Assignment 1: Who uses databases?

In this assignment, you will identify three companies and think critically about how they use databases to enable their business. After completing this assignment, you should be able to identify the types of data a company might be interested in storing, and how it is related to other data. You should also begin to see complexities in identifying how data is stored.

1. Choose three of the categories below and identify one specific company, organization, or service from each.

Banking/Finance

Retail

Education

Entertainment

Examples

Banks

Investment firms

Insurance

Physical stores

Online stores

Convenience stores

Grade schools

Colleges

Training seminars

Online learning

TV, music, and movies Streaming services

Television networks

Gaming

Food Services

Healthcare

Service

Transportation

Examples

Restaurants

Groceries

Farming

Food production

Doctors, dentists, etc.

Hospitals/urgent care

Pharmacies

Government svcs.

Postal service

Construction

Lawn care

Auto manufacturing

Taxi services

Airlines

Shipping

2. For each company, identify two entity types they need to keep track of.

3. For each type of data, identify five attributes for each entity type you identified in #2

4. Create a data dictionary showing the column names, table names, data type, and length for the entities in #2. See page 15 in your book for an example.

5. Draw an ERD showing the relationship between the two entities. Include the cardinality and participation constraints. You do not need to show the attributes in the ERD. It is easiest to make these drawings in software such as PowerPoint or Visio.

6. For each entity, provide 3-7 instances using fictional data. Create and populate a table for each entity that includes sample values that demonstrate the participation and cardinality.

7. Write out the business rules that are presented in your ERD. The business rules should describe the entities, their attributes, domain constraints (optional, but should be included if needed), cardinality, and participation constraints. You may either write this in long form or use bullet points.