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Database Design

A common requirement in today's world is the need to manage an ever increasing amount of information. Databases provide the solution to bring these elements into a single, structured repository where they can be stored, managed, and evaluated.

GWS Data Consultants has experience in designing databases from single-user systems to large scale enterprise level systems. The one thing we can tell you is that proper design is crucial to the success of any database. We know this because we've also spent a lot of time rebuilding poorly designed databases that soon became inefficient and difficult to use.

The database design process begins by evaluating the real-world things that the database must manage, such as people, companies, or stock items. We then define the important aspects of these items in a database. How we define them depends on what they're used for. The height of a bookcase is important; the height of your customer likely isn't. Once this is done, we go a step further, and create rules that show how these things are related. An example would be which stock items come from which supplier. These rules ensure the integrity of the database. So at the end of this process, we have a useful, secure place to keep your data; and a structure that will allow you to extract the information you need.

Lets consider the following case:

Case Study: XXX Steel Company

Our client was a provider of metal for a manufacturer of heating equipment. Each piece of equipment required several different sizes and types of metal, and it was very time consuming to put an order together being composed of a different number of different styles and sizes of equipment each time.

We created a database that stored the individual items needed to build each piece of equipment. We then created an order entry system to allow the user to select what was needed in terms of the final product. Finally we created a pick list to pull together and group all the individual items needed for the order so that all the items could be loaded together is much less time.

The resulting system allowed our client to turn orders around faster and more efficiently than they had before, making their customer happier, as well as their accountant.