Advanced Database Concepts

U21278

Coursework 2018 - 19

Lecturer:

Submission Information:

This Unit has a 2 Stage Submission. Plus SQL Sign Offs in the Labs.

Submission 1 consists of Q1, Q2 & Q3 (30% of the Unit Total)

Submission 2 consists of, Q4, Q5 & Q6 (60% of the Unit Total)

Plus Lab Sign Offs through the year (10% of the Unit Total)

Submission Dates:

Lab Activities 3 & 4 & 5 MUST be signed off prior to the Christmas Break

Submission 1 – Friday 18th January 2019

Submission 2 –Friday 29th March 2019

Lab Activities 6, 8 & 9 MUST be signed by the end of teaching 2019

Feedback to help you improve your work will be given during Lab and Seminar Sessions throughout
the year prior to formal submission

Marks & Feedback on submitted work will be given within 20 WORKING days of submission

A DROP BOX will be available on Moodle for you to submit your work to by
the submission dates
Additional Information:

This is an individual piece of coursework.

This work is worth 100% of your overall unit Mark.

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The word limit GUIDELINE is 4,500 words +/- 10%. You should divide this between all the questions
using the % of the question Mark as a guide to how much is expected per section.

However, this is only a guide, as Marks are allocated for good research, clarity of expression and
pertinent facts. If you write repetitive or irrelevant information you will not get good Marks! Reports
of excessive length may be penalised.

Plagiarism and Poor Scholarship

This piece of work requires you to conduct research on your chosen topic. You are expected to
understand how to reference using the Harvard APA 6 system. Therefore, marks will be deducted for
poor scholarship and NO Marks will be awarded for the entire assignment if ANY part of it is found
to be directly copied from printed / published work or another student.

Use respected web sites for your information gathering. E.g. technical site such as Oracle, IBM DB2,
MySQL technical pages.

To avoid plagiarism rewrite using your own words, but ensure where you have used the ideas of
others you acknowledge the source within the text and provide the full source in the references at
the end of the document (using Harvard APA format). The majority of your document will need be
referenced, unless the idea is an original one of your own. If you are not sure how to reference use
the information provided by the Library.

Presentation

Proof read you work for spelling, grammar and English prior to submission as clarity of expression is
an important part of a research coursework.

Please include page numbers and your student ID in the footer of the document (on every page).

Anonymity

All coursework should be anonymous, therefore do NOT put your name on your work. Only identify
your work by putting your Student ID number in the footer of the document.

Marking -
Submission 1 is worth 30% of the total mark for the Unit and is marked out of 80

Submission 2 is worth 60% of the total mark for the Unit and is marked out of 100

Labs are worth 10% of the total of the total mark for the Unit and are marked out of 30 (6 sign offs at
5 marks per sign off)

Case Study: (Details attached)

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All your answers must specifically relate to the case study.

You are a junior DBA working for a Systems Development company and have been in post
approximately 9 months. During this time you have been working on existing database systems
that have been developed by the Company’s Senior DBA (You can assume that Penny would have
this role)!

One of the Company’s clients has asked for a system to be developed for them (see attached case
study). The Senior DBA does not have the time to devote to this project and so has asked you to
work out the design, development and justification for him. He will then check it over before it is
delivered to the clients. Therefore the work you produce is for a Senior DBA and as
such you can assume they understand more about databases than you do. Your
report should take this into account and you should not spend time describing or
explaining topics that the senior DBA already knows but you should analyse their
importance and relevance in the given scenario.

This coursework follows the lifecycle of database implementation. The first stage is to try and
identify the data and the organisational / linkage of the data for the system. This we represent in an
EERD.

Questions
(Submission 1)

Q1

Using the information given in the case study, draw an Enhanced Entity Relationship Diagram for the
system. You MUST resolve any M:M relationships and include the Primary and any Foreign Keys in
each of the tables.

Do NOT include any other attributes on the EERD. The EERD should be printed (e.g. not hand drawn)
on ONE side of A4 of paper.

This diagram is to explain the system design to the people you are working with. It may not be what
you eventually end up building. But we need to clarify business objectives with the organisation
using the EERD before we start development. We also need the EERD for our Transaction Analysis
which is why including M:M intersection tables is important. In addition to what is shown on the
EERD you will have to make some assumptions about how you interpret the system. Clearly state
any assumptions you have made about the system. These assumptions should only relate to the
design of the system. How have the assumptions you made affected your design decision? You WILL
have to make assumptions as the case study does not give you enough information to complete an
accurate EERD that will be exactly what the client requires.

