(1) Combine concepts and practice. The textbook and the accompanying supplements have been designed to provide close integration between concepts and practice.
(2) Emphasize problem-solving skills. This book features problem-solving guidelines to help students master the fundamental skills of data modeling, normalization, query formulation, and application development.
(3) Provide introductory and advanced material: Business students who use this book may have a variety of backgrounds. This book provides enough depth to satisfy more advanced courses, but the advanced parts are placed so that they can be skipped by the less inclined.