The Database Models, Languages and Architecture
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.
Describe the 3-level ANSI-SPARC architecture and make sure you discuss how the use of this will promote data independence to save time in the long run.
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?
