Database Concepts

and Applications in
HRIS

Human Resource
Information System

Dr. Y. Johny Natu Prihanto

WEEK 2
Objectives
• Discuss the difference between data, information, and knowledge
• Identify problems with early database structures
• Understand what a relational database is and why it is better than older database
structures
• Discuss three types of data sharing and why they are important
• Know where data in a database are stored
• Know the different ways in which data can be delivered to the end user
• Know what a query is and discuss three different types of queries
• Discuss how queries are used to support decision making
• Discuss the key steps involved in designing a simple database in Microsoft (MS) Access
• Identify key data fields in an HR database
• Understand the difference between operational databases and a data warehouse
• Discuss how business intelligence software, data analytics, and Big Data can support HR
decision making
Introduction
• Today’s HRIS have as their foundation electronic databases that work
in conjunction with business applications to transform data into
information that is essential for business operations and for decision
making.
• Many believe that managing electronic databases and turning data
into accessible and actionable information is a competency necessary
to succeed in today’s marketplace.
• Indeed, data are produced, stored, updated, and shared by human
resources (HR) employees and managers on a daily basis.
Data, Information, and Knowledge
• Data represent the “facts” of transactions that occur on a daily basis.
• A transaction can be thought of as an event of consequence, such as hiring a new
employee for a particular position for a specified salary.
• Information on the other hand is the interpretation of these data.
• An interpretation of data always has some goal and context such as making a
hiring decision for a particular department or understanding the performance of
an employee to make a promotion decision.
• Knowledge is information that has been given meaning (Whitehill, 1997).
• More than what and why, knowledge is about how.
• Knowledge, therefore, consists of the procedures one follows to use data and
information to make decisions and conduct business.
Database Management Systems
• A DBMS is a set of software applications (i.e., computer programs)
combined with a database.
• DBMS electronically allows organizations to effectively manage data.
• Managing data means
• identifying the data needed to create information that is necessary to make
HR decisions;
• defining the characteristics of those data (e.g., number data vs. character
data);
• organizing those data in a manner that promotes integration, data quality,
and accessibility;
• and finally restricting access to the data to the right personnel.
A database
• A database is a set of organized data. Importantly, it is a permanent,
self-descriptive store of interrelated data items that can be processed
by one or more business applications.
• Self-descriptive means that the database knows about the
characteristics of the data (e.g., the length of an employee’s last name
can be no greater than 30 characters) or that a paycheck can only be
associated with one employee.
• Interrelated means that there are links between different sets of data
in the database.
The main functions of a DBMS
• The main functions of a DBMS are to create the database; insert, read, update,
and delete database data; maintain data integrity (i.e., making sure that the
data are correct) and security (i.e., making sure that only the right people have
access to the data); and prevent data from being lost by providing backup and
recovery capabilities.
• Database management systems are also designed to have high performance,
allowing data to be retrieved quickly by the many users in the organization.
• DBMSs and databases work in conjunction with business applications, such as
transaction processing systems (TPS), to make organizations run smoothly.
• Data from this transaction processing system can also be used to generate
reports on monthly personnel expenses.
• These reports are the basis of management reporting systems (MRS).
Database, Database Management System, and Business Applications
Early DBMSs
• Early DBMSs were simply data-processing systems that performed recordkeeping
functions that mimicked existing manual procedures.
• Thus, electronic data were stored in computers in much the same way that they
were stored in paper filing systems.
• These documents were also called “records.”
• These traditional file-oriented data structures had a number of shortcomings:
• data redundancy—an employee’s name and address could be stored in many different files;
• poor data control—if you had access to the file you had access to all the data in the file,
which may not be desirable because you may want to restrict the data viewed by a
particular user;
• inadequate data manipulation capabilities—it was very difficult to combine the data across
files and to easily update and to add new data;
• excessive programming effort—any change in the structure of the data (e.g., adding a new
field such as a mobile phone number or a screen name to an employee record) required
extensive changes in the programming that accessed the data.
• To overcome the shortcomings of file-oriented structures, hierarchical
and network database systems evolved in the mid-1960s and early
1970s.
• The key to these systems was that relationships between different
records were explicitly maintained.
• The relationships were created based on where the data were stored
(e.g., the job records for Employee X are located in Sector 3 of Disk 4).
