ITO4132 TP2-25 / Assessment 2

Assessment 2: Relational and non-relational database manipulation
ITO4132 TP2-25 / Assessment 2: Relational and non-relational database manipulation
Word limit: N/A
Weighting: 50%
Individual/Team: Individual
Please Note that this assessment is due on 11.55pm AEST Wednesday 16 April 2025, this is to allow
students in foundational units of the ITO programs the additional support in completing their first
f
inal assessments. This may not occur in all of your ITO units in the future, so please ensure any
future units you undertake you are checking the submission dates.
Generative AI tools cannot be used in this assessment task
In this assessment, you must not use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to generate any materials or content in relation to the
assessment task. This whole assessment task requires you to demonstrate human knowledge and skill acquisition without the
assistance of AI.
After you have read this information, head over to the Assessment 2 Q&A category in Ed to ask any questions and see what your peers are
saying about this assessment.
Assessment overview
For this assessment, you will populate resultant tables with appropriate test data and write the SQL queries specified for a brief for
Monash Automotive.
This assessment supports unit learning outcomes 1, 3 and 4.
Assessment details
The following is a PDF version of the case study for this assessment, for offline use:
Assessment 2: Relational and non-relational database manipulation – Monash Automotive (MA) Brief (PDF 598 KB).
Consider the following information:
Monash Automotive (MA) brief
Monash Automotive (MA) is a small business that services automotive vehicles from a single location. MA wishes
to create a computer-based system to manage its service data, parts inventory, customers, and payments. After
speaking to management, the following scenario describes what they would like to happen:
Customers drop their vehicles off at the Monash Automotive service centre, where a reception staff member makes
a service entry into the system. Each service is assigned a unique service number, which the system should
automatically generate. A customer indicates to the reception staff how they intend to pay for the service
(Cash/Card/EFT). The customer will provide instructions for the work which needs to be carried out. For this
simplified system, we will assume all services take place in one day.
MA mechanics will then work on the vehicle, a cumulative total of the hours spent on the service is recorded in the
workshop, and a final service labour charge entry is struck when the service is completed. All parts required for the
service will be obtained from the MA Spare Parts division as the work is carried out.
The mechanic will request an item/s from the Spare Parts division attendant, who will make a part charge entry,
which will record the part number, the service number, the job number within that service, the number of items used
and the total line cost for this/these item/s.
When all required work has been carried out, the total labour and total parts cost is updated in the service entry. The
last service entry update carried out is to update the ready-for-pickup time, this signifies that the service has been
closed. When customers pick up their vehicle, they are required to pay the full amount for the service.
To better profile MA’s activities, the management would like to be able to analyse service activity by vehicle make,
model and age.
A customer may sell/dispose of a vehicle—in such a situation the ownership will be transferred to the new owner. If
the vehicle is no longer currently owned by an MA customer the vehicle customer number will be empty. Service
records prior to the sale must be maintained as connected to the owner at the time of the service.
Monash Automotive Vehicle Service Invoice
Customer No: 1456
Reg. No.
WILDTNG
Vehicle Vin:
6WFFPAAB662573456
Customer Name &
Address
Wiley E Coyote
123 Desert Chase
NeverEnding, Vic
3234
Contact Phone:
99032626
Date of Service: 08/02/2024
Time Delivered: 8:30 AM
Time Promised: 4:00 PM
Service No: 1234
Year/Make/Model
2020/Ford Falcon/XR6
Sports
Kilometres
142,000
Payment:
Cash/Card/EFT
Driver Instructions: [Maximum of 200 characters]
Total
Labour
324.00
Total
Parts
256.74
Amount
Due
580.74
Standard 80,000 km service
Check/repair central locking unit
Wheel alignment

Part Charges
Job Qty Part Code Description
Unit
Price Amount
Job#
1
1 FOA1MC Oil Filter 15.58 15.58
Job#
1
1 FOAWV6 Refill Wiper
Blades
12.80 12.80
Job#
1
2 FOAX200 Fuel Filter 25.89 51.78
Job#
2
1 FOBAC15 Transmitter
SMT/Lock
176.58 176.58
Job#
3

Total
Parts
256.74

Note that every service has at least a job number 1, subsequent jobs required (based on the issues flagged by the
customer) are numbered 2, 3 etc. The driver instructions are supplied when the vehicle is dropped off and mapped
across to the jobs to be completed. For example, in the above, ‘Standard 80,000 km service’ is mapped to job 1,
‘Check/repair central locking unit’ is mapped to job 2 and ‘Wheel alignment’ is mapped to job 3
Data model
After some discussion with Monash Automotive, the following data model has been selected, as a starting point, to
meet their basic needs:
Monash Automotive logic model (2022) Monash Online
Text alternative
Important points
1. The
ass2-student.zip archive also contains several files for you to type your answers in, you should ensure these files are
regularly pushed to the GitLab server so a clear development history is available for the marker to verify (a minimum of fourteen
pushes are required—two per file used). In each file, you must fill in the header details with your name and student ID before
beginning any work. Your SQL script files must not include any SPOOL or ECHO commands. Although you might include such
commands when testing your work they must be removed before submission (a grade penalty will be applied if your documents
contain spool or echo commands).
