A database system for promotional literature for publishers

The aim of this thesis is to design a database system which could easily be used by a publishing company to store data concerning the products it publishes and to enable such data to be used in the regular processes of the production of lists of books and periodicals of certain promotional requirements. In our approach we have used a relational model which is based on the mathematical theory of relations. This has certain advantages over systems designed using tree or plex structures for as the database grows it will avoid causing upheaval with the logical representation of data and application programs and provides a basis for a high level retrieval language. The query language is designed to answer quickly all enquiries to the database and is based on principles and techniques developed from menu construction. The requirements of the promotional information produced by a typical publishing house are analysed and a model set up which tests the theories we have developed. In addition, the security aspect of the database has been studied and checks incorporated into the systems to ensure the authority of the personnel using the system and to provide a permanent record of all legal and illegal entries for management information.