DATABASE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFECYLE

Database is a shared collection of logically related data that designed to meet the requirement
needed for a certain organization.
Database system development lifecycle is the process of designing, implementing and
maintaining a database system to meet an information needs of an organization. Database
system development lifecycle it is designed so as to reduce the risks of failure of some projects,
because some software projects fails due to the following reasons:
i. Lack of complete requirement specification of a project.
ii. Lack of an appropriate development methodology.
iii. Poor decomposition of designs into manageable components.

So database system development lifecycle has the following stages

1.DATABASE PLANNING
This is the first stage that deals with planning how the stages of the lifecycle can be realized most
efficiently, effectively and it defines the major aim of the database system.
Database planning must be included with the information system strategy of an organization.
Before formulating information system there are three main issues to consider:
Identification of organization plans and goals
Evaluation of current information system to determine existing strength and
weaknesses
Appraisal of IT opportunities that might yield competitive advantages

Database planning should also include the development standard that govern how data will be
collected, how the format should be specified, what documentation will be needed as well as
how design and implementation should be proceed .
 Database planning

System definition

Requirement collection and analysis

Database design

Conceptual database

DBMS selection Application design

dada
Logical database design

Physical database design

Implementation
Prototyping

Data conversion and loading

Testing

Fig 1.The stages of database system development lifecycle

Operational maintenance
2.SYSTEM DEFINITION
It specifying the scope and boundaries of the database system, including the major user view, its
users and application areas as well as future users an applications
 USER VIEW
A database system may have one or more user views.
A users view defines what is required of a database in terms of the data to be held and
transaction to be performed on the data

User view 6
User view1
User view5

User view5
User view 3
data
User view 2

User view 3
User view 4

Fig 2.database system users view

3.REQUIREMENT COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

This stage involves the collection of requirement needed for the new database, there different
ways of gathering information called fact finding techniques.
Requirement collection and analysis is the preliminary stage for database design. So the amount
of data gathered it depends on organization policies or the amount of problem.
The information collected at this stage might be poorly structured and include some informal
requests which must be converted into more structured statement of requirement. And this is
achieved by technique called requirement specification techniques which includes for example,
structured analysis and design (SAD) techniques dataflow diagram (DFD), and hierarchical input
process output chart (HIPO) supported by documentation.

In managing requirement of database system in multiple users view it includes three approaches

 Centralized approach
 View integration approach
 Combination of both approaches
CENTRALIZED APPROACH
In this approach the requirement for each user view are merged into a single set of requirements
for the new database system and data model which are used to represent all user view are created
during database design

VIEW INTERGRATION APPROACH

In this approach the requirement for each user view are remain in separately list, so data model
which are used to represent each user view are created and merged later in the design stage

4.DATABASE DESIGN
It involves the process of creating a design that will support the organization’s requirement,
mission statement and objectives for the required database system
There are two main approach to design a database system which are Bottom-up and top-down
approach.
Bottom-up approach. begin at the fundamental level of attributes properties of entities
and relationships which through analysis of the associations between attributes are grouped into
relations that represent types of entities and relationships between entities. The bottom-up
approach is appropriate for the design of simple databases with a small number of attribute.
Bottom-up approach is not good when dealing with design of complex databases with very large
number of attributes.
Top-down approach is good strategy for the design of complex databases with very larger
number of attributes. This approach starts with the development of data models that contain a
few high-level entities and relationships and then applies successive top-down to identify lower-
level entities, relationships, and the associated attributes. The top-down approach is illustrated
using the concepts of the Entity-Relationship (ER) model.
There are other two approaches to database design which are inside-out approach and the mixed
strategy approach.
The inside-out approach is likely related to the bottom-up approach, but it differs by first
identifying a set of major entities and then spreading out to consider other entities, relationships,
and attributes associated with those first identified.
The mixed strategy approach uses both the bottom-up and top-down approach for various parts
of the model before finally combining all parts together.

Data modeling
Data modeling has two purpose which are as follow:-
 To facilitate communication about the information requirement.
 To assist the understanding of meaning of the data
So in creating a data model requires someone to ask questions and getting answers about entities,
attributes and relationships.
However data model can be used to show the designer’s understanding of the information
requirement of an organization.
Criteria for data model
 Simplicity means that easy of understanding by both technical information
system professional’s and non technical users.
 No redundancy means that data are not duplicates so it ensures high
performance
 Diagrammatic representation means that the ability of representing a model
using a easily understanding diagrammatic notation
 Share ability means that the ability to be shared by many, not specific for a
certain user or technology
 Integrity it involves the consistency with the way enterprise uses and manages
information
 Extensibility means that ability to evolve to support new requirement with the
minimum effect on the existing users
  Expressibility means that the ability to distinguish between different data,
relational data and constraints

PHASES OF DATABASE DESIGN

Database design has three phases such as
 Conceptual database design
 Logical database design and
 Physical design of database system

CONCEPTUAL DATABASE DESIGN

Is the first phase in the database design process, its aim is to design a database that is independent
of database software and physical details.
Throughout the process of developing a conceptual data model, the model is tested and validated
against the users’ requirements.
The conceptual design has four steps which are as follow
 Data analysis and requirements
 Entity relationship modelling
 Data model verification
 Distributed database design
The conceptual data model of the enterprise is a source of information for the next phase, namely
logical database design.

LOGICAL DATABASE DESIGN

Is the second phase of database design which involves the creation of logical data model of the
part of an organization that we interested in modelling
In the process of developing a logical data model, the model is tested and validated against the
users’ requirements. The technique of normalization is used to test the correctness of a logical data
model. Normalization ensures that the relations derived from the data model do not display data
redundancy, which can cause update anomalies when implemented.
PHYSICAL DATABASE DESIGN
Is the third stage of database design which represent the materialization of the database into actual
system. Physical design performed in two stages
 Conversion of the logical design into table definition, its performed often by application
developer.
 Post deployment physical database design, its performed often by database administrator

EXTERNAL SCHEMA

Logical/ conceptual database design

CONCEPTUAL SCHEMA

INTERNAL SCHEMA

Physical database design

PHYSICAL SCHEMA

Fig3.Data modeling and the ANSI-SPARC architecture

5.DBMS SELECTION
It involves selection of appropriate Database management system (DBMS) to support the database
system.
There are main steps to follow in selecting DBMS
 Defines terms of reference of study which includes objectives and scope of the study and
tasks needed to be undertaken
 Shortlist two or three products
 Evaluates products
 Recommend selection and produce report

Features for DBMS evaluation

 Data definition includes intergrity control, data independence ,data types available etc
 Accessibility which includes multiuser, security
 Upgrading
 Vendor stability
 Training and user support
 Utilities

6.APPLICATION DESIGN
It involves design of user interface and design of transaction .
Database transaction is a series of action carried out by a single user or application program
7.PROTOTYPING
It involves building a working model of the database system which allows the designer or users to
visualize and evaluates the system.
8. IMPLEMENTATION
Is the physical realization of the database and application designs
9.DATA CONVERSION AND LOADING
It involves transferring any existing data into new database and converting any existing application to
run on the new database.
10.TESTING
I the process of running the database system with the intent of finding errors
11.OPERATIONAL MAINTENANCE
Is the process of monitoring and maintaining the system installation.
References :
Database Systems A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation, and Management, Thomas Connolly,
Carolyn Begg Six Edition.