INFO101 – Foundations of Information Systems

Trimester 2 – 2019

Data Management
Lecture 4 – based on Chapter 3 – sections 3.1-3.2
Class outline

3.1 Managing data

3.2 The database approach
Learning objectives

1. Discuss ways that common challenges in managing data can be

addressed using data governance.
2. Explain how to interpret relationships depicted in an entity-
relationship diagram.
All that data
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/314672

https://www.theguardian.com/
commentisfree/2018/mar/28/all-the-data-
facebook-google-has-on-you-privacy
 All that data Loyalty NZ Analytics

• 2.5 M card holders

• 100 million
transactions/year

INFO101 T1 2019
3.1 Managing data
• High quality data are:
o Accurate
o Complete
o Timely
o Consistent
o Accessible
o Relevant
o Concise

Source: Media Bakery

INFO101 T2 2018
INFO101 T2 2018
The difficulties of managing data

• Amount of data is increasing exponentially

• Data are scattered throughout organisations and collected by
many individuals using various methods and devices
• Data come from many sources
• Data degrade over time (outdated data)
• Data are subject to data rot (outdated, destroyed storage
media)
The difficulties of managing data cont.

• Data security, quality, and integrity are critical, yet easily

jeopardised
• Inconsistent, conflicting data due to non-integrated
information systems
• Government regulations
• Companies are drowning in unstructured data
 Transparency Reporting (Trade Me)

Privacy Act (NZ)

Data governance
• Data governance
o An approach to managing information across an entire organisation

• Master data management

o A strategy for data governance
o A process that spans all of an organisation’s business processes and
applications
o Allows companies to store, maintain, exchange, and synchronise a
consistent, accurate, and timely
o “single version of the truth” for the company’s core master data
o Master data: A set of core data that covers a complete enterprise
information system
From the textbook…

“Decisions about data last longer, and have a

broader impact, than decisions about hardware or
software.”
3.2 The database approach

• 1950s–1970s: File management environment

• 1970s–present: Database management approach
• Databases minimise the following problems:
o Data redundancy: The same data are stored in many places
o Data isolation: Applications cannot access data associated with other
applications
3.2 The database approach cont.

• Databases help maximise

o Data security: Keeping the organisation’s data safe from
theft, modification, and/or destruction
o Data integrity: Data must meet constraints and be reliable
o Data independence: Applications and data are independent
of one another
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXiCza050ug
Database management systems

• Database management system (DBMS): Specific type of

software for creating, storing, organising, and accessing
data from a database

Figure 3.1
The data hierarchy
• Digital data are organised in a hierarchy from the
smallest to the largest
• Example: hierarchy of data for a computer-based
file
Designing the database

• Data model: A diagram that represents the entities in the

database and their relationships
• Entity-relationship (ER) modeling
o Entity
• A person, place, thing, or event about which
information is maintained
• Entity classes: Groups of entities of a certain type
(group of records)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvrpuBAMddw
Designing the database cont.

• Entity instance: The representation of a particular

entity (a record)
o Attribute
• A particular characteristic or quality of a particular
entity
• Primary key (or identifier): A field that uniquely
identifies a record
• Secondary keys: Other fields that have some
identifying information (e.g., major, state)
• Foreign key: Established relationships between
tables
o Relationship
• Types: One-to-one, One-to-many, Many-to-many
• Minimum and maximum cardinality
Most databases are now built using entity
relationship models.

In this example are ‘mother’ and ‘children’. It is a

one to many relationship
Most databases are now built using entity
relationship models.

In this example are ‘order’ and ‘parts’. It is a one to

many relationship

Order Parts

INFO101 T1 2019
In this example a book [entity] has a publisher.

Attributes of the book include author, title and publisher.

Attributes of publisher [entity] include name and country.

If the entity ‘publisher’ is in a single table, the data will be

consistent – and easy to modify.

Both entities have ‘keys’ which are unique to it.

INFO101 T1 2019
Database key values
The primary key in one table is donated to another table as the foreign
key, linking the record in one table to its related record in another
(that’s the relational bit).
 Foreign Key

Primary Key

Primary key?
 ER diagram

Figure 3.3

Figure 3.4
Review Learning objectives

1. Discuss ways that common challenges in managing data can be

addressed using data governance.
2. Explain how to interpret relationships depicted in an entity-
relationship diagram.