DATABASE SYSTEMS 5

1.1 DATA VS. INFORMATION

To understand what drives database design. you must understand the difference between data and information(Data
are raw facts. The word rauw indicates that the facts have not yet been processed to reveal their meaning For example.
suppose that you want to know what the users of a computer lab think of its services. Typically. you would begin by
surveying users to assess the computer lab's performance. Figure 1.1, Panel A, shows the Web survey form that
enables users to respond to your questions. When the survey form has been completed, the form's raw data are saved
to a data repository, such as the one shown in Figure 1.1, Panel B. Although you now have the facts in hand, they
are not particulariy usetul in this format-reading page after page of zeros and ones is not likely to provide much
insight. Theretore, you transform the raw data into a data summary like the one shown in Figure 1.1, Panel C. Now
it's possible to get quick answers to questions such as "What is the composition of our lab's customer base?" In this
case, you can quickly determine that most of your customers are juniors (24.59%) and seniors (53.01%). Because
graphics can enhance your ability to quickly extract meaning from data, you show the data summary bar graph in
Figure 1.1 Panel D.

FIGURE Transformingraw data into information

1.1

a) Initial Survey Screen b) Raw Data

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c) Information in Summary Format d) information in Graphic Format

Jennings A Jones College of Business Survey Jennings A Jones College of Business Survey

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4.39

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CHAPTER

Information is the result of processing raw data to reveal its meaning. Data processing may be as simple as organizing
data to reveal patterns or as complex as making forecasts or drawing inferences using statistical modeling. Such
information can then be used as the foundation for decision making. For example, the data surmnary for each question
on the survey form can point out the latb's strengths and weaknesses, helping you to make intormed decisions to better
meet the needs of lab customers.

Keep in mind that raw data must be properly formatted for storage, processing, and presentation. For example, the
student classification in Figure 1.1, Panel C is formatted to show the results based on the classifications Freshman
Sophomore, Junior, Senior, and Graduate Student. The respondents' yes/no responses may need to be converted to
aY/N format for data storage. More complex formatting is required when working with complex data types such a
such as sounds, videos, or images.
In this "information age." production of accurate, relevant, and timely information is the key to good decision making
In turn, good decision making is the key to business survival in a global market. We are now said to be entering the
"knowledge age."l Data are the foundation of information, which is the bedrock of knowledge-that is, the body of
information and facts about a specific subject. Knowledge implies familiarity, awareness, and understanding of
information as it applies to an environment. A key characteristic of knowledge is that "new" knowledge can be derived
from "old" knowledge.

Let's summarize some key points:

Data constitute the building blocks of information.
Information is produced by processing data.
Information is used to reveal the meaning of data.
Accurate, relevant, and timely information is the key to good decision making.
Good decision making is the key to organizational survival in a global environment.

Timely and useful information requires accurate data. Such data must be generated properly, and it must be stored in
a format that is easy to access and process. And, like any basic resource, the data environment must be managed
carefully. Data management is a discipline that focuses on the proper generation, storage, and retrieval of data.
Given the crucial role that data plays, it should not surprise you that data management a core activity for any
business, government agency, service organization, or charity.

1.2 INTRODUCING THE DATABASE AND THE DBMS

Efficient data management typically requires the use of a computer database. A database is a shared, integrated
computer structure that stores a collection of:
End-user data, that is, raw facts of interest to the end user.
.Metadata, or data about data, through which the end-user data are integrated and managed.

The metadata provide a description of the data characteristics and the set of relationships that link the data found
within the database. lIn a sense, a database resembles a very well-organized electronic filing cabinet in which poweriu
software, known as a database management system, helps manage the cabinet's contents. A database
management system (DBMS) is a collection of programs that manages the database structure and controls acce
to the data stored in the database.

l Peter Drucker coined the phrase "knowledge worker in 1959 in his book Landmarks of Tomorrow. In 1994, Ms. Esther Dyson, Mr. Geoig Gilder

Dr. George Keyworth, and Dr. Alvin Totfler ntroduced the concept of the "knowledge age."
 ROLE AND ADVANTAGES
OF THE DBMS
1.2.1
between the user and the database. The DBMS receives
Fioure1.2 illustrates that the DBMS serves as the intermnediary
and translates them into the complex operations required to fulfill
those requests. The DBMS
allapplication requests
The application program
the database's internal complexity from the application programs and users.
hides much of or it might
language such as COBOL, Visual Basic, or C++,
might be written by a programmer using programming
a

be created through
a DBMS utility program.

database
FIGUREThe DBMS manages the interaction between the end user and the
1.2

End users

Application Database structure

request

Data
Metadata

BMS End-user
database data
managementsystem
Endusers
Application Prodeds

t
request

Data

database offers some important advantages. First, the

(Having DBMS between the end user's applications and the
a

DBMS enables the data in the database to be

shared among multiple applications or users. Second. the DBMS
of the data into a single all-encompassing data repository.
integrates the many different users' views
material from which information is derived, you must have a good way
of managing
Because data are the crucial raw
make data management more efficient and effective. In
such data. As you will discover in this book, the DBMS helps
particular/a DBMS provides advantages such as:
environment in which end users have better access to
Improved data sharing. The DBMS helps create an
more and better-managed data. Such access makes it possible for end users to respond quickly to changes in

