ABSTRACT
Database design is the process of gathering data requirements for an organization, a business process, or a proposed information system, and transforming these requirements into a set of specifications that can be used to create a database. This chapter discusses several database design principles. The primary inputs to database design are the user’s views of the information as defined during the problem definition and analysis stages of the system development life cycle. Database design is the process of gathering data requirements for an organization, a business process, or a proposed information system, and transforming these requirements into a set of specifications that can be used to create a database. The simplest database structure is called a flat-file database. The files that form a relational database are best visualized as two-dimensional tables that resemble spreadsheets. The responsibility for database design often resides in a database administration group.
