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Computer Application in Business Data and Information

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MODULE-2

Introduction to computing and data representation

Module -2

Semester III

Subject CAB

Complied by Anita Walia

Learning outcome

What is Data and information

Types of Information , Types of Reports Database : Data entities,

DBMS: Introduction to DBMS,

Introduction to Data Warehouse , Data Mining , Data

Private circulation, Not for sale Page 1


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What is Data and information

Data

Data is the raw material from which useful information is derived. The word Data isthe plural of Datum. Data is commonly used in both singular and plural forms. It is

defined as raw facts or observations, typically about physical phenomenon or business

transactions. Example: A sale of a machine tool or an automobile would generate a lot ofdata describing, those events.

Data are objective measurements of attributes (the characteristics) of entities (such aspeople. place, things . and events). These measurements are usually represented by

symbols such as numbers, 'words, codes, composed of a mixture of numerical,

alphabetical and other characters. It takes a variety of forms, including numeric data, text,

voice and' images. '

Data is the collection of facts, which is unorganizedbut can be organized into useful

information. The term data and information come across in our daily life and are often

interchanged. Example: Dates, weights, prices, costs, number of items sold, employees'

names, product names etc.

Information

The data which has been converted into a useful and meaningful form is information.

As already mentioned, the terms data and information are used interchangeably.

Data are raw material resources that are processed into finished information products.

Information can be defined as data that has been converted into a meaningful and useful

context for specific end users.

Data is usually not useful until subjected to a "Value added" process where

(i) Its form is aggregated, manipulated and organised.(ii) Its content is analysed and evaluated.

(iii) It is placed in a proper context for a human user.

Information is processed data, placed in a context that gives it value for specific end users.

DATA VERSUS INFORMATION

To understand the nature of information and exactly what it is, you must first understand another

term-data. Data are raw facts that describe a particular phenomenon. For example, the current

temperature, price of a movie rental, and your age are all data. Information then is simply data

that have a particular meaning within a specific context. For example, if you're trying to decide

what to wear, the current temperature is information because it's pertinent to your decision at

hand (what to wear); the price of a movie rental, however, is not.

Information may be data that have been processed in some way or presented in a more

meaningful fashion. In business, for instance, the price of a movie rental may be information to a

checkout clerk, but it may represent only data to an accountant who is responsible for

determining net revenues at the end of the month.

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Types of information

Information serves different purposes. In an organization context,

information is used for three purposes: strategic, tactical, andoperational. Based on these purposes , information put into threecategories : strategic information , tactical information and operationalinformation.

Strategic Information

In an organization strategic level is at the top of managerial hierarchy.At this level , strategic information is required to formulateorganization mission, vision and long term objectives, choosingorganizational strategies, and formulating long term policies to provide

guidelines for organizational actions. Further information is alsorequired for strategic control which attempts to evaluate whether thestrategies chosen by an organization are being implementedeffectively and the organization is progressing in right direction.

Tactical information

In an organization , tactical level as below in the figure is at the middleof managerial hierarchy. At the tactical level chosen strategies are putinto action. For putting these strategies , various strategies tactics are

formulated. Based on these tactics , various short term plans areformulated and implemented which bring intended results. Tacticalinformation is required for formulating tactics and short term plans.Information for control purpose is also required. Tactical information ismostly generated from internal sources though , in some cases ,information is required from external sources like competitiveinformation, raw material supply sources, etc.

Operational information

In an organization , operational level is at the bottom of managerial

hierarchy. At this level various short term plans formulated at the tacticallevel are implemented, for this purpose, weekly / monthly and day to day plans are

prepared and put into action. Theses plan are executed by operatives. At this level,

information is required for immediate actions and ensuring that these actions have beentaken properly . such information is generated from internal sources in the form of data

related to on-going operations.



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Informationfor difference level of managers

Figure : different level of management

Types of Reports

Definition:

Reports are designed to convey and record information that will be ofpractical use to thereader. It is organized into discrete units of specific and highly visibleinformation.

Records are the significant product of an information system . Differenttypes of reports produced are :

Scheduled reports Produced periodically, or on a schedule (daily,

weekly, monthly). A scheduled reports are thereports which are generated ate a predeterminedperiod. This reports are generated by the informationsystem on weekly, monthly or daily basis. Thesereports are generally used by the manager at theoperational level. These reports have a regular

content and format. For example daily sales report ormonthly performance report of the employees.

Key-indicator report Summarizes the previous days critical activities Typically available at the beginning of each day. This helps managers taking certain decision which

require immediate attention. For example



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Demand report Gives certain information at a managers request.

These reports are also called ad hoc reports atirregular intervals and require analysis of data whoseformat has not been preplanned.