2. You are free to make assumptions, if needed. However, your assumptions must align with the details here and in the Ed
Assessment 2 forum and must be clearly documented (see the required submission files).
Remember you must keep up to date with the Ed Assessment 2 forum where further clarifications may be posted (this forum is
to be treated as your client). Please be careful to ensure you do not post anything which includes your reasoning, logic or any
part of your work to this assessment forum as doing so violates Monash plagiarism/collusion rules.
3. SQL views must not be used in arriving at any solutions for the tasks you are required to complete as part of this assessment.
4. In handling dates, the default date format must not be assumed; you must make use of the TO_DATE and TO_CHAR functions
where appropriate.
5. ANSI joins must be used where the joining of tables in SQL is required.
6. In completing the following tasks, you must design your test data so that you always get output for the SQL scripts/queries
specified below – this may require you to add further data as you move through completing the required tasks. Such extra data
must be added as part of Task 2 (i.e. as part of your load of test data). Queries that are correct but do not produce any output
(‘no rows selected’ message) using your test data will lose 50% of the marks allocated, so you should carefully check your test
data and ensure it thoroughly validates your SQL queries.
In answering the following tasks, you are ONLY permitted to use the RA/SQL/NoSQL structures and syntax which have
been covered within this unit:
Module 2 The Relational Model
Module 3 Creating and Altering the Database Structure (DDL)
Module 4 DML&Transactions and SQL Part I
Module 4 DML & Transactions and SQL Part I
Module 5 SQL Part II and III and the Oracle Common Functions document
Module 6 Non-Relational Databases
SQL syntax and commands outside of the covered work, as detailed above, will not be accepted/marked.
You must NOT use PL/SQL commands such as BEGIN/END nor SQL structures such as WITH since these were not
covered in the unit.
Assessment Tasks
Task 1: Relational Database Queries – Relational Algebra (6 marks)
Your answers for this task (Task 1) must be written in an MS Word document or Google document. To push the document to
GitLab (a minimum of two pushes as you work) download or print the document as a pdf file and name the file as T1-ma-ra.pdf.
For this task, you are required to write the relational algebra operations for the following queries (your answer must show an
understanding of query efficiency). Please ensure you copy and paste each of the questions below (a) – (c) into your answer
document.
List of symbols for copying/pasting as you enter your answers below:
project: π, select: σ, join:
⨝
, intersect:
⋂
, union:
⋃
, minus:
Example
Question:
List the vehicle vin and make for all vehicles which were manufactured in the year 2021.
Answer:
R = π veh_vin, veh_make (σ veh_year= ”2021″ VEHICLE)
OR
R1 = σ veh_year= ”2021″ VEHICLE
R = π veh_vin, veh_make (R1)
(a) List the part code, part description for all parts supplied by the vendor named “Supercheap Auto”.
(b) List the part code and part description for all parts which have not been used in any service.
[1 mark]
[2 marks]
(c) List the customer’s name, phone number and vehicle registration number (rego) for all owners of vehicles who had their
vehicle serviced on 22/02/2024 and where the service kilometres were greater than 80,000 km.
[3 marks]
Task 2: Data Insert (10 marks):
You may need to rerun the schema (ma-schema-insert.sql), especially when you have been experimenting with your solutions and
may have corrupted the database unintentionally. If you suspect that there might be such problems, simply rerun the schema. The
schema includes the appropriate drop commands at the head of the file.
