BTEC HND Unit 41 Database Management Systems Assignment Brief 2026

Unit 41 Assignment Brief – BTEC (HTQ)

Higher National Diploma in Computing for England (Computing)

Submission Format

The submission is in the form of individual written reports, with examples and illustrations as well as the list of documents provided in the tasks. The documentation listed in the tasks will need to comply with the following: This should be written in a concise, formal academic style using single spacing and font size 12. You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs and subsections as appropriate, and all work must be supported with research and referenced using the Harvard referencing system. Please also provide a bibliography using the Harvard referencing system.

Unit Learning Outcomes

LO1 Analyse different types of database management systems

LO2 Design a database management system using a relational model to meet client requirement

Assignment Brief and Guidance

Scenario

A local online sales company, growing rapidly over the last three years, has conducted an investigation and found that as the company kept growing, its many database management systems have become disparate. The company now finds itself using several different platforms. The technology supporting its system was being purchased and added onto on a needs basis without too much controlled planning.

The database management systems have served the company well but with the increasing use of cloud-based systems and the move towards data centres, the CEO would like you to look at the options for replacing all their systems, and to produce the design for a proposed new system.

Task 1

*Please access HN Global for additional resources support and reading for this unit. For further guidance and support on report writing please refer to the Study Skills Unit on HN Global. Link to www.highernationals.com

Stage 1

Produce a report and comprehensive strategy on managing database systems in the company.
The strategy will need to include the key personnel involved in database management systems, their roles and responsibilities, and features of the systems that need to be managed, including data storage, backup and recovery. Give a clear indication of what the selection criteria will be for determining the purchase of any new database management system.

Analyse the risk implications on the company of not having the strategy. Include this analysis in the report. Your report should include the following points:

• Types of database management systems (DBMS) and their operating system support, e.g. MySQL, Oracle.
• Data models: Entity-Relationship, relational, hierarchical, network, object oriented, object-relational, NoSQL.
• Examine details of DBMS based on a relational model.
• Relational data structures, including relations, attributes, domain, tuple, cardinality.
• Constraints: key, domain, referential integrity.
• Normalisation in developing efficient data structures.
• Modelling languages: Structured Query Language (SQL), data definition language (DDL), data, manipulative language (DML), relational languages.
• Transaction and concurrency in DBMS.
• Investigation of open source and vendor-specific systems.
• Multiple platform approaches to database management

Stage 2

Produce a plan for a new relational database system based on MySQL. Include the following points:

• Determine user and system requirements.
• Examine design tools and techniques for a relational database management system.
• Physical system design.
• Logical design: design for relational databases, tables, data elements, data types, keys and indexes, entity relationship modelling, data flow diagrams, flowcharts.
• Mathematical relations e.g. relational algebra, relational calculus.
• DBMS selection – what software is available – and how to choose.
• Application design, including: data entry/input (verification, validation, calculated fields, masks, directed input), reports (queries, presentation of
• data, layouts), task automation (imports, updates, deletions), queries using multiple criteria, form values and wild cards, action queries, calculated queries, queries across multiple tables.
• Hardware, software and other resource requirements.
• Test plans to check correctness of data, security, functionality, accessibility and usability.
• Quality, effectiveness and appropriateness of the solution: correctness of data, relationships between data, data integrity, normalisation.
• Working with clients and others to improve the quality, effectiveness, security and appropriateness of solution design

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria

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