Designing Effective Database Systems

Description
“Riordan covers core skills for any developer—database design and development—in a perfect amount of detail. This book should be on every professional developer’s reading list.”

—Duncan Mackenzie, developer, Microsoft (MSDN)“Designing a database is not a trivial subject. Riordan brings experience and clear explanations to a fundamental part of software development.”

—Patrick Birch, database and technical writing consultant“If you buy only one book on database design, make it this one. Riordan has a talent for explaining technical issues in simple language, without over simplifying.”

—Brendan Reynolds, developer, Dataset IT Systems and Microsoft Access MVP“A book that will expertly guide you in how to develop a database for a client— and how to do it right the first time!”

—Kenneth D. Snell, Ph.D., ACCESS developer and Microsoft Access MVP “Riordan has produced a unique book that brings together a formal, yet commonsense, approach to relational database design...and then goes further! Many database designers will find immense value in the steps to developing practical data warehouse designs. If you are seeking a framework for designing transactional databases, or want to step out into the world of analytical databases, Riordan’s book excels at bridging both worlds.”

—Paul Irvine, vice president, engineering, Via Training“Riordan takes a complex subject and makes it easy. If you’re over your head on a database design project, this book will help bail you out!”

—Mike Gunderloy, contributing editor, Application Development Trends“This book covers a wide range of database design and data modeling topics in a well-organized, easy to understand format.”

—Amy Sticksel, Sticksel Data Systems, Inc.“In Designing Effective Database Systems, Riordan’s style, wit, and attention to detail are outstanding.”

—Sandra Daigle, Microsoft Access MVP The Software Developer’s Step-by-Step Guide to Database Design

World-renowned expert Rebecca M. Riordan has written the definitive database design book for working developers who aren’t database experts. No matter how messy or complex your data challenge, Designing Effective Database Systems shows you how to design an effective, high-performance database to solve it.

Riordan begins by thoroughly demystifying the principles of relational design, making them accessible to every professional developer. Next, she offers the field’s clearest introduction to dimensional database modeling—practical insight for designing today’s increasingly important analytical applications.

One task at a time, the author illuminates every facet of database analysis and design for both traditional databases and the dimensional databases used for data warehousing, showing how to avoid common architectural pitfalls that complicate development and reduce extensibility. The book concludes with comprehensive, expert guidance on designing databases for maximum usability.

This book will teach you to

• Understand relational database models, structures, relationships, and data integrity principles
• Define database system goals, criteria, scope, and work processes
• Construct accurate conceptual models: relationships, entities, domain analysis, and normalization
• Build efficient, secure database schema
• Master the elements of online analytical processing (OLAP) design: fact tables, dimension tables, snowflaking, and more
• Architect and construct easy, efficient interfaces for querying and reporting
• Learn from practice examples based on Microsoft’s Northwind sample database

Riordan has helped thousands of professionals master database design and development, earning Microsoft’s coveted MVP honor for her exceptional contributions. Nobody is more qualified to help you master database design and apply it in your real-world environment.

Back Cover
“Riordan covers core skills for any developer—database design and development—in a perfect amount of detail. This book should be on every professional developer’s reading list.”

—Duncan Mackenzie, developer, Microsoft (MSDN)“Designing a database is not a trivial subject. Riordan brings experience and clear explanations to a fundamental part of software development.”

—Patrick Birch, database and technical writing consultant“If you buy only one book on database design, make it this one. Riordan has a talent for explaining technical issues in simple language, without over simplifying.”

—Brendan Reynolds, developer, Dataset IT Systems and Microsoft Access MVP“A book that will expertly guide you in how to develop a database for a client— and how to do it right the first time!”

—Kenneth D. Snell, Ph.D., ACCESS developer and Microsoft Access MVP “Riordan has produced a unique book that brings together a formal, yet commonsense, approach to relational database design...and then goes further! Many database designers will find immense value in the steps to developing practical data warehouse designs. If you are seeking a framework for designing transactional databases, or want to step out into the world of analytical databases, Riordan’s book excels at bridging both worlds.”

—Paul Irvine, vice president, engineering, Via Training“Riordan takes a complex subject and makes it easy. If you’re over your head on a database design project, this book will help bail you out!”

—Mike Gunderloy, contributing editor, Application Development Trends“This book covers a wide range of database design and data modeling topics in a well-organized, easy to understand format.”

—Amy Sticksel, Sticksel Data Systems, Inc.“In Designing Effective Database Systems, Riordan’s style, wit, and attention to detail are outstanding.”

—Sandra Daigle, Microsoft Access MVP The Software Developer’s Step-by-Step Guide to Database Design

World-renowned expert Rebecca M. Riordan has written the definitive database design book for working developers who aren’t database experts. No matter how messy or complex your data challenge, Designing Effective Database Systems shows you how to design an effective, high-performance database to solve it.

Riordan begins by thoroughly demystifying the principles of relational design, making them accessible to every professional developer. Next, she offers the field’s clearest introduction to dimensional database modeling—practical insight for designing today’s increasingly important analytical applications.

