LIBRARY DATABASE Task 1 Unit 10 INTRODUCTION In

LIBRARY DATABASE Task 1 Unit 10

INTRODUCTION In this presentation I will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of two databases which are for a library and the police. I will also talk about how the two databases would improve productivity and how the tools and techniques will improve the productivity, usability and accessibility.

OVERVIEW OF LIBRARY DATABASE The library database will have information about the books, loans, members and payment details. A library would need a database because they can keep track of book loans and payment details for customers that are members or just renting a book.

WHY WOULD IT IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY Using a database in a library would improve productivity because it helps libraries stay on top of things by storing information about due dates for books and payment details for customers and members. This improves productivity because instead of using paper and keeping it all in filing cabinets it will all be in one place and they can access information instantly.

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES These are the tools and techniques are used within both databases however, how they are set up and collect data will be different dependent on the system requirements Library Database • Table structures are where all data is collated – Customers , books, Loans and Payment details • Field characteristics are all the individual names for a field – payment type is a field name for Payment details • Validation rules are rules that stop potential errors occurring in a database, so for example if a field is set as a date and time, other information that is entered that is not compatible with that field it will give the user an error message. • Indexing is the primary keys that speed up the retrieval of data in a database. • Records are sets of information that contain information on a certain thing. In this case a library database would store records on customers that have loaned books or brought them. • Relationships are when you link two tables together based on relations. So for a library database the payment details table and customers table could be linked together because they have information that both tables can use. • Forms are where the information is displayed so in a library database all the information for a book will be displayed for a single book that is selected. • Sorts and quires are the sorts that done in quires, so quires are used to pull certain information from a database so in a library database they would use this to find certain types of database by sorting it by a certain year.

HOW THE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES IMPROVE THE PRODUCTIVITY, USABILITY AND ACCURACY Productivity The tools and techniques used in a database would improve productivity because it will be quicker to find information on a certain table so it will save time because they would go through lots of information but instead they can just search for it which is much easier. Usability The tools and techniques would improve usability because the people using the database would be able to retrieve information faster instead of sorting through lots of information and searches can be done any field so information can be found easily and quickly. Accuracy The tools and techniques will improve the accuracy of the database because they could use some of the tools to find certain members for example and they could also check if members have to pay for membership or if they have loaned a book and it is due back at a certain date they could check for that too.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HAVING THE DATABASE IN A LIBRARY There are many benefits when using a database in a library, some are: • Easier to keep track of books, so they can see what books are loaned out and when they are due back in. • They can store the payment details on the database, it would be more secure and it will be easier to keep track of people that have payed fines and how much to be paid. • It saves space • It is easier to access information

WHAT ARE THE CONSTRAINTS OF THE DATABASE Using a database comes with many benefits but also many constraints, some constraints are: • The library might need to train their employees to learn how to operate a database • Databases need to be regularly maintained • They are vulnerable to viruses and being hacked, this is bad because libraries have information about members and payment details. • The library may have older systems so they might need to upgrade their systems in order to run the database.

POLICE DATABASE

OVERVIEW OF POLICE DATABASE A police database will store information about records to do with criminals, officers, the public and car plates. This information help the police in investigations and solving problems. The police need a database to keep track of evidence and individuals.

WHY WOULD IT IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY A database would improve productivity because it allows the police to store information about locations, officers, individuals, evidence, crimes. This information ensures the job is done correctly. The information stored on the database is easy to access and since there is so much information it is much more convenient because if it was all stored on paper it would much harder to keep it all organised and take a long time to go through all of the papers to find a certain bit of information.

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES Police database • Table structures – Offender, crime and sentence • Field characteristics – A field characteristic for the offenders table structure would be the offenders name. • Validation rules – When a crime is committed certain dates would have to be entered to find a certain field characteristic. • Indexing – Indexing improves the rate of which the database retrieves data because it doesn't have to search through every row in a database table. • Records – A record is the information that is kept about criminals in this case and they would store information like their personal information and crimes they have committed. • Relationships – In a police database there would many relationships but for example one would be the offender and the crime tables because they both have information that crosses over with each table which they can then both use the information. • Forms – Forms are the front end part of the database so this would be the part that users would interact with.

HOW THE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES IMPROVE THE PRODUCTIVITY, USABILITY AND ACCURACY Productivity The tools and techniques would improve the productivity because the police would be able to search up certain people or certain crimes by using the sorts and quires tool and this will make it much faster to find information instead of looking through lots of names and crimes. Usability The tools and techniques would improve the usability of the database because it makes it easier to use because the indexing makes the database fetch information faster. Accuracy They can compare crimes using the quires tool so for example if they wanted know how much knife crime and gun crimes has risen they could find them easily using the tools in the database.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HAVING THE DATABASE IN THE POLICE Some benefits of using a database in the police: • It is quick and easy to access records and other sensitive information for the police. • Databases hold vast amount of information this means they can hold lots of different records and other information about people. • Can easily be distributed other stations and share records with officers.

WHAT ARE THE CONSTRAINTS OF USING A DATABASE Databases do have flaws, some are: • Training employees to use databases • Regularly maintain databases so it will then be secure • Could be the chance of getting hacked and then sensitive information could get out to the public about the police or certain individuals.