This course is suitable for Developers moving into the area of relational databases who need an understanding of the principles and logic of the relational database; programmers who are to start programming in SQL and need to know the principles on which it is built; programmers who need to understand entity modelling and normalization; analysts needing a knowledge of entity modelling and entity relationship diagrams and any others who need to know the principles of relational analysis and data modelling but do not need a complete systems analysis course.

• The database approach
• Database Management Systems
• The logic of database architectures
• Entity modelling
• Constraints and assumptions
• Data normalisation to the third normal form
• Logical data structures
• The relational schema
• Database constraints
• The concept of views
• De-normalisation techniques
• An introduction to simple queries in Structured Query Language (SQL)

Session 1: INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES

• The Database Approach
• Database Management Systems
• The function of a Database Management System
• The Processing Architecture
• The Schema Architecture
• The Storage Architecture
• An overview of Database System Development
• An overview of general database principles

Session 2: CONCEPTUAL DATA MODELS

• Overview of Entity Models
• Entities and how to identify them
• Attributes and how to identify them
• Relationships and their qualities
• Building an Entity Relationship Diagram
• Resolving many-to-many relationships
• Sub-type and Super-type Relationships
• Arc Relationships
• Recursive Relationships
• Constraints and Assumptions
• Normalisation to the First Normal Form (1NF)
• Normalisation to the Second Normal Form (2NF)
• Normalisation to the Third Normal Form (3NF)
• Normalisation to the First Normal Form (1NF)
• Normalisation to the Second Normal Form (2NF)
• Normalisation to the Third Normal Form (3NF)

Session 3: THE RELATIONAL MODEL

• Relational Structure
• Relational Terminology
• Domains
• A Relational schema
• Candidate keys and Primary Keys
• Foreign Keys
• Key Constraints
• Attribute Constraints
• Implementing Sub-type/Super-type Relationships
• Views
• Denormalisation using Pre-joined Tables
• Denormalisation using Derived Data
• An Introduction to Structured Query Language (SQL)
• Simple Queries
• Simple Updates of the Data
  

• OSP, SQL