Lesson (28)

Databases
And
Database Users

When you have completed this learning lesson, you will know:

Exactly what both Information and database mean.

What's the meaning of DBMS and when you have to use it?
The benefits and advantages of using DB.
INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT)

W hat's Infor mation

What do we mean by the word information? Often the words data
and information are used interchangeably. Yet they don't mean the
same thing. It is important to understand the difference between data
and information.
Data is raw material. Data are the things given to the analyst,
investigator, or problem-solver. It simply exists and has no
significance beyond its existence. It can exist in any form,
they may be numbers, words, sentences, records, assumptions
- just anything given, no matter the form, the origin, usable or
not. It does not have meaning of itself. Data entry, data
storage, data retrieval, data processing, data services, and all
the rest, refer simply to things fed into a computer.
Data represents a fact or statement of event without relation
to any things.
Ex: It is raining.
Information is data that is analyzed, summarized or
processed. It is called information only if it is understood by
the user.
Ex: The temperature dropped 15 degrees and then it started raining.
Information: Data that are processed to be useful; provides
answers to "who", "what", "where", and "when" questions.
Information is data that has been given meaning of relational
connection. This "meaning" can be useful, but does not have
to be. In computer vocabulary, a relational database makes
information from the data stored within it.
Data capture, handling, entry, processing and dissemination incur
costs and do not directly produce value. Value only occurs when
information is used to improve decision making.
Value of information = change in decision making caused by the
information being available minus the cost of producing this
information. That is why information has to be managed as a
company resource, just like raw materials, people or energy.
If today is Tuesday, then tomorrow is Wednesday. Is this a piece
of data or information to you? It represents only processed data since
it doesn't tell you something that you don't already know. On the

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other hand, for a 5 year old child, who doesn't know how to count
the days of the week, this is information.
Characteristics of Information
Timeliness: Information must reach the user in a timely manner,
just when it is needed; not too early, because by the time it is used it
would be out-of-date; not too late because the user will not be able to
incorporate it into his/her decision making.
Appropriateness: Information must be relevant to the person who
is using it. It must be within the sphere of his/her activities so that it
can be used to reduce uncertainty in his/her decision making.
Accuracy: Accuracy costs. We don't always need 100% accurate
information so long as we know the degree of accuracy it represents
(e.g. + or - 5%).
Conciseness: Information should always contain the minimum
amount of detail that is appropriate for the user. Too much detail
causes information overload.
Frequency: Frequency is related to timeliness. How often the
information is presented, is linked to the calendar (end of the week,
beginning of the month); its frequency should be synchronized with
the timing of the decision making of the user.
Understandability: The format and presentation of information
are very important. Some people prefer tabular information, whereas
others may need it in a graphical form. Also the use of colors
enhances the understandability of what is presented.
Forms of Information
Information touches all human activity. It comes in a multitude of
different shapes such as:
speech, pictures, video,
office work,
software,
great art and kitsch,
invoices,
music,
stock prices, tax returns,
orders to attack,

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novels and news.

Value of Information
Understanding the value of information is difficult. How valuable
is a 300-page report on a company's stock? What makes a 15-page
booklet or a well-placed tip more valuable?
One suggestion is that information has economic value to people
only if it can lead to the acquisition of tangible goods. Therefore, the
value of information is a matter of form, not of amount. Also, it often
depends on the preexisting form of the receiver as on the message
itself.
Similarly, information has intangible value if it can enable them to
satisfy less tangible human desires.
An encyclopedia publisher, for instance, will find a mailing list of
prospective buyers useful because it might increase sales.
Because information leads to goods only indirectly, it seems
reasonable to value it as a fraction of the worth of the tangible goods
to which it leads.
Therefore the economic value of all sprawling computer-and-
network complexes may be estimated as a fraction of the tangible
goods to which they will lead.
The value of Egypt government' computer hardware and
software, including the work needed to run computer systems within
all publics organizations, at almost tenth of its ministries and
associations- roughly estimated as L.E. 100 billion.
Yet because some 60% of the work force have jobs that involve
information, the value of computerized information handling may
well grow to an even larger fraction of the Egyptian economy.
In spite of its importance, information is secondary to people's
principal needs - food, shelter, health and human relationships.

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W hat's Database
A database is a collection of related data, where data means
recorded facts.
An Example
A simple university database maintains information about
students, courses, and grades in a university environment.
Note that, not every collection of related data can be considered as a
database. A database usually satisfies the following properties:
A database represents some aspect of the real world,
sometimes called Mini-world or the Universes of Discourse
(UoD).
A database is a logically coherent collection of data with some
inherent meaning (once the data has been accepted by the
database management system in the first place, it can
subsequently be removed from the system only by some
explicit request, that is, a database is a collection of persistent
data).
A database is designed, built and populated with data for a
specific purpose (an intended group of users must be
interested in the data stored).
A database may be generated and maintained manually or it may
be computerized (See Figure 28-1).

