Different types of Database Users

Database users are categorized based up on their

interaction with the database. These are seven types of
database users in DBMS.

1. Database Administrator (DBA) : Database

Administrator (DBA) is a person/team who
defines the schema and also controls the 3 levels
of database. The DBA will then create a new
account id and password for the user if he/she
need to access the database.
DBA is also responsible for providing security to
the database and he allows only the authorized
users to access/modify the data base.
DBA is responsible for the problems such as
security breaches and poor system response
time.
 DBA also monitors the recovery and
backup and provide technical support.
 The DBA has a DBA account in the DBMS
which called a system or superuser
account.
 DBA repairs damage caused due to
hardware and/or software failures.
 DBA is the one having privileges to
perform DCL (Data Control Language)
operations such as GRANT and REVOKE,
to allow/restrict a particular user from
accessing the database.
 Schema :
Schema is the overall description of the database. The basic
structure of how the data will be stored in the database is
called schema.
Schema is of three types: Logical Schema, Physical Schema
and view Schema.
1. Logical Schema – It describes the database designed
at logical level.
2. Physical Schema – It describes the database
designed at physical level.
3. View Schema – It defines the design of the database
at the view level.

Example –
Let’s say a table teacher in our database name school, the
teacher table require the name, dob, doj in their table so we
design a structure as :
Teacher table
name: String
doj: date
dob: date

2. Naive / Parametric End Users : Parametric

End Users are the unsophisticated who don’t
have any DBMS knowledge but they frequently
use the database applications in their daily life to
get the desired results. For examples, Railway’s
ticket booking users are naive users. Clerks in
any bank is a naive user because they don’t
have any DBMS knowledge but they still use the
database and perform their given task.
3. System Analyst :
System Analyst is a user who analyses the
requirements of parametric end users. They
check whether all the requirements of end users
are satisfied.

4. Sophisticated Users : Sophisticated users can

be engineers, scientists, business analyst, who
are familiar with the database. They can develop
their own database applications according to
their requirement. They don’t write the program
code but they interact the database by writing
SQL queries directly through the query
processor.

5. Database Designers : Data Base Designers are

the users who design the structure of database
which includes tables, indexes, views, triggers,
stored procedures and constraints which are
usually enforced before the database is created
or populated with data. He/she controls what
data must be stored and how the data items to
be related. It is responsibility of Database
Designers to understand the requirements of
different user groups and then create a design
which satisfies the need of all the user groups.

6. Application Programmers : Application

Programmers also referred as System Analysts
or simply Software Engineers, are the back-end
programmers who writes the code for the
application programs. They are the computer
 professionals. These programs could be written
in Programming languages such as Visual Basic,
Developer, C, FORTRAN, COBOL etc. Application
programmers design, debug, test, and maintain
set of programs called “canned transactions” for
the Naive (parametric) users in order to interact
with database.

7. Casual Users / Temporary Users : Casual

Users are the users who occasionally use/access
the database but each time when they access
the database they require the new information,
for example, Middle or higher level manager.

Types of Database Languages

1. Data Definition Language (DDL)
o DDL stands for Data Definition Language. It is
used to define database structure or pattern.
o It is used to create schema, tables, indexes,
constraints, etc. in the database.
o Using the DDL statements, you can create the
skeleton of the database.
o Data definition language is used to store the
information of metadata like the number of tables
and schemas, their names, indexes, columns in
each table, constraints, etc.

Here are some tasks that come under DDL:

o Create: It is used to create objects in the

database.
o Alter: It is used to alter the structure of the
database.
o Drop: It is used to delete objects from the
database.
o Truncate: It is used to remove all records from
a table.

These commands are used to update the database

schema that's why they come under Data definition
language.

2. Data Manipulation Language (DML)

DML stands for Data Manipulation Language. It is used
for accessing and manipulating data in a database. It
handles user requests.
Here are some tasks that come under DML:

o Insert: It is used to insert data into a table.

o Update: It is used to update existing data within a
table.
o Delete: It is used to delete all records from a
table.

