Database Management System – Case Study base Questions

1. You are tasked with expanding the student database for a school. The table structure is as
follows:

Student_ID Name Age Course Marks

S001 Alice 18 Math 85
S002 Bob 19 Science 78
S003 Charlie 18 History 92

(a) If you wanted to add a new field to store each student’s email address, what data type
would you choose, and why?

(b) Suppose you want to record multiple courses for each student. How would you
modify the current table structure to accommodate this?

(c) If some students have not yet received marks in their courses, what change would you
make to the Marks field to handle missing data?
(d) You plan to create a new table for teacher details, and each teacher is assigned to a
course. Describe how you would structure the teacher table and link it with the student
table.
(e) How would you ensure that no two students can have the same email address, and
why might this be important in a database?

Ans . (a) Adding an Email Field

To add a new field for storing each student’s email address, I would use a VARCHAR data type,
specifying an appropriate length (e.g., VARCHAR(255)). This data type is suitable because emails
consist of a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols, which VARCHAR can handle. Limiting
the length helps control data size, but 255 characters should be sufficient for email addresses.

(b) Recording Multiple Courses for Each Student

To allow each student to enroll in multiple courses, I would separate the Course and Marks
fields from the student table and create a new table called Student_Courses. This new table
would include:

 Student_ID: A foreign key linking to the student table.

 Course: The name of the course.
 Marks: The marks for that specific course.

Each entry in Student_Courses would represent one course per student, enabling each student
to have multiple records for different courses.
(c) Handling Missing Data in Marks
If some students have not yet received marks in their courses, I would allow the Marks field to
accept NULL values. This change would indicate that the marks are currently unavailable and
would help avoid data entry errors or misleading zero values for students who haven’t completed
the course or received their scores yet.

(d) Structuring a Teacher Table and Linking It to the Student Table

To create a Teacher table and associate teachers with courses, I would structure the Teacher
table as follows:

 Teacher_ID: Primary key for unique identification of each teacher.

 Name: Name of the teacher.
 Course: The course assigned to the teacher.

To link this with students, the Course field in the Student_Courses table would act as a bridge.
The course listed in Student_Courses can match the Course field in the Teacher table, thereby
associating each student with their respective course teacher.

(e) Ensuring Unique Email Addresses

To ensure that no two students have the same email address, I would add a UNIQUE constraint to
the Email field in the student table. This would prevent duplicate entries and maintain data
integrity. Ensuring unique emails is important because email addresses often serve as a method
of identification and communication; duplicating them could lead to confusion or errors in
contacting students.

2. You are tasked with creating a student database for a school. The table structure is as follows:
Student_ID Name Age Course Marks
S001 Alice 18 Math 85
S002 Bob 19 Science 78
S003 Charlie 18 History 92
(a) Based on the given table structure, identify the fields that would be necessary to store key
information about each student.
(b) Which field would you choose as the primary key for the student table and why?
(c) Is there any other field that can uniquely identify a student record, apart from the primary
key? If yes, identify it.
(d) You plan to link the student table with another table that stores course details. How would
you use the primary key from the student table and a foreign key in the course table to establish
a relationship?
Ans . (a) Necessary Fields
To store key information about each student, the fields identified are:

 Student_ID: A unique identifier for each student.

 Name: The name of the student.
 Age: The age of the student.
 Course: The course the student is enrolled in.
 Marks: The marks the student has scored in the course.

(b) Primary Key Choice

I would choose the Student_ID as the primary key for the student table because it is unique for
each student. It ensures that each record can be uniquely identified, which is essential for data
integrity and efficient database management.

(c) Alternative Unique Identifier

While Student_ID is the primary unique identifier, in some cases, a combination of Name and
Course might uniquely identify records. However, this is not guaranteed to be unique because
students with the same name might be enrolled in the same course. Therefore, it cannot be
considered a reliable alternative unique identifier in every situation.

(d) Establishing a Relationship with Course Table

To link the student table with a course table, we would:

 Use Student_ID as the primary key in the student table.

 In the course table, add a Student_ID field as a foreign key to reference the primary key
in the student table.

Consider the following table:Employee

Emp_id Name Salary Designation
E01 Kajal 78000 Manager
E02 Rahul 50000 Sales Executive
E03 Tarun 55000 Clerk
(a) You are tasked with designing a new employee database for your company. Based on the
given table structure, identify the fields that would be necessary to store key information about
each employee.
(b) As a database administrator, you need to ensure each employee has a unique identifier.
Which field in the table would you choose as the primary key, and why?
(c) During a review of the employee database, you realize there could be another field apart
from the primary key that can uniquely identify a record. Identify the field and justify why it
could serve as an alternate key.
(d) You are integrating the employee table with another table that stores department details.
Explain how you would use the primary key from the employee table and a foreign key in the
department table to establish a relationship between the two tables. Illustrate with an example.
Ans. (a) Necessary Fields
To store essential information about each employee, the following fields would be necessary:

 Emp_id: A unique identifier for each employee.

 Name: The name of the employee.
 Salary: The salary of the employee.
 Designation: The job title or role of the employee.

These fields cover basic information about each employee, including a unique ID, identification
details, compensation, and role.

(b) Primary Key Choice

The Emp_id field would be chosen as the primary key for the employee table. This is because
Emp_id uniquely identifies each employee, ensuring that there are no duplicate entries and
making data retrieval more efficient. As a primary key, it enforces the uniqueness of each record.

