Note: This course was previously identified as COMM1822. Students who have completed COMM1822 cannot enrol in COMM2822. 

 This is a fundamental Business Analytics course. You will learn the concepts, techniques, and technologies relevant for creating and managing business databases. You will learn the Structured Query Language (SQL) language and how to use it to access data stored in relational database system, including fetch, delete, insert, and modify data. 

The course aims to give students the background of, and a process for, database development. Furthermore, the course aims to develop students’ conceptual and logical database design skills. Finally, the course aims to develop students’ skills in using and managing databases. Students will practice self-directed work in groups that will help them develop their interpersonal communication, project management and quality assurance skills.

The lecture and the tutorial provide students with a chance to learn fundamental database knowledge and skills. There will be several course activities to foster critical thinking, develop problem-solving skills, and prepare students to work effectively with databases. We provide practical assistance through hands-on exercises in the tutorials. However, students need to take the initiative to self-learn the practical components throughout the course. Pre-lecture materials, lectures, tutorials, and the textbook can only provide the context, structure, and resources for their learning. Students' practical engagements with the material in self-study or peer groups are the crucial elements of their learning. The major assignment is a project concerning the design and development of a business database. In this course, students will learn to use Entity-Relationship (ER) notation such as Chen’s and the Oracle SQL query language, and they will be taught Big Data Analytics.

The purpose of the individual assignment is to enhance students' understanding of database design and modelling. Students work independently to apply the knowledge acquired in the course to model a real-world case study database and present their Entity Relationship (ER) Model. The assessment will evaluate students’ skills in database design and written communication through the written report.  

Assesses: PLO2, PLO3  

BCom Students: myBCom Course points for PLO2 

As a student at UNSW you are expected to display academic integrity in your work and interactions. Where a student breaches the UNSW Student Code with respect to academic integrity, the University may take disciplinary action under the Student Misconduct Procedure. To assure academic integrity, you may be required to demonstrate reasoning, research and the process of constructing work submitted for assessment.

To assist you in understanding what academic integrity means, and how to ensure that you do comply with the UNSW Student Code, it is strongly recommended that you complete the Working with Academic Integrity module before submitting your first assessment task. It is a free, online self-paced Moodle module that should take about one hour to complete.

You are expected to complete all assessment tasks for your courses in the School of Information Systems and Technology Management. Classes are highly practical and relevant to your assessments, so you are expected to attend at least 80% of all scheduled classes.

Where group assignments are used, team members are expected to work in a harmonious and professional fashion, which includes adequate management of non-performing members. You should inform your tutor as soon as possible if you experience problems within a project team. You may be required to evaluate the contribution of each team member (including yourself) in group work and marks for individual students may be adjusted based on peer assessment.

In order to pass this course, you must:

• achieve a composite mark of at least 50 out of 100;
• meet any additional requirements described in the Assessment Summary section.

Your regular attendance and active engagement in all scheduled classes and online learning activities is expected in this course. Failure to attend / engage in assessment tasks that are integrated into learning activities (e.g., class discussion, presentations) will be reflected in the marks for these assessable activities. The Business School may refuse final assessment to those students who attend less than 80% of scheduled classes where attendance and participation is required as part of the learning process (e.g., tutorials, flipped classroom sessions, seminars, labs, etc.). If you are not able to regularly attend classes, you should consult the relevant Course Authority.

View more information on attendance

The textbooks for this course are:

• Coronel, C., Morris, S. (2023) Database Systems: Design, Implementation & Management [14e]. Cengage Learning, Independence, KY, USA. (ISBN-13: ISBN-13: 9780357673034) (for the lectures)
• Casteel, J. (2015) Oracle 12c: SQL. Cengage Learning, Independence, KY, USA. (ISBN: 9781305251038) (for the tutorials)

Note: eBook version of the textbook is also available from the UNSW Bookshop (see https://www.bookshop.unsw.edu.au/details.cgi?ITEMNO=9780357673034 and https://www.bookshop.unsw.edu.au/details.cgi?ITEMNO=9781305251038).

Both books are relevant for this course. Coronel and Morris (2019) support the lecture; Casteel  (2015) supports the lab. The latest edition is recommended. However, students typically find older editions (e.g. Oracle 11g SQL for the labs) of the books sufficient for the course. Additional course materials may be provided in class and on the course website on UNSW Moodle.

Recommended:

• Connolly, T. M., & Begg, C. E. (2005) Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation, and Management [6e]. Pearson Education, Harlow, UK. (ISBN-13: 9781292061184)

Feedback is regularly sought from students and continual improvements are made based on this feedback. At the end of this course, you will be asked to complete the myExperience survey, which provides a key source of student evaluative feedback. Your input into this quality enhancement process is extremely valuable in assisting us to meet the needs of our students and provide an effective and enriching learning experience. The results of all surveys are carefully considered and do lead to action towards enhancing educational quality.

Feedback is regularly sought from students and continual improvements are made based on this feedback. At the end of this course, you will be asked to complete the myExperience survey, which provides a key source of student evaluative feedback. Your input into this quality enhancement process is extremely valuable in assisting us to meet the needs of our students and provide an effective and enriching learning experience. The results of all surveys are carefully considered and do lead to action towards enhancing educational quality.

In this course, we will seek your feedback through end of term myExperience responses. Feedback will also be encouraged throughout the term via collaborative platforms and in-class discussions. This feedback will be taken into consideration and applied where appropriate. For example, the self and peer-learning assessment component was introduced as a result of feedback highlighting the individual nature of assessment tasks.