Week 3 Discussion – Planning the DBLC

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The  development of a database requires thorough methodology that ensures  quality within the solution. Imagine you have been contracted to develop  a finance database that will help an organization track monthly  expenditures by departments.

• Discuss the various activities that you would have to achieve each phase, using the DBLC.
• Assess possible challenges that may exist within each phase.
• Suggest actions that one can perform in order to overcome these possible challenges.
• Be sure to respond to at least one of your classmates' posts.

reply to student below

Caitlyn Thompson         

 1:25pm Apr 23 at 1:25pm          

Hello, class!

The development of a database requires thorough methodology that  ensures quality within the solution. Using the DBLC, we can track the  organization’s monthly expenditures with a new finance database using  the following phases.

Planning:

This stage includes analyzing the current software and collecting  documentation of the business plans and goals for the new design. Create  a data model that shows the important data relationships and how the  data will be organized. Define the scope, budget, and timeline, and  create a database requirements document. This includes the description  of what data will be generated as well as how it will be generated,  along with any additional requirements. These requirements will be  gathered through interviews, surveys, and the current system analysis  (uCertify, 2).

            Some challenges to consider in the planning stage can  come from lacking documentation or requirements, which leads to  inadequate system design, resulting in rejection/underutilization of  system. To overcome this obstacle, it is imperative to take the  necessary time to ensure that all requirements are met and documented  before proceeding to the design stage.

            Designing:

            This stage involves creating the structured data design  to achieve the goals set in the planning stage. This can be done in  three stages – conceptual, logical, and physical design. The designing  stage also includes creating prototypes to test the design before  implementation. Testing with the prototype will locate and fix errors  using either white or black box texting methods, to ensure that the  design meets the necessary needs (2).

            A challenge in the design stage is, similarly to  planning, failing to meet the requirements. This can be especially  detrimental without the prototyping phase of the process. Prototyping  helps to identify issues and avoid having to redo as much, and refines  requirements for feasibility and usability.

                Implementing:

                During this phase the new design begins working. This  can be done with or without a prototype being done and includes  implementing security and converting any legacy databases. At this stage  the new design takes over and becomes a functional user interface (2).

                One challenge to consider in implementation is user  rejection; it’s important that the design has been thoroughly tested to  maintain security as well as integrity of the design to avoid the system  being rejected or unusable.

                Maintenance:

                Maintenance is the prolonged end stage that lasts  until re-design is necessary. This is when the system is routinely  tested and managed, and any necessary troubleshooting is completed.  While testing is completed throughout the process of the creating the  database, it is just as important to continue testing regularly to make  sure there are no unexpected issues (Abdullah, 1).

                A challenge of the maintenance stage to consider is  security; once the system is fully functional it is necessary to confirm  that there is no access to security breach by maintaining a strong  security system throughout the life of the database.