ABSTRACT
What does a database help you to do? It gives a logical basis for the storage of information in a consistent manner with integrity. However, storage by itself is generally an inadequate motivation to justify the effort involved in preparing, checking and inputting data into a database. It would also be expected that: (a) the data could be reordered (sorted) on various attributes so that different perspectives can be gained on it; (b) different types of data, but with some information in common, can be merged to give an amalgamation of values; (c) reports can be produced to display in an elegant format and in some sensible order the contents of all or part of a database; (d) searches can be made to derive subsets of the database based on values for particular features defined in the schema; (e) data values can be readily changed during the lifetime of a database; (f) data values should be of high integrity, that is their accuracy should be as high as is possible with machine checking.
