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Designing databases
The first step in creating a relational database is to construct a data model, which is a precise, complete definition of the data you want to store. After you prepare your data model, you must implement it as a database and tables. To implement your data model, you first select a data type for each column and then you create a database and tables and populate the tables with data. You can also implement fragmentation strategies and control access to your data.
Designing and Implementing a Database
The Informix® Database Design and Implementation Guide provides information to help you design, implement, and manage your Informix databases. It includes data models that illustrate different approaches to database design and shows you how to use structured query language (SQL) to implement and manage your databases.
Basics of database design and implementation
Plan a database
Use ANSI-compliant databases

Designing databases
The first step in creating a relational database is to construct a data model, which is a precise, complete definition of the data you want to store. After you prepare your data model, you must implement it as a database and tables. To implement your data model, you first select a data type for each column and then you create a database and tables and populate the tables with data. You can also implement fragmentation strategies and control access to your data.
- Designing and Implementing a Database
  The Informix® Database Design and Implementation Guide provides information to help you design, implement, and manage your Informix databases. It includes data models that illustrate different approaches to database design and shows you how to use structured query language (SQL) to implement and manage your databases.

Use ANSI-compliant databases

You create an ANSI-compliant database when you use the MODE ANSI keywords in the CREATE DATABASE statement. However, creating an ANSI-compliant database does not ensure that this database remains ANSI-compliant. If you take a non-ANSI action (such as CREATE INDEX) on an ANSI database, you will receive a warning, but the application program does not forbid the action.

You might want to create an ANSI-compliant database for the following reasons:

Privileges and access to objects
ANSI rules govern privileges and access to objects such as tables and synonyms.
Name isolation
The ANSI table-naming scheme allows different users to create tables in a database without name conflicts.
Transaction isolation
Data recovery
ANSI-compliant databases enforce unbuffered logging and implicit transactions for .

You can use the same SQL statements with both ANSI-compliant databases and non-ANSI-compliant databases.