Relational Database

Structured way to organize a Database and to carry out Operations on Data at the request
of its users

By

Harya Ilham Iskandar

Std No. : 1710533009

Introduction

Generally, database has a meaning as the collection of data. The data could be in a
computer base or not. The collection of the data as the information can be used when it’s needed.
In business and Industries they will have a lot of data that need to be manage. In order to
organize the data and make sure that those data is modeled in such a way that relationships and
dependencies of various data elements are known, controlled, and defined the industries need to
use the database approach. Relational database will organize the data in structure and carry out
operations on data at the request of its users. This paper attempts to show and analyze the
advantages and disadvantages of the using of relational database management system by
reviewing the literature regarding the relational database.

Advantages of Relational Database

The processing of the database by using the rational DMBS will result to the relational
database. Relational database model represent the data in the database as two-dimensional tables
called relations. As long as both tables share a common data element, the database can relate any
one file or table to data in another file or table (Kendall and Kendall, 2011). Maintaining the data
in the tables by using the relational database structure is usually giving more simplicity to the
users if its compared to the maintaining database by using hierarchical or network structure
(Kendall and Kendall, 2011). In accounting area, relational database can be used to store the data
related to the accounting information. When the accountant create the ledger account and input
the transaction by doing it traditionally it involves the increasing of time required to sort and
update the accounting information (Weber and Everest, 1977). To handle this kind of data
processing requirements, a lot of accountants and information system theorist are naturally
concerned about the use of relational database as the existence of computer in order to increase
the efficiency of processing the accounting information (Weber and Everest, 1977). It also
supported by the fact that accounting information constitute a large portion of data processing
requirements to a business entity (Weber and Everest, 1977). The traditional system to store data
used to be stored the data as the hierarchical structure and usually happens to repeating the
groups of data that will affect to the wasteful of the storage (Weber and Everest, 1977). By using
the database management system that provides the tree structuring capabilities overcome these
problems by using linked lists to handle a variable number of instances of the repeating group
(Weber and Everest, 1977). The effectiveness that really shown in using the relational database
are, it can ensure that the data that already stored can be shared among the users for a variety of
applications, the database also maintain the data are accurate and consistent as well, the
relational database can ensure that all of the data that are required for current and the future
applications will be readily available (Kendall and Kendall, 2011).

Disadvantages of Relational Database

As relational database systems grow increasingly popular, throughput and response time
requirements are becoming ever more stringent so there is a clear need to understand the
workload so that systems can be designed better and turned more effectively (Yu, Chen, Heiss,
and Lee, 1992). There are four major objectives of database management, first is that the
database be shared, second is the database management to maintain the integrity of the database,
third is the database management must be responsive to an environment of diverse users, and the
fourth is the ability of the database management system to grow and change to meet the future
needs of it users (Weber and Everest, 1977). However, due to achieve those objectives the
database must be defined and exist apart from the programs that access it (Weber and Everest,
1977).

Two agreements in Database Design

 There are two basic ways to design a well-structured relational database. One of them is
called normalization, which starts with the assumption that all data is finally agreed to in one
large table. This recommendation then discusses the rules for splitting the initial table into a
normalized table update. The aim is to produce a preliminary table that can be categorized as a
third normal form (third normal form-3NF), because such tables are free from anomaly,
insertion, and release problems, as has been proven in the previous section.

An alternative way to design a well-structured relational database is to use semantic data

modeling. Related to this, database designers use their knowledge of business processes that
normally take place and about how business processes are going on and about the information
requirements related to transaction processing, to create graphical drawings of the things needed
in the database that they are designing. The resulting image can then be directly used to create a
relational table that is included in the 3NF category.

Semantic data modeling has two main advantages in building a database just by
following the normalization-process processes. First, this way of designing an efficient design
from the transaction processing database, because it uses the system designer's knowledge of
transaction processing and business activities. Second, this method facilitates communication
with potential users of the system, because the graphical model generated explicitly represents
information about business processes and organizational policies. This kind of communication is
very important to ensure the system produced matches the actual needs of the users.

Conclusion

In conclusion based on the discussion above, traditionally, data management systems

have been used in environments where data is highly structured, such as in the business sector.
There is a growing need for database systems that can function where the data is less structured
and the applications are more interactive. The relational database fulfill the need for more
flexibility in what types of data that can be stored in the fields of a record. The relational
database also can stored the data more systematic and provide the operation carry out the
information that is needed by the users. By using the relational database, it can also increase the
efficiency of processing the information. However, in order to process a large amount of data,
the relational database management system need to be designed to understand the workload.

References

Everest, Gordon C, & Weber, Ron. (1977). A Relational Approach to Accounting Model. ​The
Accounting Review, ​52(2), 340-359.

Haskin, Roger L., & Lorie, Raymond A. (1982). On Extending the fuctions of relational database
System. ​IBM Research Laboratory, 2​ 07-212.

​ ew Jersey, NJ : Pearson Education

Kendall, Kenneth E. (2011). ​System Analysis and Design. N

Yu, Philip S., Chen, Ming-Syan., Heiss, Hans-Ulrich., & Lee, Sukho. (1992). On Workload
Characterization of Relational Database Environment. ​IEEE Transactions on Software
Engineering. 1​ 8(4), 347-355.