Introduction
Database is the mode of storing related items in a single entity in a logical manner. They are specially planned applications that easily interact with the users and in turn provide the needed information to the users. For example for the company, the data will be stored and can be easily be accessed by the users. The Speedy Wheels delivery company can be able to use the system for the flexibility purposes and to make the ways of retrieving the information from the database to be easy and more efficient.
The reason why the system should not be of the file system, database system is more flexible than the file system. More importantly, database is more secure than the file system and also database are more independent than the file system.
There is reduced level of redundancy in using database as compared to the use of the file system. This makes the usage of the memory of the system to be utilized appropriately and the data are arranged in an orderly manner. This makes easy access since some accessibility mechanisms are implemented in the system, in that the some elements are assigned as the primary key in the system which makes it easy for the users to access the items from the system, this is not supported in the file system, in which one will have to check the element one by one, an exercise which is tedious and time wasting.
Types of conceptual entities for the model built are like:
- Employees; this may comprise all the people employed by the company irrespective of the department. It may comprise the manager, as the highest in hierarchy, various managers in other departments within the company, the drivers and other relevant employees within the company.
- Customers: in this case, the company may be having some specific people associated with the company directly in terms of receiving goods from them.
- The product the company is dealing with is another major entity in the model; this will relate directly with the needs of the clients. The company should outline clearly what it deals with for easier cooperation of the company and the clients.
- The company brand name: the company should have a clearly branded name that shows what it majors in and a brief description of the products it deals with.
- Categories of vehicles within the company; this will show the various types of vehicles the company owns. This should indicates the size of the car, its status, whether available or not and its status in terms of operation, in a good condition or not.
Relationships are the association that exists between two entities in a database. The three major types of relationships among the entities are:
- One to One relationship: in this kind of the relationship, an item is related singly to one item for example, an employee may only receive one paycheck
- One to Many relationships: this relates to one element referring to many items at once, for example, the customer may make very many orders at the same time.
- Another vital type of the relationship we have in the database model is the Many to Many relationships: this type of the relationship relates to the case in which many elements are related to more than one entity in a database. For example, many students may sign for many classes in an institution.
Attributes are the identifiable characteristics that distinguish one instance of the entity to another. The entity employee may have the following attributes in the model:
- EmployeeID; since they will be many people employed by the company, each member will be having his or her own unique number for easy identification. Also, the entity will have the names indicated in the model, like the case of the FirstName, SecondName and lastly the entity may have some other attributes like the address and also the postal address if needs be.
- Another important attributes worth noting is that of the customers. In this case, CustomerID will be paramount to mention. This will enable one to identify a given customer by use of his or her identification number as defined in the model.
- VehicleStatus; this will be another important attribute worth noting since one will be able to tell if the vehicle is available for the delivery service or not. This will help in time management and service efficiency.
In a database, the elements are arranged in form of a table or tuple. Each tuple has its own unique identifier. This is the primary key, which is very essential to the identification of the given table from the other table. Normally, it is recommended that the primary key not to be repeated in the data entry for efficiency. For a tuple with a natural key, it has an inherent meaning while the surrogate key is artificial in nature and is assigned to the objects and uniquely identifies the tuple in the model from the other tables within the model. It will be easier to assign the object an identifier artificially and this will be easier to modify at some points as opposed to the natural identifiers though they are believed to be good primary keys.
Conclusion
Database is one important that the modern companies and organizations uses as their systems to manage the various departments. It is easy to understand as compared to the file system, more efficient and very flexible when being used by the organization. It is recommended that the company should implement the use of database system fully in all the relevant departments for efficiency in service delivery.
Reference
Codd, E.F. (1970). "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks": Communications of the ACM 13 (6): 377–387
Database management System and the Models. Retrieved from: http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes/9440/entityrelationship/#relationship_construct
