Module 3: Using a Conceptual Design
for Data Requirements
Module 1: Course
Overview
Module 4: Deriving a
Logical Data Design
Module 5: Normalizing the
Logical Data Design
Module 6: Deriving a
Physical Data Design
Module 7:
Implementing Data
Integrity
Module 2: Solution
Design Processes
Module 3: Using a
Conceptual Design for Data
Requirements
Module 8: Designing
Data Services
Module 9: Data Storage
Considerations
Designing Data
Services and

Review
In this module...
In this module...At the end of this module, you will be able to:
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Describe the information investigation process.
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Determine functional data requirements from use cases.
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Identify nonfunctional requirements that will affect a solution’s design.

Slide Objective
To provide an overview of
this module’s topics and
objectives.

48 Module 3: Using a Conceptual Design for Data Requirements
!
!!
! Investigation Process
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Gathering Information
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Analyzing Information
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Gathering Information
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Identify necessary information
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Identify sources for required information
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Use perspectives when looking at source information
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Gather information
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Conduct interviews
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Shadow
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Collect artifactsTo identify data requirements, the project team starts a process of investigation.
This process involves gathering and analyzing data from users, systems, and
documentation to determine the current state and desired future state of the
solution.
Gathering data involves:
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Determining what information is needed to identify the data, functional
requirements, and nonfunctional requirements.
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Identifying sources from which to obtain relevant and supporting
information. Sources can include people, systems, and systems-support

Provide structure to the original information and remove
redundancies
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Identification of relationships
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Determine which groups of information are related
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Prioritization
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Determine which requirements are important
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Validation
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Determine whether information is accurate and
representative of the real world
When analyzing the gathered information, the team needs to organize, identify,
prioritize, and validate the information. Rarely is all the necessary information
obtained the first time, so this is an iterative process.
Organization
When organizing information, the team tries to understand what has been
gathered, removes redundancies, and determines whether the resulting
information is relevant to the overall design of the solution.
Identification of relationships
The team must identify the relationships between objects. For example,
“manager approves timesheet” is a relationship.
Prioritization
After all relationships have been identified, the team must prioritize the
Creating Use Cases
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Show actions:
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Between users
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Between users and independent portions of a system
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Describe the current state and desired future state
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Components
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Actor
$
Object
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RelationshipUse cases provide one of the best ways to understand how users and data
interact. Each use case is typically a short sentence that describes the actions
that a user performs on or with other users or other portions of a system.
Examples might include “Students check out library books,” or “Management
creates ad-hoc reports.”
Initially, use cases can describe the known situation, also referred to as the
current state. Use cases can also describe the intended solution or the desired
future state. Describing this future state is an important aspect of use cases
because it helps document how the system should act, given the appropriate

! Data Requirements
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Characteristics of Data Requirements
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Categories of Data Requirements
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Identifying Functional Data Requirements
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Identifying Nonfunctional Data Requirements
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Activity 3.1: Identifying Data-Related Use Cases and
Data Requirements
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Validating Data Requirements
In this section...
In this section...Knowing how to establish data requirements during conceptual design helps
define the final product.
Slide Objective
To introduce the role of data
requirements in conceptual
design.
Lead-in
In this section, you will learn
how to establish data
requirements.