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 10 Marks for the EERD and 10 Marks for the assumptions. Question Total 20 Marks

After you have completed the logical design, you have to consider the physical design of a system.
Having an idea of the tables (from the EERD) is a start but now we have real world issues to contend
with.

Q2

Create a Transaction Analysis for the KEY transactions that will be run on this database. You should
identify the type of query (Insert / Update / Append / Delete / Select), the tables that are affected by
each of the transactions, how many times (in a given time period) the transaction will run and an
indication of the importance of the transaction to the business.

10 Marks

Q3

Discuss the physical design decisions you will have to make to ensure successful implementation of
the database on ONE Site. (i.e. A centralised database that will be accessed by multiple staff over
an internet connection (web interface probably).

These decisions include, but are not limited to, how to obtain the exact requirements (clarification of
assumptions), selection of RDBMS, chosen file systems for the tables, indexes and underlying
hardware decisions. These decisions will be based on the completed Transaction Analysis and you
only need discuss you decision for the KEY tables identified. You should try to include all issues that
you would need to address to ensure that you are successful when implementing the database
system for the client. You should also address security issues for the database.

50 Marks

Lab Activity 3, 4 & 5 MUST be signed off before the Christmas Break to Achieve the SQL Lab Marks.

(Submission Two)

Once you database has been developed and is working there may be performance issues, at this
point you have more of an idea how the database is being used and any problems will start to show.

Q4

Critically evaluate how you would monitor and optimise the Database. Your answer MUST focus on
the case study and NOT just general optimization issues.

20 Marks

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Q5

There are always options to the architecture of database systems; they may be Web Databases,
Distributed Databases, NoSQL Databases and Mobile Databases

Extend your design for ONE of the following scenarios.

(Q5a) Scenario One: The database is going to cover a MULTI site company and you should extend
your design to a Distributed Database System. Assume that the company now has offices that mirror
each other in 4 locations. All locations provide the same services to their customers and there is no
head or main office.

Discuss any new design requirements and highlight anything you consider needs changing. You
should also include the additional design requirements for a Distributed Database System including,
but not limited to, data allocation, data fragmentation, data replication, optimization, distributed
database security (not general security), distributed backup and recovery strategies, distributed
query processing and underlying infrastructure changes from the centralized system discussed in Q1.
Q2 & Q3.

50 Marks

OR

(Q5b) Scenario Two: The Company would like to collect unstructured data from their social media
feeds – twitter, Instagram and Facebook posts. There should be a lot of this type of information not
only from the company but also from all their clients. Additionally they want reviews and photos of
the services and experiences of the customers. They have discussed the option of using a NoSQL
database with you to collect and analyse this data.

Discuss new design requirements and highlight anything you consider needs changing. You should
also include the additional design requirements for a NoSQL System This discussion should include,
but is not limited to, the new database schema, query and update in real time, required updates,
underlying infrastructure changes from the centralized system. This question requires you to talk
about NoSQL data storage and manipulation and you should discuss the underlying infrastructure
changes from the centralized system discussed in Q1. Q2 & Q3.

50 Marks

OR

(Q5c) Scenario Three: The Company would like their staff to be able to use Tablets so they can
access the data while not tied to their desks.

Discuss any design issues you previously identified and change anything you consider needs
changing. You should also include the additional design requirements for a Mobile Database System

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This discussion should include, but is not limited to, local subsets of the database schema, query and
update in real time, required updates between the central server and the employee’s local database
(what is on the tablet), what needs to be synchronised and how often, Contingency if damage were
to occur to the tablet, and how to manage updates when a WiFi connection is not available. Specific
security threats introduced by mobile databases, optimization, underlying infrastructure changes
from the centralized system discussed in Q1, Q2 & Q3.

NB: This question is NOT about mobile databases that reside on phones (mini databases – SQL-Lite),
it is about mobile access to a centralized database.

50 Marks

Q6

Write SIX SQL statements that reflect the needs of the business. These statements should include
some of the more complex SQL syntax you have learned this year. For example: Unions, Minus, Inner
or Outer Joins. These queries may be written for the CENTRALIZED scenario – do NOT write queries
for a DDBMS or NoSQL Database System. The submitted queries should based on the CASE STUDY
and not those Marked in the Lab Sessions. Marks will be awarded for the level of complexity, the
query being of use to the business, good input and output formatting.

Please state for each query what the query will extract and why you believe the query is of use to
the business.

