I work for a company that is now attempting to develop some guidelines as to who should be developing new databases. In the past this was handled by developers due to a lack of DBA's and overall experience. Not that the DBA team has grown significantly in size and ability, the thinking is that this should be a DBA role. I would appreciate any input anyone could provide. Thanks!

-- Troy Wilson (tkw829@hotmail.com), June 04, 2003

Answers

Developing the database is absolutely a DBA job. That said, of course, there are a lot of details that need to be worked out and standardized. You need to ensure that you have an adequate DBA staff size to support the needs of your developer community. Furthermore, you need to make sure that your DBAs have the requisite knowledge to design and build effective and efficient database systems. This requires much more than simple technological prowess. The DBAs must be aware of the business needs and uses of the data. They will need to develop data modeling skills as well as interpersonal skills to interact with end users and programmers in an effective manner. I cover much more of what it means to be a DBA in my latest book: "Database Administration: The Complete Guide to Practices & Procedures." You can pick up a copy through amazon.com by following this link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201741296/mullinassoci-20/002- 8554686-8348803

-- Craig S. Mullins (Craig_Mullins@BMC.com), June 25, 2003.