Raw facts that is facts that have not yet been processed to reveal their meaning to the end user

Raw facts that have not yet been processed to reveal their meaning. Raw data must be properly formatted for storage, processing, and presentation. i.e. dates stored in Julian calendar formats within the database, but displayed in a variety of formats, such as day-month-year, Yes/No responses are presented as yes/no but might be stored as Y/N, or 0/1, format for data storage.

Processed raw data to reveal it's meaning. To reveal meaning, information requires context. i.e. the raw data 105 degrees does not mean much unless you also know its context: Fahrenheit or Celsius? Body temperature, weather temperature? 

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.

a discipline that focuses on the proper generation, storage, and retrieval of data. Given the crucial role that data play, it should not surprise you that data management is a core activity for any business, government agency, service organization, or charity.

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.

is data about data. Metadata describes the data characteristics and the set of relationships that links the data found in the database. i,e, the metadata component stores information such as the name of each data element, the type of values (numeric, dates, or text) stored on each data element, and whether the data element can be left empty. In short, metadata present a more complete picture of the data in the database.

Database management system (DBMS)

a collection of programs that manages the database structure and controls access to the data stored in the database. In a sense, a database resembles a very well-organized electronic filing cabinet in which powerful software (the DBMS) helps manage the cabinet’s contents. The DBMS serves as the intermediary between the user and the database. The database structure itself is stored as a collection of files, and the only way to access the data in those files is through the DBMS.

•   Improved data sharing. •   Improved data security. •   Better data integration. •   Minimized data inconsistency.
•   Improved data access.
•   Improved decision making.
•   Increased end-user productivity.

is a comprehensive approach to promoting the accuracy, validity, and timeliness of the data. While the DBMS does not guarantee data quality, it provides a framework to facilitate data quality initiatives. 

supports only one user at a time. In other words, if user A is using the database, users B and C must wait until user A is done. A single-user database that runs on a personal computer is called a desktop database.

supports multiple users at the same time.

a multi-user database that supports a relatively small number of users (usually fewer than 50) or a specific department within an organization.

Multi-user database that is used by the entire organization and supports many users (more than 50, usually hundreds) across many departments, 

a database that supports data located at a single site.

A database that supports data distributed across several different sites.

contains a wide variety of data used in multiple disciplines—for example, a census database that contains general demographic data, and the LexisNexis and ProQuest databases that contain newspaper, magazine, and journal articles for a variety of topics.

Discipline-specific database

contains data focused on specific subject areas. The data in this type of database are used mainly for academic or research purposes within a small set of disciplines. Examples of discipline-specific databases include financial data stored in databases such as CompuStat or CRSP, geographic information system (GIS) databases that store geospatial and other related data, and medical databases that store confidential medical history data.

A database that is designed primarily to support a company’s day-to-day operations, also known as an online transaction processing (OLTP), transactional, or production database.

focuses primarily on storing historical data and business metrics used exclusively for tactical or strategic decision making. Such analysis typically requires extensive “data massaging” (data manipulation) to produce information on which to base pricing decisions, sales forecasts, market strategies, and so on. Analytical databases allow the end user to perform advanced data analysis of business data using sophisticated tools.

Two main components of Analytical Database

data warehouse and an online analytical processing (OLAP) front end. 

is a specialized database that stores data in a format optimized for decision support. The data warehouse contains historical data obtained from the operational databases as well as data from other external sources.

Online analytical processing (OLAP)

is a set of tools that work together to provide an advanced data analysis environment for retrieving, processing, and modeling data from the data warehouse.

describes a comprehensive approach to capture and process business data with the purpose of generating information to support business decision making.

are data that exist in their original (raw) state—that is, in the format in which they were collected. Therefore, unstructured data exist in a format that does not lend itself to the processing that yields information. 

Structured data are the result of formatting unstructured data to facilitate storage, use, and the generation of information. You apply structure (format) based on the type of processing that you intend to perform on the data. For example, the data value 37890 might refer to a zip code or a sales value. If it's a sales transaction and you store it as text instead of number, you might not be able to perform math computations on it.

data that has already been processed to some extent.

XML (Extensible Markup Language)

is a special language used to represent and manipulate data elements in a textual format. 

supports the storage and management of semistructured XML data.

refers to the activities that focus on the design of the database structure that will be used to store and manage end-user data.

Importance of database design

A well-designed database facilitates data management and generates accurate and valuable information. A poorly designed database is likely to become a breeding ground for difficult-to-trace errors that may lead to bad decision making—and bad decision making can lead to the failure of an organization.

A data characteristic in which a change in the database schema affects data access, thus requiring changes in all access programs.

A data characteristic in which changes in the database schema do not affect data access.

A data condition in which data representation and manipulation are dependent on the physical data storage characteristics.

A condition in which data access is unaffected by changes in the physical data storage characteristics.

The way a person views data.

The way a computer “sees” (stores) data.

In the old file system environment, pools of independent, often duplicated, and inconsistent data created and managed by different departments.

a condition in which a data environment contains redundant (unnecessarily duplicated) data.

In a relational database, a condition in which the data in the database comply with all entity and referential integrity constraints.

A data abnormality in which inconsistent changes have been made to a database. For example, an employee moves, but the address change is not corrected in all files in the database.

