Chapter 9: Database Design

Front 1

______ is the process that establishes the need for an information system and its extent.

Back 1

Systems analysis

(from the quiz)

Front 2

The traditional Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) phases are ____, detailed systems design, implementation, and maintenance.

Back 2

planning (and analysis)

(from the quiz)

Front 3

An initial assessment of the information flow-and-extent requirements must be made during the ______ portion of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

Back 3

planning

(from the quiz)

Front 4

After testing is concluded, the final ______ is reviewed and printed and end users are trained.

Back 4

documentation

(from the quiz)

Front 5

The advent of very sophisticated application generators and ______ has substantially decreased coding and testing time.

Back 5

debugging tools

(from the quiz)

Front 6

The system and operational costs are addressed by the ______ during the planning phase of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

Back 6

feasibility study

(from the quiz)

Front 7

______ are usually provided by the database management system (DBMS) to check for access violations.

Back 7

audit trails

(from the quiz)

Front 8

The ______ describes the general conditions in which a company operates, its organizational structure, and its mission.

Back 8

company situation

(from the quiz)

Front 9

The system’s ______ defines the extent of the design according to operational requirements.

Back 9

scope

(from the quiz)

Front 10

The proposed system is subject to limits known as ______, which are external to the system.

Back 10

boundaries

(from the quiz)

Front 11

Making sure that the final product meets user and system requirements is the most critical ___ phase.

Back 11

Database Life Cycle (DBLC)

(from the quiz)

Front 12

Programmers use database tools to ______ the applications during coding of the programs.

Back 12

prototype

(from the quiz)

Front 13

______ allows the assignment of access rights to specific authorized users.

Back 13

password security

(from the quiz)

Front 14

The ______ stage uses data modeling to create an abstract database structure that represents real- world objects in the most realistic way possible.

Back 14

conceptual design

(from the quiz)

Front 15

The first step in ______ is to discover the data element characteristics.

Back 15

coneptual design

(from the quiz)

Front 16

A designer must have a thorough understanding of the company’s data types, extent, and uses in order to develop an accurate ______.

Back 16

data model

(from the quiz)

Front 17

From a database point of view, the collection of data becomes meaningful only when the _____ are defined.

Back 17

business rules

(from the quiz)

Front 18

A ______ is a brief and precise narrative of a policy, procedures, or principle within a specific organization’s environment.

Back 18

business rules

(from the quiz)

Front 19

Because real world database design is generally done by teams, the database design is probably divided into major components known as ______.

Back 19

modules

(from the quiz)

Front 20

A (n) ______ is an information system component that handles a specific business function, such as inventory, orders, or payroll.

Back 20

module

(from the quiz)

Front 21

______ is the first stage in the database design process.

Back 21

conceptual design

(from the quiz)

Front 22

The term ______ describes the extent to which modules are independent of one another.

Back 22

module coupling

(from the quiz)

Front 23

The term ______ describes the strength of the relationships found among a module’s entities.

Back 23

cohesivity

(from the quiz)

Front 24

The ______ goal is to design an enterprise-wide database based on a specific data model but independent of physical-level details.

Back 24

logical design

(from the quiz)

Front 25

______ could become a very technical job that affects not only the accessibility of the data in the storage device (s) but also the performance of the system.

Back 25

physical design

(from the quiz)

Front 26

bottom-up design

Back 26

A design philosophy that begins by identifying individual design components and then aggregates them into larger units. In database design, the process begins by defining attributes and then groups them into entities. Compare to top-down design.

(from key terms)

Front 27

boundaries

Back 27

The external limits to which any proposed system is subjected. These limits include budgets, personnel, and existing hardware and software.

(from key terms)

Front 28

centralized design

Back 28

A process in which a single conceptual design is modeled to match an organization’s database requirements. It is typically used when a data component consists of a relatively small number of objects and procedures. Compare to decentralized design.

(from key terms)

Front 29

clustered table

Back 29

A storage technique that stores related rows from two related tables in adjacent data blocks on disk.

(from key terms)

Front 30

cohesivity

Back 30

The strength of the relationships between a module’s components. Module cohesivity must be high.

(from key terms)

Front 31

computer-aided systems engineering (CASE)

Back 31

Tools used to automate part or all of the Systems Development Life Cycle.

(from key terms)

Front 32

conceptual design

Back 32

A process that uses data-modeling techniques to create a model of a database structure that represents real-world objects as realistically as possible. The techniques are both software- and hardware-independent.

(from key terms)

Front 33

database design

Back 33

The process that yields the description of the database structure and determines the database components. Database design is the second phase of the Database Life Cycle.

(from key terms)

Front 34

database development

Back 34

The process of database design and implementation.

(from key terms)

Front 35

database fragment

Back 35

A subset of a distributed database. Although the fragments may be stored at different sites within a computer network, the set of all fragments is treated as a single database. See also horizontal fragmentation and vertical fragmentation.

