MIS Chapter 6

an organization can choose from two integration methods

1) create forward and backward integrations that link processes (and their underlying databases) in the value chain 2) builds a central repository for a particular type of information

without integrations, an organization will:

1) spend considerable time entering the same information into multiple systems 2) suffer from the low quality and inconsistency typically embedded in redundant information (while most integrations do not completely eliminate redundant information, they can ensure the consistency of it across multiple systems)

advantages to using the web to access company databases:

1) web browsers are much easier to use than directly accessing the database using a custom-query tool 2) the web interface requires few or no changes to the database model 3) it costs less to add a web interface in front of a DBMS than to redesign and rebuild the system to support changes

the four primary reasons for low-quality information

1. online customers intentionally enter inaccurate information to protect their privacy 2. different systems have different information entry standards and formats 3. data-entry personnel enter abbreviated information to save time or erroneous information by accident 4. third party and external information contained inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and errors

additional data-driven website advantages include:

Easy to manage content Easy to store large amounts of data Easy to eliminate human errors

managers usually interact with ____ and MIS professionals have the skills required to ____

QBE tools; code SQL

identity management

a broad administrative area that deals with identifying individuals in a system (such as a country, a network, or an enterprise) and controlling their access to resources within that system by associating user rights and restrictions with the established identity

record

a collection of related data elements !each record in an entity occupies one row in its respective table!

the core component of any system is

a database and a database management system

data driven capabilities are especially useful when

a firm needs to offer large amounts of information, products, or services (a data driven website can help limit the amount of information displayed to customers based on unique search requirements)

information integrity

a measure of the quality of information

content creator

a person responsible for creating original website content

foreign key

a primary key of one table that appears as an attributed in another table and acts to provide a logical relationship between the two tables (creating the logical relationship between the tables allows mangers to search the data and turn it into useful information)

five common characteristics of high-quaility information

accuracy: is there an incorrect value of information completeness: is a value missing from the information consistency: is aggregate or summary information in agreement with detailed information timeliness: is the information current with respect to business needs uniqueness: is each transaction and event represented only once in the information

integration

allows separate systems to communicate directly with each other, eliminating the need for manual entry into multiple systems

relational database management system

allows users to create, read, update, and delete data in a relational database

dynamic catalog

an area of a website that stores information about products in a database (stores dynamic data website information)

data driven website

an interactive website kept constantly updated and relevant to the needs of its customers using a database

the biggest risks when using cloud computing

are ensuring the security and privacy of the information in the database (implementing data governance policies and procedures that outline the data management requirements can ensure safe and secure cloud computing)

data models

are logical data structures that detail the relationships among data elements using graphics or pictures

structured query language (SQL)

asks users to write lines of code to answer questions against a database

data dictionary

complies all of the metadata about the data elements in the data model

in excel you can use data validation to

control the type of data or the values that users enter into the cell

database management system (DBMS)

creates, reads, updates, and deletes data in a database while controlling access and security (managers send request to the DBMS and the DBMS performs the actual manipulation of the data in the database)

data governance vs data stewardship

data governance focuses on enterprisewide policies and procedures, while data stewardship focuses on the strategic implementation of the policies and procedures

each ___ element is given a description; ____ is provided for the type of data and descriptions of potential predefined values

data;metadata

physical view of information

deals with the physical storage of information on a storage device (a database has only one physical view)

business rule

defines how a company performs certain aspects of its business and typically results in either a yes/no or true/false answer ex: stating that merchandise returns are allowed within 10 days of purchase

information granularities

detail (fine) ex: reports for each salesperson, product, and part summary ex: reports for all sales personnel, all products, and all parts aggregate (coarse) ex: reports across departments, organizations, and companies

information formats

document, presentation, spreadsheet, database ex: letters, memoms, faxes. emails, product, strategy

one primary goal of a database is to

eliminate information redundancy

transactional information

encompasses all of the information contained within a single business process or unit of work, and its primary purpose is to support daily operational tasks

analytical information

encompasses all organizational information and its primary purpose is to support the performing of managerial analysis tasks (focuses on trends and projections)

business-criteria integrity constraints

enforce business rules vital to an organization's success and often require more insight and knowledge than relational integrity constraints (business-critcal constraints tend to mirror the very rules by which an organization achieves success) ex: a large supplier does not allow returns of fresh produced from kroger after 15 days due to risks of spoilage

what are the primary concepts of the relational database model

entities, attributes, keys, and relationships

logical view of information

focuses on how individual users logically access information to meet their own particular business needs (a database can support multiple logical views that provides for flexibility)

most organizations build only

foward integrations building only forward integrations implies that a change in the initial system will result in changes occuring in all the other systems

a company that supports a data governance program

has a defined policy that specifies who is accountable for various portions or aspects of the data-including accuracy, assenility, consistency, timeliness, and completeness

query by example (QBE) tool

helps users graphically design the answer to a question against a database

DBMS use three primary data models for organizing information

hierarchical, network, and the relational database (the most prevalent)

