Creating a Database for Butler Financing Company

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Justification of the use of database..................................................................................................2
ER diagram......................................................................................................................................3
Microsoft Access.............................................................................................................................4
BORROWER table..................................................................................................................................4
LENDER table........................................................................................................................................4
PROPERTY_APPRAISR table...............................................................................................................5
MORTGAGE_REQUEST table..............................................................................................................5
Queries....................................................................................................................................................5
Forms......................................................................................................................................................6
Reports....................................................................................................................................................7
IT security and Privacy............................................................................................................................7
Database risks..........................................................................................................................................7
Data Tampering......................................................................................................................................................7
Unauthorized Access to Tables and Columns........................................................................................................7
Unauthorized Access to Data Rows.......................................................................................................................8
Lack of Accountability...........................................................................................................................................8
Data Security Requirements....................................................................................................................8
Confidentiality.......................................................................................................................................................8
Privacy of Communications...................................................................................................................................8
Secure Storage of Sensitive Data...........................................................................................................................8
Authentication........................................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References........................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
The report aims at creating a database for Butler Financing Company which provides mortgages
to the borrowers by matching their requests with the lending capacity of lenders. The entire
storing of data has been done in spreadsheet up till now. But due to increase in the customer
base, there has been a rise in the issues of data consistency. The manual feeding of data in the
spreadsheet has led to cancellation of various mortgages, over or unpaid mortgages to the
lenders. Other inconsistencies include double entry of mortgages, borrowers and lenders. Along
with this, there are various data security risks in the current spreadsheet data storage mechanism
i.e. illegal access to users, unauthenticated entry of data or modifying/adding columns in the
spreadsheet. As a result of these data issues and inconsistencies, it has been proposed to transfer
data from spreadsheet to a database management system. The database for the Butler company
has been decided to be made using Microsoft Access.
Justification of the use of database
The use of database for the company would bring in several business advantages. Some of the
advantages may be realized sooner and some over time. Following are the key advantages from
using the database system.
Control of data redundancy
The database approach would ultimately help to reduce any redundancy that will brought in by
using other methods. As mentioned, the database will not completely remove the redundancies
but controls the amount of redundancy being introduced in the database.
Control of data consistency
The database approach would ultimately help to reduce any inconsistency that will brought in by
using other methods. As mentioned, the database will not completely remove the inconsistencies
but controls the amount of inconsistency being introduced in the database.
More information
It may be possible to extract additional data and results by integration of database with analytics
and intelligence tools to derive additional information using the same data.
Employing a database system makes the data virtually available to all people in the organization
as well as remote employees (Date, Kannan and Swamynathan, 2006).
Employing a database system improves the data integrity of the database because of inbuilt
consistency and validity mechanisms built in. The database is not permitted to violate any
constraints as defined by the administrator.

The security of the database can also be increased by simply employing the use of a database
system. This is because, the database can be prevented from unathorized use by simply
employing the use of usernames and passwords.
The database can also include enforcement of standards such as documentation standards, data
formats, update procedures, naming conventions and so on.
Economies of scale can be enforced by combining all organizational data into one place and
streamlining the administrator and usage of database systems.
Improvement of responsiveness and data accessibility can be achieved. This is because an
optimized database management system can prove to be extremely fast and efficient at retrieving
queries and performing data operations.
The database approach is able to provide a low-level file handling-based routine. These kinds of
provisions allow operators to focus their energy on a specific functionality rather than the whole.
By employing a centralized database system, various different conflicts and differences between
departments and users could be resolved. Decisions would then be based on the use of resources
for organization rather than a single entity.
Database system also brings in about a change in the maintenance of data. Through the use of a
database system, systematic maintenance of database can be greatly improved (Middleton,
2012).
The database system can inherently be encrypted by different levels of encryption apart from
also having tier-based access. This increases the security of database and enforces strong
protection mechanisms for it.
Database system also allows for concurrent user-based access. This means that multiple people
can use the database without having to interfere other’s work or restrict other’s work.
The database would be continuously backed up to on-site and off-site storage. This adds another
layer of protection as the database remains safe at all times. In the event of any disaster or
breach, the data can be restored promptly.
ER diagram
Following entities have been identified for the proposed Butler Financing company:
Entity Description / Attributes
BORROWER This entity represents a person who requests for mortgage from
company.