How to Make Sure the Designed Database Fits Your Needs

The software development lifecycle (SDLC) aims to ensure that a software product is of high quality at the right cost to meet client requirements.?The phases of the software development lifecycle are planning, analysis, design, development, and maintenance.

The analysis phase basically covers the process of understanding and determining user requirements. After the requirements are determined, the design phase begins. The design phase is the phase in which the software is designed in line with the requirements determined in the analysis phase.?

At the beginning of the design process, various diagrams can be used to see the whole flow from the user's point of view in order to determine the need accurately. One of these is use case diagrams which are an analysis tool that allows one to see the whole picture. These diagrams are used in the analysis processes of projects to determine the current situation and target situation and to agree with stakeholders. System and database design is created based on the use case diagrams created for the agreed business process.?

User needs are as important as the requirements when designing a database. Inaccurate analysis and deductions may lead to ignoring the needs of the user. Some of the factors that may cause the user's needs to be ignored in database design may be as follows:

1. Inadequate Requirements Analysis: Incomplete or misunderstanding of needs can cause the database to fail to meet user expectations.
2. Feedback Apathy: Not interacting with users or not taking their feedback into account can cause the database design to derange from user needs.?
3. Ignoring Usability: If UI/UX elements are ignored in the design process, it may be difficult for users to use the database effectively.?
4. Lack of Communication: If a healthy communication channel is not established between the users and the project team, the needs cannot be understood correctly.
5. Ignoring Unforeseen Use Cases: Focusing only on typical use cases means ignoring unexpected situations. Database design should cover a wide range of uses and consider how users might behave in different scenarios.
6. Ignoring Performance Needs: Designs made without considering large data volumes or intensive usage scenarios may be insufficient in terms of performance.
7. Ignoring Security: Failure to take appropriate measures to meet the security needs of users may cause the database to be weak in protecting sensitive information.
8. Overlooking Database Management and Maintenance Needs: If users' needs for the management and maintenance of the database are ignored, the system may become unusable over time or require simultaneous maintenance.

To avoid these mistakes, it is important to understand the needs of users and to be in constant communication. Starting from requirements analysis, understanding the expectations of users, and getting continuous feedback during the design process is the key to a successful database design.?

What can you do or how can you make sure that the design is finalized correctly during the customization process?

1. For a successful design process, clear and understandable requirements should be determined first. It is necessary to interact with the software development team, and fully understand and document the requirements.?
2. Effective and strong communication between your project team and the development team ensures the success of the design process.
3. Receiving prototypes in the early stages will give you a clear understanding of how the design will look and work. Misunderstandings are minimized and ensure a successful design process.?
4. Receiving regular progress reports throughout the software development process will keep you informed about the status of the project. In this way, you can be assured that the design and software development is progressing in accordance with your requirements and needs.
5. It is important that the design is flexible and changeable to adapt to future needs and changes. Giving an ear to some recommendations of the development team may be beneficial for scalability.

Databases are customized to meet the needs of the user and system components. Failure to take into account the technical requirements can have a number of negative effects in the short and long term such as performance decrease in time, data integrity problems, security vulnerabilities, unstable integrations, and as a result, higher costs for you. So always make sure these features are already considered by your service provider when designing your database:

1. Normalization: It is used in the design of relational tables to minimize data repetition.?
2. Data Type and Lengths: Each field must contain data with the specified data type and length. This is important for optimizing the database and preventing unnecessary storage usage.?
3. Relationships: UML diagrams should include relationship lines that show the relationships between tables. Important constraints such as relationships, keys, and references should be defined.?
4. Security: Security measures should be considered during database design. Access control, data encryption, and other security measures should be considered.
5. Backup: The strategy of backing up the database is important to ensure data loss and system stability.?
6. Standards: When creating UML diagrams, it is important to plan the database design in accordance with standards. It facilitates changes and improvements to be made to the system.?

What do we do to ensure databases designed by us meet and exceed your expectations?

For us, a customized database means the beginning of important changes. For this reason, we handle our projects with a change management approach and make sure that all stakeholders understand the direction, processes, and results of the project and contribute to this project. After analyzing the needs and requests of users from all roles, we offer the best possible database system to the user with the experience we have gained over many years and various projects.

A seasoned solution partner comes with benefits. Would you like to know what we can achieve together?

Visit our website on bit.ly/customized_software_solutions