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Uses of Databases

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Teacher’s notes included in the Notes Page

Flash activity. These activities are not editable. Web addresses

Icons key: For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation

Functional Skills check

Student task accompanies this slide Printable activity

This lesson will cover:

The purposes and methods of database use.

Data redundancy.

How and why Mail Merge is used.

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What can you remember?

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How databases are used

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Mail merge

Mail merge is often used to link the data in a database to a document which needs to go out to a number of people.

To set up a document using mail merge, you need a standard template and a database that shows the names and addresses of the recipients. The fields from each person’s record in the database are added to the document, and the two are merged.

It is often used when creating documents such as payslips, membership cards and name badges.

What are the advantages of using mail merge?

When the documents are printed, each one is personalized with a different name and address.

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Data redundancy

In some databases the data is repeated and stored more than once. This is known as data redundancy.

Creating database relationships can help to cut down on data redundancy.

In this database system for a DVD rental business, relationships have been set up to help reduce data redundancy.

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Practical uses of databases

Monique Colombet owns a florist shop, and has lots of regular customers.

She would like to expand her business by introducing a new home delivery service, where customers can arrange to have flowers delivered on a regular basis.

Monique has set up a customer database in order to manage the deliveries. The database will also help her to create a targeted marketing campaign.

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Practical uses of databases

When customers come into her shop and buy flowers, Monique asks them to fill out a short form to register for special offers. She then adds this information to the database.

Her database includes fields for name, address, postcode, email address and favourite flowers. There is also a field for the date of the customer’s last purchase.

Monique can add, edit and delete customer records. She can conduct a query search to find customers that have not purchased any flowers in more than five years, and then delete these records to avoid sending out leaflets and emails to customers who might have moved house.

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Practical uses of databases

Monique can sort the data according to postcode, in order to make her delivery run easier and more efficient.

She can also sort the data by flower preference. When Monique gets a new delivery of certain flowers, she can use mail merge to send out personalized leaflets about special offers to customers that might be interested.

Using data handling software, Monique can create graphs from her database with information about the most popular flowers, and how frequently her delivery service is used.

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When to use mail merge

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Emerging technologies

Data handling applications can be set up to easily make use of the vast amounts of data that can be stored in database systems.

There are many emerging data handling applications.

What do you think databases and data handling applications could be used for in the future?

These include models for:

financial forecasting

flight simulators

weather forecasting.