STORING ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION - DATABASE

RELATIONAL DATABASE FUNDAMENTALS

-  Information is everywhere in an organization

-  Information is stored in databases

    Ø   Database – maintains information about various types of objects (inventory), events                             (transactions), people (employees), and places (warehouses) 
-  Database models include;

    Ø   Hierarchical database model – information is organized into a tree-like structure (using                         parent/child relationships) in such a way that it cannot have too many relationships.

    Ø  Network database model – a flexible way of representing objects and their relationships.

Ø  Relational database model – stores information in the form of logically related two-dimensional          tables.

ENTITIES AND ATTRIBUTES

- Entity – a person, place, thing, transaction, or event about which information is stored

  Ø  The rows in each table contains the entities

- Attributes (fields, columns) – characteristics or properties of an entity class                                           Ø  The columns in each table contain the attributes

KEYS AND RELATIONSHIPS

- Primary keys and foreign keys identity the various entity classes (tables) in the database

     Ø  Primary key – a fields (or group of fields) that uniquely identities a given entity in a table

     Ø  Foreign key – a primary key of one table that appears an attribute in another table and acts to               provide a logical relationships among the two tables.

RELATIONAL DATABASE ADVANTAGES

-Database advantages from a business perspective include;

Ø  Increased flexibility

Ø  Increased scalability and performance

Ø  Reduced information redundancy

Ø  Increased information integrity (quality)

Ø  Increased information security

INCREASED FLEXIBILITY

- A well-designed database should;

Ø  Handle changes quickly and easily

Ø  Provide users with different views

Ø  Have only one physical views

§  Physical view – deals with the physical storage of information on a storage device

Ø  Have multiple logical views

§  Logical view – focuses on how users logically access information

INCREASED SCALABILITY AND PERFORMANCE

- A database must scale to meet increased demand, while maintaining acceptable performance               levels

Ø  Scalability – refers to how well a system can adapt to increased demands

Ø  Performance – measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or transaction

REDUCED INFORMATION REDUNDANCY

- Databases reduce information redundancy

       Ø  Redundancy – the duplication of information or storing the same information in multiple                     places

- Inconsistency is one of the primary problems with redundant information

INCREASED INFORMATION SECURITY

- Information is an organization asset and must be protected

- Databases offer several security features including;

Ø  Password – provides authentication of the user

Ø  Access level – determines who has access to the different types of information

Ø  Access control – determines types of user access, such as read-only access

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

- Database management systems (DBMS) – software through which users and application                     programs interact with a database

DATA-DRIVEN WEB SITES

- Data-driven Web sites – an interactive Web site kept constantly updated and relevant to the needs of    its  customers through the use of database

DATA-DRIVEN WEB SITE BUSINESS ADVANTAGES

-  Development

-  Content Management

-  Future Expandability

-  Minimizing Human Error

-  Cutting Production and Update Costs

-  More Efficient

-  Improved Stability

DATA-DRIVEN BUSINESS INTELLIGENT

- BI in a data-driven Web site

INTEGRATING INFORMATION AMONG MULTIPLE DATABASES

- Integration – allows separate systems to communicate directly with each other

   Ø  Forward integration – takes information entered into a given system and sends it automatically           to all downstream systems and processes

Ø  Backward integration – takes information entered into a given system and sends it automatically to      all upstream systems and processes

- Building a central repository specifically for integrated information