For some of us, no matter how computer savvy, the prospect of knowing how to address the key issues of database design can seem daunting. How can one successfully tackle the issues of database design, database development, database administration and database security? The answer is simple.

Start by using your data as your compass and plot your journey of database design with your compass pointed toward the larger picture of your road map to database success, one data question at a time. Keep in mind that when all is said and done, the basic job of a database is to store data. It’s up to you as to how, when and with what set of tools you’re going to most benefit from that database system. In that vein, here are some questions to get you started:

1. What is the reason/need for your company to have a database?
2. What are the specific constraints of your data?
3. Are you creating an entirely new system or expanding/revamping an old one?
4. What system requirements will your data need and be supported by?
5. How many users will access the data at any given point and are their tier security levels you need to put in place within those access points?
6. How many reports (maps) of your customer data do you intend the database to provide? Remember, as you become more at ease with all that database development entails, you can expand your database reporting abilities.
7. What is the budgetary cost behind the journey to a fully developed database and how will it impact your database growth long-term?
8. How will the data be backed up and recovered?
9. What is the long-term goal for the data records growth? Note: A rough number estimate of how many records you will be processing initially will give you a starting point to build upon.
10. Are there e-commerce integration issues that need to be considered?
11. Finally, how will you manage issues of data control and retrieval?

Remember, these are just beginning questions that need to be addressed to help you travel further down the road of database development success. A more in-depth discussion and primer for all things "database", including some excellent tutorials, can be found on the Web technology company Extropia's site.