Here, you'll find the conceptual and practical information you need to develop designs that ensure data accuracy and user satisfaction while optimizing performance, regardless of your experience level or choice of DBMS. Supports instruction book step-by-step these three case studies that illustrate the planning, analysis and design steps involved in arriving at a sound design. * The concept you need to master to place a practical instruction book to work. * Method to adjust your design to the environment in which the database will run and use to be inserted. * Design approaches that ensure data accuracy and consistency. * Examples of how design can hinder or enhance the performance of database applications. * Object-relational design techniques, benefits, and examples. * Instructions on how to choose and use a normalization technique. * Guidelines for understanding and applying Codd's rules. * Tools to implement the relational design using SQL. * Techniques for using CASE tools for database design.