Organizing Data and Information

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Data
Data
A necessity for almost any enterprise to carry out its business. Consists of raw facts, and when organized may be transformed into information

Database
A collection of data organized to meet users needs

Database management system (DBMS)

A group of programs that manipulate the database and provide an interface between the database and the user of the database or other application programs
Prof. Rushen Chahal

DBMS Discussion (1)

A collection of programs that enables you to store, modify, and extract information from a database. There are many different types of DBMSs, ranging from small systems that run on personal computers to huge systems that run on mainframes. The following are examples of database applications:
computerized library systems automated teller machines flight reservation systems computerized parts inventory systems

Prof. Rushen Chahal From a technical standpoint, DBMSs can differ widely. The terms

DBMS Discussion (2)

relational, network, flat, and hierarchical all refer to the way a DBMS organizes information internally. The internal organization can affect how quickly and flexibly you can extract information. Requests for information from a database are made in the form of a query, which is a stylized question. For example, the query SELECT ALL WHERE NAME = "SMITH" AND AGE > 35 requests all records in which the NAME fieldProf. Rushen Chahal the is SMITH and AGE

DBMS Discussion (3)

field is greater than 35. The set of rules for constructing queries is known as a query language. Different DBMSs support different query languages, although there is a semi-standardized query language called SQL (structured query language). Sophisticated languages for managing database systems are called fourth-generation languages, or 4GLs for short. The information from a database can be presented in a variety of
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DBMS Discussion (4)

a graphics component that enables you to output information in the form of graphs and charts.

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Hierarchy of Data

Schematic
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Hierarchy of data

Example
Personel file

Database

Department file Payroll file 005-10-6321 Johns Francine 10-7-65 549-77-1001 Buckley Bill 2-17-79 098-40-1370 Fiske Steven 1-5-85

(Project database)

Files

(Personnel file)

Records Fields Characters (bytes)

098-40-1370 Fiske Steven 1-5-85 598

Fiske

(Last name field)

(Record containing SSN, last name, first name, date of hire)

1000100

(Letter F in ASCII)

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Terminology
Database
A collection of integrated and related files

File
A collection of related records

Record
A collection of related fields

Field
A group of characters

Character
Basic building block of information, represented by a byte

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Data Entities, Attributes, and Keys

Entity
A generalized class of people, places, or things (objects) for which data are collected, stored, and maintained E.g., Customer, Employee

Attribute
A characteristic of an entity; something the entity is identified by E.g., Customer name, Employee name

Keys
A field or set of fields in a record that is used to identify the record E.g, A field or set of fields that uniquely identifies the record
Prof. Rushen Chahal

Keys and Attributes

Employee # 005-10-6321 549-77-1001 098-40-1370

Last name Johns Buckley Fiske

First name Francine Bill Steven

Hire date 10-7-65 2-17-79 1-5-85

Dept. # 257 650 598

Key field

Attributes (fields)

Entities (records)
Prof. Rushen Chahal

The Traditional Approach

The traditional approach Separate files are created and stored for each
application program

Schematic
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Data

Files Payroll

Application programs Payroll programs

Users Reports

Invoicing

Invoicing programs

Reports

Inventory control

Inventory control programs Management inquiries programs

Reports

Management inquiries

Reports

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Drawbacks
Data redundancy
Duplication of data in separate files

Lack of data integrity

The degree to which the data in any one file is accurate

Program-data dependence
A situation in which program and data organized for one application are incompatible with programs and data organized differently for another application

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Database Approach
The database approach
A pool of related data is shared by multiple application programs Rather than having separate data files, each application uses a collection of data that is either joined or related in the database

Schematic
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Payroll program Payroll data Inventory data Invoicing Data Other data Other programs Database Interface Applications programs Inventory program

Reports

Reports

Database management system

Invoicing program

Reports

Reports

Users

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Advantages
Improved strategic use of corporate data Reduced data redundancy Improved data integrity Easier modification and updating Data and program independence Better access to data and information Standardization of data access A framework for program development Better overall protection of the data Shared data and information resources

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Disadvantages
Relatively high cost of purchasing and operating a DBMS in a mainframe operating environment Increased cost of specialized staff Increased vulnerability

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Data Modeling and Database Models (1)

Planned data redundancy
A way of organizing data in which the logical database design is altered so that certain data entities are combined Summary totals are carried in the data records rather than calculated from elemental data Some data attributes are repeated in more than one data entity to improve database performance
Prof. Rushen Chahal

