User needs is a big consideration when we think about data and it\'s presentatio

Question

User needs is a big consideration when we think about data and it's presentation! Class, when we first started thinking about our conceptual and physical database design, we already had to have had at least "some" idea of what the users were going to want to get OUT of the database, didn't we?

You should have an idea of your output before designing the input.


Do you all agree? Why or why not? Do you remember what the authors said on this "which comes first" question?


It is very important to involve the "particular departments" (the users) of a company as well. What are some ideas for how we could do that.... what approach would you take?

Explanation / Answer

I completeley agree that while designing the conseptual and physical database ,users should have some idea about the output requirements of the database and its users. As per the output idea , we should start taking input of various departments and stakeholders and bring further clarity about the design and implementation of the database. Without the idea of output requirements we can never be sure what kind of data we want to capture in our database and how we want to present it for the users.Without a clearly defined strategy, it is going to be never ending task for the design and implementation team.

For example - If we want to have a database of the apparels customers of our mall , we should try to capture their Name, Age , income category , location , Size of the clothes they are buying, Colour, Price etc in case this data has to be used for advertisement department to design the advertisements and promotional strategy and finance department in order to gauge the profitability as per the different brands. In order to ingage the perticular departments, we have to explain the advantages that department is going to get by getting ingaged in the database design and implementation. Some representatives of each department have to be the part of database design and implementation. Also, ingaging various departments have other advantages too-

1) It reduces the barrier from other departments to use the databse

2) The representatives themselves can train their department members and be the change agent

3) It reduces training cost

4) It increases the effectiveness of database and makes it more efficient because the suggestions and feedback from departments are compiled and implemented in database

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