• Thus, only the very knowledgeable technical staff was able to
effectively interact with the database.
Hierarchical and Network Database Structures
Relational DBMSs
• In relational database systems, retrieval of data from different tables
was based on logical relationships built into the table structures,
which made feasible the creation of a query capability that was much
more accessible to end users who generally had limited programming
experience.
• This technique also allowed for relationships to be easily built among
all the entities in the organization.
• There are three types of data sharing:
• data sharing between functional units,
• data sharing between management levels,
• data sharing across geographically dispersed locations.
Data Sharing Between Different Functions
• Relational DBMSs facilitate data integration across different functions
such that each function might have access not only to its own data
but also to other data as well.
• As a result, relational database technology increased the feasibility
and popularity of integrated business applications.
• These integrated applications used in large organizations are referred
to as enterprise resource planning (ERP) business applications.
• ERP software applications are a set of integrated database
applications, or modules, that carry out the most common business
functions, including HR, general ledger, accounts payable, accounts
receivable, order management, inventory control, and customer
relationship management.
Data Sharing Between Different Levels
• Operational employees, managers, and executives also share data but have
different objectives and, thus, different information needs.
• Operational employees focus on data-processing transactions to ensure smooth operation of
critical business transactions.
• Managers, on the other hand, are more interested in summary data, such as reports
generated from daily operational data that can be summarized into daily, weekly or
monthly reports on hours worked by employee or absences by employee.
• Executives rely on information produced at an even more aggregated level to
evaluate trends and develop business strategies.
• For example, executives might ask for reports that compare turnover statistics across business
groups and over time.
• These three different levels of use correspond to three different types of software
systems that have evolved over the past three decades: transaction processing
systems (TPS), management reporting systems (MRS), and decision support systems
(DSS)
Data Sharing Across Locations
• Two issues arise when data are shared across wide geographic
locations.
• These are (1) managing the day/time of a transaction and (2)
determining where to store the various components of the business
application, DBMS, and database.
• A centralized database allows a company to confine its data to a
single location and, therefore, more easily control data integrity,
updating, backup, query, and control access to the database.
• A company with many locations and telecommuters, however, must
develop a communications infrastructure to facilitate data sharing
over a wide geographical area.
Key Relational Database Terminology
Entities and Attributes
• Entities are things such as employees, jobs, promotion transactions, positions in
company, and so on.
• They include both physical things such as desks and conceptual things such as
bank accounts.
• Each of these entities is made up of attributes.
• An attribute is a characteristic of the entity.
• For example, an employee has a name, address, phone number, education, and
so on.
• Attributes also have characteristics such as the type of data (e.g., date, number,
or character) and size (e.g., number of characters or the largest number that can
be stored).
Relational Database Structure
Tables
• Tables are used to store
information about entities.
• One table is created for
each entity—in this
example, driver table, car
table, moving violation
table, and parking violation
table.
• Attributes are stored as the
columns (also called fields)
in the table.
Relationships, Primary Keys, and Foreign
Keys
• In a relational DBMS, relationships are created by having the same attribute in
each table with the value of the attribute being the same in each table.
• Most often, this is done by taking the primary key of one table and including it in
the related table.
• Typically, each entity has an attribute that has unique values for each instance of
the entity.
• For example, each employee has a unique Social Security number.
• Other entities, such as jobs, locations, and positions can be assigned a unique
number if one doesn’t exist.
• These unique attributes can be used as a table’s primary key.
• When a primary key from one table is stored as an attribute of another table,
that attribute is called a foreign key.
Queries
• A query is a question that you ask about the data stored in a database.
• For example, you may want to know which employees live within a specific city.
• A query is a structured way of posing your question to the DBMS in a language it
understands.
• There are three different kinds of queries: select queries, action queries, and
cross-tab queries.
• A select query allows you to ask a question based on one or more tables in a database.
• An action query performs an action on the table on which it is based.
• Actions include updating data in the table (e.g., increasing the base salary of all
employees who were rated above average in the latest performance rating), deleting
records from the table (e.g., removing employees from the employees table if they no
longer work at the company), or inserting records (e.g., the query may add a new set of
benefits to the benefits table).
• A cross-tab query performs calculations on the values in a field and displays the results in
a datasheet.
