Week Six: Questions

1. List, describe and provide an example of each of the five characteristics of high quality information.

It is crucial that firms ensure that their information is constantly of a high quality. There are various attributes of high quality information. Five characteristics include accuracy, completeness, consistency, uniqueness and timeliness. It is essential that the information entered into the database of a firm is accurate and precise as if data is incorrectly entered into a firms system, problems can result. For example, if a salesperson incorrectly enters the address of a customer, the product they ordered may not be delivered to the correct address and may go missing. Information must also be complete. This means that if an employee enters information into a database, all of the information must be entered into the system. Incomplete data entry will also cause dilemmas for a business. For example, if an employee fails to write the suburb and postcode of a customers address, a product will not be able to be sent. Information must also be consistent. This ensures that data is reliable. For example, it would be unacceptable for an employee to type a different street number for a customers address as this would create confusion. The information of a firm should also be unique. This means that data should not be replicated in another system which contains different information. For example the address of a customer should be unique and there should only be one address for that customer. If the customers address appears different in a different system of the firms, the data is not unique. Lastly, for information to be of a high quality, it should be timeliness. This means that information should be current and up to date. For example, firms need to ensure that they are updated with the changing addresses of their clients for billing and shipping purposes.

2. Define the relationship between a database and a database management system

A database is a structured collection of related data and a database management system provides users access to that data. Therefore, it can be displayed that databases and database management systems areinevitably linked and are interdependent of one another.

Example of a Database (http://www.quackit.com/pix/database/tutorial/dbms_sql_server.gif)

3. Describe the advantages a business can gain from using a database

There are various advantages attributed to the use of databases. The advantages that a business would experience from using a database would include increased flexibility. This is because data contained on a database is readily accessible by a wide range of employees. Databases also provide increased scalability and performance as they are able to adapt to changing demands and are able to quickly perform certain tasks/processes. Databases are also advantageous as they reduce information redundancy which is the replication of data over various systems. Information integrity is another advantage associated with the use of databases within a firm. This refers to the quality of data which is ensured through the use of databases. Information security is another advantage associated with the use of databases as databases usually contains strong security features such as passwords, and restricted access levels and controls confining the number of users who can access the firms valuable information contained on the database.

4. Define fundamental concepts of the relational database model

A relational database model is a database that stores information into logical two dimensional tables consisting of rows and columns. There are four key fundamental concepts associated with relational database models which include entities and attributes as well as keys and relationships. An entity in the relational database model is a person, place, thing, transaction or event for which information is stored. Attributes are also included in database models and consist of fields or columns that are characteristics or properties of an entity or class of information. Keys are used in databases to manage information. A primary key is a field that identifies a given entity in a table e.g. customer ID number. A foreign key in the relational database model is a primary key of one table that appears as an attribute in another table and acts to provide a logical relationship between the two tables.

YOUTUBE CLIP: Relational Database Model (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2kbsG8zsLM)

1. 5. Describe the benefits of a data-driven website.

A data-driven website is an intriguing website that is regularly updated to include information specific gained from the firm’s database for its customers. There are various benefits associated with the use of data-driven websites. An advantage of a data-driven website is the enabling of constant development. This type of website enables website owners to make changes to the content of the website at any time. Content management is another benefit of a data-driven website and enables a programmer to make updates whenever needed. Future expandability is another benefit of data-driven websites as such website enables the site to grow faster than it would be possible with a static website (this is done through the constant changing of the websites layout). Data-driven websites also prove to be beneficial as they minimise human error as the information contained on the website is directly linked to the database of a computer, thus doesn’t need to be reentered. Data-driven websites also advantageously allow improved the stability of a firm as such website enables firms to keep track of all their files and information in an easy to view format.

Example of Data-Based Driven Website (http://minotaurdesign.com/design/websites/defaultsize/agribiz_2.jpg)

1. 6. Describe the roles and purposes of data warehouses and data marts in an organization

A data warehouse refers to a database in which information is collected from various sources for the support in decision-making processes. They key role of data warehouses is to aggregate information into a single repository or location to enable management and employees with decision-making processes. Data marts are contained within data warehouses and are multi-dimensional cubes that contain layers of columns and rows of information. The purpose of data marts is to enable employees to easily view the components of different information/inputs within a database.

Example of Data Warehouse (http://exonous.typepad.com/mis/datawarehouse.gif)