real-time information

immediate, up-to-date information

some of the serious business consequences that occur due to using low-quality information to make decisions are:

inability to accurately track customers difficulty identifying the organization's most valuable customers inability to identify selling opportunities lost revenue opportunities

dynamic information

includes data that changes based on user actions ex: dynamic website changes information based on user requests such as movie ticket availability, airline prices, or restaurant reservations

static information

includes fixed data incapable of change in the event of a user action ex: static websites provide only information that will not change until the content editor changes the information

data validation

includes the tests and evaluations used to determine compliance with data governance policies to ensure correctness of data (helps ensure that every data value is correct and accurate)

business advantages of a relational database

increased flexibility increased scalability and performance increased information integrity increased information security reduced information redundance

information levels

individual: knowledge, goals, and strategies department: goals, revenues, expenses, processes, and strategies enterprise: revenues, expenses, processes, and strategies

the four primary traits of the value of information

information type information timeliness information quality information governance

the database and the DBMS ensure that users can never violate these constraints

integrity constraints: 1) relational 2) business critical

primary key

is a field (or group of fields) that uniquely identifies a given record in a table. they are a critical piece of a relational database because they provide a way of distinguishing each record in a table

data steward

is responsible for ensuring the policies and procedures are implemented across the organization and acts as a liaison between the MIS department and the business

data element (or data field)

is the smallest or basic unit of information ex: customer's name, address, email, discount rate, preferred shipping method, product name, quantity ordered

database

maintains information about various types of objects (inventory), events (transactions), people (employees), and places (warehouses)

an organization will probably maintain

multiple systems with each system having its own database

data gap analysis

occurs when a company examines its data to determine if it can meet business expectations, while identifying possible data gaps or where missing data might exist

information inconsistency

occurs when the same data element has different values

website change for site visitors depending

on the type of information they request

organizations need to capture transactional information to perform

operational tasks and repetitive decisions such as analyzing daily sales reports and production schedules to determine how much inventory to carry

databases offer many security features including:

passwords: to provide authentication access levels: to determine who can access the data access controls: to determine what type of access they have to the information

the specification and enforcement of integrity constraints

produce higher-quality information that will provide better support for business decisions

examples of analytical information

product statistics, sales projections, future growth, trends

real-time systems

provide real-time information in response to requests (many organizations use real time systems to uncover key corporate transactional information)

metadata

provides details about data ex:metadata for an image could include its size, resolution, and date created

what are the two primary tools available for retrieving information from a DBMS

query-by-example (QBE) tool structured query language (SQL)

information granularity

refers to the extent of detail within the information (fine and detailed or coarse and abstract) employees must be able to correlate the different levels, formats, and granularities of information when making decisions

data governance

refers to the overall management of the availability, usability, integrity, and security of company data

relational integrity constraints

rules that enforce basic and fundamental information-based constraints ex: this type of constraint would not allow someone to create an order for a nonexistent customer

integrity constraints

rules that help ensure the quality of information

examples of transactional information

sales receipt, airline ticket, packing slip

entity (table)

stores information about a person, place, thing, transaction, or event (each entity is stored in a different two-dimensional table)

relational datebase model

stores information in the form of logically related two-dimensional tables

foward integration

takes information entered into a given system and sends it automatically to all downstream systems and processes

backward integration

takes information entered into a given system and sends it automatically to all upstream systems and processes

attributes (columns or fields)

the data elements associated with an entity each attribute of an entity occupies a separate column of a table

information redundancy

the duplication of data, or the storage of the same data in multiple places redundant data can cause storage issues along with data integrity issues, making it difficult to determine which values are the most current or most accurate it can also cause disruptions to business processes and procedures

data stewardship

the management and oversight of an organization's data assets to help provide business users with high-quality data that is easily accessible in a consistent manner

content editor

the person responsible for updating and maintaining website content

master data management

the practice of gathering data and ensuring that it is uniform, accurate, consistent, and complete, including enough entities as customers, suppliers, products, sales, employees, and other critical entities that are commonly integrated across organizational systems it is commonly included in data governance

business decisions are only as good as

the quality of the information used to make the decisions

daya latency

the time it takes for data to be stored or retrieved

although spreadsheets are excellent for supporting some data analysis

they offer limited functionality in terms of security, accessibility, and flexibility and can rarely scale to support business growth

a forward and backward customer information integration example

this example shows how this method works across the systems or processes of sales, order entry, order fulfillment, and billing (in the order entry system an employee can update the information for a customer, that info., via integrations, would be sent upstream to the sales system and downstream to the order fulfillment and billing system)

an aspect of information that depends on the situation

timeliness

two types of information:

transactional and analytical

example of integrating customer information among databases

users can create, update, and delete customer information only in the central customer information database as users perform these tasks on the central customer information database , integrations automatically send the new and/or updated customer information to the other systems (the other systems limit users to read-only access of the customer information stored in them)-this method does not eliminate redundancy, but it does insure consistency

to manage and organize various entities within a relational database model

you use primary keys and foreign keys to create logical relationships