This document provides an introduction to fundamentals of database systems. It discusses what a database is, the benefits of using a database over flat files, and the different types of users that interact with databases, including end users, support personnel, database administrators, and database designers. It also describes what a database management system (DBMS) is and its main purposes, such as providing concurrency control, data processing functions, authorization services, integrity services, and user interfaces.

1. Fundamentals of Database
Systems
By Berhanu Abebe

2. Chapter 1 - Introduction
• Computers
• Purpose of computers
• Database
• Benefits of Database
• Database Vs flat files
• Users of a Database
• DBMS
• Purposes of DBMS

3. Introduction
• Data
• Information
• Data processing
• What is data for someone may be an
information to the other and vice versa.

4. Computers
• An electronic machine that
 Accepts inputs
 Processes them
 Stores the result
 Displays the output
• The main task of a computer is to transform data
into information.
• The computer can do this by storing the data in a
database and then by querying the database you
can get an information out of data.

5. Database
• Database –
shared collection of logically related data.
Data that is organized and stored in a
computer and can be searched and
retrieved by a computer program.

6. Benefits of Database
• Data can be shared
• Concurrent access of data
• Reduced redundancy
• Quality data can be maintained – constraints,
data type specifications
• Security measures can be enforced
• Speed will be enhanced ( for searching data
and …)
• Centralized information control

7. Why not text files, Spreadsheets
• Data integrity
• Redundancy
• Outdated data
• Data size
• Retrieval
• Searching
• Filtering
• Protecting data from unauthorized use
• Protecting data from becoming corrupt

8. Database users
• The people who interact with the database.
1. End users – updating, inserting or modifying
data from the database
 naïve users – only access the database based on
their demand and access level, unaware of the
DBMS, use predefined queries
 sophisticated users – have complex requirements
and queries, know the structure of the DBMS,
engineers, scientists…
 casual users – occasional users, need different
data every time they come, use sophisticated
queries…

9. Users …
2. Support personnel - manage the database
starting from its creation.
 Database Administrator - responsible to
manage the database and the DBMS,
authorize access, determine HW and SW
resources,
 Database Designer – identifies the data to be
stored and the structure of the database.
 System Administrator – responsible for the
entire computer system of the organization.

10. DBMS
• Stands for Database Management System
• A DBMS is a software package for
providing a systematic method for
creating, updating, storing, retrieving data
in a database.
controlling data access, enforcing data
integrity, managing concurrency control,
and recovery.

11. Purposes of DBMS
• Concurrency control
• Data processing – creating ,updating,
modifying….
• Authorization service
• Integrity services
• User interfaces

12. End
?