Database Systems

Database Systems Semester Projects

This individual project will include the design and implementation of a database using the Oracle RDBMS on sunshine. It must be completed, and all required components turned in, by Monday, May 3rd, by 4:30 pm.

The final project submission, like all assignments and project milestones,  must be turned in on-time --- it will NOT be accepted late. However, if the final project is turned in before 4:30 pm on the Friday before the due date (April 30), it will be considered "early", and will receive a bonus: 5 additional points (5/100) added to the project grade.  Note that this "bonus" does not apply to partial final projects.

However, even though May 3rd is the final due date, you will also be required to turn in parts of the project along the way, as will be specified. The first piece to be turned in will be a proposal describing the scenario for which you will be developing a database. You can consider this sort of the planning  phase of your project, if you will --- you will be defining the problem you wish to solve, establishing the scope of your solution, and assessing the feasibility of your proposal.

Some suggestions for helping you to decide on your project proposal/scenario are listed on the course web page.  I will look at your proposals, attempt to let you know if they are too broad or too narrow, and then either approve or disapprove them. This milestone has a sub-milestones before the completed milestone --- you will first turn in several paragraphs of scenario description (not of problems or of the desired database, but simply of the "setting" for your eventual database) before turning in the overall project proposal, with all of the required elements included within a project notebook following a very particular format.  I will let you know then if your proposal is approved or not. If it is not approved, you will need to modify it until it is acceptable.  Note that even if we have to iterate and refine project proposals, you are still bound by the same milestone deadlines as everyone else.

The next major stage of your project will be the development of a database model for your project. It should be expressed as an entity-relationship diagram. This milestone has one sub-milestone before the completed milestone: you will turn in two anonymous copies of a draft of this model, for an in-lab exercise where you will look at several of a classmate's draft models.  In the main milestone you will turn in the project notebook including a more polished version of your database model along with several other required elements.

Following that, you will use the database model you come up with to come up with a database design.   This will be a set of normalized relations.

Then, you will turn in your project notebook that includes evidence that you have successfully created the tables in your design and populated them with sample data. We'll call this the population milestone.

In the final phase, you will complete your database implementation and will provide facilities for both sophisticated users and naive users to access your database.  At this point, the final version of your project notebook, now including your implemented, completed database and other final project materials, will be due.

You may, of course, work faster than the various deadlines imply! These are just the dates that the specified items must be turned in.

Grading Comments

Your final project should be robust enough to demonstrate as a prototype --- do not attempt to implement a "production quality" system! (And, if you cannot implement everything you hoped to, implement as much as you can, aiming for an interesting, demonstrable prototype.) A project that meets all of the minimal requirements mentioned in this handout, and that has met all of the minimal requirements all down the line (from the proposal on down), and that does so well, would receive a grade of  90. The other 10 points I will reward based on merit --- did you come up with a particularly interesting, original proposal? is a database particularly well-designed and implemented? Is something about a project above-and-beyond the minimal requirements, or exemplary? Were useful extra features included, or was some major aspect particularly well-done? Did something about a project just stand out, or make a strong impression? 

Please note, also, that you will receive grading comments for each milestone. These comments may include corrections or additions that must be made to your project. If these are not done, each subsequent milestone's grade may be affected.

Milestone grading breakdowns:

        *   the overall project grade makes up 30% of the final course grade, as mentioned in the syllabus.

        *   this overall project grade is made up of:

                *   project proposal:           up to 7.5 pts

                *   database model:            up to 15 pts

                *   database design:            up to 15 pts

                *   database population:      up to 7.5 pts

                *   final version of project:   up to 45 pts baseline, plus up to 10 points for doing more than the minimum