The Goal Of The Project Is To Implement A Prototype Database ✓ Solved
The Goal Of The Project Is To Implement A Prototype Database System
The goal of the project is to implement a “prototype” database system application and develop an ERD diagram for an eCommerce social-network system called UCOnline. This system allows users to explore information about books, music, and software, rate their purchases, identify purchase prices, and view ratings from friends. The project requires individual completion, involving both a visual ERD diagram created with a diagramming tool and a comprehensive written explanation of the relationship mappings as a systems analysis use case document.
UCOnline's core functionalities encompass managing multimedia information, user interactions, ratings, and social network relationships. The database must support detailed information about books, music, users, ratings, and social interactions, ensuring robust data integrity and relational structure to facilitate seamless user experience and data retrieval.
Business Requirements and Data Modeling Overview
Within UCOnline, the database system must effectively handle the management of diverse media content, user profiles, ratings, and social relationships. The media content includes detailed attributes for books, music, and software, with specific categories and editions, while the social networking features involve user interactions through messaging and buddy requests.
Books are characterized by attributes such as ID, title, publication date, publisher, ISBN, category (fiction, non-fiction, specialty), page count, price, and description. Each book can have multiple editions and can be authored by multiple authors, with certain associations to publishers and publishers' multiple publishers.
Music items, including songs and albums, have attributes like versions/editions (EP, LP, DVD, CD). Artists and musicians can be solo or part of groups, with many-to-many relationships existing between artists and music houses or record companies. These media elements are associated with publishers and can be published or self-published.
The ratings system allows users to evaluate items with scores of 1-5, with each rating recorded alongside user ID, item ID, edition, and timestamp. Users can rate multiple editions of the same item but cannot submit multiple ratings for the same edition unless different editions are involved. User profiles contain attributes such as a unique ID, name, gender, age, and location.
Social Networking and Interaction Features
UCOnline incorporates a social network where users can send communication requests, such as instant messages or emails, to other users. Requests can be accepted or ignored, with accepted requests establishing "book buddies." Each request maintains details like sent timestamp, response timestamp, request result, and whether the request was accepted or ignored. If ignored, the requester can resend the request later.
Relationship Mapping and ERD Specifications
The relational model must capture the complex associations across entities such as authors, publishers, publishers, editions, ratings, users, social requests, and media items. Many-to-many relationships should be properly normalized through associative entities, and primary and foreign keys should be designated to ensure referential integrity. The ERD will visually represent these relationships, clarifying cardinality and participation constraints essential for system implementation and future scalability.
Summary of the Data Entities and Relationships
- Books: Attributes include BookID, Title, PublicationDate, PublisherID, ISBN, Category, PageCount, Price, Description. Each book can have multiple editions and multiple authors.
- Authors: Attributes include AuthorID, Name. Connected to Books via a many-to-many relationship.
- Publishers: Attributes include PublisherID, Name. Linked to Books and Authors; a publisher can publish multiple books and work with multiple authors.
- Music Items: Attributes include MusicID, Title, Version, ArtistID, RecordCompanyID, EditionType, Price, etc.
- Artists/Musicians: Attributes include ArtistID, Name, Type (solo/group).
- Record Companies/Houses: Attributes include CompanyID, Name, SelfPublishingStatus.
- Ratings: Attributes include RatingID, UserID, ItemID (Book or Music), Edition, Score, RatingTimestamp.
- Users: Attributes include UserID, Name, Gender, Age, Location.
- Social Requests: Attributes include RequestID, SenderID, ReceiverID, TimestampSent, ResponseTimestamp, Status (accepted/ignored), Result.
Conclusion
The database design for UCOnline will ensure comprehensive management of multimedia content, user interactions, ratings, and social networks with well-defined relationships and normalization. The ERD diagram will effectively visualize these entities and their relationships, providing a blueprint for implementing a robust and scalable prototype system that meets business requirements and supports future feature expansion.
References
- Elmasri, R., & Navathe, S. B. (2016). Fundamentals of Database Systems (7th ed.). Pearson.
- Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation, and Management (6th ed.). Pearson.