Exception report Automatically produced when a situation is unusual

or requires management action. These reports areproduced when exceptional condition occurs , orreports produced periodically which containinformation only about exceptional conditions. Insome cases , the reports are automaticallygenerated. For example, a report is required to beprinted in advance to state the names of theparticipants of a seminar and the location where aminimum of ten participants are not participating isrequired two week prior to the start of the seminar. Acredit manager is provided with report whichcontains information on customers who exceed theircredit limits. Such exception reporting promotesmanagement by exception.

Database and Database Management

The concepts of databases and database management were developed to solve the problems of fileprocessing systems. A database is an integrated collection of logically related records and files. It

consolidates records previously stored in independent files so that it serves as a common pool of

data to be accessed by many different application programs. The data solved in a database is

independent of the computer programs using it and of the type of secondary storage devices on

which it is stored. 'Database Management' involves the control of how databases are created,

interrogated and maintained to provide information needed by end users and the organisation.

DEFINITION OF DATABASE

(i) A database is a collection of data organised to serve many applications efficiently by

centralising the data and minimising redundant data.

(ii) A database is a collection of data organised to service many applications at the same time bystoring and managing data so that they appear to be in one location.

Database : Data entities

Entity:Person, place, thing, event about which information is maintained Attribute: Description of a particular entity



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Key field: Identifier field used to retrieve, update, sort a record

Example

Data concepts Character :the most logical smallest unit which consist of a single alphabetic,

numeric or other symbol

Fieldconsist of a grouping of related characters. For example the grouping ofalphabetic character in a persons name may be a form of a name field (last

name, first name, middle name) Record is made up of related fields e.g student record or an employee record. File: Group of records of same type

Database: Group of related files



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ORGANIZING DATA INA TRADITIONALFILEENVIRONMENT

Objective of Database ApproachThey provide a guide to the database requirements process and data modeling. The

database objectives are:

(i) Availability - Data should be available for use by applications (both current and future) and byqueries.

(ii) Share ability -Data items prepared by one application are available to all applications or

queries. No data items are 'owned' by an application.

(iii) Evolvability - The database can evolve as application usage and query needs.

(iu) Data independence - The users of the database establish their view of the data and its structure

without regard to the actual physical storage of the data.

(u) Data integrity - The database establishes a uniform high level of accuracy and consistency.Validation rules are applied by the DBMS.

Database Management Systems DBMS

When an organisation has a centrally controlled, integrated collection of logically organised

data, it has a database. If the collection of data does not respond to command and queries from a

central control point, it is not single database; similarly for the part of the definition that calls for

integration. The various pieces of data within the database must have some logical connections or

relationships among themselves for the database to be integrated. Eg: Inventory control and

production planning data are closely related and when put into one database, are a prime exampleof integration. And finally, logical organisation is required that is, the data elements must be in

specific places and bear specific relationships to each' other for the collection of data to be a

substantial database.

DBMS is a collection of programs that enable users to create and - maintain a database. The

DBMS is hence a general purpose software system that facilitates the processes of defining,

constructing and manipulating databases for various applications.

Defining database involves specifying the data type structures and constraints for the data to



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________________________________________________________________________be stored in the database. Constructing the database is the process of storing the database itself on

the storage medium that is controlled by DBMS. Manipulating includes such functions as

merging the database to reflect changes in the miniworld and generating reports from the data.

The concept of a database is that data needs to be managed in order to be available for

processing and have appropriate quality. This data management includes both software and

organisation, the software to create and manage a data base is a database management system.This system, or set of rules and methods, allows for the definition, creation, updating, reading,

maintenance and protection of the database. In short, this system is a database management

system (DBMS).

DBMS consists of a collection of inter-related data and a set of programs to access that

data. The collection data is usually referred to as database which contains information about one

particular enterprise. The primary goal of a DBMS is to provide an environment that is both

convenient and efficient to use in retrieving and storing database information. The DBMS is the

interface between the user of application programs on one hand and the database on the other.

WHY DBMS?

A DBMS provides a secure and survivable medium for the storage and retrieval of data.If the users and applications do not share data among themselves and if the longevity of the data

is only till the end of the process or application that created it, then there is not much need for a

DBMS. But in real world, the data is shared and is persistent (that is, the data has a life beyond

the boundaries of the programs and applications that created it). Also, the real world data have a

structure. It is related to one another and has constraints. These features are well represented and

can be efficiently managed using a DBMS. Also, the different users of the data need to

create, access and

manipulate the data. The DBMS provides mechanisms to achieve these objectives without

compromising the security and integrity of the data. Therefore, if the data is shared, if it is

persistent, if the users want it be secure and easy to access and manipulate, then use of a database

management system is the best available alternative

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Objectives of DBMS

The objectives that the management should keep in mind when they design and organize their

data base management systems are:

(i) Provide for mass storage of relevant data,

(ii) Make access to the data easy for the user,

(iii) Provide prompt response to user requests for data,

(iv) Make the latest modifications to the database available immediately,

(v) Eliminate redundant data,(vi) Allow for multiple users to be active at one time,

(vii) Allow for growth in the database system,

(viii) Protect the data from physical harm and unauthorised access.

