1.1.03. Variations

  • Not only in role
  • Size
    • Video server example
  • Complexity
    • Ford Puma™ example
    • Ford staff organised by production line and car
    • e.g. Each staff member answers to a 'part' manager (engines, bodyshell, chassis) and a 'car' manager (Puma, Mondeo, Ka)
  • Expense
  • User profiles and demands

We've seen that databases are used in a variety of contexts. Those roles imply properties of each of the systems. An interlinked text-only database (such as Unix/Linux's MAN pages) will require much less storage than a video archive.

Some databases are perceptually more complex. Ford's staff management model would be represented as a matrix (in this case 2 dimensional). Computers are very good at organising multi-dimensional space.