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POS/410r13 SQL for Business
READ ME FIRST
INTRODUCTION
This course provides an in-depth, hands-on workshop on the Structured Query Language (SQL.)
SQL provides a unified language that lets you query, manipulate, and control data in a business
applications environment. This course is aligned to the requirements of the Advanced Business
Analytics Certificate, which is designed to provide specific theories, competencies, and skills
necessary for success in the field of Business Analytics business systems analyst.
COURSE OVERVIEW
The competitive advantage and financial success of many organizations is determined by how well
these organizations use their data. Relational databases are the powerful organizational
repositories storing this data. Those who know how to work with these databases are the stars of
these organizations. What skills you need to be one of these stars? How do you create and
populate these databases? How do you access this data and extract and manipulate that which
you need to make decisions? Structured Query Language (SQL) is the standardized language
used to do these functions for relational databases. The purpose of this course is to provide you
with a comprehensive, hands-on overview of using SQL to help solve business problems. Each
class week will present topics, in a series of readings, videos, Skillport tutorials, discussions and
exercises.
Week One of the course introduces you to the nature of relational database management systems
(RDMS), and SQL tables. The goal during this week is to get acclimated to the SQL Server 2012
toolset. You will create a simple database during this first week. As you read and reflect on the
assignment for this week, keep in mind that it is not just about creating databases. Organizations
can only use data effectively if that data is available to those decision makers who need it, when
they need it. Effective data management centralizes the storage of data in repositories that all
users in the organization can access. SQL Server is not only a tool for creating and maintaining
databases, but it is also the tool for serving this data to those who need it. Managing data access
is just as important as managing the creation of well-structured databases.
Week Two introduces you to table queries. During this week we will focus on handling single and
multiple table queries. During this second week, you will create, populate and query a more
sophisticated database. As you read and reflect on your assignments this week, keep in mind that
data that is organized in the way the data user needs it to be organized is very powerful data for
making decisions. However, this organization comes with a price, usually in performance and it is
also true that for data to be useful, it must be timely. Business users do not want to wait long for
data to be ready for use. Joins are powerful but also cause performance problems. Nested queries
generate useful results, but the more complex they are, the harder they are to predict and
troubleshoot.
In Week Three we get into an in-depth discussion of managing data. During this third week you will
be introduced to SQL code for altering tables as well as the use of keys, constraints, index
structures and views. You will end the week by writing the code to alter a database. As you read
and reflect on your assignments this week, keep in mind that something that is valuable to the
organization must be protected. Understanding referential and entity integrity is important to
maintaining an accurate database. Ensure you understand the concept of cascading modifications.
Understanding user views is also important. User views remove extraneous data from user
activities and help to restrict access to data to only those who need it. Be sure to understand the
concept of user groups as a way of designing user views. Finally, understanding how data is
physically stored is important to capacity planning and ensuring efficient access to data. The use
Copyright  2014 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. University of Phoenix® is a mark of Apollo Group, Inc. in the
United States and/or other countries.
POS/410r13 SQL for Business
of indexes is a powerful tool to speed data access, but having too many indexes or indexing on
fields that are not unique enough can actually degrade DBMS performance.
Week Four delves deep into reporting. We explore scripts and stored procedures to manage
output of data. During this week you will develop the SQL code to output a report that
demonstrates the use of selection and calculation. As you read and reflect on your assignments
this week, keep in mind that scripts, stored procedures, and report designs are the constructs that
provide databases with the ability to power programmed business decision making—decisions that
are made routinely such as a daily sales summary, what products were sold today, how many
hours were worked, and so forth. The ability to identify what activities should be in a script or
stored procedure and the skill set for developing useful reports is critical for IT professionals.
In Week Five we evaluate the concepts behind embedded SQL. We examine user defined
functions and triggers and end the week by looking at future trends. Throughout this course the
learning teams will be working on developing an accounting database system for Kudler Fine
Foods. The final deliverable is due at the end of week five. As you read and reflect on your
assignments this week, keep in mind that the constructs of triggers allow for automatic database
functions. These are useful; however, you must use these sparingly as data can be harmed if the
functions are performed when they are not really wanted. Consider, for example, automated
payments. You usually want these automatic payments to occur on a set date, unless of course
money is not owed or there are insufficient funds in the account. The same can happen when
allowing automatic functions on data—these functions may seem like something you want to
happen, but consider the conditions that may cause more damage than good should the trigger
function. Also consider user-defined functions. Do you truly need these functions? These functions
are often created as a convenience when regular functions could have been used. This can
increase system maintenance and make it difficult to create a system that does similar functions.
MAIN CONCEPTS
Organizations can only use data effectively if that data is available to those decision makers who
need it, when they need it. Effective data management centralizes the storage of data in
repositories that all users in the organization can access. This course uses Microsoft SQL Server
as the learning tool. SQL Server is not only a tool for creating and maintaining databases, but it is
also the tool for serving this data to those who need it. Managing data access is just as important
as managing the creation of well-structured databases.
THIS COURSE IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE PROGRAM
This course comes after you have already taken database, business systems, and fundamentals
of business systems development courses. The previous courses prepared you to build systems
that capture, store, and use data. This course prepares you to create queries that extract,
manipulate, and display data so that system users can make better decisions.
CAREER CONNECTIONS
Data is critical in many organizations. As an IT professional, one of your main tasks is to assist
and lead your organization in the management and use of this crucial resource. SQL is the tool to
manage the creation, population, and use of organizational databases. Mastery of SQL is one of
the critical skills for database administrators and system and web programmers, and it is a useful
skill for data analysts, IS managers, and users who need data to make business decisions.
Copyright  2014 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. University of Phoenix® is a mark of Apollo Group, Inc. in the
United States and/or other countries.