Load selected tables with your own additional test data:
Using the supplied T2-ma-insert.sql script file. Add the SQL commands which will insert, as a minimum, the following sample
data to represent completed services:
10 SERVICEs entries
Carried out on at least 6 different vehicles
Have at least 2 service entries that involve more than one job
Have at least 2 service entries that were ready for pickup before the requested pickup date/time and at least 2 that were
ready after the requested pickup day/time
15 SERVICE_JOBs, and
10 PART_CHARGEs
Your inserted data must conform to the following rules:
1. You may treat all of the data that you add as a single transaction since you are setting up the initial test state for the
database.
2. The primary key values for this data should be hardcoded values (i.e. NOT make use of sequences) and must consist of
values below 200.
3. Dates for services must be chosen between the 1st January 2023 and the 1st June 2023.
For this task only, you are permitted to manually look up and include values for the loaded tables/data directly and carry out
external calculations (for example part_charge.pc_linecost) where required.
You are not required to adjust the part_stock for any part which is used in a service. You may assume that the preloaded values
represent the part stock after all of your data has been loaded.
Your parts used should be reasonably related to the task, for example, a broken tail light should not use a brake pad.
Note: In carrying out task 2 you must not modify any data or add any further data to the tables which were previously populated
by the supplied schema file.
For all subsequent tasks (Task 3 onwards) you are not permitted to:
[10 marks]
manually lookup an attribute/s in the database to obtain any value,
manually calculate values (including dates/times) external to the database, e.g. on a calculator and then use such values in
your answers. All necessary calculations must be carried out as part of your SQL code, or
assume any contents in the database—rows in a table are potentially in a constant state of change
You must only use the data provided in the text of the questions. Where a particular case (upper case, lower case, etc.) for a word
is provided you must only use that case. You may divide names such as Wiley Coyote into the first name of Wiley and the last
name of Coyote if required.
Note: Failure to adhere to this requirement will result in a mark of 0 for the relevant question.
Task 3: Data Manipulation (10 marks)
For the following tasks, your SQL must correctly manage transactions and use sequences to generate new primary keys for
numeric primary key values (under no circumstances may a new primary key value be hard-coded as a number or value). Your
answers for these tasks must be placed in the supplied SQL Script T3-ma-dml.sql.
(a) Create a set of sequences that will allow you to enter data into the SERVICE and PART_CHARGE tables—all such sequences
must start at 1000 and go up in steps of 10 (i.e. the first value is 1000, the next 1010 etc.).
[1 mark]
Task 3 (b) – (e) are potentially related questions. Where appropriate, you can use the information given in any of the parts to
answer any question e.g. use the information in (c) to help answer (d)
(b) The customer with phone number ‘6715573197’, has called in and informed Monash Automotive that they have changed the
registration number of the sole vehicle they own to ‘GDD132’. You may assume that no other customer has this phone number.
[2 marks]
(c) Customer number 1030, Farrel Grazier has brought her Mazda CX-5 in for a service (the date should be treated as 21 March
2024). She brought it in at 8:30 am and required the vehicle back by 12 noon. The vehicle has completed 12,000 km and she will
be paying by ‘cash’ if any charges are involved (this may be a warranty repair). Her reason for bringing the vehicle in is that the
‘Rear seat belts are not properly retracting’. You may assume that Farrel Grazier only owns one Mazda CX-5
[2 marks]
(d) One of the MA mechanics starts the service job for the service in (c) above, they determine that the retraction issue was due
to the belt mechanism being jammed. They remove the material causing the jam, so no parts are required. MA decides, in the
interests of customer goodwill, that there will be no labour cost. The vehicle is ready to be picked up at 9:10 am.
Make these changes to the data in the database. These changes must be treated as a single transaction.
[3 marks]
(e) Monash Automotive have decided that they no longer wish to source any parts from ‘Australian Automotive Parts’. An audit of
MA’s part usage shows that although they have several different Australian Automotive Parts items in stock, they have never been
used for any service. They will return these items to the vendor and thus remove them from the MA part stock.
[2 marks]
Task 4: SQL Queries (46 marks):
Your answers for these tasks must be placed in the supplied SQL Script T4-ma-select.sql
You are reminded that you must design your test data so that you always get output for your SQL queries and thus test them
appropriately—this may require you to add further data as you move through completing the required tasks. Such extra data
MUST be added as part of Task 2 (i.e. as part of your load of test data).