(c) Alternate Key

An alternate field that could uniquely identify a record, apart from the primary key, might be the
Name field, provided employee names are unique within the company. However, using Name as
an alternate key could be unreliable in larger organizations where multiple employees could have
the same name. A better alternate key might be Email (if an email field were added to the table),
as emails are typically unique for each employee.

(d) Establishing a Relationship with the Department Table

To link the Employee table with a Department table:

 The Employee table would use Emp_id as its primary key.

 The Department table would include an Emp_id field as a foreign key, linking back to
the employee table.

The Department table might look like this:

Dept_id Dept_name Emp_id

D01 Sales E02
D02 Administration E01
D03 HR E03

4. Consider the following table: Project

Project_id Project_Name Start_Date End_Date Budget

P001 Alpha 2024-01-01 2024-06-30 500000
Project_id Project_Name Start_Date End_Date Budget
P002 Beta 2024-02-15 2024-12-31 750000
P003 Gamma 2024-03-01 2024-09-30 300000

(a) You are tasked with designing a new project database for your company. Based on the given
table structure, identify the fields that would be necessary to store key information about each
project.

(b) As a database administrator, you need to ensure each project has a unique identifier. Which
field in the table would you choose as the primary key, and why?

(c) Apart from the primary key, identify another field or combination of fields that could
potentially serve as an alternate key for uniquely identifying a record.

(d) You plan to link the project table with another table that stores information about employees
assigned to each project. Explain how you would use the primary key from the project table and
a foreign key in the employee-project table to establish a relationship between the two tables.
Provide an example structure for the employee-project table.

(a) Necessary Fields

To store essential information about each project, the following fields would be necessary:

 Project_id: A unique identifier for each project.

 Project_Name: The name of the project.
 Start_Date: The date the project begins.
 End_Date: The date the project is scheduled to end.
 Budget: The budget allocated for the project.

These fields cover the main details required to track each project’s identity, timeline, and
financials.

(b) Primary Key Choice

The Project_id field would be chosen as the primary key for the project table. This is because
Project_id uniquely identifies each project, ensuring no two projects can share the same
identifier. A unique identifier like Project_id is essential for maintaining data integrity and
making record retrieval efficient.

(c) Alternate Key

An alternate key could be the combination of Project_Name, Start_Date, and End_Date. In
most cases, this combination would be unique, as it’s unlikely two projects will share the same
name and start and end dates. However, Project_Name alone or dates alone may not be unique,
so combining these fields would serve as a more reliable alternate key.
(d) Establishing a Relationship with an Employee-Project Table
To link the Project table with a table that stores information about employees assigned to each
project, I would:

 Use Project_id as the primary key in the project table.

 Create an Employee_Project table with an Employee_id field (foreign key referencing
the Employee table) and a Project_id field (foreign key referencing the Project table).

An example structure of the Employee_Project table might look like this:

Employee_id Project_id Role

E01 P001 Project Lead
E02 P001 Developer
E03 P002 Analyst

In this setup:

 Project_id in the Employee_Project table is a foreign key referencing Project_id in

the Project table.
 Employee_id in the Employee_Project table is a foreign key referencing Employee_id
in an Employee table.

5. Consider the following table: Customer

Customer_ID Name Address Phone_Number Email

C001 John 123 Elm St. 123-4567890 [email protected]
C002 Sarah 456 Oak Ave. 234-5678901 [email protected]
C003 Michael 789 Pine Rd. 345-6789012 [email protected]

6. (a) You are tasked with designing a customer database for your company. Based on the
given table structure, identify the fields that would be necessary to store key information
about each customer.
7. (b) As a database administrator, you need to ensure each customer has a unique identifier.
Which field in the table would you choose as the primary key, and why?
8. (c) Apart from the primary key, identify another field that could potentially serve as an
alternate key for uniquely identifying a record.
9. (d) You plan to link the customer table with another table that stores customer orders.
Explain how you would use the primary key from the customer table and a foreign key in
the customer order table to establish a relationship between the two tables. Provide an
example structure for the customer order table.
Ans. (a) Necessary Fields
To store essential information about each customer, the following fields are necessary:

 Customer_ID: A unique identifier for each customer.

 Name: The name of the customer.
 Address: The residential or shipping address of the customer.
 Phone_Number: The phone number for contacting the customer.
 Email: The email address of the customer.

These fields provide basic contact and identity information needed to manage customer data.

(b) Primary Key Choice

The Customer_ID field would be chosen as the primary key for the customer table. This is
because Customer_ID uniquely identifies each customer record, ensuring that there are no
duplicate entries and that data retrieval is efficient. As a primary key, it enforces the uniqueness
of each record, and no two customers will have the same Customer_ID.

(c) Alternate Key

An alternate key could be the Email field. Email addresses are usually unique to each customer,
and it could serve as an alternate key for uniquely identifying customer records. However, it is
important to note that this assumes the system guarantees unique emails for each customer, and
duplicates are not allowed.

(d) Establishing a Relationship with a Customer Order Table

To link the customer table with another table that stores customer orders, we would:

 Use Customer_ID as the primary key in the customer table.

 In the Customer_Order table, we would add a Customer_ID field as a foreign key to
establish the relationship.

Here’s how the Customer_Order table might be structured:

Order_ID Customer_ID Order_Date Total_Amount

O001 C001 2024-11-01 250.00
O002 C002 2024-11-03 175.50
O003 C003 2024-11-05 300.00

In this structure:
 Customer_ID in the Customer_Order table is a foreign key referencing the
Customer_ID in the Customer table.
 Order_ID is the primary key in the Customer_Order table.