Interactive textbook · 16 chapters
Databases and Management Information Systems
A database course for people who will make decisions with data, not just store it. Students write real SQL from the first weeks, build two complete systems, and finish able to turn a pile of rows into a recommendation they can stand behind.
Here is what nobody says out loud in a database class: the syntax is the easy part. The hard part is knowing which question is worth asking, getting the right data to answer it, and trusting the answer enough to put your name on a recommendation.
Using Data to Drive Business Performance is built around that hard part. It starts where business starts, with a decision somebody needs to make. Within the first few weeks you are writing SQL against a real database, right in your browser, to answer questions a manager would actually ask. Once you have felt what good data makes possible, the book turns around and teaches you how to design it well: tables, relationships, normalization, security, the whole foundation.
It reads like a good teacher talking, not a reference manual. Every chapter follows the same rhythm, so you always know where you are. And it doesn’t stop at the query. You build reports, read KPIs honestly, and write the short memo that turns evidence into action, because that is the part your future boss will care about.
It was written and rewritten in a real classroom, semester after semester, with real students telling us exactly where they got lost. Those spots are now the clearest pages in the book.
Why this book is different
Students tell us the same things: “I know the terms but not how they connect.” “We learn SQL, but I don’t know why it matters.” So we built the book around those two sentences.
Most database books open with theory and diagrams and hope you stay long enough to see why it matters. This one opens with the questions a manager actually asks. Halfway through, the book turns around: you have used databases, now you design one from real requirements and business rules.
Not screenshots of code. You write and run SQL in the reader, starting with simple lookups and working up to joins, CTEs, CASE logic, date analysis, window functions and views. It feels like a real job, not a worksheet.
The Grading Database is your guided lab. PetVax, a veterinary clinic, is where you show you can do it on your own. Instead of fifty unrelated exercises, you watch two complete information systems mature over the semester.
A result set is not a decision. You build reports, read KPIs, check for context and bias, and write the memo that turns evidence into action. That last step is where most courses stop and where this one gets interesting.
Embeddings, retrieval and AI-ready data show up after you understand schemas, data quality, security and governance. AI is treated as a consumer of well-built data, not a decorative sidebar.
Every chapter pairs a short reading check with a transfer lab. Students hand in things they have to explain: diagrams, schemas, SQL portfolios, reports and decision memos. That kind of work is hard to fake with a chatbot.
The learning arc
A habit, not a formula
Spot the business question hiding in the noise.
Pull the right data, and only the right data.
Turn rows into patterns you can defend.
Make the call, and explain why.
Inside every chapter
Every chapter moves through six parts, from the big idea to work you can show someone. Instructors get a predictable structure that maps cleanly onto any LMS; students get a path that never leaves them guessing.
See the full table of contents →The main ideas, explained with business stakes up front.
Guided, hands-on work in the Grading Database.
Connect the pieces and explain what they mean for a manager.
The vocabulary that matters, with real examples.
A quick readiness check before the applied work.
Transfer it to PetVax, a new scenario, or the capstone.
Two running projects
Every student already understands grades, which makes it the perfect first system. You query it, find its flaws, normalize it, secure it and report on it, chapter by chapter, with the book walking beside you.
A veterinary clinic with messy notes, appointments and vaccine records. Here you transfer what you learned to a system you have never seen, turning vague requirements into a working, defensible design.
Table of contents
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Who it’s for
Business majors who never planned to write code, and are about to discover they can. Clear, friendly and honest about what matters.
A predictable six-part chapter package, transfer labs, reading checks and artifacts students must explain. Less stitching, more teaching.
One integrated course instead of a theory text plus a separate software manual. Flexible enough for MIS, AIS, analytics and applied SQL.
For instructors & programs
Request a review copy, ask about course adoption, or tell us what your students need. A person reads every message.
Getting access
Through your course
Open the interactive reader and sign in with the access your course or instructor provides.
Open the readerComplimentary
Full access to the reader, chapter structure, labs and assessment materials for faculty evaluating the book.
Request review accessCustom pricing
Section, department and institution-wide access, with LMS-friendly structure and onboarding support.
Ask about adoptionPurchases are covered by our refund policy and terms.
Questions
No. It is an interactive web book that works on a laptop, tablet or phone. You read, run SQL and check your understanding in one place, and the content is updated as tools change.
For most of the book, no. SQL runs right in the reader. The optional Microsoft Access appendix needs Access, which many campuses provide.
Undergraduate business students taking an introductory database or MIS course, including those who have never written a line of code. It also works for Accounting Information Systems, business analytics and applied SQL courses.
Yes. Chapters 1–8 work as a business data-literacy course, Chapters 9–16 as an applied database and BI course, and the Access appendix stands on its own as a skills pathway.
Absolutely. Request a review copy and we will set you up with the full reader, the chapter structure, labs and assessment materials.