Where a question indicates ‘Your output must have the form shown below’, this means the same appearance and alignment of
columns/data as the sample output shows. Your actual data may be different.
For each question you must carefully check the data and ensure that your result is correct, do not simply assume it is correct if it
runs successfully.
In any query where the sort order (descending or ascending) is not specified, you should use the system default.
You should complete these queries using Oracle Database Actions (the ORDS server) so you are able to correctly align columns
when needed (Visual Studio Code Oracle Explorer uses proportional fonts which does not give you the true alignment). Highlight
the query you wish to run in ORDs and select the Run Script option:
Run script (2024) created by Monash Online
(a) Report the service number, vehicle vin, registration number, make, the service job numbers and service job descriptions for all
services which have been completed.
The output should be in service number order, and within service number ordered by service job number. The most recent service
number should be shown first.
[5 marks]
(b) For every part stocked by Monash Automotive list the part code, description, vendor ID and vendor name in a single VENDOR
column separated by—(see below), the current stock held by MA and the total value of the parts stock currently held.
The output should be in part code order.
The stock value should be output in the form $123.45. Typical output will have the form:
Typical output 1 (2024) created by Monash Online
[5 marks]
(c) For every part stocked by Monash Automotive list the part code, the part description, the name of the vendor who supplies the
part and an indicator if the part has been used (or not used) in a service. The indicator should say ‘Used in at least one service’ or
‘Not used in any service’.
The output should be in part code order.
Typical output would have the form:
Typical output 2 (2024) created by Monash Online
[8 marks]
(d) For every part stocked by Monash Automotive list the part code, part description, the quantity of these items which have been
charged out via a part charge and the total amount of such charges. In arriving at your solution, it is important to note that the
current unit cost listed in the part table may not be the price the item was charged out at due to part price variations.
Your output should be listed with the part which has been used the most times first.
Typical output would have the form:
[8 marks]
Typical output 3 (2024) created by Monash Online
(e) For all completed services in which the vehicle was ready for pickup later than the customer’s requested pickup time, list the
customer number, customer name, the service number, the required pickup time, the time the vehicle was ready for pickup and
how late the delivery was in hours and minutes in the form 1 hr 15 mins.
The output should show the longest delayed delivery first.
Typical output would have the form (you are required to use the format, output positions and column headings as shown in the
following):
Typical output 4 (2024) created by Monash Online
[8 marks]
(f) List the customer number, customer name and total amount they have been charged for parts across all their completed
services where the amount they have been charged is greater than the average amount charged for parts across all completed
services for all customers.
For example, on average customers may have been charged $234.56 for all part charges across all their services.
This report will then list those customers whose total part charges across all their services exceeds $234.56 (note these figures
are quite small here due to the small amount of data in our model system). The customer with the highest part charges should be
listed first. Where two customers have been charged the same total parts charge, order them by the customer’s name.
Typical output would have the form:
Task 5: Design Modifications (13 marks):
Typical output 5 (2024) created by Monash Online
Your answers for these tasks must be placed in the supplied SQL Script T5-ma-mods.sql
[12 marks]
These tasks should be attempted only after tasks 2, 3 and 4 have been completed. They are to be completed on the ‘live’ database
i.e. the database with the data loaded from your previous work. Also, remember as a live database other users are using the
database as you make these changes
In completing this task, you must:
if you need to add new columns, tables or related constraints, follow the naming conventions used in the data models and
schema file that have been provided,
provide column comments for any new columns that you add, and
correctly manage any transactions used as part of your solution
correctly manage any transactions used as part of your solution
(a) Monash Automotive (MA) would like to introduce a customer spare parts division where the parts which the business carries,
and currently uses for vehicle services, can be sold directly to customers for their personal use (i.e. not connected to a service).