(from key terms)

Front 36

horizontal fragmentation

Back 36

The distributed database design process that breaks a table into subset of unique rows.

(from key terms)

Front 37

vertical fragmentation

Back 37

In distributed database design, the process that breaks a table into a subset of columns from the original table. Fragments must share a common primary key.

(from key terms)

Front 38

Database Life Cycle (DBLC)

Back 38

A cycle that traces the history of a database within an information system. The cycle is divided into six phases: (1) initial study, (2) design, (3) implementation and loading, (4) testing and evaluation, (5) operation and maintenance, and (6) evolution.

(from key terms)

Front 39

database role

Back 39

A set of database privileges that could be assigned as a unit to a user or group.

(from key terms)

Front 40

decentralized design

Back 40

A process in which conceptual design is used to model subsets of an organization’s database requirements. After verification of the views, processes, and constraints, the subsets are then aggregated into a complete design. Such modular designs are typical of complex systems in which the data component has a relatively large number of objects and procedures. Compare to centralized design.

(from key terms)

Front 41

description of operations

Back 41

A document that provides a precise, detailed, up-to-date, and thoroughly reviewed description of the activities that define an organization’s operating environment.

(from key terms)

Front 42

differential backup

Back 42

A level of database backup in which only the last modifications to the database are copied.

(from key terms)

Front 43

full backup (database dump)

Back 43

A complete copy of an entire database saved and periodically updated in a separate memory location. A full backup ensures a full recovery of all data after a physical disaster or database integrity failure.

(from key terms)

Front 44

information system (IS)

Back 44

A system that provides for data collection, storage, and retrieval; facilitates the transformation of data into information; and manages both data and information. An information system is composed of hardware, the DBMS and other software, database(s), people, and procedures.

(from key terms)

Front 45

logical design

Back 45

A stage in the design phase that matches the conceptual design to the requirements of the selected DBMS and is therefore software-dependent. Logical design is used to translate the conceptual design into the internal model for a selected database management system, such as DB2, SQL Server, Oracle, IMS, Informix, Access, or Ingress.

(from key terms)

Front 46

minimal data rule

Back 46

Defined as “All that is needed is there, and all that is there is needed.” In other words, all data elements required by database transactions must be defined in the model and all data elements defined in the model must be used by at least one database transaction.

(from key terms)

Front 47

module

Back 47

(1) a design segment that can be implemented as an autonomous unit, and is sometimes linked to produce a system; (2) an information system component that handles a specific function, such as inventory, orders, or payroll.

(from key terms)

Front 48

module coupling

Back 48

The extent to which modules are independent of one another.

(from key terms)

Front 49

physical design

Back 49

A stage of database design that maps the data storage and access characteristics of a database. Because these characteristics are a function of the types of devices supported by the hardware, the data access methods supported by the system physical design are both hardware- and software-dependent. See also physical model.

(from key terms)

Front 50

physical model

Back 50

A model in which physical characteristics such as location, path, and format are described for the data. The physical model is both hardware- and software-dependent.

(from key terms)

Front 51

scope

Back 51

The part of a system that defines the extent of the design, according to operational requirements.

(from key terms)

Front 52

systems analysis

Back 52

The process that establishes the need for an information system and its extent.

(from key terms)

Front 53

systems development

Back 53

The process of creating an information system.

(from key terms)

Front 54

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Back 54

The cycle that traces the history of an information system. The SDLC provides the big picture within which database design and application development can be mapped out and evaluated.

(from key terms)

Front 55

top-down design

Back 55

A design philosophy that begins by defining the main structures of a system and then moves to define the smaller units within those structures. In database design, this process first identifies entities and then defines the attributes within the entities. Compare to bottom-up design.

(from key terms)

Front 56

transaction log backup

Back 56

A backup of only the transaction log operations that are not reflected in a previous backup copy of the database.

(from key terms)

Front 57

virtualization

Back 57

A technique that creates logical representations of computer resources that are independent of the underlying physical computing resources.

(from key terms)

Front 58

The conceptual portion of the design may be subject to several variations based on two basic design philosophies_____.

Back 58

bottom-up vs. top-down and centralized vs. decentralized

(from summary)

Front 59

The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) traces the history of an ____ within the information system.

Back 59

application

(from summary)

Front 60

The SDLC can be divided into five phases:

Back 60

planning

analysis

detailed systems design

implementation

maintenance

(from summary)

Front 61

The SDLC is an ____ process rather than a sequential process.

Back 61

iterative

(from summary)

Front 62

The Database Life Cycle (DBLC) describes the history of the ____ within the information system.

Back 62

database

(from summary)

Front 63

The DBLC is composed of six phases:

Back 63

database initial study

database design

implementation and loading

testing and evaluation

operation and maintenance

evolution

(from summary)

Front 64

Like the SDLC, the DBLC is ____ rather than sequential.

Back 64

iterative

(from summary)