Q2: How are database application systems developed? A database application system consists of a database, a DBMS, and one or more database applications. A database application consists of forms, reports, queries, and possibly application programs. A database application system encompasses one or more application programs and works at a more macro level; application programs, on the other hand, focus on smaller components and work on smaller pieces of data management. The major steps in developing an application system are to interview users and develop requirements for the new system; this includes analyzing existing forms, reports, queries, and other user activities, as well as determining the need for new forms, reports, and queries. They can then use this to create a data model (logical representation of the structure of the data), which is then transformed into a database design. After that, the design is implemented in a database, which is then filled with user data. Users are especially important in the first step of the process, where incorrect, insufficient, or inaccurate user input will result in a poorly designed database that will not fill the voids of current systems.

Q5: What is the users’ role? The major role for users in the development state is in the first step; users are the final judges as to what data the database should contain and how the records in that database should be related to one another. During the data modeling stage, the structure can easily be changed; changing a relationship from 1:N to N:M is simply a matter of changing the 1:N notation to N:M. Once the database has been constructed, however, making that same change means weeks of work. All the data would need to be changed individually, as well as the application components. This illustrates how crucial it is to construct the database the correct way the first