Database Reference
In-Depth Information
1
INTRODUCTION TO DATABASE
MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Introduce Premiere Products, the company that is used as the basis for many of the examples
throughout the text
Introduce basic database terminology
Describe database management systems (DBMSs)
Explain the advantages and disadvantages of database processing
Introduce Henry topics, the company that is used in a case that appears throughout the text
Introduce Alexamara Marina Group, the company that is used in another case that appears
throughout the text
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, you will examine the requirements of Premiere Products, a company that will be used in many examples
in this chapter and in the rest of the text. You will learn how Premiere Products initially stored its data, what problems
employees encountered with the storage method, and why management decided to use a database management sys-
tem. Then you will study the basic terminology and concepts of databases and database management systems, and
learn the advantages and disadvantages of database processing. Finally, you will examine the database requirements
for Henry Books and Alexamara Marina Group, the companies featured in the cases that appear at the end of each
chapter.
PREMIERE PRODUCTS BACKGROUND
Premiere Products is a distributor of appliances, housewares, and sporting goods. Since its inception, the
company has used spreadsheet software to maintain customer, order, inventory, and sales representative
(sales rep) data. Management has determined that the company
'
s recent growth means it is no longer feasible
to use spreadsheets to maintain the firm's data.
What has led the managers at Premiere Products to this decision? One of the company
'
s spreadsheets,
shown in Figure 1-1, displays sample order data and illustrates the company
sproblemswiththe
spreadsheet approach. For each order, the spreadsheet displays the number and name of the customer
placing the order; the number and date of the order; the number, description, number ordered, quoted
price, and warehouse number of the item ordered; and the number of the sales rep assigned to the
customer. Note that the Ferguson's order (order number 21610) and the first Johnson's Department Store
order (order number 21617) appear in two rows because these customers purchased two different items in
their orders.
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