The Data Base Management System (DBMS) is a set of computer programs that control

the creation, maintenance and use of the databases of an organisation and its end users. DBMS

packages are available for micro, mini and mainframe computer systems.



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Concept of DBMS

Components of DBMS

The following are the five components of a DBMS

Hardware

Can range from a PC to a network of computers.

Software

DBMS, operating system, network software (if necessary) and also the

application programs.

Database

It maintains , manipulate and organisethe entire database of the

organisation.

Procedures

Instructions and rules that should be applied to the design and use of the

database and DBMS. The set of rules and relationship that defines and

governs the interaction among element of the database.

People

At least one person who owns and is responsible for the database.

Includes database designers, DBAs, application programmers, and end-users

Data Warehousing

Definition of a Data Warehouse

A data warehouse is a collection of computerised data that is organised to most optimallysupport reporting and analysis activity.



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History of data warehousingData Warehouses became a distinct type ofcomputerdatabase during the late 1980's and early

1990's

They developed to meet a growing demand for management information and analysis that could

not be met by operational systems.

Components of a data warehouse

Components in detail:

Data Sources

sources refers to any electronic repository of information that contains data of interest for

management use or analytics. This definition covers mainframedatabases (eg IBM DB2,

ISAM,etc.),client-serverdatabases (eg Oracle database.), PC databases (eg Microsoft Access),

spreadsheets (eg Microsoft Excel) and any other electronic store of data.

Data needs to be passed from these systems to the data warehouse either on a transaction-by-

transaction basis for real-time data warehouses or on a regular cycle (e.g. daily or weekly) for

offline data warehouses.

Data Transformation

The Data Transformation layer receives data from the data sources, cleans and standardizes it,

and loads it into the data repository.

Advantages of Data Warehousing

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________________________________________________________________________There are many advantages to using a data warehouse, some of them are:

Enhances end-user access to a wide variety of data.

Increases data consistency.

Increase productivity and decrease computing costs.

Is able to combine data from different sources, in one place.

It provides an infrastructure that could support changes to data and replication of the changeddata back into the operational systems.

Data MiningData Mining Definition

Mining simply means extraction. It is a computer assisted process of extraction of meaningful

data from enormous sets of data to predict future trends and to do analysis. It is a process

establishing hidden relationship and patterns and thereafter predicting future trends.

Need For Data Mining

Widespread Deployment of High-Volume Transactional Systems

Information as a Key Corporate Asset

Widespread Availability of Scalable Information Technology.

Application Areas

Banking & Insurance: Detect fraud, assist in risk assessment.

Medicine :Predict effectiveness of procedure or medicine.

Pharmaceutical :Guide research for new treatment (info on chemical compounds &genetic

material).

Retailers Assess effectiveness of product selection, direct marketing

Transport Logistics ManagementGovernment Assess crime patterns, predict demographic changes, etc.

Future Of Data Mining

Short Term - The results of data mining will be in profitable. Micro-marketing campaigns will

explore new niches. Advertising will target potential customers with new precision.

Medium Term - data mining may be as common and easy to use as e-mail. We may use these

tools to find the best airfare to New York, root out a phone number of a long-lost classmate,

etc.

Long Term DM scope would increase to the extent that Computers may reveal new treatments

for diseases or new insights into the nature of the universe, etc.

Limitations

Although data mining can help reveal patterns and relationships, it does not tell the user the value

or significance of these patterns. These types of determinations must be made by the user.

While data mining can identify connections between behaviors and/or variables, it does not

necessarily identify a causal relationship



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Dangers of Data Mining

With every move of every person being recorded the major danger of data mining will be that

every person will have access to all the data about every other person.

Data Mart

A data mart is a repository of data gathered from operational data and other sources that

is designed to serve a particular community of knowledge workers. In scope, the data may derive

from an enterprise-wide database or data warehouse or be more specialized. The emphasis of adata mart is on meeting the specific demands of a particular group of knowledge users in terms of

analysis, content, presentation, and ease-of-use. Users of a data mart can expect to have data

presented in terms that are familiar.

In practice, the terms data mart and data warehouse each tend to imply the presence ofthe other in some form. However, most writers using the term seem to agree that the design of a

data mart tends to start from an analysis of user needs and that a data warehouse tends to start

from an analysis of what data already exists and how it can be collected in such a way that thedata can later be used. A data warehouse is a central aggregation of data (which can be distributed

physically); a data mart is a data repository that may derive from a data warehouse or not and that

emphasizes ease of access and usability for a particular designed purpose. In general, a data

warehouse tends to be a strategic but somewhat unfinished concept; a data mart tends to be

tactical and aimed at meeting an immediate need.


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