Foundations of Business

Intelligence: Databases
and Information
Management
Adrayan, Ambojia, Deferia, Javier, Pangan, Parocha
Organizing data in a
traditional file
environment
File Organization Terms and
Concepts
Problems with the Traditional
File Environment
Data Redundancy and
Inconsistency
• Data redundancy is the presence of duplicate data in multiple
data files so that the same data are stored in more than place
or location. It occurs when different groups in an organization
independently collect the same piece of data and store it
independently of each other. It wastes storage resources and
also leads to data inconsistency, where the same attribute
may have different values.
Program-Data Dependence
Program-data dependence refers to the coupling of data stored
in files and the specific programs required to update and
maintain those files such that changes in programs require
changes to the data. Every traditional computer program has to
describe the location and nature of the data with which it works.
In a traditional file environment, any change in a software
program could require a change in the data accessed by that
program. One program might be modified from a five-digit to a
nine-digit ZIP code. If the original data file were changed from
five-digit to nine-digit ZIP codes, then other programs that
required the five-digit ZIP code would no longer work properly.
Such changes could cost millions of dollars to implement
properly.
Lack of Flexibility
A traditional file system can deliver routine scheduled reports
after extensive programming efforts, but it cannot deliver ad hoc
reports or respond to unanticipated information requirements in
a timely fashion. The information required by ad hoc requests is
somewhere in the system but may be too expensive to retrieve.
Several programmers might have to work for weeks to put
together the required data items in a new file.
Poor Security
Because there is little control or management of data, access to
and dissemination of information may be out of control.
Management may have no way of knowing who is is accessing
or even making changes to the organization’s data.
Lack of Data Sharing and
Availability
Because pieces of information in different files and different
parts of the organization cannot be related to one another, it is
virtually impossible for information to be shared or accessed in a
timely manner. Information cannot flow freely across different
functional areas or different parts of the organization. If users
find different values of the same piece of information in two
different systems, they may not want to use these systems
because they cannot trust the accuracy of their data.
Database Approach To Data
Management
• Database – collection of data organized to serve many
applications efficiently by centralizing the data and controlling
redundant data
Database Management
Systems
A database management system (DBMS) is software that
permits an organization to centralize data, manage them
efficiently, and provide access to the stored data by application
programs. The DBMS acts as an interface between application
programs and the physical data files. When the application
program calls for a data item, such as gross pay, the DBMS finds
this item in the database and presents it to the application
program. Using traditional data files, the programmer would
have to specify the size and format of each data element used in
the program and then tell the computer where they were
located
Capabilities of Database
Management Systems
A DBMS includes capabilities and tools for organizing, managing,
and accessing the data in the database. The most important are
its data definition language, data dictionary, and data
manipulation language.
DBMS have a data definition capability to specify the structure
of the content of the database. It would be used to create
database tables and to define the characteristics of the fields in
each table. This information about the database would be
documented in a data dictionary. A data dictionary is an
automated or manual file that stores definitions of data
elements and their characteristics.
Data Warehouse
A data warehouse is a database that stores current and historical
data of potential interest to decision makers throughout the
company. The data originate in many core operational
transaction systems, such as systems for sales, customer
accounts, and manufacturing, and may include data from Web
site transactions. The data warehouse consolidates and
standardizes information from different operational databases
so that the information can be used across the enterprise for
management analysis and decision making.
Managing Data
Resources
Establishing An Information
Policy
An information policy specifies the organization’s rules for
sharing, disseminating, acquiring, standardizing, classifying, and
inventorying information. Information policy lays out specific
procedures and accountabilities, identifying which users and
organizational units can share information, where information
can be distributed, and who is responsible for updating and
maintaining the information.
• Data administration is responsible for the specific policies and
procedures through which data can be managed as an
organizational resource. These responsibilities include
developing information policy, planning for data, overseeing
logical database design and data dictionary development, and
monitoring how information systems specialists and end-user
groups use data.
• Data governance deals with the policies and processes for
managing the availability, usability, integrity, and security of
the data employed in an enterprise, with special emphasis on
promoting privacy, security, data quality, and compliance with
government regulations.
• A large organization will also have a database design and
management group within the corporate information systems
division that is responsible for defining and organizing the
structure and content of the database, and maintaining the
database. In close cooperation with users, the design group
establishes the physical database, the logical relations among
elements, and the access rules and security procedures. The
functions it performs are called database administration.
Ensuring Data Quality
• Before a new database is in place, organizations need to
identify and correct their faulty data and establish better
routines for editing data once their database is in operation.
Analysis of data quality often begins with a data quality audit,
which is a structured survey of the accuracy and level of
completeness of the data in an information system. Data
quality audits can be performed by surveying entire data files,
surveying samples from data files, or surveying end users for
their perceptions of data quality.
• Data cleansing, also known as data scrubbing, consists of
activities for detecting and correcting data in a database that
are incorrect, incomplete, improperly formatted, or
redundant. Data cleansing not only corrects errors but also
enforces consistency among different sets of data that
originated in separate information systems. Specialized data-
cleansing software is available to automatically survey data
files, correct errors in the data, and integrate the data in a
consistent company-wide format.