Accounting

Information
Systems
9th Edition
Marshall B. Romney
Paul John Steinbart

2003 Prentice Hall Business Publishing,

Accounting Information Systems, 9/e, Romney/Steinbart

4-1

Relational Databases
Chapter 4

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Learning Objectives
1.

2.

3.

4.

Explain the difference between database

and file-based legacy systems.
Describe what a relational database is and
how it organizes data.
Explain the difference between logical and
physical views of a database.
Create a set of well-structured tables to
properly store data in a relational
database.
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Introduction
Ashton Fleming, the accountant for
S&S, believes that the best way to
provide Susan Gonzalez and Scott
Parry with easy access to the
information they need to run their
business is to build S&Ss new AIS as
a database system.

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Introduction
Ashton decides to prepare a brief
report for them addressing the
following questions:
What is a database system?
What is a relational database system?
How do you design a relational
database?

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Introduction
This chapter explains what a
database is and how it differs from a
file-oriented system.
It also describes the structure of a
relational database system.
The chapter concludes by discussing
the basic steps involved in designing
a database.

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Learning Objective 1

Explain the difference between

database and file-based legacy
systems.

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Types of Files

Two basic types of files are used to

store data.
The master file, which is conceptually
similar to a ledger in a manual
system.
The transaction file, which is
conceptually similar to a journal in a
manual system.
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File Approach

For many years, companies created new

files and programs each time an information
need arose.
This proliferation of master files created
problems:
Often the same data was stored in two or
more separate files.
The specific data values stored in the
different files were not always consistent.
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File-Oriented Approach
File 1
Fact A
Fact B
Fact C

Sales
Program

File 2
Fact B
Fact D
Fact E

Shipping
Program

File 3
Fact A
Fact G
Fact E

Billing
Program
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Databases

The database approach views data as an

organizational resource that should be used
by, and managed for, the entire organization,
not just the originating department or
function.
Its focus is data integration and data sharing.
Integration is achieved by combining master
files into larger pools of data that can be
accessed by many application programs.

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Databases
Database management system
(DBMS) is the program that manages
and controls access to the database.
Database system is the combination
of the database, the DBMS, and the
application program that uses the
database.
Database administrator (DBA) is the
person responsible for the database.

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Database Approach
Database

Sales Program

Fact A
Fact B
Fact C

Database
management
system

Shipping
Program

Fact D
Billing
Program

Fact E

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Learning Objective 2

Describe what a relational

database is and how it
organizes data.

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Relational Databases
A data model is an abstract
representation of the contents of a
database.
The relational data model represents
everything in the database as being
stored in the form of tables.
Technically, these tables are called
relations.

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Relational Databases

Each row in a relation, called a tuple,

contains data about a specific
occurrence of the type of entity
represented by that table.

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Learning Objective 3

Explain the difference between logical

and physical views of a database.

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Logical and Physical

Views of Data
A major advantage of database
systems over file-oriented systems is
that the database systems separate
the logical and physical view of data.
What is the logical view?

It

is how the user or programmer

conceptually organizes and
understands the data.
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Logical and Physical

Views of Data

What is the physical view?

It

refers to how and where the data

are physically arranged and stored on
disk, tape, CD-ROM, or other media.

The DBMS controls the database so

that users can access, query, or
update it without reference to how or
where the data are physically stored.
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Logical and Physical

Views of Data
Logical View User A
Past Due Accounts
Name Balance Days
Jackson 2145
Houston 1595

DBMS

Logical View User B

October Sales by Region

48
65

Operating
system
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Logical and Physical

Views of Data
Program-data independence is
the separation of the logical and
physical views of data.

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Schemas
A schema describes the logical
structure of a database.
There are three levels of schemas:

1
2
3

Conceptual-level schema
External-level schema
Internal-level schema

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Schemas
The conceptual-level schema is an
organization-wide view of the entire
database.
The external-level schema consists of
a set of individual user views of
portions of the database, also referred
to as a subschema.
The internal-level schema provides a
low-level view of the database.

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Schemas
Subschema A
Jackson 210
Houston 100

Subschema B
r

Subschema C
r
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxx

Mapping external level views to conceptual level schema

Inventory

Sales

Customer

Cash receipt
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Schemas
Inventory

Sales

Customer

Cash receipt
Mapping conceptual level facts to internal level descriptions

Inventory Record
Item number integer (5), non-null, index =
itemx Description character (15)
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The Data Dictionary

The data dictionary contains
information about the structure of the
database.
For each data element stored in the
database, such as the customer
number, there is a corresponding
record in the data dictionary
describing it.

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The Data Dictionary

The data dictionary is often one of the
first applications of a newly
implemented database system.
What are some inputs to the data
dictionary?

records of any new or deleted data

elements
changes in names, descriptions, or
uses of existing data elements
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The Data Dictionary

What are some outputs of the data

dictionary?

reports useful to programmers, database

designers, and users of the information
system

What are some sample reports?

lists of programs in which a data item is

used
lists of all synonyms for the data elements
in a particular file
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DBMS Languages

Every DBMS must provide a means of

performing the three basic functions:
1
2
3

Creating the database

Changing the database
Querying the database

The sets of commands used to perform

these functions are referred to as the
data definition, data manipulation, and
data query languages.
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DDL Language

The data definition language (DDL) is

used to...

build the data dictionary.

initialize or create the database.
describe the logical views for each
individual user or programmer.
specify any limitations or constraints
on security imposed on database
record or fields.
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DML Language
The data manipulation language
(DML) is used for data maintenance.
What does it include?

updating portions of the database

inserting portions of the database
deleting portions of the database

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DQL Language
The data query language (DQL) is
used to interrogate the database.
The DQL retrieves, sorts, orders, and
presents subsets of the database in
response to user queries.

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Learning Objective 4

Create a set of well-structured tables

to properly store data in a relational
database.

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Basic Requirements of the

Relational Data Model
1.

2.
3.

4.

Each column in a row must be single

valued.
Primary keys cannot be null.
Foreign keys, if not null, must have values
that correspond to the value of a primary
key in an other relation.
All non-key attributes in a table should
describe a characteristic about the object
identified by the primary key.
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Anomalies That May Occur in

Non-Normalized Relational
Tables

Update Anomaly: When changes

(updates) to data values are not
correctly recorded.
Instead

of having to update once,

each record in the single table has to
be updated individually in order to
avoid inconsistencies in the database.
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Anomalies That May Occur in

Non-Normalized Relational
Tables

Insert Anomaly: There is no way to

store information about one entity in
the database without it being
associated with another entity
In

the text, we would not be able to

store information on new customers
without their being associated with
transactions first!
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Anomalies That May Occur in

Non-Normalized Relational Tables

Delete Anomaly: Unintended results

arising from deleting a row of data
pertaining to one entity and resulting in
the deletion of data regarding another
entity as well.
In

the text, if a particular Inventory item were

discontinued and hence removed from the
database table, we would lose information
on the customer associated with that
inventory item as well.
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Approaches to
Database Design

Normalization
Starts

with the assumption that all data is

initially stored in a large non-normalized
table.
This table is then decomposed using a set of
normalization rules to create a set of tables
in the Third Normal Form.

Semantic Data Modeling

The

database designer uses his/her

knowledge about the business structure to
create a set of relational tables.
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Database Systems and the

Future of Accounting
Database systems have the potential
to significantly alter the nature of
external reporting.
Perhaps the most significant effect of
database systems will be in the way
that accounting information is used in
decision making.

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End of Chapter 4

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