The intention is to issue each customer who makes a spare parts purchase with an invoice of the form shown below. Mock data
has been added to illustrate the contents of the form, note, that you are not required to add data as part of this task
Monash Automotive Spare Parts Sale Receipt
Customer No: 1456
Customer Phone
99032626
Customer Name & Address
Wile E Coyote
123 Desert Chase
NeverEnding, Vic 3234
Sale No: 567
Sale Date: 01/07/2023
Parts Purchased
Part Code
NOS999
FDB605
Description
Nitrous Oxide System
Ferodo Brake Pads
Unit Price
1450.00
45.00
Qty
1
Amount
1450.00
2
Total Paid
90.00
1540.00
MA wish to record, for each sale made, the customer who made the purchase, the sale number (which should be auto-generated
by the system, starting with 100), the date of the sale and the total paid for the sale, up to 99999.99. For a given sale, they wish to
record for each part sold, the part code, the unit price that was charged (up to 9999.99) and the quantity of the part purchased, up
to 99.
Change the database to allow MA to record these, non-service related, customer spare parts sales.
(b)
Monash Automotive is experiencing an issue where stocks of some parts are allowed to get unreasonably low and as a
consequence cause cancellation of service jobs in the workshops.
[5 marks]
MA would like to include a re-order level for parts to indicate when a re-order is required. The spare parts staff will close each day
with an SQL query which will list those parts which need to be ordered due to being below their re-order level (you do not need to
provide this SQL as part of your solution). The output will be used to re-order those parts which have fallen below their restock
level during the current day (MA order on a daily basis from their vendors). MA also wish to note the date at which a particular
part was restocked, this is normally several days after the part was ordered. Your solution needs to deal with the fact that the
parts staff need to be able to work out which part has been reordered already and which part needs ordering based on today’s
usage.
An analysis of the current part stock levels for all parts has resulted in a decision that this reorder stock level for a particular part
should be set initially, for the current parts held, at half of the current stock of the part. For example, if the current stock level of
ACFD22 “Sterling Air Cleaner Hose” is 5, the reorder level for ACFD22 should be set at 3 (ie. 2.5 rounded up). For this initial setup,
you may set all parts restock date as 01 Jan 2024.
All new parts added to the parts table must be required to provide a re-order stock level which the user entering the data must
assign, and a restocked date. This re-order stock level and restocked date are entered manually by the user adding the new part.
Change the database to satisfy this requirement.
Task 6: Non Relational Database Queries – MongoDB (10 marks)
[8 marks]
Your answers for this task (Task 6) must be placed in the supplied sql file T6-ma-json.sql and the supplied MongoDB VS Code
playground file T6-ma-mongo.mongodb.js
(a) Write an SQL statement in T6-ma-json.sql to generate a collection of JSON documents using the following structure/format
from the Monash Auto tables used in tasks 4 and 5 (code/run this after task 5). Each document in the collection represents a
vehicle and contains the service record for that vehicle. The document identifier (_id) is the customer number joined with the
vehicles VIN separated by an underscore e.g. ‘1000_19XFB2E59DE245929’:
1000_19XFB2E59DE245929 (2024) created by Monash Online
Note only sample partial (two) documents are shown.
[4 marks]
Answer the following in the playground file T6-ma-mongo.mongodb.js
You must not add any further comments to the supplied MongoDB script file nor remove/rename any comments (indicated by
//)
Only use the solution space to enter your answer – ENSURE every statement ends with a ;
(b) Create a new collection named services and insert all documents generated in Task 6 (a) above into MongoDB in this
collection.
List all documents which have been inserted
[1 mark]
[1 mark]
(c) List the customer number, customer name, rego number and number of services for all vehicles of make “Mazda” which have
had more than one service. You may use a different make, other than Mazda, to suit your inserted data to show vehicles with
more than one service.
[2 marks]
(d) Customer number ‘1040’ who currently owns the vehicle identified by vin ‘5XXGM4A74DG668202′ has just had a new
service completed.
1. Use an appropriate db.find command which shows only the services for this customer and vehicle to show their service
record before this service is added.
2. The service number was 2000, the date serviced ’12-MAR-2024’, the labour cost was 501.10, the parts cost 123.45 and the
total cost was 624.55.
3. Write the necessary MongoDB commands to add this new service into the collection.
4. Use an appropriate db.find command which shows only the services for this customer and vehicle after making the change
so that you show/confirm the change that was made.
[2 marks]
Supporting resources
Citation using APA 7th ed. style (Monash University Library, 2020).
Monash University Library has further information about referencing on their
Citing and referencing
page.
Submission details overview
Please note, that if you need to resubmit, you cannot depend on staff availability, for this reason, please be very careful with your
submission. It is strongly recommended that you submit several hours before this time to avoid such issues.
