Visit the IT department at your school or at a local business and determine how the organization uses database management systems. Describe your findings in a memo.

What will be an ideal response?

Answers will vary, and it might be interesting to have students share the results of their field visit with the class. Students probably will find that most schools and businesses rely on relational databases to manage their operations. In some cases, however, file processing systems are used to handle specific tasks such as payroll or end-of-month processing, and students might find examples of these situations.