3. Data Control Language (DCL)

o DCL stands for Data Control Language. It is used
to retrieve the stored or saved data.
o The DCL execution is transactional. It also has
rollback parameters.

(But in Oracle database, the execution of data

control language does not have the feature of
rolling back.)

Here are some tasks that come under DCL:

o Grant: It is used to give user access privileges to a

database.
o Revoke: It is used to take back permissions from
the user.

There are the following operations which have the

authorization of Revoke:

CONNECT, INSERT, USAGE, EXECUTE, DELETE, UPDATE

and SELECT.

4. Transaction Control Language (TCL)

TCL is used to run the changes made by the
DML statement. TCL can be grouped into a
logical transaction.
Here are some tasks that come under TCL:
o Commit: It is used to save the transaction on the
database.
o Rollback: It is used to restore the database to
original since the last Commit.

What are the characteristics of DBMS software?

1. Real-world entity

Data management systems have been designed keeping in

mind the needs of business organizations. They help
businesses manage large amounts of data efficiently. These
systems store huge volumes of data and provide easy ways to
search through them. Some examples of such applications are
Microsoft Access, Oracle, MySQL, etc.

2. Relational databases

Relational databases were first introduced in the 1970s. In this

type of database, each record contains fields called attributes.
Each attribute represents one piece of information about a
particular object.

For example:

If you want to keep track of your personal details then you will
need three different attributes namely name, address, phone
number. All of these attributes together form a single row in a
table. This means that every time we add new information into
our database, we must insert multiple rows into the same
table.
If we do not follow this rule then we may end up having
duplicate entries in our database. So relational databases
allow us to organize data using relations between objects.

3. Structured query language

Structured Query Language was developed in the 1980s. It

provides a way to write queries against a database. Queries
written in SQL are known as structured queries because they
use predefined structures to define relationships among
entities.

An example would be:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department 'IT'. Here,

the word ‘*’ stands for all columns from the employee table.
We can also specify only certain columns while selecting other
ones.

Another important feature of SQL is its ability to combine two

statements into one statement.

4. Isolation of data and application

A database system is not the same thing as its data. A

database works and organizes, whereas data is said to be
passive. Metadata, which is data about data, is stored by the
database management system.

Also, in a traditional file management system, the structure of

data files is defined in the application programs so the user
had to change everything. But in DBMS, the structure of data
files is not stored in the program but it is stored in the system
catalogue. Internal improvement of data efficiency or any
changes in the data doesn't have an effect on application
software with the help of this- that is, it offers insulation
between Data and Program.

5. ACID properties

DBMS adheres to the concepts

of Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability, or ACID
Properties. These concepts are applied to transactions, which
operate and play around with data in a database. In multi-
transactional environments, ACID properties help the database
stay healthy in case of failure.

Any changes that occur in any particular

transaction will not be seen by other
transactions until the change is not
committed in the memory.
Example: If two operations are concurrently
running on two different accounts, then the
value of both accounts should not get
affected. The value should remain
persistent.

6. Multiuser and concurrent access

Data can be accessed and manipulated in parallel with the

help of the DBMS. Users are unaware of the restrictions on
transactions when handling the same data item.
DBMS offers multiple views for various clients. A client who is
in the Sales division will have an alternate perspective on the
database than an individual working in the Production office.
This component empowers the clients to have a concentrated
perspective on the database as indicated by their
prerequisites.

7. Object oriented programming

Object oriented programming is another technique used to

design programs. Objects contain properties and methods.
Properties represent variables or constants which hold values.
Methods are procedures that operate on those properties. The
main advantage of OOP over procedural programming is that it
allows developers to create reusable components by
encapsulating their functionality within classes. Classes are
collections of related code and data elements. Developers can
reuse existing classes instead of writing similar pieces of code
again and again.

