Assignment 4 - Data and Information Integrity- Review Questions

Describe how the cycle of disparate data can be broken.

An effective way of breaking the Disparate Data Cycle is through the development of an integrated data resource with common data architecture.

Data resource integration results in which of the following?

Data that can be shared and access across the enterprise.

Which of the following costs are most associated with system downtime caused by data integrity issues?

In-force business loss

Which of the following is an essential element of data resource integration?

A common enterprise-wide data architecture.

Describe the rules on which referential integrity relies.

A foreign key cannot be added to an entity unless it exists as a primary key in another table. A row, or record, cannot be deleted from a table if foreign keys in other tables refer to that record. And finally, a record cannot be added to a table unless the foreign key for that record matches a primary key in the table to which the foreign key refers.

Describe the problems a lack of data integrity can cause an organization.

A lack of data integrity leads to a lack of information integrity. This may lead to some or all of the following: system crashes, cost of system downtime, silent data corruption, lost credibility, inappropriate business decisions, lost confidence in data, and regulatory intervention.

The properties that every transaction should have in order got systems to automatically manage transactions in a way that helps preserve data integrity are:

Atomicity, consisency, isolation, durability

Explain the principles of transaction management.

Companies in the insurance industry manage many transactional activities such as processing policies; endorsements; claims and accepting and making payments; and a variety of other operations. Transaction management ensures that these types of transactions process reliably. A common approach to transaction management is to allow systems to automatically manage transactions in a way that helps preserve data integrity. This approach involves ensuring that all transactions have four specific properties: atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability.

The process that transforms an organization's various disparate data resources into a homogeneous data resource that exists at the operational level rather than simply within a data warehouse or federation is known as which of the following?

Data Resource Integration

Define data integrity and information

Data integrity is the extent to which data are trustworthy, meaning that they are complete, accurate, consistent, and uncorrupted. Information integrity is the extent to which information is accurate, complete, consistent and valid.

Describe how the data validation methods can implemented.

Data validation techniques can be implemented in several different ways. For example, the user interface can prompt users to complete required fields or format their input in a specific way. Data validation can also be accomplished through the application itself or through the use of database constraints.

The cycle by which data is not documented or integrated, that cannot be accessed or trusted, resulting in the creation or acquisition of data rather than using existing data is know as which one of the following?

Disparate Data Cycle

Which of the following statement, or statements best describes disparate data?

I. Data are in different formats, in different systems, implemented in different ways on different platforms. II. Data are locked information silos and are not generally accessible across the organization IV. Existing data may not be trusted so data are created or acquired

List the steps ACID transactions typically involve to ensure atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability.

In order to ensure atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability, ACID transactions typically involve the following steps: • Document the transaction request in a transaction log • Obtain write locks on all the data elements involved in the transaction • Insert the new values into the appropriate • Move the changes from temporary to permanent storage (i.e. analogous to "Save"). • Update the transaction log to flag the transaction as completed.

Accurate, complete, consistent and valid are characteristics of which of the following:

Information integrity.

Explain the concepts of an integrated data resource and common data architecture.

Integrated data resource can be achieved by transforming various disparate data resources into a homogeneous data resource that exists at the operational level rather than simply within a data warehouse of federation. Common data architecture is maintaining a blueprint for aligning IT functions with business strategy. Both integrated data resource and common data architecture are measures to break disparate data cycle and establishing data integrity.

Which of the following is not a type of data integrity constraint in general use?

Null constraints

Describe the basic components of a relational database.

Relational database are collections of files with rows and columns like a spreadsheet. In a relational database, data is collected into tables (called relations). A table represents some class of objects hat are important to an organization; for example, employees, customers, or stores. Each table is built of columns and rows. Each column represents some attribute of the object represented by the table. Each row represents an instance of the object represented by the table.

The objective of data normalization is to:

Store one fact in one place

Which of the following issues may occur within an organization due to lack of data integrity?

System crashes Regulatory intervention Loss credibility

Which of he following statements best define data integrity?

The data is trustworthy.The data have not been breached.

List the data management activities aimed at enhancing and maintaining data integrity

The goals of data integrity management activities are to: • Ensure the quality and integrity of the information derived from data. • Prevent system crashes resulting from data corruption. • Reduce the direct and indirect costs of system downtime. • Recognize "dirty data" promptly to prevent silent data corruption. • Protect the organization's credibility with stake holders and others. • Support appropriate business planning and decision making. • Enhance confidence in the trustworthiness of data. • Comply with regulatory requirements.

List and briefly describe the types of integrity constraints that should be considered prior to data validation.

The types of integrity constraints that should be considered prior to data validation are: • Check constraints specify the acceptable format of data in a column. • Not null constraints do not allow a field to be left blank. • Unique constraints ensure that unique values remain so. • Primary key constraints are essentially a combination of not null constraints and unique constraints that apply to the primary key column in a table. They ensure that each record has a primary key and each is unique. • Foreign key constraints ensure that the value in a foreign key column in one table matches a primary key in another table.

Name the term for undetected damage to data integrity and explain why this is an issue.

Undetected damage to data integrity is referred to as Silent Data Corruption. Dirty data can often go unrecognized because they resemble good data. When undetected for any length of time, the corruption can infect backups and spread to other systems, significantly increasing the time, effort, and cost to restore data integrity.

List the techniques data management professionals can use to help ensure data integrity.

• Normalizing data • Defining business rules • Validating data • Using constraints • Imposing referential integrity • Using generation data groups