UCLAN BSc (Hons) in Business Computing and Information

Systems
Module name:

Advanced Database Management Systems

Level:

Level 6

Semester:
Examination date:

PAST PAPER

Assessment Weighting: 60%

CANDIDATES MUST ANSWER ONE (1) QUESTION FROM SECTION A AND

BOTH QUESTIONS FROM SECTION B
ALL QUESTIONS CARRY EQUAL MARKS

Time: 2 Hours

Any reference material brought into the examination room MUST be handed
to the invigilator BEFORE the start of the examination.

DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE OVER UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO DO SO

Advanced Database Management

Systems

NCC Education 2013

ANSWER ONE (1) QUESTION

QUESTION 1
a)

Marks

Rawlinson Associates is an auction house specialising in antiques. The company classify

items by geographic area and historical eras. Geographic areas (such as a country) are
grouped into regions such as south-east Asia, north Africa etc. Historical eras each have
one or more reference books associated with them. A reference book may be used for
more than one historical era.

10

Draw an EER diagram to reflect the information you have been given (you NEED NOT
include attributes in the EER diagram).
b)

Define suitable attributes for your ER diagram in the format of a data dictionary.

c)

Rawlinson Associates have decided they need to classify antique furniture (chairs, tables
etc.) with extra attributes to take account of moving issues and extra insurance when
handling or transporting them. Describe how features of the EER might be used to be
able to take account of this requirement.

d)

Modify your ER diagram to take account of the changes for antique furniture. You
should also provide a modified data dictionary.

10

Total 33 Marks

Advanced Database Management

Systems

Spring 2013

NCC Education 2013

QUESTION 2

Marks

The relational schema shown below is part of a banking system. The contents of the Deposit and
Branch tables are also shown below.
Deposit (Branch, Acc-No, Cust-Name, Balance)
Loan (Branch, Loan-No, Cust-Name, Balance)
Branch (Branch, Assets, Branch-County)
Customer (Cust-Name, Cust-County, Branch)
Deposit
Branch
Basildon
Romford
Colchester
Sheringha
m
Norwich
Basildon
Norwich
Colchester
Romford
Branch
Branch
Romford
Colchester
Norwich
Sheringham
Basildon
a)

Cust-Name
Patel
Patel
Stephenson
Whalley

Balance
800.00
650.89
500.00
88.90

F213
R217
F491
D477
B456

Choudhury
Bielkowicz
Coupe
Patel
Choudhury

580.35
77.50
350.00
375.44
200.00

Assets
1,000,000
2,000,250
1,500,500
1,750,001
20,00,101

Branch-County
Essex
Essex
Norfolk
Norfolk
Essex

Express the following queries in Relational Algebra:

Produce a relation that shows the customer name and balance for all customers at
i)
the Romford branch with a balance less than 350.50.
ii)

b)

Acc-No
R250
B391
D244
H123

Produce a relation that shows the branch, customer name, balance and account
number for all customers that have a loan bigger than 2500.00 and all customers
that have a deposit account with a balance smaller than 100.00. All customers
should be at the Romford branch.

Derive the result for the following relational algebra queries:

i)
Cust-Name ((Balance > 500 (Deposit))
ii)

Branch (Branch-County Norfolk (Branch))

c)

Explain with the use of an example the function of the Cartesian product operator in
relational algebra.

d)

Give a list of the SIX (6) basic operations in relational algebra.

6
Total 33 Marks

Advanced Database Management

Systems

Spring 2013

NCC Education 2013

QUESTION 3

Marks

Examine the form below.

Member Number: 98765

Member Name: Harrison Smith
Membership Type Code: FT
Membership Type Name: Full Time
Activity ID
099
0100
0101
098
078

Activity Name
Standard Diving
Standard Diving
Basic Underwater
Archaeology
Advanced Underwater
Archaeology
Industrial Diving
Course

Date
01/08/12
01/08/12
03/08/12

Price
300
300
375

Equipment Code
Standard
Standard
Standard

Equipment Name
Standard Diving Kit
Standard Diving Kit
Standard Diving Kit

06 /09/12

399

Advanced 1

Advanced Diving Kit 1

08/09/12

399

Advanced 2

Advanced Diving Kit 2

This form is for a diving club that runs course and activities for its members.
a)

Using the technique with which you are familiar, normalise this form to Third Normal
Form (3NF) and list the resulting entities. Show each of the stages of normalisation.

16

b)

What type of security threats may disrupt the diving schools database?

10

c)

Outline the steps taken after normalisation in implementing the database for the diving
school.

Total 33 Marks

Advanced Database Management

Systems

Spring 2013

NCC Education 2013

Section B
Answer BOTH questions
QUESTION 4

Marks

Argo Export is a large multinational company that deals with import and export of electrical
components (such as microchips). They operate in a number of Asian, European and African
countries and have branches in more than one country. Their client base tends to be localised to
particular countries but they often arrange the buying and selling of components between companies
in different countries. Increasingly, they are acting as clients to arrange import and export for other
companies that are becoming multinational and operating across several countries.
a)

Discuss the motivation that may lead an organisation such as Argo Export to implement a
distributed database management system (DDBMS).

13

b)

Evaluate an approach to transaction management in a DDBMS

15

c)

Critically review the strategic objectives for the definition and allocation of fragments
within a DDBMS.

Total 33 Marks

Advanced Database Management

Systems

Spring 2013

NCC Education 2013

QUESTION 5

Marks

a)

Evaluate the developments in data processing that have created both the possibilities and
requirements for data warehouses.

10

b)

Critically discuss dimensionality modelling as a design approach for data warehouses.

13

c)

Evaluate how data mining can bring advantages to an organisation.

10

Total 33 Marks

END OF PAPER

Advanced Database Management

Systems

Spring 2013

NCC Education 2013