8. Transactional processing

Transactions are an essential part of any application.

Transactions ensure consistency across multiple users
accessing the system at the same time. When transactions fail
due to errors, the entire transaction should roll back so that no
changes made during the failed operation remain permanent.
Transaction processing ensures that when there is a problem,
everything remains consistent.

9. Data mining

Data mining refers to techniques used to analyse vast

quantities of unstructured data. There are many types of data
mining algorithms like classification, clustering, association
rules, regression analysis, decision trees, neural networks,
genetic algorithms, etc.

 Classification involves grouping records based on some

common characteristics.
 Clustering groups records with similar features under one
category.
 Association rules look for patterns in sets of items and
suggest possible combinations of items that occur
frequently together.
 Decision tree classifies records according to various
factors.
 The neural network uses artificial intelligence to learn how
to classify records.
 The genetic algorithm helps find optimal solutions to
problems.
10. Distributed database systems

Distributed databases store information across several

computers connected through a computer network. This type of
architecture makes it easy to add more servers without having
to rebuild the whole software infrastructure. A distributed
database has three parts: client applications, server
applications, and shared storage. Client applications access
the shared storage using standard protocols such as TCP/IP.
Server applications provide services to clients. Shared storage
provides persistent storage space where all the data resides.
In addition, each node stores metadata about other nodes in
the cluster.

11. Less redundancy and consistency

The DBMS follows the rules of normalization, which splits a

relation when there is more than one attribute with the same
value. Normalization is a method of reducing data redundancy.
Every relation in a database is consistent, that's the state of
consistency. Attempts to leave databases in different states
can be detected with methods and techniques. A database
management system can give greater consistency than earlier
forms of data storage.

12. Data security and integrity

DBMS gives security to the information put away in this is on

the grounds that all clients have different rights to access the
database. A portion of the client can get to the entire
information in the database while others can get to a small
segment of the database.

For instance, a fluid mechanics instructor can only access

those documents that are identified with his subject, however,
the HOD of the division can get to records of all subjects that
are identified with their department.

One of the main attributes of a database management system

(DBMS)-integrity guarantees the quality and dependability of
the database framework. It protects from unapproved access to
the database and makes it safer. It allows only consistent and
exact information into the database.

Data Abstraction in DBMS

Overview

Data abstraction is the method of hiding the

unimportant details that are present in the database
from the end users to make the accessing of data easy
and secure.
Scope

In this article on Data Abstraction, we will look at the

following points:
 What data abstraction is and how it is related to
our daily lives.
 The different layers of data abstraction in DBMS.

Introduction

Data abstraction is present in our daily lives. Let us

take a small example. Say, someone, asks you to
switch on the fans in a room. All you will need to do is
simply walk to the switchboard and turn on the
switch for the fan, that’s it! Do you need to know
where the electricity is coming from, how the poles of
the switch are connected, or exactly what the internal
working of a fan is? The answer to all this is NO! That
is what data abstraction is, all these background
details are hidden from you inside the switchboard!
All the databases have complex data structures which
are, in fact, of no use to an end user. Thus, these
internal irrelevant details are hidden from the user,
making the accessing of data simple and increasing
the security of the data as well. This is what Data
Abstraction is.
Levels of Data Abstraction in DBMS

The data abstraction in DBMS is implemented

in 3 layers:
 Physical or Internal Level
 Logical or Conceptual Level
 View or External Level
The following diagram will give you a clear view of
how the implementation is done.
Starting from the very bottom, we have the physical
or internal layer, then we have the middle layer,
the logical or conceptual layer, and finally, we have
the view or external layer.
Let us discuss each of these three layers in detail.
Physical Level or Internal Level

This is the layer of data abstraction where the raw

data is physically stored as files. This layer contains all
the complex data structures and the data accessing
methods defined. The physical layer is the lowest
level of data abstraction in a DBMS. It is the database
administrator who decides how the data is to be
stored in these physical hard drives.
Example:
When we access data we may get a single data or a
table of data. Moreover, by the term "relational
database" we visualize a table of rows and columns.
But at a physical level, these tables are stored in hard
drives which are located at a very secure data centre.

