Database Use at My company

Essay by tlewellynUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, April 2006

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Behind every good application is a good database. In order for an application to be successful you must have a well designed database that backs it up. An application without a database is equivalent to a marathon runner without his legs; the marathon can be run but the performance will be diminished. My company understood this concept when designing its billing system. When a company the size of my company undertakes a task such as its billing system there is no room for error. Billing inaccuracies and unreliable data can not only cost the company money in lost revenue but also lose its customer base. There is not anything a customer hates more than an incorrect bill. My company currently has 53.1 million customers that all are housed in an Oracle database. This database uses an application called ACSS to access the information and provides the interface for employees to make changes to the billing system.

Maintenance is always a concern when a database of this size is in place because downtime for the system is simply not acceptable.

A database is defined as "a collection of information organized in such a way that a computer program can quickly select desired pieces of data" (Webopedia, 2006). A database normally consists of three components, a field, a record, and a file. The field is a single piece of information, such as a first name or telephone number. For My company this consists of many fields with such information as full name, address, social security information, account status, number of cell phones, calling plan, call usage, the amount of the last bill, etc. All of these fields make up a record. A record is the collection of all the fields that contain the relevant information on a particular person. Of course...