UNIVERSITY OF LIVINGSTONIA
LAWS CAMPUS
FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Course Outline
Research Methods
1. Programme : Bachelor of information and
Knowledge management
2. Subject : Database Management systems
3. Course Title : Database Management Systems
4. Course Code :
5. Year of Study :1
6. Prerequisite :
7. Duration : 16
8. Lecture Hours Per Week :2
9. Tutorial/Seminar Hours Per Week :2
10. Practical Hours Per Week : None
11. Student Independent Learning Hours Per Week :4
12. Total Course Credits : 4.5
13. Assessment Weighting : Continuous Assessment 40%
: Final Examination 60%
14. Course description
The course examines the principles of design and functions of the Relational Database
Management
Systems (DBMS). The course emphasizes the use of Relational DBMS as an office
productivity tool.
Other topics include Evolution of Database Management systems, Entity Relationships
Modelling, Design
of a Relational Model, Database Integrity Rules, Normalization of Database Tables,
Concepts of Data
Warehouse and Data Mining and Database Administration.
15. Aims of the course
To introduce students to a variety of development methodologies and the
considerations, which apply in administering databases.
To familiarise students with the basic concepts underlying a DBMS;
To show how they are realized in specific systems such as the PostgreSQL
DBMS;
To give you some hands-on experience in using a DBMS
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students must be able to:
a. Understand and evaluate the role of database management systems in information
technology applications within organizations.
b. Recognize and use logical design methods and tools for databases.
c. Develop sophisticated queries to extract information from large datasets.
d. Understand the SQL data definition and SQL query languages.
16. Topics of the course
a. Fundamental Database Concepts
i. Basic database concepts
Database architecture
DB Design Life Cycle
Schema Architecture
ii. The entity relationship (= ER) model
iii. The relational data model
iv. Data analysis
Relationships
Objects or events which may form entities of particular database
Validation rules
Identify entity attributes
Output reports
Entities required in a particular data base
v. Conceptual, Logical and Physical Database Modelling and design
vi. Relational Algebra
b. Structured Query Language (SQL)
i. SQL Data Definition Language
ii. Single Block Queries
iii. Aggregation
iv. Joins and Outer Joins
v. Nesting
vi. Negation
vii. Transaction Management and Concurrency Control
viii. Query Optimization Techniques
c. Data Storage and Indexing
i. Problem formulation – why the need for this?
ii. File Organisation and Indexes
iii. Tree-structured Indexing: B+-trees
iv. Hash-based Indexing
v. Indexes in PostgreSQL
vi. Query Evaluation
Sorting
Evaluation of Relational Operators
Query Optimisation
Physical Database Design
d. Testing and documentation
i. Reasons for functionally testing a program
ii. Logical data model of a database in terms of entities, attributes, relations,
domains, and domain types
iii. Database design documentation
iv. Database implementation documentation
e. Database administration
i. Role of database administrator
ii. Hazards to database
iii. Legal issues involved in database administration
iv. Advantages and disadvantages of distributed databases
v. Advantages and disadvantages of multi user databases
vi. Concurrency control
17. Mode of delivery, teaching and learning methods and materials
a. Mode of delivery: Blended (face to face, and online).
b. Teaching and Learning Methods: Lecture, class discussion, presentations
and group work. Materials will include computers, projectors,
whiteboards, and textbooks
18. Prescribed Texts
McFadden, Fred R., and Hoffer, Jeffrey A (2016). Modern Database Management (12th
ed.). Redwood City, CA: The
Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company.
Hoffer, J. A., Ramesh, V., & Topi, H. (2011). Modern database management. Upper
Saddle River.
NJ: Prentice Hall
19. Recommended Texts
A Silberschatz, H & Korth, S. (2017). Database System and Concepts. (15th ed.) London:
McGraw-Hill
Rob, C. (2011). Database Systems. (7th ed.). London: Cengage Learning
Ullman, J.D. & WIDOM, J. (2014). A first course in database systems (3rd ed.). USA:
Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Molina, HG, Ullman, JD, Widom, J (2009). Database systems: the complete book (2nd
ed.).
New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Ullman, J. D. (2007). A first course in database systems. Pearson Education India.
Garcia-Molina, H. (2008). Database systems: the complete book. Pearson Education
India.
Watson, R. T. (2008). Data management, databases and organizations. John Wiley &
Sons.
