Lesson 8 | Database design tools |
Objective | Explain the Use of CASE tools in Database Design |
Database Design Tools
Business rules:
A set of rules or conditions describing the business polices that apply to the data stored on a company databases.
The next lesson concludes this module.
Computer-Aided Software Engineering
CASE (Computer-Aided Software Engineering) packages are software packages which include tools to help with database design. The main goal of these packages is to give database designers a way of representing systems that are too complex to understand in their source code or
schema[1] based forms. They help automate software development and maintenance tasks and usually contain tools for system analysis, project management, and design.
Uses of CASE Tools in Databases
CASE tools can serve many functions in database design, including:
- Collecting and analyzing data
- Designing a data model
- Feasibility analysis
- Requirements definition
- Implementing the database
- Prototyping
- Data conversion
- Generating application code
- Generating reports
- Programming and testing
- Maintenance
Advantages of Case Tools
CASE tools can provide many advantages when used in database design, including:
- Improved productivity in development
- Improved quality through automated checking
- Automatic preparation and update of documentation
- Encouragement of prototyping and incremental development
- Automatic preparation of program code from requirements definition
- Reduced maintenance systems
Disadvantages of Case Tools
However, there are also some disadvantages to using the tools in database design, including:
- Cost increase
- Need for specialized training
- Limitations in flexibility of documentation
- Inadequate standardization
- Slow implementation
- Unrealistic expectations
[1]Business objects: Items in a business environment that are related, and about which data need to be stored (e.g., customers, products, orders, etc.)
[2]schema: A data view which is specified in a language which the DBMS software is designed to understand is called a schema.