Logical Level or Conceptual Level

After taking the raw data from the physical or internal

level, the structure of the data is defined at the logical
or conceptual level. This is like a blueprint of the raw
data. This layer does not have any information about
how the end user will view the data.
Example:
We have data of a few products like product id,
product name, and manufacturing date, and we have
another set of data of customers containing customer
id, customer name, and customer address. Now, we
need to frame this data in proper tables of products
and customers. After that, we can even frame a join to
show which product has been ordered by which
customer.
View Level or External Level

This is what an end-user gets to see. He/she does not

get the entire database, but depending on the queries
made from the front-end the user gets to see the data.
It may be a single data from the entire database or a
collection of data in tabular format. Multiple views of
the same data are available to the user, the
representation can be a table, a graph, or a pie chart.
View Level is the highest level of data abstraction in
DBMS.
Example:
Concerning the example in the logical level section,
let us say a customer wants to view the order history,
he gets to see only the orders he had made in the
past. Now, let us say a shop owner needs to see the
products that are on the order list. He gets to see a
table containing all the info about the products and
the customers to whom they need to be delivered.
Conclusion

 Data abstraction in DBMS means hiding

unnecessary background details from the end
user to make the accessing of data easy and
secure.
 In DBMS, there are 3 levels of data abstraction:
o Physical Level or Internal Level: This is the

layer where the raw data is stored in file

format on physical hard drives.
o Logical Level or Conceptual Level: In this

layer, the raw data is taken from the physical

 layer and organized in a proper structure, like
in tabular format.
o View Level or External Level: At this level,
the end users get the data depending on the
queries. The same data can be viewed in
multiple ways, like tables, graphs, or pie
charts.
Physical and Logical Data
Independence

1. Physical Data Independence :

Physical Data Independence is defined as
the ability to make changes in the structure
of the lowest level of the Database
Management System (DBMS) without
affecting the higher-level schemas. Hence,
modification in the Physical level should not
result in any changes in the Logical or View
levels.
Note –
There are 3 levels in the schema
architecture of DBMS: Physical level, Logical
level, and View level (arranged from the
lowest to highest level).
Example –
Changes in the lowest level (physical level)
are: creating a new file, storing the new files
in the system, creating a new index, etc.
Instances of why we may want to do any
sort of Data modification at the physical
level- We may want to alter or change the
data at the physical level. This is because
we may want to add or remove files and
indexes to enhance the performance of the
database system and make it faster.
Hence, in this way, Physical Data
Independence enables us to do
Performance Tuning. Ideally, when we
change the physical level, we would not
want to alter the logical and view level.
Logical Data Independence
Logical Data Independence is defined as the
ability to make changes in the structure of
the middle level of the Database
Management System (DBMS) without
affecting the highest-level schema or
application programs. Hence, modification in
the logical level should not result in any
changes in the view levels or application
programs.
Example –
Changes in the middle level (logical level)
are: adding new attributes to a relation,
deleting existing attributes of the relation,
etc. Ideally, we would not want to change
any application or programs that do not
require to use of the modified attribute.

Difference between Physical and

Logical Data Independence :
Physical Data Logical Data
Independence Independence

It mainly concerned
It mainly concern about about the structure or
how the data is stored the changing data
into the system. definition.

It is difficult to retrieve
because the data is
mainly dependent on the
It is easy to retrieve. logical structure of data.

As compared to the
As compared to the physical independence it
logical independence it is is not easy to achieve
easy to achieve physical logical data
data independence. independence.

Any change at the

physical level, does not The change in the logical
require to change at the level requires a change at
application level. the application level.

The modifications made The modifications made

Physical Data Logical Data
Independence Independence

at the logical level is

at the internal level may significant whenever the
or may not be needed to logical structure of the
improve the performance database is to be
of the structure. changed.

