Assignment 04
Database
Systems
By: Mohammad Hamid Raza
B22F1369AI002
To:
Date: May 30th, 2024
Task No. 01
Objective: To address key issues in data management, develop a formal code of
ethics for an IT organization, understand the role of a DBA in backup and recovery,
and explore normalization and functional dependencies in databases.
- Question No: 01
Answer:
Major issues of data management I would concerned with are:
Figure 1(Yandex Images)
1. Data Silos and Disorganization:
o Pharmaceutical companies generate vast amounts of data across various departments.
o Siloed data hinders collaboration and efficiency.
o Ensuring well-organized, interconnected data is crucial.
2. Interoperability and Proprietary Formats:
o Analytical data (e.g., chemical and biological data) is often stored in proprietary formats.
o Incompatibility between formats makes data exchange difficult.
o Abstraction into more flexible formats (e.g., Excel) introduces manual handling risks.
3. Data Volume and Computational Demands:
o Large datasets in genomics, proteomics, and clinical trials require robust infrastructure.
o Balancing storage, computation, and security is essential.
4. AI and ML Requirements:
o AI and ML play a significant role in drug discovery.
o High-quality, labeled training data is crucial.
o Ensuring data quality and consistency is essential.
5. Compliance and Global Operations:
o Strict regulations (e.g., Good Manufacturing Practices) must be followed.
o Managing multilingual data for global operations is critical.
- Question No: 02
Answer:
As a student stepping into the role of the head of IT, tasked with creating a formal code of ethics, here are the
steps I would take to research and develop an effective code of ethics for the organization:
1. Establish Clear Goals:
o Purpose: Determine the purpose of the code of ethics—whether it’s to guide behavior, set
standards, or inspire alignment with company values.
o Measurement: Set broad goals for the code and decide how success will be measured.
2. Gain Leadership Buy-In:
o Seek approval and commitment from senior leadership. Their support is crucial for allocating
resources and building an effective team to draft the code.
3. Conduct Comprehensive Research:
o Stakeholder Input: Gather information from employees, managers, legal experts, and industry
professionals through interviews and discussions.
o Review Past Ethical Concerns: Examine any ethical issues that have impacted the organization
in the past.
4. Draft the Code of Ethics:
o Task Force Collaboration: Collaborate with a dedicated task force, including stakeholders, to
draft the code.
o Language and Tone: Use simple language and ensure a sensitive yet effective tone.
o Legal Review: Have the code reviewed by an employment lawyer for legal compliance.
5. Effective Communication:
o Share with the Organization: Communicate the finalized code to employees and stakeholders.
o Regular Updates: Formalize the review process to keep the code relevant over time.
- Question No: 03
Answer:
Yes, it is correct to say that maintaining database consistency and availability requires more
than just DBMS functionalities. While a Database Management System (DBMS) provides tools
and features for managing data, the role of a Database Administrator (DBA) is crucial for
ensuring these goals are met effectively.
Role of the DBA in Database Backup and Recovery:
Backup Planning:
Design backup strategies tailored to the organization's needs.
Implementation:
Schedule and manage regular backups to ensure data safety.
Monitoring and Testing:
Monitor backups for successful completion and test recovery procedures regularly.
Recovery Execution:
Develop and execute detailed recovery plans to restore data quickly after failures.
Ensuring Integrity:
Use DBMS tools and additional methods to maintain data integrity and handle concurrency,
replication, and failovers.
- Question No: 04
Answer:
Normalization is a process of reducing the redundancies of data in the database, that is,
normalization reduces the duplication of data.
Basic Issues to be Aware of Before Normalizing:
1. Data Redundancy vs. Integrity:
Aim to reduce redundancy without compromising data integrity.
2. Performance Impact:
Consider that high normalization may slow down performance due to complex joins.
3. Complexity:
Avoid making the database schema overly complex and difficult to manage.
4. Application Needs:
Balance normalization with the specific needs of the application, sometimes requiring
denormalization for performance.
5. Data Retrieval Patterns:
Ensure normalization aligns with efficient data retrieval based on common query patterns.
6. Maintenance and Scalability:
Plan for easy maintenance and scalability of the database.
7. Functional Dependencies:
Identify and organize functional dependencies to ensure logical schema design.
8. Business Rules:
Ensure normalization respects and enforces business rules and constraints.
- Question No: 05
Answer:
(a) Identify the functional dependencies represented by the data shown in the form in Figure
Patient No → Full Name
Ward No → Ward Name
Drug No → Name, Description, Dosage, Method of Admin
Patient No, Drug No, Start Date → Units per Day, Finish date
The functional dependencies for Bed No are unclear. If Bed No was a unique number for the entire hospital,
then could say that Bed No→ Ward No. However, from further examination of the requirements
specification, we can observe that Bed No is to do with the allocation of patients on the waiting list to beds.
(b) Describe and illustrate the process of normalizing the data shown in Figure to first (1NF), second
(2NF), third (3NF)
First Normal Form
Patient No, Drug No, Start Date, Full Name, Ward No, Ward Name, Bed No, Name, Description,
Dosage, Method of Admin, Units per Day, Finish Date
Second Normal Form
Patient No, Drug No, Start Date, Ward No, Ward Name, Bed No, Units per Day, Finish Date
Drug No, Name, Description, Dosage, Method of Admin
Patient No, Full Name
Third Normal Form
Patient No, Drug No, Start Date, Ward No, Bed No, Units per Day, Finish Date
Drug No, Name, Description, Dosage, Method of Admin
Patient No, Full Name
Ward No, Ward Name
(c) Identify the primary, alternate, and foreign keys in your 3NF relations.
Patient No(FK), Drug No(FK), Start Date, Ward No(FK), Bed No, Units per Day, Finish Date
Drug No, Name, Description, Dosage, Method of Admin
Patient No, Full Name
Ward No, Ward Name
Primary keys underlined.
Conclusion:
In our 4th Assignment, I identified major data management issues, outlined steps to create
a code of ethics, and emphasized the DBA's critical role in backup and recovery. I discussed
normalization and its challenges, illustrated normalizing a dataset to 3NF, and identified
primary, alternate, and foreign keys, enhancing my understanding of database design and
integrity.