You should create the tables you require for your queries (not the whole database) and enter
approximately 10 rows of data into each table. You should use a RDBMS to run the query and output
the results from the RDBMS (e.g. by cutting and pasting or screenshot from the system). Queries not
presented in this format (e.g. results only typed by word processor) will have Marks deducted. (I
want to see that the database really has been implemented).

Include your create table & insert statements in the appendices.

30 Marks

Please remember to attached copies for the SQL statements which you had signed off in the
labs. This will not be remarked it is just required for inclusion to demonstrate consistency
and completeness of the entire coursework.

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 Marking Scheme
First Submission

Q1 – EERD

Entities 4 Marks

Logic 1 Marks

Relationships 3 Marks

Naming 1 Marks

Use of necessary concepts such as composition, generalisation, specialisation etc (if needed)

1 Mark

Assumptions that clearly explain the design decisions for the ERD and follow through to the
transaction analysis 6 – 10 Marks

Assumptions have been well attempted and there is support for the design

2 – 5 Marks

Assumptions that re-state the case study or bear no relevance to the design decisions taken

0 – 2 Marks

Total Q1 – 20 Marks

Q2 Transaction Analysis – A good TA that links back to the ERD and has sensible transaction, actions,
probabilities etc 5 – 10 Marks

Lack of transactions, missing tables, lack of consideration of the data actions

0 – 5 Marks.

Q3 – Physical Design

35 – 50 Marks – Work in this range will demonstrate a clear understanding of the key issues relating
to the design decisions required for the system. Appropriate selection of file types/ indices/
hardware and requirements will be shown for all KEY tables and the system. With clear justification
of selection. Students may support their work with specific examples, quantitative data,
implementation or any additional material that supports their discussion. The argument will indicate
an understanding of the underlying issues relating to performance and recovery. Work will have

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relevant references and show critical insight into database design. Work will evidence that you have
widely researched outside the unit material supplied.

20 – 35 Marks – Work in this range will demonstrate that you understand key issues relating to
database design and the decision that have to be made. A good selection and explanation of the file
types/ indices/ hardware and requirements will be shown for all KEY tables and the system, which
will have a justification. Students may support their work with specific examples, quantitative data,
implementation or any additional material that supports their discussion. The argument will indicate
an understanding of the underlying issues relating to performance and recovery. Work will have
relevant references and show insight into database design. Work will evidence that you have
researched outside the unit material supplied.

0 - 20 Marks – Work in this range may demonstrate that you have attempted to address the issues
of database design. There will be information on file types/ indices/ hardware and requirements for
all KEY tables, this should relate to the case study. There may be little support of the arguments.
Work should be referenced. Material used will not stray much further than that provided in the unit
material or text book.

Submission Two

Q4 - Optimisation

10 – 20 Marks

A clear discussion on the need for, strategies for and techniques for, good optimisation. A range of
methods and issues should be discussed. At the top level Students will show they understand the
concepts of optimization. There will be mention of SQL tuning and the heuristics for optimizing
queries. Mention of RAT trees and algebra for analysing performance. Also issues such as
denormalisation and indexing will be referred to and the contribution to performance that they
make. The discussion will focus on the benefits and drawbacks of these strategies and may link to
the case study. Discussion on indexing should not require a repeat of the information from
submission 1 just discussion about the topic - possibly with an example to demonstrate.

0 – 10 Marks

Any mention of the topics above but discussion may be weak or have inaccuracies. GBD for
mentioning optimization strategies. Answer will show an understanding of the concepts but may be
a bit vague on the technicalities and a poor answer will show that you do not really understand the
issues and reasons for the importance of this topic.

Extend your design for ONE of the following scenarios.

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Q5a – A Distributed Database

35 – 50 Marks

A good answer will show that you understand the architecture of the DDBMS and understand the
complexity of design of a DDBMS.

It should cover issues such as fragmentation, distribution, replication, locality of reference. It will
show an understanding of the issues involves in concurrency, and recovery. Discussion of
performance and security will show the advantages and disadvantages of this type of database
design. You will demonstrate an understanding of the complexity and the technicalities. This
discussion will relate to how the database may become or be designed as a DDBMS. (Note when
mentioning security you either refer back to this question or just mention the threat, it does not
need to be discussed). Good research & referencing and work may go beyond the unit material.

