Chapter 5 Data

Resource Management

James A. O'Brien, and George Marakas.

Management Information Systems with MISource
2007, 8th ed.  Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, Inc.,
2007.  ISBN: 13 9780073323091
Learning Objectives
 Explain the business value of implementing data resource
management processes and technologies in an organization
 Outline the advantages of a database management approach
to managing the data resources of a business, compared to a
file processing approach
 Explain how database management software helps business
professionals and supports the operations and management
of a business
 Provide examples to illustrate the following concepts:
 Major types of databases
 Data warehouses and data mining
 Logical data elements
 Fundamental database structures
 Database development

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Case 1 Sharing Business
Databases
 Amazon’s data vault
 Product descriptions
 Prices
 Sales rankings
 Customer reviews
 Inventory figures
 Countless other layers of content
 Took 10 years and a billion dollars to build

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Case 1 Sharing Business
Databases
 Amazon opened its data vault in 2002
 65,000 developers, businesses, and entrepreneurs have
tapped into it
 Many have become ambitious business partners
 eBay opened its $3 billion databases in 2003
 15,000 developers and others have registered
to use it and to access software features
 1,000 new applications have appeared
 41 percent of eBay’s listings are uploaded to
the site using these resources

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Case 1 Sharing Business
Databases
 Google recently unlocked access to its desktop
and paid-search products
 Dozens of Google-driven services cropped up
 Developers can grab 1,000 search results a
day for free; anything more requires
permission
 In 2005, the Ad-Words paid-search service
was opened to outside applications

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Case Study Questions
 What are the business benefits to Amazon and eBay of
opening up some of their databases to developers and
entrepreneurs?
 Do you agree with this strategy?
 What business factors are causing Google to move
slowly in opening up its databases?
 Do you agree with its go-slow strategy?
 Should other companies follow Amazon and eBay’s lead
and open up some of their databases to developers and
others?
 Defend your position with an example of the risks and
benefits to an actual company

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Logical Data Elements

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Logical Data Elements
 Character
 A single alphabetic, numeric, or other symbol
 Field or data item
 Represents an attribute (characteristic or quality)
of some entity (object, person, place, event)
 Example: salary, job title
 Record
 Grouping of all the fields used to describe the attributes of an
entity
 Example: payroll record with name, SSN, pay rate
 File or table
 A group of related records
 Database
 An integrated collection of logically related
data elements
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Electric Utility Database

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Database Structures
 Common database structures…
 Hierarchical
 Network
 Relational
 Object-oriented
 Multi-dimensional

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Hierarchical Structure

 Early DBMS structure

 Records arranged in tree-
like structure
 Relationships are one-to-
many

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Network Structure

 Used in some mainframe DBMS packages

 Many-to-many relationships

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Relational Structure

 Most widely used structure

 Data elements are stored in tables
 Row represents a record; column is a field
 Can relate data in one file with data in another,
if both files share a common data element

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Relational Operations
 Select
 Create a subset of records that meet a stated
criterion
 Example: employees earning more than

$30,000
 Join
 Combine two or more tables temporarily
 Looks like one big table
 Project
 Create a subset of columns in a table

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Multidimensional Structure
 Variation of relational model
 Uses multidimensional structures to
organize data
 Data elements are viewed as being in cubes
 Popular for analytical databases that support
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)

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Multidimensional Model

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Object-Oriented Structure
 An object consists of
 Data values describing the attributes of an
entity
 Operations that can be performed on the data
 Encapsulation
 Combine data and operations
 Inheritance
 New objects can be created by replicating
some or all of the characteristics of parent
objects

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 Object-Oriented Structure

Source: Adapted from Ivar Jacobsen, Maria Ericsson, and Ageneta Jacobsen, The Object
Advantage: Business Process Reengineering with Object Technology (New York: ACM Press,
1995), p. 65.
Copyright @ 1995, Association for Computing Machinery. By permission.
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Object-Oriented Structure
 Used in object-oriented database management
systems (OODBMS)
 Supports complex data types more efficiently
than relational databases
 Example: graphic images, video clips,
web pages

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Evaluation of Database Structures
 Hierarchical
 Works for structured, routine transactions
 Can’t handle many-to-many relationship
 Network
 More flexible than hierarchical
 Unable to handle ad hoc requests
 Relational
 Easily responds to ad hoc requests
 Easier to work with and maintain
 Not as efficient/quick as hierarchical or network

