2. Information & Communications Technology An Introduction to Databases

3. What is a Database? An information centre Computerised filing system A collection of related information

4. What is a Database? Pupil Records File Record 1 Record 2 Record 3

5. What is a Record? Forename Surname Date of Birth Employee Number ROBBIE WILLIAMS 23/08/1973 1985 Fields

6. What type of Field? Name Date of Birth Salary Employee Number Text Date Currency Number

7. First NameSecond NameDate of BirthStaff NumberYearly Salary DerekLongmuir11/08/19701£25,000.00 LisaSmith21/03/19752£28,500.00 MartinCawston13/06/19793£19,750.00 JillianThomson17/05/19814£21,200.00 In this example, there are 5 fields. There are 4 records in this one file. Record 1 Record 2 Record 3 Record 4

8. Field Types First NameSecond NameDate of BirthStaff NumberYearly Salary DerekLongmuir11/08/19701£25,000.00 LisaSmith21/03/19752£28,500.00 MartinCawston13/06/19793£19,750.00 JillianThomson17/05/19814£21,200.00 text datenumbercurrency

9. Sorting Records First NameSecond NameDate of BirthStaff NumberYearly Salary DerekLongmuir11/08/19701£25,000.00 LisaSmith21/03/19752£28,500.00 MartinCawston13/06/19793£19,750.00 JillianThomson17/05/19814£21,200.00 It might be a good idea to sort the records in the database in order of what?

10. Sorting Records First NameSecond NameDate of BirthStaff NumberYearly Salary MartinCawston13/06/19793£19,750.00 DerekLongmuir11/08/19701£25,000.00 LisaSmith21/03/19752£28,500.00 JillianThomson17/05/19814£21,200.00 Here, the records have been sorted in alphabetical order of Second Name. How else could they be sorted?

11. Searching Records Databases hold lots of information. Sometimes it is good to search or query a database to find certain pieces of information. For example, how many staff members earn £25,000 or over???

12. Searching Records First NameSecond NameDate of BirthStaff NumberYearly Salary DerekLongmuir11/08/19701£25,000.00 LisaSmith21/03/19752£28,500.00 Here are the records which have been searched or queried for. They have been sorted into alphabetical order of Second Name. Can you think of examples where this might be handy?