20 – 35 Marks

An answer in this range will show that you understand the architecture of the DDBMS. Data storage
strategies will be discussed – perhaps not as well as the above. There should be a discussion on
performance and security. The answer may not include the level of discussion at a technical level
and may draw more on the concepts about how the DBMS handles being distributed. There may be
some attempt at relating the discussion specifically to the case study. Good research & referencing
and work may possibly go beyond the unit material.

0 – 20 Marks
An answer in this range will show that you understand the architecture of the DDBMS. However
there may be errors of fact, mis-understanding of how the DDBMS works, a lack of insight into
security and performance issues. You might not be able to explain any advantages or disadvantages.
There may be no technical information given. There may be flaws in the discussion of how it would
apply to the company.

For all of this question a very good answer will be technically oriented showing that you understand
not only the concept but how these things work. The topic needs to be related to the case study to
show that you understand some of the issues and implications of having a DDBMS. A reasonable
answer will show an understanding of the concepts but may be a bit vague on the technicalities and
a poor answer will show that you do not really understand the issues and reasons for the importance
of this topic.

OR

Q5b NoSQL Database

35 – 50 Marks

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A good answer will show that you understand the architecture of the NoSQL System. It will be
technically competent. It should cover issues such as: Demonstration of the importance of the
network architecture and performance. It will show an understanding of the issues involved and how
the database handles unstructured data and various data sources discussion of transaction
management & concurrency, and recovery. Discussion of performance and security will show the
advantages and disadvantages of this type of database design. You will demonstrate an
understanding of the complexity and the technicalities Good research & referencing and work may
go beyond the unit material.

20 -35 Marks

An answer in this range will show that you understand the architecture of the NoSQL Database. Data
storage strategies will be discussed – perhaps not as well as the above. There should be a discussion
on performance and security. The answer may not include the level of discussion at a technical level
and may draw more on the concepts about how the database handles unstructured data and various
data sources. There may be some attempt at relating the discussion specifically to the case study.
Good research & referencing and work may possibly go beyond the unit material.

0 – 20 Marks
An answer in this range may show that you understand the architecture of the NoSQL Database.
However there may be errors of fact, mis-understanding of how the NoSQL Database works or a lack
of insight into the issues. You might not be able to explain any advantages or disadvantages. There
may be no technical information given. There may be flaws in the discussion of how it would apply
to the case study.

For all of this question a very good answer will be technically oriented showing that you understand
not only the concept but how these things work. The topic needs to be related to the case study to
show that you understand some of the issues and implications. A reasonable answer will show an
understanding of the concepts but may be a bit vague on the technicalities and a poor answer will
show that you do not really understand the issues and reasons for the importance of this topic.

OR

Q5c – Mobile Database

35 – 50 Marks

A good answer will show that you understand the architecture of the Mobile Database System. It
should cover issues such as fragmentation, distribution, replication, subsets of data, and update in
real time, required updates between the central server and the employee’s local database, what
needs to be synchronised and how often. Demonstration of the importance of the network
architecture and performance. It will show an understanding of the issues involved transaction
management & in concurrency, and recovery. Discussion of performance and security will show the
advantages and disadvantages of this type of database design. You will demonstrate an
understanding of the complexity and the technicalities. This discussion will relate to how the

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database may become or be designed as a Mobile Database. (Note when mentioning security you
either refer back to this question or just mention the threat, it does not need to be discussed). Good
research & referencing and work may go beyond the unit material.

20 -35 Marks

An answer in this range will show that you understand the architecture of the Mobile Database. Data
storage strategies will be discussed – perhaps not as well as the above. There should be a discussion
on performance and security. The answer may not include the level of discussion at a technical level
and may draw more on the concepts about how the Mobile database handles being distributed
between devices. There may be some attempt at relating the discussion specifically to the case
study. Good research & referencing and work may possibly go beyond the unit material.

0 – 20 Marks
An answer in this range will show that you understand the architecture of the Mobile Database.
However there may be errors of fact, mis-understanding of how the Mobile Database works or a lack
of insight into security and performance issues. You might not be able to explain any advantages or
disadvantages. There may be no technical information given. There may be flaws in the discussion of
how it would apply to the case study.

For all of this question a very good answer will be technically oriented showing that you understand
not only the concept but how these things work. The topic needs to be related to the case study to
show that you understand some of the issues and implications of having a Mobile Database. A
reasonable answer will show an understanding of the concepts but may be a bit vague on the
technicalities and a poor answer will show that you do not really understand the issues and reasons
for the importance of this topic.

Q6

SQL Total 30 Marks

For each query:

Calibre and use of advanced SQL statements 4 Marks

Relation of the queries to the business 1 Marks

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