An organization of components that defines and regulates the collection, storage, management, and use of data in a database environment.

Five major parts to a database system 

hardware software people
procedures data

refers to all of the system’s physical devices, including computers (PCs, workstations, servers, and supercomputers), storage devices, printers, network devices (hubs, switches, routers, fiber optics), and other devices (automated teller machines, ID readers, and so on).

lthough the most readily identified software is the DBMS itself, three types of software are needed to make the database system function fully: operating system software, DBMS software, and application programs and utilities.

Operating system software

the software that manages all hardware components and makes it possible for all other software to run on the computers. Examples of operating system software include Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS, UNIX, and MVS.

the software that manages the database within the database system. Some examples of DBMS software include Microsoft’s SQL Server, Oracle Corporation’s Oracle, Sun’s MySQL, and IBM’s DB2.

Application programs and utility software

used to access and manipulate data in the DBMS and to manage the computer environment in which data access and manipulation take place. Application programs are commonly used to access data within the database to generate reports, tabulations, and other information to facilitate decision making. Utilities are software tools used to help manage the database system’s computer components. i.e. GUIs to create db structures, control db access, monitor db operations.

This component includes all users of the database system. On the basis of primary job functions, five types of users can be identified in a database system: system administrators, database administrators, database designers, system analysts and programmers, and end users. Each user type, described below, performs both unique and complementary functions.

Procedures are instructions and rules that govern the design and use of a database system. Procedures are a critical component of the system. Procedures play an important role in a company because they enforce the standards by which business is conducted within the organization and with customers. Procedures also help to ensure that companies have an organized way to monitor and audit the data that enter the database and the information generated from those data.

The word data covers the collection of facts stored in the database. Because data are the raw material from which information is generated, determining what data to enter into the database and how to organize those data is a vital part of the database designer’s job.

Important DBMS functions that guarantee the integrity and consistency of the data in the database.

data dictionary management, data storage management, data transformation and presentation, security management, multiuser access control, backup and recovery management, data integrity management, database access languages and application programming interfaces, and database communication interfaces.

Data dictionary management

The DBMS stores definitions of the data elements and their relationships (metadata) in a data dictionary. In turn, all programs that access the data in the database work through the DBMS. The DBMS uses the data dictionary to look up the required data component structures and relationships, thus relieving you from having to code such complex relationships in each program.

The DBMS creates and manages the complex structures required for data storage, thus relieving you from the difficult task of defining and programming the physical data characteristics. DBMS provides storage not only for the data but for related data-entry forms or screen definitions, report definitions, data validation rules, procedural code, structures to handle video and picture formats, and so on. Also provides performance tuning.

Activities that make a database perform more efficiently in terms of storage and access speed.

Data transformation and presentation

The DBMS transforms entered data to conform to required data structures. The DBMS relieves you of the chore of distinguishing between the logical data format and the physical data format. The DBMS formats the physically retrieved data to make it conform to the user’s logical expectations. I.e. an enterprise database used by a company. UK would enter date July 11, 2013, as “11/07/2013.” But US as “07/11/2013.” DBMS would handle formatting.

The DBMS creates a security system that enforces user security and data privacy. Security rules determine which users can access the database, which data items each user can access, and which data operations (read, add, delete, or modify) the user can perform. This is especially important in multiuser database systems.

To provide data integrity and data consistency, the DBMS uses sophisticated algorithms to ensure that multiple users can access the database concurrently without compromising its integrity.

Backup and recovery management

The DBMS provides backup and data recovery to ensure data safety and integrity. Current DBMS systems provide special utilities that allow the DBA to perform routine and special backup and restore procedures. Recovery management deals with the recovery of the database after a failure, such as a bad sector in the disk or a power failure. Such capability is critical to preserving the database’s integrity.

Data integrity management

The DBMS promotes and enforces integrity rules, thus minimizing data redundancy and maximizing data consistency. The data relationships stored in the data dictionary are used to enforce data integrity. Ensuring data integrity is especially important in transaction-oriented database systems..

Database access languages and application programming interfaces 

The DBMS provides data access through a query language.

is a nonprocedural language—one that lets the user specify what must be done without having to specify how.

Structured Query Language (SQL)

is the de facto query language and data access standard supported by the majority of DBMS vendors.

Database communication interfaces

A current-generation DBMS accepts end-user requests via multiple, different network environments. For example, the DBMS might provide access to the database via the Internet through the use of Web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

•   Increased costs. •   Management complexity •   Maintaining currency •   Vendor dependence •   Frequent upgrade/replacement cycles

Raw facts, such as a telephone number, a birth date, a customer name, and a year-to-date (YTD) sales value. Data have little meaning unless they have been organized in some logical manner.

A character or group of characters (alphabetic or numeric) that has a specific meaning. A field is used to define and store data.

A logically connected set of one or more fields that describes a person, place, or thing. For example, the fields that constitute a customer record might consist of the customer’s name, address, phone number, date of birth, credit limit, and unpaid balance.

A collection of related records. For example, a file might contain data about the students currently enrolled at Gigantic University.

What is information raw facts that describe?

What is data that has not been processed for use quizlet?

What is the body of information and facts about a specific subject?

Is data produced by processing information?