One task at a time, the author illuminates every facet of database analysis and design for both traditional databases and the dimensional databases used for data warehousing, showing how to avoid common architectural pitfalls that complicate development and reduce extensibility. The book concludes with comprehensive, expert guidance on designing databases for maximum usability.

This book will teach you to

• Understand relational database models, structures, relationships, and data integrity principles
• Define database system goals, criteria, scope, and work processes
• Construct accurate conceptual models: relationships, entities, domain analysis, and normalization
• Build efficient, secure database schema
• Master the elements of online analytical processing (OLAP) design: fact tables, dimension tables, snowflaking, and more
• Architect and construct easy, efficient interfaces for querying and reporting
• Learn from practice examples based on Microsoft’s Northwind sample database

Riordan has helped thousands of professionals master database design and development, earning Microsoft’s coveted MVP honor for her exceptional contributions. Nobody is more qualified to help you master database design and apply it in your real-world environment.

Contents

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

I. RELATIONAL DATABASE THEORY.

1. Basic Concepts.

What Is a Database?

Database Tools

The Relational Model

Relational Terminology

The Data Model

Summary

2. Database Structure.

Eliminating Redundancy

Ensuring Flexibility

Basic Principles

First Normal Form

Second Normal Form

Third Normal Form

Further Normalization

Summary

3. Relationships.

Terminology

Modeling Relationships

One-to-One Relationships

One-to-Many Relationships

Many-to-Many Relationships

Unary Relationships

Ternary Relationships

Relationships of Known Cardinality

Summary

4. Data Integrity.

Integrity Constraints

Implementing Data Integrity

Summary

5. Relational Algebra.

Nulls and Three-Valued Logic (One More Time)

Relational Operations

Set Operators

Special Relational Operators

Summary

II. DIMENSIONAL DATABASE THEORY.

6. Basic Dimensional Concepts.

The Dimensional Database Model

Terminology

A Potted History of Business Intelligence

Summary

7. Fact Tables.

The Structure of a Fact Table

The Characteristics of a Fact Attribute

Summary

8. Dimension Tables.

The Structure of a Dimension Table

Snowflaking

Changing Dimensions

Summary

III. DESIGNING DATABASE SYSTEMS.

9. The Design Process.

Life Cycle Models

The Database Design Process

A Note on Design Methodologies and Standards

10. Defining the System Parameters.

Determining the System Goals

Developing the Design Criteria

Determining the System Scope

Summary

11. Defining the Work Processes.

Determining Current Work Processes

Analyzing Work Processes

Documenting Work Processes

User Scenarios

Summary

12. The Conceptual Data Model.

Identifying the Data Objects

Defining Relationships

Reviewing Entities

Domain Analysis

Restricting the Range of Values

Normalization

Summary

13. The Database Schema.

Systems Architectures

Database Schema Components

Security

Summary

14. Communicating the Design.

Audience and Purpose

Document Structure

Executive Summary

System Overview

Work Processes

Conceptual Data Model

Database Schema

User Interface

Change Management

Summary

IV. DESIGNING THE USER INTERFACE.

15. The Interface as Mediator.

Effective Interfaces

Interface Models

User Levels

Putting Users in Charge

Minimizing the Memory Load

Being Consistent

Summary

16. User Interface Architectures.

Supporting the Work Processes

Document Architectures

Summary

17. Representing Entities in Form Design.

Simple Entities

One-to-One Relationships

One-to-Many Relationships

Hierarchies

Many-to-Many Relationships

Summary

18. Choosing Windows Controls.

Representing Logical Values

Representing Sets of Values

Representing Numbers and Dates

Representing Text Values

Summary

19. Maintaining Database Integrity.

Classes of Integrity Constraints

Intrinsic Constraints

Business Constraints

Summary

20. Reporting.

Sorting, Searching, and Filtering Data

Producing Standard Reports

Producing Ad Hoc Reports

Summary

21. User Assistance.

User Levels

Passive Assistance Mechanisms

Reactive Assistance Mechanisms

Proactive Assistance

User Training

Summary

Bibliography.

Glossary.

Index.

Features

A clear, easy to follow guide to the messy practice of building an effective database, using lots of real-world examples.

° Many professional developers have never had formal instruction in the design of databases; this book gives them the guidance they need to build good databases easily.

° Approaches what can be a very dry topic with style and lucidity, with plenty of realworld examples and clear explanations.

° Author is well-known and well-respected in the field of database design.

Author

Rebecca M. Riordan has more than fifteen years of experience designing and developing databases and other applications. She is a Microsoft MVP and a frequent speaker at conferences, including Microsoft TechEd. She is the author of many books, including Seeing Data: Designing User Interfaces for Database Systems Using .NET (Addison-Wesley, 2005). Her other highly respected books include Designing Relational Database Systems (1999), Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Programming Step by Step (2000), and ADO.NET Step by Step (2002), all published by Microsoft Press.