Writer’s choice
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Writer’s choiceUniversity-dorm project
The university housing office does not have a data base. At times it tales much longer for the office to retrieve data from a set of files piling up in the universality archives room. The university has a storeroom where files are stored, some files are torn while so are just misplaced due to lack of interest in the archives management. This manual approach to data management makes sorting of housing related issues in real time difficult. The department is experiencing data proliferation based on the number of students and the required information.
Purpose and intent of the project
This project seeks to:
Determine the data storage requirement of the university dorm department.
Analyze the most optimal set of a database that can suits the university dorm
Design a schematic of the database
Design the actual database
Possible users and administrators
The database will be used by the university students to apply for housing, book rooms, make their payment in the billing system integrated in the database, or cancel their bookings. The accommodation personnel will also use the database to manage the records, sort, retrieve, merge and edit the accommodation data (Raghu, & Gehrke, 2000).
How data storage is done at the university dorm and how the database will improve the process
While the university dorm is 5relatively calm about the problems they undergo trying to retrieve, sort or store data. The manual system is not efficient in this age of information technology. The accommodation records are stored in paper file then stacked up in a room; some are stored in cabinets market with marker pens to aid in allocating the accommodation hall, the room number, the occupants, their phone number, their academic advisors, course number, parents or guardians etc.
The paper work is time consuming considering the number of students residing in the school premises per semester. However, if the school had a database, it would realize a number of benefits, key amongst the benefits includes:
1) Efficiency: Teorey, Lighstone, & Nadeau, (2006), states that the manual data storage system involving paper work is time consuming; a database is easy to use while retrieving data as it uses a single query. This can be done through the use of a few keywords. 2) Increased communication: implementation of database in the university dorm will increase the level of communication as the data can be accessed from various points without having to be physically present in the university. This can be achieved through a distributed database system.
3) security- data stored in the database are much more secure than files in a steel cabinet. The data are password protected from unauthorized access. The university can store extremely sensitive information in encrypted format to increase the level of security of the data or use layer authorization mode (Korth, &, Silberschatz, 1998). 4) Cost effective- databases are easy to manage and are relatively less costly as compared to paper work. The university would not have to employ someone to keep the files, or contract an archive management company to bind the files for them. Databases is also more scalable as there is no need to acquire extra storage space. Some data can be stored virtually, as opposed to cabinet, which might require the purchasing a new cabinet. This cuts the cost of data storage.
Data elements
This project will involve a number of data elements. The data elements, which will be used in the project include entities and relationships represented by boxes and arrows. Field names, data types either characters as to the phone number or numerics. The description of the data elements, validation rules and the database table is also part of the elements. Others include; the schemas of the data base, the data types made up of Alphanumeric, Numeric, and Date and time. The database will also have rows and columns (Elmasri, & Navathe, 2004).
6) Platform
The system will use the MS SQL, because of the relatively robust amount of data expected to be stored. Another consideration is the number of people who will access the sites. A small platform is liable to hand continuously and causes systems downs.
References
Elmasri, R. Navathe, S. (2004). Fundamentals of Database Systems. 4th ed., Pearson Addison Wesley,
HYPERLINK “http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Database-Systems-Ramez-Elmasri/dp/0321122267″http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Database-Systems-Ramez-Elmasri/dp/0321122267
Korth, H.; Silberschatz. (1998). Database Systems. Third Edition. Makron Books.
HYPERLINK “http://www.scribd.com/doc/25952405/DMSystems-3rd-Ed”http://www.scribd.com/doc/25952405/DMSystems-3rd-Ed
Raghu R., & J. Gehrke., (2000). Database Management Systems, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill,
HYPERLINK “http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK6828/”http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK6828/
Teorey, T.J., Lighstone S., Nadeau, (2006). Database Modeling and Design, 4th. ed., Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc, San Francisco
HYPERLINK “http://www.amazon.com/Database-Modeling-Design-Kaufmann-Management/dp/0126853525″http://www.amazon.com/Database-Modeling-Design-Kaufmann-Management/dp/0126853525
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