Database Systems
DATA AND DATABASE ADMINISTRATION
Organizational Context for Managing Databases
Database Support for Management Decision Making
Approaches for Managing Data Resources
Responsibilities of Data Specialists
Challenges of Big Data
Database Support for Management Decision Making
Operational Database: a database to support the daily functions of an
organization.
• Databases support business operations and management decision making at various
levels. Most large organizations have developed many operational databases to help
conduct business efficiently. Operational databases directly support major functions
such as order processing, manufacturing, accounts payable, and product distribution.
The reasons for investing in an operational database are typically faster processing,
larger volumes of business, and reduced personnel costs.
As organizations achieve improved operations, they begin to realize the decision-
making potential of their databases.
Operational databases provide the raw materials for management decision making
Database Support for Management Levels
Lower level management can obtain exception and problem reports directly from
operational databases. However, much value must be added to leverage the
operational databases for middle and upper management. The operational
databases must be cleaned, integrated, and summarized to provide value for
tactical and strategic decision making. Integration is necessary because operational
databases often are developed in isolation without regard for the information
needs of tactical and strategic decision making.
Examples of Management Decision Making
• Lower-level management deals with short-term problems related to individual transactions. Periodic
summaries of operational databases and exception reports assist operational management. Middle
management relies on summarized data that are integrated across operational databases. Middle
management may want to integrate data across different departments, manufacturing plants, and retail
stores. Top management relies on the results of middle management analysis and external data sources.
Approaches for Managing Data Resources
As a response to the challenges of leveraging operational databases and
information technology for management decision making, several management
approaches have been developed.
The original approach known as information resource management was developed
in the 1990s.
Information resource management involves processing, distributing, and
integrating information throughout an organization. A key element of information
resource management is control of information life cycles
Information Life Cycle: the stages of information transformation in an
organization. Each entity has its own information life cycle that should be managed
and integrated with the life cycles of other entities.
Typical Stages of an Information Life Cycle
• Each level of management decision making and business operations has its own
information life cycle. For effective decision making, the life cycles must be integrated
to provide timely and consistent information. For example, information life cycles for
operations provide input to life cycles for management decision making.
Starting about the mid-1990s, a movement developed to extend information
resource management into knowledge management. Traditionally, information
resource management has emphasized technology to support predefined recipes
for decision making rather than the ability to react to a constantly changing
business environment. To succeed in today's business environment, organizations
must emphasize fast response and adaptation to extend planning efforts.
To meet this challenge, organizations should develop systems that facilitate
knowledge creation rather than information management. For knowledge
creation, a greater emphasis is on human information processing and organization
dynamics to balance the technology emphasis .
Knowledge Management: applying information technology with human
information processing capabilities and organization processes to support rapid
adaptation to change.
Three Pillars of Knowledge Management
Data Governance: according to the Data Governance Institute, data governance
involves the application of decision-making and authority for data-related issues.
Data governance provides a system of checks and balances to develop data rules
and policies, support application of data rules and policies, and evaluate
compliance of data rules and policies. The system of data governance operates in a
manner similar to separate government branches in which the legislative branch
makes laws, the executive branch enforces laws, and the judicial branch resolves
disputes about the meaning and application of laws.
Responsibilities of Data Specialists
The data administrator (DA) is a middle- or upper-management position with
broad responsibilities for information resource management.
The database administrator (DBA) is a support role with responsibilities related to
individual databases and DBMSs
Responsibilities of Data Administrators and Database Administrators
Enterprise Data Model: a conceptual data model of an organization. An enterprise
data model can be used for data planning or business intelligence.
In large organizations, various titles are used for database specialists. The following list
explains some common titles used in large organizations.
Database architect: primarily specializes in data modeling and logical database design
System DBA: interfaces with system administration and analyzes database impact on
hardware and operating system
Application DBA: specializes in management and usage of procedural objects including
triggers, stored procedures, and transaction design
Senior DBA: a highly experienced DBA who supervises junior DBAs and provides expert
trouble shooting
Performance DBA: specializes in physical database design and performance tuning
Data warehouse administrator: specializes in operation and development of data
warehouses
In small organizations, the boundary between data administration and database
administration is fluid. There may not be separate positions for data administrators
and database administrators. The same person may perform duties from both
positions.
Challenges of Big Data
In many organizations, data specialists confront the problem of exploding data
growth.
The growth in data comes from a variety of sources such as sensors in smart
phones, energy meters, and automobiles, interaction of individuals in social media
websites, radio frequency identification tags in retail, and digitized multimedia
content in medicine, entertainment, and security. This data growth breaks existing
systems and business processes providing challenges and opportunities for both
vendors developing database technology and organizations using database
technology.
The phenomenon of explosive data growth known as big data was frst stated by
Doug Laney of the Meta Group in 2012. According to Laney's report, big data
contains three dimensions: volume (amount of data), velocity (rate of
generating and processing data), and variety (type of data especially the
distinction between structured and unstructured data). Most attention is focused
on data volumes but the other two dimensions must be managed effectively to
deal with problems of big data.
Big Data: the phenomenon of exploding data growth. Big data has three
dimensions, volume, velocity, and variety. The volume of big data that exceeds the
limits of database software depends on technology, industry sector, and time.
REFERENCES
1. Michael V. Mannino, Database Design, Application Development and
Administration.