their environment.
Better data integration. Wider access to well-managed data promotes an integrated view of the organization's
operations and a clearer view of the big picture. It becomes much easier to see how actions in one segment
of the company affect other segments.
Minimized data inconsistency. Data inconsistency exists when ditferent versions of the same data appear
in different places. For example, data inconsistency exists when a company's sales department stores a sales
representative's name as "Bill Brown" and the company's personnel department stores that same person's
name as "William G. Brown" or when the company's regional sales office shows the price of product "X" as
$45.95 and its national sales office shows the same product's price as $43.95. The probability of data
inconsistency is greatly reduced in a properly designed database.
Improved data access. The DBMS makes it possible to produce quick answers to ad hoc queries. From a
database perspective, a query is a specific request for data manipulation (for example, to read or update the data)
isstued to the DBMS. Simply put, a query is a question and an ad hoc query is a spur-ofthe-moment question.
CHAPTER

ne DBMS sends back an

answer (called the query result set) to the application. For example, end users,
dealing with large amounts of
sales data, might want quick answers to questions (ad hoc queries) such when nen
What was the dollar volume of sales as
by product during the past six months?
What is the sales bonus figure for each of our salespeople during the past three months?
How many of our customers have credit balances of $3,000 or more?
Improved decision making.
quality information, Better-managed data and improved data access make it possible to generate better
on which better decisions are based.
ncreased end-user
usable information,
productivity. The availability of data, combined with the tools that transform data
empowers end users to make quick, informed decisions that can into
between success and failure in the make the
global economy. difference
The
advantages of using a DBMS are not limited to the few
as you learn more about the just listed. In fact, you will discover many more
technical details of databases and their advantages
proper design.
1.2.2 TYPES OF DATABASES
A DBMS can
support many different types of databases.
the database Databases can be classified according to the number of
location(s), and the expected type and extent of use. users.

The number of users determines

whether the database is classified as
database supports only one user at a time.
In other words, if user A is
single-user or multiuser. A single-user
until user A is done)A using the database, users B and C must wait
single-user database that runs on a personal
contrast,a multiuser database supports computer is called a
desktop database. In
multiple users at the same
time When the
relatively small number of users (usually fewer than multiuser database supports a
50) or a
specific department within an organization, it is called a
workgroup database When the database is used by the entire
usually hundreds) across many departments, the database is organization and supports many users (more than 50.
known as an enterprise
database.
Location might also be used to
classify the database. For
example,(a database that supports data located at a
site is called a centralized
database. A database that supports data distributed single
a distributed across several different sites is
database. The extent to which a database can called
be distributed and
is managed is addressed in detail
in Chapter 12, "Distributed the way in which such distribution
Database Management
The most
Systems."
popular way ofclassifying databases today, however, is based on how
sensitivity of the information gathered from them. For they will be used and on the time
payments, and example, transactions such
supply purchases reflect critical day-to-day operations. Such as
product or service sales
and immediately. A database that is transactions must be recorded
designed primarily to support a accurate
company's day-to-day operations is classitied
an
operational database (sometimes referred to as a transactional as
warehouse focuses primarily on storing data used to or
production database). In contrast. data a

decisions. Such decisions typically require generate information

extensive"data massaging" (data required to make tactical or
strateg
formulate pricing decisions, sales
forecasts, market manipulation)
positioning, etc. Most decision
to extract
information to
data obtained from operational databases. support data are based on historica
Additionally, the data warehouse
can store data
To make it easier to retrieve such derived from many source
data, the data warehouse structure
is quite
oriented database. The design, different from that of a transactionr
Data Warehouse
implementation, and use of data warehouses are
covered in detail "In
in Chapter 13.
Table 1.1 compares features of several well-known database
management systems.
 1.6 DATABASE SYSTEMS

The problems inherent in file

systems make using a database system very desirable. Unlike the file system, with its
many separate and unrelated files, the database consists of logically related data stored in a
single logical data
repository. (The "logical" label reflects the fact that, although the data repository appears to be asingleunit to the end
user, its contents may
actually be physically distributed among multiple data storage facilities and/or locations.) Because
the database's data repository is a single logical unit, the database
represents a major change in the way end-user data
 R

stored, accessed, and managed. The database's DBMS, shown in Figure 1.6, provides numerous advantages over
System management, shown in Figure 1.5, by making it possible to eliminate most of the file system's data
onsisiency. data anomaly, data dependency, and structural dependency problems. Better yet, the current generaltion
o DBS software stores not only the data structures, but also the relationships between those structures and the
cess paths to those structures, all in a central location. The current generation of DBMS software also takes care of
defining, storing, and managing all required access paths to those components.
Kemember that the DBMS is
just one of several crucial components of a database system. The DBMS may even be
reterred to as the database
system's heart. However, just as it takes more than a heart to make a human being function,
t takes more
than a DBMS to make a database
system function. In the sections that follow, you'll learn what a database
system is, what its components are, and how the DBMS fits into the database
system picture.

FIGURE Contrasting database and file systems

1.6

A Database System

Personnel dept. Database

DBMS Employees
Customers
Sales dept Sales
Inventory
Accounts
Accounting dept.

A File System
Personnel dept., Sales dept. Accounting dept.

Employees Customer nventory Accounts

16.1 THE DATABASE SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT

The term database system reters to an organization of
components that define and requlate
management, and use of data within a database environment. From a the collection, storage,
Sustem is composed of the five major parts shown in
general management point of view, the database
igure 1.7: hardware,
software, people, procedures, and data.
Let's take a closer look at the five components shown in
Figure 1.7:
Hardware. Hardware refers to all of the system's
physical
mainírames, workstations, and servers), storage devices, devices; for example, computers (microcompuitet
fiber optics), and other devices (automated teller printers, network devices
machines, ID readers, etc.). (hubs, switches, rouitet