Lecture 3: Organizing Data

&
Information
 Data
Data
A necessity for almost any enterprise to carry out its

business. Consists of raw facts, and when organized may be

transformed into information
Database
A collection of data organized to meet users’ needs

Database management system (DBMS)

A group of programs that manipulate the database and

provide an interface between the database and the user of

the database or other application programs
 Hierarchy of Data
Hierarchy of data Example

Personel file
Database
Database Department file (Project database)

Payroll file

005-10-6321 Johns Francine 10-7-65

Files 549-77-1001 Buckley Bill 2-17-79 (Personnel file)
Files
098-40-1370 Fiske Steven 1-5-85

Records 098-40-1370 Feleke Steven 1-5-85 598 (Record containing SSN,

Records last name, first name, date
of hire)
Fields
Fields FELEKE (Last name field)

Characters
Characters
(bytes) 1000100 (Letter ‘F’ in ASCII)
(bytes)
 Terminology
Database
A collection of integrated and related files
File
A collection of related records
Record
A collection of related fields
Field
A group of characters
Character
Basic building block of information, represented by a byte
 Data Entities, Attributes, and Keys
Entity
A generalized class of people, places, or things (objects) for
which data are collected, stored, and maintained
E.g., Customer, Employee
Attribute
A characteristic of an entity; something the entity is identified
by
E.g., Customer name, Employee name
Keys
A field or set of fields in a record that is used to identify the
record
 Keys and Attributes

Employee # Last name First name Hire date Dept. #

005-10-6321 Johns Francine 10-7-65 257

549-77-1001 Buckley Bill 2-17-79 650

098-40-1370 Fiske Steven 1-5-85 598

Key field Entities

Attributes (fields)
(records)
 The Traditional Approach

The traditional approach…

Separate files are created and stored for each
application program

Schematic
 The Traditional Approach
Data Files Application programs Users

Payroll Reports
Payroll programs

Invoicing Reports
Invoicing programs

Inventory
Inventory control Reports
control programs

Management
Management inquiries Reports
inquiries programs
 Drawbacks
Data redundancy
Duplication of data in separate files

Lack of data integrity

The degree to which the data in any one file is

accurate
Program-data dependence
A situation in which program and data organized for

one application are incompatible with programs and

data organized differently for another application
 Database Approach

The database approach…

A pool of related data is shared by multiple
application programs
Rather than having separate data files, each
application uses a collection of data that is either
joined or related in the database

Schematic
 Database Approach
Payroll Reports
program
Payroll data

Inventory Inventory
program Reports
data Database
management
Invoicing system
Data Invoicing
Reports
program
Other
data
Other Reports
programs

Database Interface Applications programs Users

 Advantages
 Improved strategic use of corporate data
 Reduced data redundancy
 Improved data integrity
 Easier modification and updating

 Data and program independence

 Better access to data and information

 Standardization of data access

 A framework for program development
 Better overall protection of the data

 Shared data and information resources

 Disadvantages
Relatively high cost of purchasing and operating a

DBMS in a mainframe operating environment

 Increased cost of specialized staff
 Increased vulnerability
Data Modeling and Database Models (1)

Planned data redundancy

A way of organizing data in which the logical

database design is altered so that certain data

entities are combined
Summary totals are carried in the data records

rather than calculated from elemental data

Some data attributes are repeated in more than one

data entity to improve database performance

 Data Modeling and Database Models (2)

Data model
A map or diagram of entities and their relationships

Enterprise data modeling

Data modeling done at the level of the entire organization

Entity-relationship (ER) diagrams

A data model that uses basic graphical symbols to show the

organization of and relationships between data

 Example:
Entity Relationship (ER) Diagram for a
Customer Ordering Database

Schematic
 Attributes
Last name Colour

Entities

First 1 N
Customer Order Product Name
name

1:N one-to-many
relationship

Identification Identification
number number
 Hierarchical Database Model
Hierarchical database model
A data model in which data are organized in a top-down, or
inverted tree structure

Projects

Department Department Department

A B C

Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee

1 2 3 4 5 6
 Network Data Model
Network data model
An expansion of the hierarchical database model with an
owner-member relationship in which a member may have
many owners
Project Project
1 2

Department Department Department

A B C
 Relational Data Model

Relational data model

All data elements are placed in two-dimensional

tables, called relations, that are the logical

equivalent of files

Schematic
 Relational Data Model

Data Table 1: Project Table Data Table 2: Department Table

Project Number Description Dept. Number Dept. Number Dept. Name Manager SSN

155 Payroll 257 257 Accounting 421-55-99993

498 Widgets 632 632 Manufacturing 765-00-3192

226 Sales manager 598 598 Marketing 098-40-1370

Data Table 3: Manager Table

SSN Last Name First Name Hire Date Dept. Number
005-10-6321 Johns Francine 10-7-65 257

549-77-1001 Buckley Bill 2-17-79 650

098-40-1370 Fiske Steven 1-5-85 598

 Relational Database Terminology

Selecting
Data manipulation that eliminates rows according to

certain criteria
Projecting
Data manipulation that eliminates columns in a

table
Joining
Data manipulation that combines two or more tables

Linked
Linking Data Tables to Answer an Inquiry
Project Number Description Dept. Number
155 Payroll 257
498 Widgets 632
226 Sales manager 598

