Module 3 You Make the Decision

Where should the database be stored?

A DaaS server.

How can you make the best use of this data?

Anonymize the data and sell it to retailers and market researchers

Where should data from each country be stored?

In a cloud-based data center within that country's borders

What kind of database will your team use to store and organize this information?

NoSQL database

You've been volunteering with a small nonprofit organization that serves under-privileged kids in your community. The organization reaches at-risk populations in the local school systems to match students with mentors, organize community service events the kids can participate in, and take groups camping and hiking a few times each year. The organization was built from scratch starting about four years ago and has steadily grown their list of supporters as well as a long list of contact information for students, including notes about each child's background and progress in the program. The Excel spreadsheets and haphazard collection of Word files the organizers have been using is becoming unwieldy and particularly inefficient. There have been some significant breakdowns in communication lately causing confusion, unnecessary stress, and even the loss of one of the nonprofit's sponsors. Knowing your background in information systems and your familiarity with the organization's internal processes, the board of directors has asked you to help them design a database for their sponsor and student data. They're hiring a web developer because they would like the database to be accessible through a web page. However, they believe your familiarity with their organization means you can give the web developer better guidance on how to design the database itself, which will help out with the very tight budget. You've not had much experience yet in developing databases. But one thing you've learned from your experience with relational databases is that it's important to think about how each of the tables is related to one or more other tables. You don't want a table that has no relationship to any other table, and you don't want a table that duplicates information already included in another table. With this thought in mind, you're ready to start listing all the tables to include in your database.

Part 1

You work for an app development team currently in the planning phase for a new app that will track gas prices. The app will use this information to help consumers find the best gas prices near their locations. As the product manager, you are responsible for leading a team of developers, creating the strategy for development, deciding which tools and technologies to use, and managing the budget. Your team needs to make some critical decisions for the app and its accompanying website. Data for the fuel prices and station locations will be collected from user reports. However, your team needs to decide what kind of information to collect on users themselves.

Part 2

Which field from the Students table should the developer create to reference in the Events table?

Student ID

Which tables should you include?

Students table, Sponsors table, Mentors table, and Events table

What information about users will the app collect and track?

User accounts with usernames and passwords in addition to GPS locations