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(Figure 28-1) an example of a database that stores student records and their
grades

A database management system (DBMS) is a collection of

programs that enable users to create and maintain a database. That
is, DBMS is a general-purpose software system that provides the
following facilities:
1) Defining - specifying the data types, structures, and
constraints for the data to be stored in the database.
2) Constructing - the process of storing the data itself
on some storage medium that is controlled by the
DBMS.
3) Manipulating - includes functions as querying the
database to retrieve specific data, update the
database, and generating reports.

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Characteristics of the Database Approach

1) Self-Describing Nature of a Database System - it has a
complete definition or description of the database
structure and constraints. This definition is stored in
the system catalog, which contains information such
as the structure of each file, the type and storage
format of each data item, and various constraints on
the data. This information stored in the system
catalog is called, Meta-data and it describes the
structure of the primary database. This allows the
DBMS software to work with different databases (See
Figure 28-2).

(See Figure 28-2) a simplified database system environment

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2) Insulation between Programs and Data and Data

Abstraction - Called program-data independence,
allows changing data storage structures and
operations without having to change the DBMS
access programs. The structure of data files is stored
in the DBMS catalog separately from the access
programs.
3) Data Abstraction: A data model is used to hide storage
details and present the users with a conceptual view
of the database.
4) Support of Multiple Views of the Data - Each users may
see a different view of the database, which describes
only the data of interest to that user (See Figure 28-3).
5) Sharing of Data and Multi-user Transaction Processing -
the DBMS must include concurrency control software
to ensure that the result of multi-user access is
correct.

(See Figure 28-3) 2 views (Student & Course) derived from the example
database shown in Figure 28-1

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Actors on the Scene

Database Administrators (DBA) - responsible for authorizing
access to the database, for coordinating and monitoring its
use.
Database Designers - responsible for identifying the data to be
stored and for choosing appropriate structures to represent
and store this data.
End Users - people whose jobs require access to the database
for querying, updating, and generating reports.
System Analysts and Application Programmers (Software
Engineers) - System analysts determine the requirements of
end users, and develop specifications for transactions.
Application programmers implement these specifications and
programs. Such analysts and programmers nowadays called
software engineers.
Workers behind the Scene
In addition to database users there are several categories of
support personnel in a database environment:
DBMS system designers and implementers - who design and
implement the DBMS modules and interfaces as a software
package.
Toll developers - who design and implement tools (optional
packages that are often purchased separately) and help
improve performance.
Operators and maintenance personnel - responsible for the actual
running and maintenance of the hardware and software
environment for the database system.
Advantages of Using a DBMS
Controlling Redundancy - store each logical data item (such as
a student's name) in only one place.
Restricting Unauthorized Access - the DBA uses security and
unauthorized subsystem (provided by DBMS) in order to
specify account restrictions.
Providing Persistent Storage for Program Objects and Data
Structures - objects survive the termination of program
execution and can later be retrieved.

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Permitting Inferencing and actions Using Rules - capability for

defining deductive rules for inferencing new information from
the stored database facts.
Providing Multiple User Interfaces - to satisfy users with
varying levels of technical knowledge.
Representing Complex Relationships Among Data - capability to
retrieve and update related data easily and efficiently.
Enforcing Integrity Constraints - capability for defining and
enforcing constraints (e.g., specifying a data type for each
data item).
Providing Backup and Recover - A DBMS must provide facilities
for recovering from hardware or software failures.
Implications of the Database Approach
Potential for enforcing Standards - The database approach
permits the DBA to define and enforce standards among
database users in a large organization. It facilitates
communication and cooperation among various departments
and projects, and users within the organization.
Reduced Application Development Time - less time is generally
required to create a new application using DBMS facilities.
Flexibility - Modern DBMSs allow certain changes to the
structure of the database without affecting the stored data
and existing application programs.
Availability of Up-to-Date Information - all users can
immediately see the current (and up-to-date) data.
Economies of Scale - by reducing the amount of overlap data-
processing.
When Not to Use a DBMS
Generality that a DBMS provides for defining and processing
data.
Overhead for providing security, concurrency control,
recovery, and integrity functions.
The database and applications are simple, well defined, and
not expected to change.
Real-time requirements for some program may not be met
because of DBMS overhead.

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Review Questions
To ensure that we did a good job with the last topics contained in
this lesson, try to answer the following questions:
Tick ( ) the correct answers:
Which one is information?
( ) ID ( ) Report
( ) Telephone guide ( ) a TV channel
Choose the statement to describe what Data is:
( ) Raw material.
( ) Fact of statement of event without relation to other
things.
( ) Processed information.
( ) none of the above.
The difference between data and information is:
( ) no difference.
( ) data is the raw material of information.
( ) we got data after processing information.
( ) none of the above.
The characteristics of information are:
( ) timeliness.
( ) clearness.
( ) accuracy.
( ) appropriateness
( ) none of the above.
The forms of information are:
( ) speech, pictures, video,
( ) office work,
( ) software,
( ) great art and kitsch,
( ) invoices,
( ) none of the above.
Fill in the blank:
o Conciseness …………………………….……………………….
o Frequency ……………………………………………………….
o Understandability …………………………………………….
o Database is ……………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………….
Give at least 4 samples of databases you're using now.

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