Dept. Number Dept. Name Manager SSN

257 Accounting 421-55-99993
632 Manufacturing 765-00-3192
598 Marketing 098-40-1370

SSN Last Name First Name Hire Date Dept. Number

005-10-6321 Johns Francine 10-7-65 257
549-77-1001 Buckley Bill 2-17-79 650
098-40-1370 Fiske Steven 1-5-85 598
Building and Modifying a Relational
Database
Using Microsoft Access
 Schemas and Subschemas

Schema
A description of the entire database

Subschema
A file that contains a description of a subset of the

database and identifies which users can perform

modifications on the data items in that subset

Schematic
 Schemas and Subschemas

DBMS

Schema

Subschema Subschema Subschema

A B C

User User User User User

1 2 3 4 5
 Data Definition Language
Data Definition Language (DDL)
A collection of instructions and commands used to define and describe data

and data relationships in a specific database

statements are used to define the database structure or schema. Some

examples:
CREATE - to create objects in the database
ALTER - alters the structure of the database
DROP - delete objects from the database
TRUNCATE - remove all records from a table, including all spaces
allocated for the records are removed
COMMENT - add comments to the data dictionary
RENAME - rename an object
 Data Manipulation Language (DML)

Data Manipulation Language (DML) statements are used for

managing data within schema objects. Some examples:
SELECT - retrieve data from the a database
INSERT - insert data into a table
UPDATE - updates existing data within a table
DELETE - deletes all records from a table, the space for the

records remain
MERGE - UPSERT operation (insert or update)
CALL - call a PL/SQL

LOCK TABLE - control concurrency

 Transaction and data control language
Data Control Language (DCL) statements used to control the
data modifications. Some examples:
GRANT - gives user's access privileges to database
REVOKE - withdraw access privileges given with the GRANT

command
Transaction Control (TCL) statements are used to manage the
changes made by DML statements. It allows statements to be
grouped together into logical transactions.
COMMIT - save work done
SAVEPOINT - identify a point in a transaction to which you can

later roll back

 Data Dictionary Features
Provide a standard definition of terms and data

elements
Assist programmers in designing and writing
programs
Simplify database modification
Reduce data redundancy
Increase data reliability
Faster program development
Easier modification of data and information
 Logical and Physical Access Paths

Logical access path (LAP)

Application requires information from the DBMS

Physical access path (PAP)

DBMS accesses a storage device to retrieve data

Schematic
 Data on
storage
devices

Physical access path (PAP)

DBMS

Logical access path (LAP)

Management Other Application

inquiries software programs
 Manipulating Data

Concurrency control
A method of dealing with a situation in which two or

more people need to access the same record in a

database at the same time
Data manipulation language (DML)
The commands that are used to manipulate the data

in a database
Structured query language (SQL)
A standardized data manipulation language
 Structured Query Language (SQL)
“Invented” at IBM’s Almaden Research Centre
(San Jose, CA) in the 1970s
E.g.,

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE

JOB_CLASSIFICATION = “C2”

Select all (“*”) columns from the EMPLOYEE table in

which the JOB_CLASSIFICATION field is equal to “C2”
Database Output
Popular Database Management Systems for End
Users
Microsoft Access
Lotus Approach
Inprise (formerly Borland) dBASE
DBMS Selection Criteria
Database size
Number of concurrent users
Performance

Integration

Features

The vendor
Cost
 Distributed Databases

Distributed database…
A database in which the actual data may be spread

across several smaller databases connected via

telecommunications devices

‘Pretty’ picture
 Data Warehouse
Data warehouse
A relational database management system designed
specifically to support management decision making
Current evolution of Decision Support Systems (DSSs)

Data mart
A subset of a data warehouse for small and medium-size

businesses or departments within larger companies

Schematic
Relational
databases

Data
Hierarchical extraction
databases process

Network
databases Data
cleanup
process
Flat files

Spreadsheets Data
End user access warehouse

Query and
analysis
tools
 Designing a Customer Data Warehouse
Sharply define your goals and objectives before you

build the warehouse

Choose the software that best fits your goals
Determine who/what should be in the database
Develop a plan
Measure results
 Data Mining Applications
Data mining
The automated discovery of patterns and relationships

in a data warehouse
Data mining applications
Market segmentation
Customer queries
Fraud detection
Direct marketing
Market basket analysis

 On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP)

On-line analytic processing (OLAP)

Access to multidimensional databases providing
managerially useful display techniques
Now used to store and deliver data warehouse
information
Data warehouse and OLAP
Provides top-down, query-driven analysis
Data mining
Provides bottom-up, discovery-driven analysis
 Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

Open database connectivity (ODBC)

A set of standards that ensures software written
to comply with these standards can be used with
any ODBC-compliant database

Schematic
dBASE

ODBC Import

ACCESS database Paradox database

ODBC Export

ODBC Link

Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet

Thank You!