SQL Server® 2008 Administration: Real World Skills for MCITP Certification and Beyond

Planning a Database

Although the primary focus of this chapter is on diagramming your database, you cannot really create a diagram until you know what you're trying to accomplish. The three important database planning tasks you'll need to perform are

• User surveys
• Evaluating business processes
• Developing use cases

The topics covered in this section take place in the Business and User phases of the BUM model covered in the previous chapter.

To simplify the learning process, you will build a basic database used to track books for the example book collection. The business processes will be very simple. This database will be planned and modeled throughout this chapter.

User Surveys

User surveys can be performed in order to determine how users will ...