business in our daily life: chapter 7 -Storing Organizational Information

WHAT IS INFORMATION?

Information is everywhere in an organization.

Information is stored in databases.

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

database include:

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
Network database model – a flexible way of representing objects and their relationships
Relational database model – stores information in the form of logically related two-dimensional tables

RELATIONAL DATABASE ADVANTAGE

Database advantages from a business perspective include

Increased flexibility
Increased scalability and performance
Reduced information redundancy
Increased information integrity (quality)
Increased information security

INCREASE FLEXIBILITY

A well-designed database should:

Handle changes quickly and easily
Provide users with different views
Have only one physical view
Physical view – deals with the physical storage of information on a storage device
Have multiple logical views
Logical view – focuses on how users logically access information

INCREASE SCALABILITY AND PERFORMANCE

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

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

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

REDUCE INFORMATION REDUNCY

Databases reduce information redundancy

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

Inconsistency - one of the primary problems with redundant information

INCREASE INFORMATION INTEGRITY

Information integrity – measures the quality of information

Integrity constraint – rules that help ensure the quality of information

Relational integrity constraint
Business-critical integrity constraint

INCREASE INFORMATION SECURITY

Information is an organizational asset and must be protected

Databases offer several security features including:

Password – provides authentication of the user

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

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

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

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 a database

DATA DRIVEN WEB SITE ADVANTAGE

Development
Content Management
Future Expandability
Minimizing Human Error
Cutting Production and Update Costs
More Efficient
Improved Stability

DATA DRIVEN BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

BI in a data driven web site

ENTITIES AND ATTRIBUTES

Entity – a person, place, thing, transaction, or event about which information is stored
The rows in each table contain the entities

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

KEY AND RELATIONSHIP

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

Primary key – a field (or group of fields) that uniquely identifies a given entity in a table
Foreign key – a primary key of one table that appears an attribute in another table and acts to provide a logical relationship among the two tables

INTEGRATING INFORMATION AMONG MULTIPLE DATABASE

Integration – allows separate systems to communicate directly with each other
Forward integration – takes information entered into a given system and sends it automatically to all downstream systems and processes
Backward integration – takes information entered into a given system and sends it automatically to all upstream systems and processes

FORWARD INTEGRATING