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LECTURE 2
Database System Development Lifecycle
Transparencies
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Objectives
• How problems associated with the software development
led to the software crisis.
• How the software crisis led to a structured approach to
software development called the information systems
lifecycle.
• About the relationship between the information systems
lifecycle and the database system development lifecycle.
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Objectives
• The stages of the database system development lifecycle.
• The activities associated with each stage of the database
system development lifecycle.
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Software crisis
• Last few decades have seen proliferation of software
applications, many requiring constant maintenance
involving:
• correcting faults,
• implementing new user requirements,
• modifying software to run on new or upgraded platforms.
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Software crisis
• Effort spent on maintenance of software began to absorb
resources at an alarming rate.
• As a result, many major software projects were
• late,
• over budget,
• unreliable,
• difficult to maintain,
• performed poorly.
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Software crisis
• Problems with software projects at this time referred to as
the ‘software crisis’.
• Major reasons for failure of software projects includes:
• Lack of a complete requirements specification;
• Lack of appropriate development methodology;
• Poor decomposition of design into manageable components.
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Information system lifecycle

• Solution was to propose a structured approach to
software development called information systems (IS)
lifecycle or software development lifecycle (SDLC).
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Information system
• Resources that enable collection, management, control,
and dissemination of data/information throughout an
organization.
• Database is fundamental component of and Information
Systems (IS). Development/usage should be viewed from
perspective of the wider requirements of the organization.
• Structured approach to development of the database
component of an IS is required.
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Database system development

lifecycle - stages
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Stages of database system development

lifecycle
• Database planning
• System definition
• Requirements collection and analysis
• Database design
• DBMS selection (optional)
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Stages of database system development

lifecycle
• Application design
• Prototyping (optional)
• Implementation
• Data conversion and loading
• Testing
• Operational maintenance.
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Database planning
• Management activities that allow stages of
database system development lifecycle to be
realized as efficiently and effectively as possible.
• Should be integrated with overall IS strategy of
the organization.
• Includes creation of the mission statement and
mission objectives for the database system.
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Mission statement
• Those driving database project normally define the
mission statement.
• Defines major aims of database system.
• Helps clarify purpose of the database system and
provides clearer path towards the efficient and effective
creation of required database system.
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Mission objectives
• Once mission statement is defined, mission objectives are
defined.
• Each objective should identify a particular task that the
database system must support.
• Should also include additional information that specifies
the work to be done, the resources with which to do it,
and the money to pay for it all.
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Database planning
• Database planning may also include development of
standards that govern:
• how data will be collected,
• how the format should be specified,
• what necessary documentation will be needed,
• how design and implementation should proceed.
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System definition
• Describes scope and boundaries of database
system, including its major user views.
• Describes how database system will interface
with other parts of the organization’s information
system.
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System definition
• User view defines what is required of a database system
from the perspective of:
• a particular job (such as Manager or Supervisor) or
• business application area (such as marketing, personnel, or stock
control).
• Database system may have one or more user views.
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System definition
• Identifying user views helps ensure that no major users of
the database are forgotten when developing requirements
for new application.
• User views also help in development of complex
database system allowing requirements to be broken
down into manageable pieces.
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Extended version of the StayHome

Online case study
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Database system with multiple user

views
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Requirements collection and analysis

• Process of collecting and analyzing information about the
organization to be supported by the database system, and
using this information to identify the requirements for the
new system.
• Information is gathered for each major user view
including:
• a description of data used or generated;
• details of how data is to be used/generated;
• any additional requirements for new database system.
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Requirements collection and analysis

• Information is analyzed to identify requirements for new
database system.
• Another important activity is deciding how to manage
database system with multiple user views.
• Three main approaches:
• centralized approach;
• view integration approach;
• combination of both approaches.
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Centralized approach
• Requirements for each user view are merged into
a single set of requirements for the new database
system.
• A data model representing all user views is
created during the database design stage.
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Centralized approach
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View integration approach

• Requirements for each user view remain as
separate lists. Data models representing each
user view are created and then merged during
the database design stage.
• Data model representing one or more but not all
user views is called a local data model.
• Local data models are then merged to produce a
global data model to represent all user views.
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View integration approach

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Database design
• Process of creating a design that will support the
organization’s mission statement and objectives
for the required database system.
• Three main phases of database design:
• conceptual database design,
• logical database design,
• physical database design.
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DBMS selection
• Selection of an appropriate DBMS to support the
database system.
• Undertaken at any time prior to logical design provided
sufficient information is available regarding system
requirements.
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Application design
• Design of user interface and application programs that
use and process the database.
• Database and application design are parallel activities.
• Transaction is an action, or series of actions, carried out
by a single user or application program that accesses or
changes content of the database.
• Should define and document the high-level
characteristics of the transactions required.
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Application design
• Important characteristics of transactions:
• data to be used by the transaction;
• functional characteristics of the transaction;
• output of the transaction;
• importance to the users;
• Expected rate of usage.

• Three main types of transactions:

• retrieval transactions
• update transactions
• mixed transactions
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Guidelines for form/report design

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Prototyping
• Building working model of a database system.
• Purpose is to:
• to identify features of a system that work well, or are inadequate;
• to suggest improvements or even new features;
• to clarify the users’ requirements;
• to evaluate feasibility of a particular system design.
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Prototyping
• There are two prototyping strategies:
• Requirements prototyping determines the requirements of a
proposed database system and then the prototype is discarded.
• Evolutionary prototyping is used for the same purposes, but the
prototype is not discarded and with further development becomes
the working database system.
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Implementation
• Physical realization of the database and application
designs.
• Use DDL to create database schemas and empty
database files.
• Use DDL to create user views.
• Use 3GL or 4GL to create the application programs, which
includes database transactions.
• Use DDL to implement security and integrity controls.
However, some may be defined using DBMS utilities or
operating system.
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Data conversion and loading

• Transferring any existing data into new database and
converting any existing applications to run on new
database.
• only required when a new database system is replacing
an old system.
• common for a DBMS to have a utility that loads existing
files into the new database.
• May be possible to convert and use application programs
from the old system for use by the new system.
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Testing
• Process of running the database system with the intent of
finding errors.
• Use carefully planned test strategies and realistic data.
• Testing cannot show absence of faults; it can show only
that software faults are present.
• Demonstrates that database and application programs
appear to be working according to requirements.
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Operational maintenance
• Process of monitoring and maintaining the database
system following installation and involves:
• monitoring performance of system. If performance falls, may
require tuning or reorganization of the database.
• maintaining and upgrading database system (when required).
• incorporating new requirements into database system.