Information and Data Management Basics

• Information management is an emerging field concerned with infrastructure for information handling, guiding principles for information access, viewing information as an asset, and the organizational and social contexts of information.
• The purpose of information management is to design, develop, manage and use information with insight and innovation for decision-making and value creation.
• Data management focuses on handling raw data to form the basis of information through data collection, storage and maintenance processes.
• Data management is a subset of information management, ensuring the accuracy and accessibility of raw data; information management focuses on making that data useful and actionable.
• Data is central to the function of today's applications and websites.
• The use of file systems came before databases.
• When computers were first used for business they performed normal record-keeping functions via file systems.
• Organizational data was kept in numerous computer files, which were managed independently.
• Data was stored in file-based systems.

Disadvantages of File Systems

• Program-data dependence involves each file system having different data definitions for processing.
• Duplication of data involves different file systems having separate copies of the same data, thus wasting space.
• There is no centralized control of data, which means limited data sharing
• Lengthy development times require programmers to design their own file formats.
• Compormised data integrity involves data changes in one file causing inconsistencies.

The Database Approach

• Use a central repository of shared data.
• A controlling agent manages Data.
• Data is stored in a standardized, and convenient form.

What is a database?

• It is a collection of logically related data that can be processed by multiple application systems and shared by multiple users.
• Examples of database use include banking, healthcare, social media, online shopping, inventory management, library systems, payroll systems, education, human resources, and research.

Database Management Systems (DBMS)

• A software system is used to create, maintain, and provide controlled access to databases.
• A DBMS allows developers or end-users to create the structure and manipulate the data in a database.

Advantages of Database Systems

• Reduced data redundancy
• Improved data consistency
• Integrated systems for preserving the security, privacy and integrity of data
• Broader sharing of data
• Ease of application development
• Improved productivity for developers and end users
• Reduced program maintenance
• The ability to use data as an organizational resource

Features of DBMS

• Cross-entity linking mechanism: Allows related entities in a database to be linked together; Eliminates the need to keep multiple copies of the same data.
• Data dictionary: Describes the structure of data and how they are to be used; Contains metadata, or data about data.
• Query language: Language used to retrieve selected data from a database; Used by end-users for ad-hoc queries.
• Mechanisms for data access: Protects data integrity and privacy by controlling the actions that users can perform on the data.
• Host language interface software: Software that allows database commands to be combined with standard programming language commands to create applications; Simlifies programming by allowing the database to handle the data-oriented portions of the application.
• 4GL application development software: Visual interface software to develop applications; Form and report generators.
• Disaster recovery & concurrency control: Software that provides mechanisms to recover damaged data and control concurrent access, or the simultaneous access by multiple users; Includes maintenance of a transaction log that contains the list of transactions and changes made to the database

DBMS on the Market

• Microsoft Access
• IBM DB2
• Microsoft SQL Server
• Oracle
• MySQL
• PostgreSQL