CHAPTER 7 : STORING ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

Relational Database Fundamentals

• Database : maintain information about various types of objects (inventory), events (transaction), people(employees), and places(warehouses).
• Hierarchical database model : information is organised into a tree-like structure that allows repeating using parent/child relationship.
• Network database model : a flexible way of representing objects and their relationship.
• Relational database model : type of database that stores information in the form of logically related two-dimensional tables.

 Entities And Attributes 

• Entity : is a person, place, thing, transaction, or event about which information is stored.
• Attributes : is fields or columns, are characteristics or properties of an entity class.

Relational Database Advantages 


1. Increased flexibility

• a good database and any good business must able to handle changes quickly and easily.
• physical view – information deals with physical storage of information on a storage device.
• logical view – information focuses on how users logically access information to meet their particular business needs.

2. Increased scalability and performance

• scalability – refers to how well a system can adapt to increased demand.
• performance – measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or transaction.
• database today scale to exceptional levels, allowing all types of users and programs to perform information-processing and information-searching tasks.

3. Reduced information redundancy

• redundancy – is the duplication of information or storing the same information in multiple places.
• database is to eliminate information redundancy

4. Increased information and integrity (quality)

• information integrity – measure of the quality of information : information constraints – rules that help ensure the quality of information
• relational integrity constraints – rules that enforce basic and fundamental information-based constraints.
• business-critical integrity constraints – enforce business rules vital to an organization’s success and often requires more insight and knowledge.

5. Increased information security : information is an organizational asset. : passwords provide authentication of         the user who is gaining access to the system.

• Access levels determine who has access to the different types of information.
• Access controls determine what types of access they have to the information.

 Database Management System 

Database management system (DBMS) : is a software through which users and application programmes interact with the database.

Data driven website

• Website must change according to what a site visitor is interested in browsing.
• It is also an interactive website kept constantly updated and relevant to the needs of its customers through the use of a database.

 Data driven business website advantages 

• development
• content management
• future expandability
• minimizing human error
• cutting production and update costs

 Data driven business intelligence 

By viewing the data accessed and analysed from their website.