What’s the first level of the Three-Level Database Model?
Level 1:
External, conceptual or local level
- Various “user views” of corporate data
- Each application program has own view
What is the second level of the Three-Level Database model?
Level 2:
Logical or enterprise data level
- “Technical” (human) view of all corporate data
- Controlled by database administration
What is the third level of the Three-Level Database model?
Level 3:
Physical or storage level
- Specifies the way data is physically stored
- For use by database administrators
What is the first level of the Four Data model?
- Hierarchical Model
- structured so that each element is subordinate to another in a district hierarchical manner
E.g. Parent-Child relationship
What is the 2nd Data Model of the Four Data models?
- Network Model
- allows each data item to have more than one parent
- relationships stated by pointers stored with the data
What is the 3rd Data Model of the Four Data models?
- Relational Model
Data stored in tables (intuitive for users)
- key unique identifiers
- “tuple-calculus” operations (commands such as select, join, match etc)
- Data normalisation (optimisation)
- not as efficient as hierarchical but more flexible
- Database technology of choice e.g. SQL MS Access
What is the 4th Data Model of the Four Data models?
4. Object-Oriented Database Model Extension of concept of data to objects - piece of data - methods that can perform work on data - attributes to describe the data - relationships between objects
Objects can be used to store any type of data
- e.g. Spreadsheet, video clip, photograph etc
- object database
Object-Oriented models retain traditional DBMS features including:
- end user tools
- high level query languages
- concurrency control
- recovery
- ability to handle huge amounts of data
Addition of to major concepts
- object management
- knowledge management
Object-Oriented models outperform relational systems for certain types of database manipulation
- scientific and engineering applications
Corporations are slow to adopt due to legacy systems
Tenets of objects have increasingly become important in world of computing
- e.g. Web services because XML modules utilise object principles
What is the role of the Data Admin?
Administers the database and software that manages them to provide accurate and timely information to users
Determine what data is being used outside of originating organisational unit boundaries
- Definition and format must be standardised
- Data dictionary used as main tool
- Data elements definition, schema, database structures,
Usernames, roles and privileges.
Give 5 point job description of a Database Administrator.
- Analyse data so that the organisation has the data that it needs and that data are managed in the most cost effective way.
- Help integrate DBMS with applications software
- Oversee and monitor DBMS development through in-house teams or outside contractors
- Monitor and administer DBMS security
- authorisation, backup, auditing recovery - Work with the CIO and system administrator to configure hardware and software for optimal deployment of DBMS.
Explain the concept of Managing information?
Once enterprises get their data into shape, that data can more easily be turned into information
Information is power
Managing information is a critical activity
- Technology = infrastructure
- Asset = information that runs on that infrastructure.
What are the Four Types of Information?
- Internal record based info
- Internal document based info
- External record based info
- External document based info
What is internal record based information?
It was the original focus of IS organisations because it is the type of information that computer applications generate and manage easily.
Typical corporate authority:
Information systems department
Information sources:
- translation processing
- organisational units
Technologies used
- DBMS
- Data dictionaries
- Enterprise data analysis techniques
What is internal document based information?
Document based information deals with ideas, thoughts and opinions
Typical corporate authority
- Administrative
- Vice President
- Word processing canter
- Records management
Information source
- Corporate
- memos, letters, reports, forms and emails
Technologies used
- word processing
- micrographics
- reprographics
- ext retrieval products
What are external record based information?
Typical corporate authority
- end users
- corporate planning
- financial analysis
- marketing
Information sources
- public database
Technologies used
- Internet based services
- public networks
- Analysis packages
What are external document based information?
Typical corporate authority
- Corporate library
Information sources
- Public literature
- News services
- Catalogs and indexes
- Subscriptions
- Purchased reports
- Internet e.g. Wikipedia
What are the five steps in a data warehousing project?
- Define the business uses of the data
- Create the data model for the warehouse
- Cleanse the data
- Select the user tools
- Monitor usage and system performance
List some key elements of a Data Warehouse.
Data warehouse stores data used to make decisions
- obtained periodically from transaction databases
- snapshot of situation at specific time
- different from operational databases
Customer data is most common type of data housed
- corporate use transcends reporting internal data to business intelligence today
Metadata
- data for the data. Data explaining what the data is
Quality data
- cleansing of date to adhere to metadata standards
Datamart
- subset of data pulled from the warehouse for a specific set of users.
- for faster search time and lower costs
Data warehouses are seen as strategic assets that can yield business intelligence
- customer behaviour, product mixes etc…
Getting corporate data into shape is a key prerequisite
E.g. Reconciling data from legacy system.
Explain what document management means?
Vice President of administration traditionally responsible for the management of internal document base information.
- Paper still plays an important role in most enterprises
- Need to move seamlessly between digital and print
Electronic document management (EDM) uses new technologies for document management to produce significant impacts
- business process redesign
- quality improvement
What are some document snapshots of some set of information?
- incorporating many complex information types
- exist in multiple places across a network
- depend on other documents for information
- change on the fly as subordinate documents are updated
- have complex data types such as full motion video and voice annotations
- be accessed and modified by many people simultaneously.
Describe EDM: Improving the Publishing process.
Traditional parcels has inefficiencies
- infrequent long print runs require storing documents which become obsolete in between runs
- 60% of the total cost of transporting the documents is in storage and transportation
EDM enables major restructuring of publishing and distribution process of print documents
- electronic storage
- mass distribution and print when needed
EDM minimises obsolescence, physical warehouse costs and delivery times.
Outline the difference between traditional publishing process and the reengineered publishing process.
Traditional publishing process
Electronic creation and composition –> offset lithography –> warehouse –> transportation
Reengineered publishing process
Electronic creation and composition –> electronic storage and management –> communication –> electronic printing and finishing
What is an EDM?
It is an electronic document management system that uses new technologies that manage information resources that don’t fit easily into traditional databases.
Addressing organising and managing conceptual, descriptive and ambiguous multimedia content.
Describe EDM: Supporting communication among people and groups.
The value of documents is that they transfer information across time and space
- Internet can help but people often still rely in printed documents
EDM can be used to facilitate such communications amount people and groups
- tapiola case study illustrates how.
Describe EDM: Supporting organisational processes
Documents still the vehicle for accomplishing most organisational processes.
Using technology to support processes generates significant business value
- reducing physical space for storage
- faster routing / delivery of documents
- easier to manage and track work flow and load
Two trends in organisations have increased the importance of workflow
- Quality management
- Business process reengineering
Use of technology to improve management process
- decision support
- problem solving
- control