It is concerned with the It is concerned with the

internal schema. conceptual schema.

Example: Change in
compression techniques Example: Add/Modify or
and storage devices etc. Delete a new attribute.

Data Models in DBMS

Introduction to Types of Data Model

For the creation of any database, the data

model is considered a logical structure for

creating a database. The data model

includes entities, attributes, constraints,

relationships, etc. The data models are used

to represent the data and how it is stored in

the database, how data is accessible and

updated in the database management

system. There are four types of data

models: Hierarchical model, Network

model, Entity-relationship model, Relational

model. These models have further

categories which are used according to a

different use case.

Different Types of Data Models

There are 4 different types of data models:
1. Hierarchical Model
In this type of data model, the data is

organized into a tree-like structure that has

a single root and the data is linked to the

root. In this model, the main hierarchy

begins from the root and it expands like a

tree that has child nodes and further

expands in the same manner. In this model

the child node has one single parent node

but one parent can have multiple child

nodes. As the data is stored like tree

structure in this data model when data is

retrieved the whole tree is traversed from

the root node. The hierarchical data model

contains a one-to-many relationship

between various types of data. The data is

stored in the form of a record and is

connected through links.

For Example- there is an organization that

has a requirement to store the information

of its employees. The table contains the

following attributes: employee name,

employee code, department name, and last

name. And the organization provides a

computer for each employee. So there is a

requirement for storing information on a

computer which is stored in a separate

table. The computer table store employee

code, serial number, and type. According to

the hierarchical data model, the employee

table can be considered as a parent table

and a computer table can be considered as

a child node.

2. Network model
The network model is a type of database

model which is designed based on a flexible

approach for representing objects and the

relationship exist among objects. The

schema is very important in the network

data model which can be represented in the

form of a graph where a relationship is

represented using edges and the nodes are

used to represent objects. The basic

difference between the hierarchical model

and network model is that data is

represented in the form of hierarchy in a

hierarchical data model whereas in network

model the data is represented in the form of

a graph. One of the advantages of a network

model is that the basic connections are also

represented in this data model. There are

different types of relationship can exist in

this data model like one to one, many to

many, etc. The data access becomes simple

to compare to other data model like the

hierarchical model. The parent node and

child node are always connected as there is

always a relationship exist among parent-

child node. And the data is not dependent

on the other node. One of the key

drawbacks of this model is that this system

is not adaptive toward changes. It means

when there is a requirement of some

modification of system it requires to change

the whole system which takes a lot of effort.

And to maintain data is difficult to part in

this model as every record is connected via

some pointers which makes it difficult to

maintain and make the system complex.

3. E-R model
The ER model is used to describe the

database structure using the entity-

relationship diagram. The E-R model is just

like the blueprint of a database which is

used to implement the database. In the

entity set, the relationship exists which can

be shown using the ER diagram. The entity

set consists of a similar type of entities that

consist of attributes.

The components of the ER model are

relationship set and entity set and

attributes. The entity is the component of

data which is represented as a rectangle in

the ER diagram. For example, there are two

entities course and student and there exist

one to many relationships as there can be

more than one student who can select

course.
What is ER Diagram?
ER Diagram stands for Entity Relationship Diagram,
also known as ERD is a diagram that displays the
relationship of entity sets stored in a database. In
other words, ER diagrams help to explain the logical
structure of databases. ER diagrams are created
based on three basic concepts: entities, attributes
and relationships.
ER Diagrams contain different symbols that use
rectangles to represent entities, ovals to define
attributes and diamond shapes to represent
relationships.