For this assessment there are seven files you are required to submit:
T1-ma-ra.pdf
T2-ma-insert.sql
T3-ma-dml.sql
T4-ma-select.sql
T5-ma-mods.sql
T6-ma-json.sql
T6-ma-mongo.mongodb.js
If you need to make any comments to your marker please place them at the head of each of your solution scripts/answers in the
‘Comments for your marker’ section.
Do not zip these files into one zip archive, submit seven independent SQL scripts.
Note: Late submission will incur penalties at the rate of -4.5 marks for every 24 hours (or part thereof) the submission is late.
The seven files must also exist in your FITGitLab server repo and show a clear history of development (a minimum of two pushes per
f
ile).
Please note we cannot mark any work on the GitLab Server, you need to ensure that you submit correctly via Moodle since it is only in
this process that you complete the required student declaration without which work cannot be assessed.
It is your responsibility to ensure that the files you submit are the correct files—we strongly recommend after uploading a
submission, and prior to submitting, that you download the submission and double-check its contents.
Submission status
Your assessment MUST show a status of ‘Submitted for grading’ before it will be marked.
If your submission still shows a status of ‘Draft (not submitted)’, it will not be assessed and will incur late penalties after the due
date/time.
Assessment criteria
Where SQL is involved there are often several alternative approaches possible, such alternatives will be graded based on the code
successfully meeting the brief’s requirements. If it does, the answer will be accepted and graded appropriately—efficiency will not be
graded.
Submissions will be graded on the following:
Task 1: Relational Algebra Queries (6 marks)
Task 2: Data Insert (10 marks)
Task 3: Data Manipulation (10 marks)
Task 4: SQL Queries (46 marks)
Task 5 Design Modifications (13 marks)
Task 6 Non Relational Database Queries – MongoDB (10 marks)
Correct use of Git (5 marks)
Assessment 2 marking criteria
Marking Criteria
Items Assessed
Task 1 Relational Algebra Queries 6 marks
Maximum 6 marks – Satisfy brief requirements:
Task 2 Data Insert 10 marks
Insert of required
it
f t td t
Marks awarded, as listed, (a)–(c) for relational algebra which meets the expressed requirement
Marks awarded for correct use of RA operations and the use of appropriate symbols
Mark penalty applied if your answer does not show an understanding of query efficiency i.e. you must not
make use of unnecessary joins, nor carry attributes and tuples up through the query which are not
necessary
0 marks will be awarded if SQL select statements are provided as solutions for Task 1
Maximum 5 marks – Insert of data:
items of test data
Insert valid test
data
Marks awarded for correct insert of required data
Marks awarded for correct management of transactions
Maximum 5 marks – Valid data inserted:
Marks awarded for validity of data inserted
meets the requirements expressed in the assessment brief
Marks awarded for correct management of dates when inserting
Task 3 Data Manipulation 10 marks
Assessment declaration and statement of authorship
Maximum 10 marks – Satisfy brief requirements:
Marks awarded (a)–(e) for SQL code which meets the expressed requirement
By submitting my assessments I declare that:
This is an original piece of work and no part has been completed by any other person.
I have read and understood the guidelines on the
Assessment and academic integrity policy, and no part of this work has been copied or
paraphrased from any other source except where this has been clearly acknowledged in the body of the assessment and included in the
reference list.
I have retained a copy of this assessment in the event of it becoming lost or damaged.
I agree and acknowledge that:
I have read and understood the declaration and statement of authorship.
I accept that use of my Monash Online account to electronically submit this assessment constitutes my agreement to the Monash Online
Assessment Declaration.
If I do not agree to the Monash Online Assessment Declaration in this context, the outcome of my assessment may not be valid for
assessment purposes and may not be included in my aggregate score for this unit.
I am aware that it is not acceptable to resubmit the same piece of work (in part or as whole) for multiple assessments without
permission from the Unit Coordinator.
Prior to submitting your assessment, please refer to the
submission.
Academic integrity Monash Library modules to ensure the integrity of your
Further information relating to the penalties for plagiarism, which range from a formal caution to expulsion from the University, is contained
on the
Academic integrity and what plagiarism, collusion and cheating mean page.

ITO4132 TP2-26_ Assessment 2_ Relational and non-relational database manipulation