Management Systems
Advanced SQL
Web and Data Warehousing and Mining in the Business World
Each week, you will add to this document and submit it for grading. As a preview, each section will contain the following:
The Database Models, Languages, and Architecture (Week 1: IP)
A description of the 3-level ANSI architecture model
A description of data independence
The difference in responsibility between:
Data administrator
Database administrator
Database System Development Life Cycle (Week 2: IP)
A completed enhanced entity-relationship diagram
A description about the relationship setup and multiplicity
Database Management Systems (Week 3: IP)
The normalization of a given logical data model to Boyce-Codd Normal Form
A logical data model for the Enhanced ERD from IP2
Advanced SQL (Week 4: IP)
A physical data model for your Enhanced ERD in a DBMS of your choice, including:
The DDL to create the tables
The DDL to create the primary and foreign keys
DML to manage data for the tables
3 SELECT statements (one will be a JOIN)
Web and Data Warehousing and Mining in the Business World (Week 5: IP)
The design and DDL to create a star schema for a data warehouse for the database previously designed
A description of the ETL process
Add the discussion about the 3-layer ANSI architecture, data independence, and the different administrators to the section titled "The Database Models, Languages, and Architecture."