Database Design – ACTIVITIES
10.1 Case Study: For the Record
Australian record companies are using database software to help make decisions about whether or not an artist is going to succeed in the music industry. Traditionally, record companies have relied on a ‘gut feeling’ to determine the likelihood of success for a particular recording artist.
Database technology has now caught up with the music industry, and recording labels are turning to hard numbers to dissect and categorise the old-school tradition of going on a gut feeling. In a cut-throat industry, where artists can live or die on the success of their first singles, the likely success of new acts is gauged with customer relationship database management software. Gut feelings still have a place in an industry driven by contacts and personal relationships but they need to be backed by the numbers, says Roadrunner Records Australia managing director Jon Satterley. Roadrunner Records Australia has seven employees and turns over $5 million a year. The company turned to FrontRange’s GoldMine database application 12 months ago to monitor and interpret the feedback about its artists. In a sense, the software is helping the company ‘quantify the intangible’, says Satterley. ‘Previously we didn’t feel that we were getting good, quantifiable data to help us make decisions. So much of what we were relying on to make decisions – that were costing us a lot of money – was really just gut feel and qualitative feedback we’d get from a few phone calls, anecdotal stuff,’ he says. ‘Every time we release an album or a single we have to mail product out to people for them to review it. We wanted to be able to record who has received what and what reviews we got. I got really frustrated in our weekly business meetings where I’d have to pick the brain of all the staff here. It was tortuous because information was locked up in people’s heads and we couldn’t get to it.’ Roadrunner Records was traditionally a metal label but has branched out in the past five years. Satterley classifies the label’s most popular band, Nickelback, as ‘more commercial hard rock’. The company heavily modified GoldMine, allowing it to classify industry contacts according to musical tastes. It grades contacts from one to five according to their interest in 14 genres of music, allowing the company to better target mail-outs. Goldmine is also used to distil conversations with industry contacts.’, We came up with five grades of ‘yes’ and five grades of ‘no’. It certainly hasn’t taken the place of gut feelings but it does give an avenue for you to be able to score your gut feeling if you want to,’ Satterley says. A database of about 22 000 music fans, or punters, is also maintained in GoldMine – based on returned feedback cards that have been included with every CD sold since 1998. The company is undertaking an internal audit to gauge the new system’s strengths and weaknesses and Satterley has invited staff to present him with a wish list of new features.’, It took about six weeks of planning to get something like this working and even now it’s not working perfectly. You have to be eternally vigilant with this type of database software because it’s only as good as people are prepared to engage with it.’
‘Mine of information, for the record’, by Adam Turner, 6 April, 2004 http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/05/1081017086811.html
10.1 continued
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According to the case study, why are record companies using database software? |
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How have record companies traditionally determined whether or not a music artist might be successful? |
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What is the specific purpose |
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The software is helping the company ‘quantify the intangible’. Explain this statement. |
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How did the company collect data from 22 000 music fans? |
10.2 Database Development
Refer to section 10.1 of the coursebook.
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Find the following words in the word maze. After you have located the words, fill in the gaps in the paragraph below. |
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FINGERTIPS SYSTEM TIME RELATED COMPUTER POWERFUL SEARCH SINGLE users RELATIONAL ORGANISED software business visible supermarkeT school solving interact INFORMATION DISPLAY |
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We live in an _______________ age. Our lives are made easier by having volumes of information at our _____________. We rely on information to save _______________ in the shops, in the library and travelling long or short distances. However, we can only hope to find the information we need if it is where we expect to find it – and that means being _______________. Databases are an organised collection of _______________ data. When the volume of data becomes large, it is useful to put the database onto a _______________. In more _______________ databases, we can use specialised software to edit, sort and _______________ the data as well as being able to _______________ it in different ways. This software is part of the database management |
10.2 Continued
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Match the following database terms with the best description of that term from the list below. File record field primary key TABLE
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10.2 continued
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Use the word list and the clues to solve the crossword. MEANINGFUL FLAT-FILE BOOLEAN RELATIONAL DICTIONARY FORMS
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Across 5. Large graphics or audio files will use a lot of _______ and processing power 7. A DBMS helps us to change the data into_________ information 9. Multimedia elements such as _________ and audio files can be stored in a database 11. (DBMS) database________________ system 12. A type of database that consists of a single table of data. |
Down 1. Raw facts 2. A data type that indicates a true/false value 3. Can be used for data output 4. A type of database that organises data into a series of linked tables. 6. A data ___________illustrates and describes the fields and data types which will be required in the database 8. Can be used for data input and quick searches for a single data item 10. Data that can be formatted as currency or dates if required. |
10.3 Database Development
Refer to section 10.1 of the coursebook.
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Identify at least two advantages of a computerised database. |
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List three components of |
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What makes a database relational? |
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One of the most important factors for a well-designed database is how the data is ______________. |
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Why might your student number or library card number be considered to be examples of primary keys? |
10.4 Collecting, Organising and Storing Data
Refer to section 10.2 of the coursebook.
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Unscramble each of the clue words. Take the letters that appear in
Hidden word (the repetition of data in a database).
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Place all of the unscrambled words beside the most appropriate description. a Separating data into different tables. _________________________________ b Checking the data to make sure it is true. _________________________________ c Is the data acceptable? _________________________________ d Checking data for errors. _________________________________ e A device used to input data. _________________________________ f Where will the data come from? _________________________________ g Gathering data. _________________________________ |
10.5 Collecting, Organising and Storing Data
Refer to section 10.2 of the coursebook.
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List three places where you might find data being processed. |
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What considerations should be taken into account before data is collected for a large database? |
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Explain the difference between primary and secondary data. |
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Identify the types of data that were collected about you when you enrolled at secondary school. |
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Identify and explain one of the biggest advantages of using computerised databases. |
10.6 Processing and Analysing Data/Presenting Information
Refer to sections 10.3 and 10.4 of the coursebook.
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Match the following terms to their correct definitions: MACRO Data mining ‘read-only’ wildcard symbols Sorting QUERY ‘Filter’ command
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True or False?
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10.7 Processing and Analysing Data/Presenting Information
Refer to sections 10.3 and 10.4 of the coursebook.
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Who should database designers and administrators keep in mind as they design, build and maintain the database? |
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Identify the features that might be found on a report footer. |
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What are summary reports? |
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Why is a report often based on |
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What are forms used for in database management systems? |
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