3 Overview of database design

 

In this chapter

  • You learn about the goals of database design.
  • You get an overview of the database design process.
  • You jump-start the requirement analysis.
What you need to know

This chapter provides an overview of database design from a bird’s-eye view. That said, this chapter doesn’t have accompanying scripts like those in chapters 1 and 2.

Overview

In chapters 1 and 2, you learned the basics of relational databases and SQL. Starting with this chapter, you will embark on your journey of learning database design by designing a database from scratch for the online store of The Sci-Fi Collective. In this chapter, you will get an overview of the goals and process of database design. After that, you will jump-start the requirement analysis for The Sci-Fi Collective.

Goals of database design

The overall goal of database design is to deliver a well-structured, efficient database that meets the requirements of users and organizations. Beyond meeting these requirements, a successful database design typically meets five common goals:

  • Data consistency and integrity
  • Maintainability and ease of use
  • Performance and optimization
  • Data security
  • Scalability and flexibility

In this section, you will peek at these goals to better understand what you should aim to achieve in database design.

Data consistency and integrity

Data consistency and integrity are about defining appropriate data types, constraints, and relationships among entities to ensure that

Maintainability and ease of use

Performance and optimization

Data security

Scalability and flexibility

Requirement gathering