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Database Development
 Database Administrator (DBA)
 In charge of enterprise database development
 Improves the integrity and security of
organizational databases
 Uses Data Definition Language (DDL) to
develop and specify data contents,
relationships, and structure
 Stores these specifications in a data
dictionary or a metadata repository

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Data Dictionary
 A data dictionary
 Contains data about data (metadata)
 Relies on specialized software component to
manage a database of data definitions
 It contains information on..
 The names and descriptions of all types of
data records and their interrelationships
 Requirements for end users’ access and use
of application programs
 Database maintenance
 Security
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Database Development

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Data Planning Process
 Database development is a top-down process
 Develop an enterprise model that defines the
basic business process of the enterprise
 Define the information needs of end users in
a business process
 Identify the key data elements that are
needed to perform specific business activities
(entity relationship diagrams)

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Entity Relationship Diagram

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Database Design Process
 Data relationships are represented in a data model that
supports a business process
 This model is the schema or subschema on which to
base…
 The physical design of the database
 The development of application programs to support
business processes
 Logical Design
 Schema - overall logical view of relationships
 Subschema - logical view for specific end users
 Data models for DBMS
 Physical Design
 How data are to be physically stored and
accessed on storage devices
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Logical and Physical Database Views

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Data Resource Management
 Data resource management is a managerial activity
 Uses data management, data warehousing,
and other IS technologies
 Manages data resources to meet the information
needs of business stakeholders
 Data stewards
 Dedicated to establishing and maintaining the
quality of data
 Need business, technology, and diplomatic skills
 Focus on data content
 Judgment is a big part of the job

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Case Study Questions
 Why is the role of a data steward considered to
be innovative?
 What are the business benefits associated with
the data steward program at Emerson?
 How does effective data resource management
contribute to the strategic goals of an
organization?

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Types of Databases

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Operational Databases
 Stores detailed data needed to support business
processes and operations
 Also called subject area databases (SADB),
transaction databases, and production
databases
 Database examples: customer, human
resource, inventory

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Distributed Databases
 Distributed databases are copies or parts of databases stored on
servers at multiple locations
 Improves database performance at worksites
 Advantages
 Protection of valuable data
 Data can be distributed into smaller databases
 Each location has control of its local data
 All locations can access any data, any where
 Disadvantages
 Maintaining data accuracy
 Replication
 Look at each distributed database and find changes
 Apply changes to each distributed database
 Very complex
 Duplication
 One database is master
 Duplicate the master after hours, in all locations
 Easier to accomplish
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External Databases
 Databases available for a fee from commercial
online services, or free from the Web
 Example: hypermedia databases, statistical
databases, bibliographic and full text
databases
 Search engines like Google or Yahoo are
external databases

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Hypermedia Databases
 A hypermedia database contains
 Hyperlinked pages of multimedia
 Interrelated hypermedia page elements,
rather than interrelated data records

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Components of Web-Based
System

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 Data Warehouses
 Stores static data that has been extracted from
other databases in an organization
 Central source of data that has been cleaned,
transformed, and cataloged
 Data is used for data mining, analytical
processing, analysis, research, decision support
 Data warehouses may be divided into data marts
 Subsets of data that focus on specific aspects
of a company (department or business process)

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Data Warehouse Components

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Applications and Data Marts

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Data Mining
 Data in data warehouses are analyzed to reveal
hidden patterns and trends
 Market-basket analysis to identify new
product bundles
 Find root cause of qualify or manufacturing
problems
 Prevent customer attrition
 Acquire new customers
 Cross-sell to existing customers
 Profile customers with more accuracy

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Traditional File Processing
 Data are organized, stored, and processed in
independent files
 Each business application designed to use
specialized data files containing specific
types of data records
 Problems
 Data redundancy
 Lack of data integration
 Data dependence (files, storage devices,
software)
 Lack of data integrity or standardization
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Traditional File Processing

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Database Management
Approach
 The foundation of modern methods of managing
organizational data
 Consolidates data records formerly in
separate files into databases
 Data can be accessed by many different
application programs
 A database management system (DBMS) is
the software interface between users and
databases

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Database Management
Approach

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Database Management System
 In mainframe and server computer systems, a
software package that is used to…
 Create new databases and database
applications
 Maintain the quality of the data in an
organization’s databases
 Use the databases of an organization to
provide the information needed by end users

