Data Modelling & Microsoft Access Basics

Yulin Fang

February 9th, 2005

• What is Access

• Examples of Databases

• Using Access as a Tool for Business

• Analyze Business Situation

• Data Modeling

• Create Database

• Develop Applications

• Create the First Database!

• Additional Resources

Agenda

Ivey Business SchoolAccess Tutorial, YF2

Introduction – What is Access?

•Access is the most well-known desktop DBMS! Learn Access before approaching any of the databases below

•Examples of industrial-strength databases that are widely used: •Oracle•DB2•SQL Server•Informix•MySQL

•Why not Excel •Excel is great for table making, calculating, and reporting on a limited set of data; •Excel doesn’t work well when you need to view a huge amount of data from different angles; However, Excel does have a very “basic version” of Access Database – Pivot table. But that is all Excel can do that is anywhere closer to Access•More importantly, Excel cannot eliminate redundancy, enforce data integrity

A database management system, a program that facilitates the storage and retrieval of structured information on a computer’s hard drive.

Ivey Business SchoolAccess Tutorial, YF3

Examples of Database Applications In Reality

• On your computer– Outlook

• In your community– eZone (Account Information, Course Information, Exam Information)– Online library information

• In the business world– ERP (e.g., SAP, PeopleSoft)– SABRE (e.g., air ticketing system) – E-commerce (e.g., www.eBay.com; www.expedia.com )

• …. Nearly anything on the web where you find a text box or drop-down list to fill in

Database applications are everywhere …

Ivey Business SchoolAccess Tutorial, YF4

How to Apply Database to Solve Business Problems

• What are the business needs?

• What information is required?

• Where to find these information in the business situation?

Analyze business situation

Design conceptual model

Design and Create Database

Develop Applications

• Specify relevant entities and relationships between the entities

• Use Entity-Relationship modeling techniques to design a conceptual model

• Create tables• Define primary key• Feed in data• Establish

relationships between tables

• Develop queries• Develop forms• Develop reports• Develop web-pages

Pencil and Paper Using Access (or other dbs)

Ivey Business SchoolAccess Tutorial, YF5

Conceptual Model Design - The Most Critical Phase

Client/project name© Accenture 2001 3

How to Apply Database to Solve Business Problems

• What are the business needs?

• What information is required?

• Where to find these information in the business situation?

Analyze business situation

Design conceptual model

Design and Create Database

Develop Applications

• Specify relevant entities and relationships between the entities

• Use Entity-Relationship modeling techniques to design a conceptual model

• Create tables

• Define primary key

• Feed in data

• Establish relationships between tables

• Develop queries

• Develop forms

• Develop reports

• Develop web-pages

Pencil and Paper Using Access (or other dbs)

… One thing I'd emphasize [with my dear students] is that many people mistakenly begin making a database by creating tables and fields without a clear plan. This is fine in the spreadsheet world, but a high quality database requires careful planning up front, and that's why data modeling is such a critical aspect of database development….. (Neufeld, 2005)

Ivey Business SchoolAccess Tutorial, YF6

Analyze Business Situation

• You are an internal budget analyst in a university• Professors share a number of budget pools

(e.g., text books, phone calls, conference expense, other business traveling)

• Your supervisor wants you to keep track of:– Which professors have claimed what expenses?– How much have they spent?– How a particular budget pool is used?

• Other examples: – Consultants work on projects; Students take classes

• What information should be captured? • Professor• Budget

• Where to find these information? • HR• Finance

Business needs

Information needs

Ivey Business SchoolAccess Tutorial, YF7

Conceptual Model Design – ER Modeling

• Entity: Real-world object distinguishable from other objects. An entity is described (in DB) using a set of attributes.

• Entity Set: A collection of similar entities. E.g., all employees– All entities in an entity set have the same set of attributes

– Each entity set has a key attribute

• Relationship: Association among two or more entities.

1-to-1 1-to-Many Many-to-Many

• Three types of relationships …

Ivey Business SchoolAccess Tutorial, YF8

Employees

EIDFirst

NameLast Name

Budget Code

BID Name Budget

Spend

WhenHow much

What

Conceptual Model Design – ER Modeling

Employee

•ID•First Name•Last Name•Title•Hire Date

•…

Budget Code

•ID•Description•Total Budget

•…

Expenditure

•Who

•When

•How much

•What•…

E-R Model

Database View

Ivey Business SchoolAccess Tutorial, YF9

Design and Create Database

- Tables: the main place where data is stored. They work very much like a spreadsheet.

- Queries: filtered versions of a table of data. They are used for organizing data by sorting or only including records with a certain value.

- Forms: a way to make entering and searching for data more straightforward.

- Reports: a good way to present data for printing, emailing, or onscreen presentations.

- Data Access Pages to export data in a form-like setup. This is commonly used to show your data in a web page.

- Macros: a way to encode your database to automate certain tasks. For example, a macro could print out a copy of a report every time it is opened.

- Modules are an interface between the Visual Basic coding language and your database. Modules are most often used by database administration

In Access, you can create Tables, Queries, Forms, Reports, Data Access Pages, Macros, and Modules. Table is where data is stored

Ivey Business SchoolAccess Tutorial, YF10

Create a new table in an Access database

1. Create and save a new database

2. Create a table in design view

3. Specify fields

4. Specify data types

5. Enter new data

Design and Create Database

Ivey Business SchoolAccess Tutorial, YF11

Design and Create Database

• Now get hands dirty with Access

Msaccess.exe

Ivey Business SchoolAccess Tutorial, YF12

Additional Resources

• Conceptual design using Entity-Relationship Modeling

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~dbbook/openAccess/firstEdition/slides/pdfslides/mod5l1-2.pdf

• A comprehensive guide teaching you how to build a database for business transactions using Access

http://mis.bus.sfu.ca/tutorials/MSAccess/tutorials_main.asp

• A quick start on how to use Access

http://www.bcschools.net/staff/AccessHelp.htm

• An introduction to Database Management Systems

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~dbbook/openAccess/thirdEdition/slides/slides3ed.html