Data Modeling and Database Models (2)

Data model
A map or diagram of entities and their relationships

Enterprise data modeling

Data modeling done at the level of the entire organization

Entity-relationship (ER) diagrams

A data model that uses basic graphical symbols to show the organization of and relationships between data

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Example: Entity Relationship (ER) Diagram for a Customer Ordering Database

Schematic
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Last name

Attributes

Colour

Entities

First name

Customer

Order

Product

Name

1:N one-to-many relationship Identification number Identification number

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Hierarchical Database Model

Hierarchical database model
A data model in which data are organized in a top-down, or inverted tree structure

Schematic
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Project 1

Department A

Department B

Department C

Employee 1

Employee 2

Employee 3

Employee 4

Employee 5

Employee 6

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Network Data Model

Network data model
An expansion of the hierarchical database model with an owner-member relationship in which a member may have many owners

Project 1

Project 2

Department A

Department B

Department C
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Relational Data Model

Relational data model
All data elements are placed in twodimensional tables, called relations, that are the logical equivalent of files

Schematic
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Data Table 1: Project Table

Project Number 155 498 226 Description Payroll Widgets Sales manager Dept. Number 257 632 598

Data Table 2: Department Table

Dept. Number 257 632 598 Dept. Name Accounting Manufacturing Marketing Manager SSN 421-55-99993 765-00-3192 098-40-1370

Data Table 3: Manager Table

SSN 005-10-6321 549-77-1001 098-40-1370 Last Name Johns Buckley Fiske First Name Francine Bill Steven Hire Date 10-7-65 2-17-79 1-5-85 Dept. Number 257 650 598

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Relational Database Terminology

Selecting
Data manipulation that eliminates rows according to certain criteria

Projecting
Data manipulation that eliminates columns in a table

Joining
Data manipulation that combines two or more tables

Linked
Relating tables in a relational database together

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Linking Data Tables to Answer an Inquiry

Schematic
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Project Number 155 498 226

Description Payroll Widgets Sales manager

Dept. Number 257 632 598

Dept. Number 257 632 598

Dept. Name Accounting Manufacturing Marketing

Manager SSN 421-55-99993 765-00-3192 098-40-1370

SSN 005-10-6321 549-77-1001 098-40-1370

Last Name Johns Buckley Fiske

First Name Francine Bill Steven

Hire Date Dept. Number 10-7-65 2-17-79 1-5-85 257 650 598

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Building and Modifying a Relational Database

Using Microsoft Access

Screen snap
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Prof. Rushen Chahal

Schemas and Subschemas

Schema
A description of the entire database

Subschema
A file that contains a description of a subset of the database and identifies which users can perform modifications on the data items in that subset
Schematic
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DBMS

Schema

Subschema A

Subschema B

Subschema C

User 1

User 2

User 3

User 4

User 5

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Schema Discussion
Pronounced skee-ma, the structure of a database system, described in a formal language supported by the database management system (DBMS). In a relational database, the schema defines the tables, the fields in each table, and the relationships between fields and tables. Schemas are generally stored in a data dictionary. Although a schema is defined in text database language, the term is often Prof. Rushen Chahal used

Data Definition Language

Data Definition Language (DDL)
A collection of instructions and commands used to define and describe data and data relationships in a specific database

Schematic
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SCHEMA DESCRIPTION SCHEMA NAME IS XXXX AUTHOR XXXX DATE XXXX FILE DESCRIPTION FILE NAME IS XXXX ASSIGN XXXX FILE NAME IS XXXX ASSIGN XXXX AREA DESCRIPTION AREA NAME IS XXXX RECORD DESCRIPTION RECORD NAME ISXXXX RECORD ID IS XXXX LOCATION MODE ISXXXX WITHIN XXX AREA FROM XXXX THRU XXXX SET DESCRIPTION SET NAME IS XXXX ORDER IS XXXX MODE IS XXXX MEMBER IS XXXX . . .