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Common DBMS Software
Components
 Database definition
 Language and graphical tools to define
entities, relationships, integrity constraints,
and authorization rights
 Nonprocedural access
 Language and graphical tools to access data
without complicated coding
 Application development
 Graphical tools to develop menus, data entry
forms, and reports
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 Common DBMS Software
Components
 Procedural language interface
 Language that combines nonprocedural access
with full capabilities of a programming language
 Transaction processing
 Control mechanism prevents interference from
simultaneous users and recovers lost data after
a failure
 Database tuning
 Tools to monitor, improve database performance

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Database Management System
 Database Development
 Defining and organizing the content,
relationships, and structure of the data needed
to build a database
 Database Application Development
 Using DBMS to create prototypes of queries,
forms, reports, Web pages
 Database Maintenance
 Using transaction processing systems and
other tools to add, delete, update, and correct
data
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DBMS Major Functions

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Database Interrogation
 End users use a DBMS query feature or report
generator
 Response is video display or printed report
 No programming is required
 Query language
 Immediate response to ad hoc data requests
 Report generator
 Quickly specify a format for information you
want to present as a report

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Database Interrogation
 SQL Queries
 Structured, international standard query
language found in many DBMS packages
 Query form is SELECT…FROM…WHERE…

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Database Interrogation
 Boolean Logic
 Developed by George Boole in the mid-1800s
 Used to refine searches to specific
information
 Has three logical operators: AND, OR, NOT
 Example
 Cats OR felines AND NOT dogs OR
Broadway

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Database Interrogation
 Graphical and Natural Queries
 It is difficult to correctly phrase SQL and other
database language search queries
 Most DBMS packages offer easier-to-use,
point-and-click methods
 Translates queries into SQL commands
 Natural language query statements are similar

to conversational English

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Graphical Query Wizard

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Database Maintenance
 Accomplished by transaction processing
systems and other applications, with the support
of the DBMS
 Done to reflect new business transactions and
other events
 Updating and correcting data, such as
customer addresses

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Application Development
 Use DBMS software development tools to
develop custom application programs
 Not necessary to develop detailed data-
handling procedures using conventional
programming languages
 Can include data manipulation language
(DML) statements that call on the DBMS to
perform necessary data handling

Chapter 5 Data Resource ManagementChapter 5 55

Case 3 Acxiom Corp. Data
 Acxiom does three things really well…
 Manages large volumes of data
 Cleans, transforms, and enhances that data
 Distills business intelligence from that data to
drive smart decisions
 Refined data is sold to customers
 Developing telemarketing lists
 Identifying prospects for credit card offers
 Screen prospective employees
 Detecting fraudulent financial transactions

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Case 3 Acxiom Corp. Data
 Primary business activities
 Building its data library
 Selling data
 Managing other companies’ data and data
centers

Chapter 5 Data Resource ManagementChapter 5 57

Case Study Questions
 Acxiom is in a unique type of business. How
would you describe the business of Acxiom?
 Are they a service- or product-oriented
business?
 It is easy to see that Acxiom has focused on a
wide variety of data from different sources.
 How does Acxiom decide which data to collect,
and for whom?
 Acxiom’s business raises many issues related
to privacy.
 Are the data collected by Acxiom really private?
Chapter 5 Data Resource ManagementChapter 5 58
Case 4 Protecting the Data Jewels
 Harrah’s Entertainment and other casino
companies closely guard customer data
 Both hard copy and electronic files

 Concerns
 Broader access to CRM systems
 More frequent job switching

Chapter 5 Data Resource ManagementChapter 5 59

Case 4 Protecting the Data Jewels
 Protection methods
 Nondisclosure, non-compete, and
nonsolicitation agreements that specify
customer lists
 Trade-secret laws and legal action
 Limiting access to sensitive information
 Physical security
 Strong password protection
 Reinforcement of signed agreements during
exit interviews
 Monitoring electronic communication
Chapter 5 Data Resource ManagementChapter 5 60
Case Study Questions
 Why have developments in IT helped to
increase the value of the data resources of
many companies?
 How have these capabilities increased the
security challenges associated with protecting
a company’s data resources?
 How can companies use IT to meet the
challenges of data resource security?

Chapter 5 Data Resource ManagementChapter 5 61