Database Design for Mere Mortals Ch. 11 Flashcards
What is a business rule?
A statement that imposes some form of constraint on a specific aspect of the database, such as the elements within a field specification for a particular field or the characteristics of a given relationship
Name two major types of business rules.
Database oriented and application oriented
Can you establish application-oriented business rules within the logical design of the database?
No, application-oriented business rules impose constraints
What are the two categories of database-oriented business rules?
Field specific and relationship specific
What is a field-specific business rule?
One that imposes constraints on the elements of a field specification for a particular field
When is a business rule tested?
When you attempt to perform one of three actions:
— Inserting a record into the table or an entry into a field
— Deleting a record from the table or a value within a field
— Updating a field’s value
How do you document a business rule?
By filling out a Business Rule Specifications sheet for the rule
State two advantages a Business Rule Specifications sheet provides.
— Allows you to document every database-oriented business rule
— Allows you to document every application-oriented business rule
— Provides a standard method for recording all business rules
What is the purpose of the Action Taken section of a Business Rule Specifications sheet?
The area where you indicate the modifications you’ve made to the elements of a field specification or to a relationship diagram
What is the purpose of a validation table?
Stores data that you specifically use to implement data integrity by restricting the range of values that can be used for a field
What is the typical structure of a validation table?
Usually comprise two fields:
— The first acts as the primary key and is what you’ll use to help you enforce data integrity
— The second is simply a non-key field that stores a set of values required by some other field in the database
What is the association between a business rule and a validation table?
You can use a validation table to enforce a constraint that a business rule imposes on a given field’s range of values
Why should you review all of your completed Business Rule Specifications sheets?
To ensure that you’ve properly established the rule it records and that you’ve clearly marked all the appropriate areas on the sheet