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Data Dictionary
Data Dictionary
A detailed description of all data used in the database

Schematic
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NORTHWESTERN MANUFACTURING PREPARED BY: DATE: APPROVED BY: VERSION: PAGE: DATA ELEMENT NAME: DESCRIPTION: OTHER NAMES: VALUE RANGE: DATA TYPE: POSITIONS: D. BORDWELL 04 AUGUST J. EDWARDS 3.1 1 OF 1

DATE:

13 OCTOBER

PARTNO INVENTORY PART NUMER PTNO 100 TO 5000 NUMERIC 4 POSITIONS OR COLUMNS

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Data Dictionary Features

Provide a standard definition of terms and data elements Assist programmers in designing and writing programs Simplify database modification Reduce data redundancy Increase data reliability Faster program development Easier modification of data and information
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Logical and Physical Access Paths

Logical access path (LAP)
Application requires information from the DBMS

Physical access path (PAP)

DBMS accesses a storage device to retrieve data

Schematic
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Data on storage devices

Physical access path (PAP)

DBMS

Logical access path (LAP)

Management inquiries

Other software

Application programs

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Manipulating Data
Concurrency control
A method of dealing with a situation in which two or more people need to access the same record in a database at the same time

Data manipulation language (DML)

The commands that are used to manipulate the data in a database

Structured query language (SQL)

A standardized data manipulation language

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Structured Query Language (SQL) Invented at IBMs Almaden Research

Centre (San Jose, CA) in the 1970s E.g.,

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE JOB_CLASSIFICATION = C2 Select all (*) columns from the EMPLOYEE table in which the JOB_CLASSIFICATION field is equal to C2
Prof. Rushen Chahal

SQL Discussion (1)

Abbreviation of structured query language, and pronounced either see-kwell or as separate letters. SQL is a standardized query language for requesting information from a database. The original version called SEQUEL (structured English query language) was designed by an IBM research center in 1974 and 1975. SQL was first introduced as a commercial database system in 1979 by Oracle Corporation. Historically, SQL has been the favorite query language for Prof. Rushen Chahal database

SQL Discussion (2)

Increasingly, however, SQL is being supported by PC database systems because it supports distributed databases (databases that are spread out over several computer systems). This enables several users on a local-area network to access the same database simultaneously. Although there are different dialects of SQL, it is nevertheless the closest thing to a standard query language that currently exists. In Prof. Rushen Chahal 1986, ANSI approved a rudimentary version of SQL as the

SQL Discussion (3)

extensions to the ANSI standard. In 1991, ANSI updated the standard. The new standard is known as SAG SQL.

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Database Output

Screen snap
Prof. Rushen Chahal

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Popular Database Management Systems for End Users

Microsoft Access 98 Lotus Approach 98 Inprise (formerly Borland) dBASE DBMS Selection Criteria
Database size Number of concurrent users Performance Integration Features The vendor Cost
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Distributed Databases
Distributed database
A database in which the actual data may be spread across several smaller databases connected via telecommunications devices

Pretty picture
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Prof. Rushen Chahal

Data Warehouse
Data warehouse
A relational database management system designed specifically to support management decision making Current evolution of Decision Support Systems (DSSs)

Data mart
A subset of a data warehouse for small and mediumsize businesses or departments within larger companies
Schematic
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Relational databases Data extraction process

Hierarchical databases

Network databases

Data cleanup process

Flat files

Spreadsheets End user access

Data wharehouse

Query and analysis tools

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Designing a Customer Data Warehouse

Sharply define your goals and objectives before you build the warehouse Choose the software that best fits your goals Determine who/what should be in the database Develop a plan Measure results

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Data Mining Applications

Data mining
The automated discovery of patterns and relationships in a data warehouse

Data mining applications

Market segmentation Customer queries Fraud detection Direct marketing Market basket analysis Trend analysis

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On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP)

On-line analytic processing (OLAP)
Access to multidimensional databases providing managerially useful display techniques Now used to store and deliver data warehouse information

Data warehouse and OLAP

Provides top-down, query-driven analysis

Data mining
Provides bottom-up, discovery-driven analysis

Prof. Rushen Chahal

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

Open database connectivity (ODBC)
A set of standards that ensures software written to comply with these standards can be used with any ODBC-compliant database

Schematic
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dBASE

ODBC Import

ACCESS database

ODBC Export

Paradox database

ODBC Link

Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet

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Object-Relational Database Management Systems (ORDBMS)

Object-relational database management system (ORDBMS)
A DBMS capable of manipulating audio, video, and graphical data.

Hypertext
Users can search and manipulate alphanumeric data in an unstructured way

Hypermedia
Allows businesses to search and manipulate multimedia forms of data

Spatial data technology

Use of an object-relational database to store and access data according to the location it describes and to permit spatial queries and analysis
Prof. Rushen Chahal