Course Objectives CIS 480

Concept Map
CIS 480 – Database Management Systems

Course Objectives
CIS 480 – Database Management Systems

Overall:
Students will be able to …

List and explain the fundamental concepts of a relational database system.
Utilize a wide range of features available in a DBMS package.
Analyze database requirements and determine the entities involved in the system and their relationship to one another.
Develop the logical design of the database using data modeling concepts such as entity-relationship diagrams.
Create a relational database using a relational database package.
Manipulate a database using SQL.
Assess the quality and ease of use of data modeling and diagramming tools.

Topic 1: Database Basics
Students will learn…

To understand what a database is, about different types of databases, and why they are valuable assets for decision making.
To appreciate the importance of database design.
How and why modern databases evolved from files and file systems.
How a database system differs from a file system.
Some of the features of database systems.
Why data models are important.
About the basic data-modeling building blocks.
What business rules are and how they affect database design.
How the major data models evolved, and their advantages and disadvantages.
How data models can be classified by level of abstraction.

Topic 2: Database Design
Students will learn…

The difference between data and information.
That successful database design must reflect the information system of which the database is a part.
That successful information systems are developed within the Systems Development Life Cycle.
That the most successful databases are subject to frequent evaluation and revision within the Database Life Cycle.

That the relational database model takes a logical view of data.
That the relational model’s basic components are entities, attributes, and relationships among entities.
How entities and their attributes are organized into tables.
About the various types of keys used in relational databases.
About the theoretical underpinnings of the relational database, including concepts like functional dependence, entity integrity, and relational integrity.
About relational database operators, the data dictionary, and the system catalog.
About the various relational algebra operations that provide the basis for relational database manipulation.

How relationships between entities are defined and refined, and how such relationships are incorporated into the database design process.
How ERD components affect database design and implementation.
How to interpret the modeling symbols for the most popular ER modeling tools.
That real-world database design often involves conflicting goals.

Topic 5: Normalization
Students will learn…

What normalization is and what role it plays in the database design process.
About the normal forms 1NF, 2NF, 3NF, BCNF, and 4NF.
How normal forms can be transformed from lower normal forms to higher normal forms.
That normalization and ER modeling are used concurrently to produce a good database design.
That some situations require denormalization to generate information efficiently.

Topic 6: Validation
Students will learn…

Why data model validation is a critical step, especially for students.
How a flawed data model can impact relational database implementation and manipulation.
How to apply one technique for data model validation.

The basic commands and functions of SQL
How to use SQL for data administration (to create tables, indexes, and views).
How to use SQL for data manipulation (to add, modify, delete, and retrieve data).
How to use SQL to query a database to extract useful information.

How multi-user databases differ from single user databases.
What a database transaction is and what its properties are.
How database transactions are managed.
What concurrency control is and what role it plays in maintaining the database’s integrity.
What locking methods are and how they work.
How database recovery management is used to maintain database integrity.

What a distributed database management system is and what its components are.
How database implementation is affected by different levels of data and process distribution.
How transactions are managed in a distributed database environment.
How database design is affected by the distributed database environment.

Gain experience using techniques such as functional analysis or report requirements to determine the entities involved in a system.

Gain experience determining the relationships among entities and the attributes of those entities, and in designing an entity relationship diagram to capture those relationships.

Gain experience normalizing an ER Diagram into first normal form, second normal form, and then third normal form.

Gain experience creating a database and the appropriate tables and entering sample data into each table.

Gain experience designing, creating, and testing data entry forms for individual tables.

Gain experience developing a set of queries to handle a specified set of typical user inquiries for information extraction from the database.

Gain experience designing, creating, and testing advanced forms that require access to data in multiple tables.

Gain experience designing, creating, and testing detailed reports that require access to data in multiple tables.

Topic 20: DBMS Selection
Students will …

Be able to assess the quality and ease of use of data modeling and diagramming tools as well as evaluate the features of various DBMS packages.