Following are the main components and its symbols in ER Diagrams:

 Rectangles: This Entity Relationship Diagram symbol represents entity

types
 Ellipses : Symbol represent attributes
 Diamonds: This symbol represents relationship types
  Lines: It links attributes to entity types and entity types with other
relationship types
 Primary key: attributes are underlined
 Double Ellipses: Represent multi-valued attributes

ER Diagram Symbols

Components of the ER Diagram

This model is based on three basic concepts:

 Entities
 Attributes
 Relationships
WHAT IS ENTITY?
A real-world thing either living or non-living that is
easily recognizable and nonrecognizable. It is
anything in the enterprise that is to be represented in
our database. It may be a physical thing or simply a
fact about the enterprise or an event that happens in
the real world.
An entity can be place, person, object, event or a
concept, which stores data in the database. The
characteristics of entities are must have an attribute,
and a unique key. Every entity is made up of some
‘attributes’ which represent that entity.
Examples of entities:
 Person: Employee, Student, Patient
 Place: Store, Building
 Object: Machine, product, and Car
 Event: Sale, Registration, Renewal
 Concept: Account, Course

Relationship
Relationship is nothing but an association among two or more entities. E.g.,
Tom works in the Chemistry department.

Entities take part in relationships. We can often identify relationships with verbs
or verb phrases.

For example:

 You are attending this lecture

 I am giving the lecture
 Just loke entities, we can classify relationships according to relationship-
types:
 A student attends a lecture
 A lecturer is giving a lecture.

Weak Entities
A weak entity is a type of entity which doesn’t have its key attribute. It can be
identified uniquely by considering the primary key of another entity. For that,
weak entity sets need to have participation.
In above ER Diagram examples, “Trans No” is a discriminator within a group of
transactions in an ATM.

Let’s learn more about a weak entity by comparing it with a Strong Entity

Strong Entity Set Weak Entity Set

It does not have enough attributes

Strong entity set always has a primary key.
to build a primary key.

It is represented by a double
It is represented by a rectangle symbol.
rectangle symbol.

It contains a Partial Key which is

It contains a Primary key represented by the underline
represented by a dashed underline
symbol.
symbol.

The member of a strong entity set is called as The member of a weak entity set
dominant entity set. called as a subordinate entity set.

In a weak entity set, it is a

Primary Key is one of its attributes which helps to
combination of primary key and
identify its member.
partial key of the strong entity set.

The relationship between one strong

In the ER diagram the relationship between two strong
and a weak entity set shown by using
entity set shown by using a diamond symbol.
the double diamond symbol.
Attributes
It is a single-valued property of either an entity-type or a relationship-type.

For example, a lecture might have attributes: time, date, duration, place, etc.

An attribute in ER Diagram examples, is represented by an Ellipse

Types of Attributes Description

Simple attributes can’t be divided any further. For example,

Simple attribute
a student’s contact number. It is also called an atomic value.

It is possible to break down composite attribute. For example,

Composite attribute a student’s full name may be further divided into first name,
second name, and last name.

This type of attribute does not include in the physical database.

However, their values are derived from other attributes present
Derived attribute
in the database. For example, age should not be stored directly.
Instead, it should be derived from the DOB of that employee.

Multivalued attribute Multivalued attributes can have more than one values.
For example, a student can have more than one mobile number,
 email address, etc.

4. Relational model
In this data model, the data tables are used

to collect a group of elements into the

relations. In this model, the relationships

and data are represented using interrelated

tables. And in the table, there are multiple

rows and multiple columns in which column

represents the attribute of the entity and

the rows are used to represent records. In

this data model there exist different primary

key which issued to distinguish each record

in the table. And for retrieving the data

elements the SQL (Structured Query

Language) is used. For using the relational

data model the primary key issued as the

fundamental tool. And for each entry in the

data set, it needs to be unique. The data

table should not contain any type of

inconsistency as it can create a problem at

the time of data retrieval. The other problem

with the relational data model is data

duplicacy, incomplete data and

inappropriate links used to connect data.

Conclusion
For representing the database there is a

different type of data models which are used

for representing database structure. Each

data model has its advantage and

disadvantage and the use of a data model is

dependent on the use cases.