Explore the role of DBMS in paperless operations

This exercise asks you to visualize the value of a relational DBMS in a complex service environment. Figure 1.5 on page 14 shows a warehouse full of paper files related to an insurance company's insurance policies with past and current customers. Assume that company wants to replace these files with a computerized database.

1. If you have not already done so in a previous exercise, open and explore an existing relational database. This could be the T-shirts database that is available from this web page (3392 KB Access 97 file in 427 KB self-executing archive), it could be one of the sample databases created using the Microsoft Access database wizard, or it could be another database that is available at your site. As you explore the database pay special attention to the tables and the entity relationship diagram.

2. Identify the major tables you believe a computerized insurance database would require. Assume the insurance company has 200 agents and 100,000 customers. Estimate the number of rows that will appear in each of the tables you identify. (Please make any additional estimates you think are necessary.)

3. Explain why you do or do not believe all the data in the warehouse in Figure 1.5 could be stored using a DBMS. For example, explain why you do or do not believe all the data could be expressed in a form that would fit into a relational database.

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