Forms
• A form is an object in a database that you can use to maintain, view,
and print records in a database in a more structured manner.
• A form can be based on a table, multiple tables, or queries.
• A form can display one record at a time or many records.
• Data that are entered or changed in a form automatically change the
values in the underlying table once you save the changes.
Reports
• A report is a formatted presentation of data from a table, multiple
tables, or queries that is created as a printout or to be viewed on
screen.
• Data displayed in a report are dynamic, reflecting the latest data from
the tables on which the report is based.
• Unlike forms, however, you cannot change the data or add a new
record in a report. You can only view the data in a report.
MS Access—An Illustrative Personal
Database
• MS Access is a relational DBMS in which data are organized as a collection of tables.
• Like any relational database, the data in tables can be queried.
• MS Access also makes it easy to create forms and reports through the use of form
or report wizards.
• A form or report wizard is a computer program or tool that guides you through the
creation of a form by asking you a series of questions.
• MS Access provides the following functions:
• It allows you to create databases containing tables and table relationships.
• It lets you easily add new records, change table values in existing records, and delete records.
• It contains a built-in query language, which lets you obtain immediate answers to questions
you ask about your data.
• It contains a built-in report generator and report wizard, which lets you produce professional-
looking, formatted reports from your data.
• It provides protection of databases through security, control, and recovery facilities.
Designing an MS Access Database
• The design process begins with an analysis of the data and information that
the users of the database will need to have stored and retrieved in order to
accomplish their work.
• Typically, we think of work as consisting of tasks within a business process,
and so we can think of the data that will be required to be stored in a
database and of the information that will need to be extracted.
• We find out the data to be stored by interviewing the intended end users of
the database.
• We ask about entities that they need to keep information on, the attributes
of those entities, and also how the entities are related.
• In addition, we may watch users at work and look at the forms, reports, and
other business documents that they use to be successful.
Data Integration: Database
Warehouses, Business
Intelligence, and Data Mining
• HR Metrics are measures of organizational performance outcomes that are
derived from important individual and organizational outcomes (e.g., individual
job performance and absence rate).
• The current emphasis in HRM is functioning as a strategic business partner.
• A prerequisite to this goal is the use of metrics to assess and monitor
quantitative data from HRM programs like recruiting and training.
• The primary objective of measuring HR metrics is to improve individual and
organizational effectiveness.
• Much of the data used to create HR metrics come from an organization’s data
warehouse.
• A data warehouse is a special type of database that is optimized for reporting
and analysis and is the raw material for management’s decision support system.
Business intelligence
• Business intelligence is a broad category of business applications and
technologies for creating data warehouses to analyse and provide
easy access to these data in order to help organizational users make
better business decisions.
• BI applications include the activities of decision support systems,
query and reporting, statistical analysis, forecasting, and data mining.
• BI systems allow organizations to improve business performance by
leveraging information about customers, suppliers, and internal
business operations from databases across functions and
organizational boundaries.
Data Mining
• Patterns in large data sets are identified through data mining, which
involves statistically analyzing large datasets to identify recurring
relationships.
• For example, data mining an employee database might reveal that
most employees reside within a group of particular ZIP codes.
• This may help if the organization wants to supply transportation or
encourage carpooling.
Big Data and NOSQL Databases
• Big Data is a term that illustrates the challenges faced by
organizations.
• Big Data is described by four dimensions: volume, variety, velocity,
and veracity.
• Volume refers to the amount of data, often measured in terabytes that
organizations collect today.
• Variety refers to the different forms of data.
• Velocity refers to the speed at which data is coming into the organization.
Sensors that track employees movement, audit logs of information access,
and many other sources of information stream with increasing speed and
must be captured and stored.
• Veracity refers to the quality of the data collected by the organizations.
Summary
• Data are transformed into information by relational DBMSs and business
applications that work together.
• The underlying data in a database are collected from business transactions and
stored in tables that are related to each other through shared fields called
primary and foreign keys.
• Queries represent questions asked of the data and are used to access specific
data stored in tables.
• The results of queries can be viewed in forms or reports that are customized so
that the end user can better interpret the data that are retrieved from the
database.
• More sophisticated data analyses and reports such as executive dashboards are
produced from specialized databases called data warehouses and business
application software called BI software.