SIM 2200 –INFORMATION SYSTEM

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

DATA AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

(Main Reference: Chapter 4 in Introduction to Information Systems: Supporting and

Transforming Business. Rainer, R. K., Turban, E., Potter, R. E.)

4.1 MANAGING DATA.

 Difficulties of Managing Data.

 Amount of data increases exponentially.
 Data are scattered and collected by many individuals using various
methods and devices.
 Data come from many sources including internal sources, personal
sources and external sources.
 Data security, quality and integrity are critical.
 Clickstream data. Data that visitors and customers produce when they
visit a Website.
 An ever-increasing amount of data needs to be considered in making
organizational decisions.

DATA LIFE CYCLE

Figure 4.1 Data Life Cycle

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THE DATA HIERARCHY

 Bit (a binary digit): a circuit that is either on or off.

 Byte: group of 8 bits, represents a single character.
 Field: name, number, or characters that describe an aspect of a business
object or activity.
 Record: collection of related data fields.
 File (or table): collection of related records.
 Database: a collection of integrated and related files.

Figure 4.2 Hierarchy of data for a computer-based file

4.2 DATABASE APPROACH.

 Database management system (DBMS) provides all users with access to

all the data.
 DBMSs minimizes the following problems:
 Data redundancy: the same data stored in many places.
 Data isolation: applications cannot access data associated with other
applications.
 Data inconsistency: various copies of the data do not agree.

 DBMSs maximize the following issues:

 Data security.
 Data integrity: data meets certain constraints, no alphabetic
characters in zip code field.
 Data independence: applications and data are independent of one
another, all applications are able to access the same data.

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Figure 4.3 A DBMS provides access to all data in database

DESIGNING THE DATABASE

 Data model. Diagram that represents the entities in the database and their
relationships.

 Entity is a person, place, thing or event.

 Attribute is a characteristic or quality of a particular entity.
 Primary key is a field that uniquely identifies that record.
 Secondary keys are fields that have identifying information but may
not identify with complete accuracy.

ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP MODELLING

 Database designers plan the database design in a process called entity-

relationship (ER) modeling.
 ER diagrams consist of entities, attributes and relationships.
 Entity classes are a group of entities of a given type, i.e. STUDENT.
 Instance is the representation of a particular entity, i.e. STUDENT (John Smith,
123-45-6789 …).
 Identifiers are attributes unique to that entity instance, i.e. StudentIDNumber.

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Figure 4.4 Entity-Relationship Model Diagram

4.3 DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.

 Database management system (DBMS) is a set of programs that provide

users with tools to add, delete, access and analyze data stored in one
location.
 Online transaction processing (OLTP) is when transactions are processed
as soon as they occur.
 Relational database model is based on the concept of two-dimensional
tables.
 Popular examples of relational databases are Microsoft Access and Oracle
 Structured query language (SQL) is the most popular query language
used to request information.
 Query by example (QBE) is a grid or template that a user fills out to
construct a sample or description of the data wanted.
 Data Dictionary defines the format necessary to enter the data into
database.
 Normalization is a method for analyzing and reducing a relational database
to its most streamlined form for:
 Mimimum redunancy;
 Maximum data integrity;
 Best processing performance.
 Normalized data is when attributes in the table depend only on the primary
key.
 Virtual Database
 Software applications that provide a way of managing many different
data sources as though they were all one large database.
 Benefits of virtual databases include:
 Lower development costs;
 Faster development time;
 Less maintenance;
 Single point of entry into a company’s data.

4.4 DATABASE WAREHOUSING.

 Data warehouse is a repository of historical data organized by subject to

support decision makers in the organization and include:

 Online analytical processing which involves the analysis of

accumulated data by end users;

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 Multidimensional data structure which allows data to be represented in

a three-dimensional matrix (or data cube).

BENEFIT OF DATA WAREHOUSING

 End users can access data quickly and easily via Web browsers because they
are located in one place.
 End users can conduct extensive analysis with data in ways that may not have
been possible before.
 End users have a consolidated view of organizational data.

DATA MARTS AND MINING

 Data mart is a small data warehouse, designed for the end-user needs in a
strategic business unit (SBU) or a department.
 Data mining involves searching for valuable business information in a large
database, data warehouse, or data mart.
 Used to predict trends and behaviors.
 Identify previously unknown patterns.

DATA MINING APPLICATION

 Retailing and sales. Predict sales, prevent theft and fraud, determine correct
inventory levels and distribution schedules.
 Banking. Forecast levels of bad loans, fraudulent credit card use, predict credit
card spending by new customers, etc.
 Manufacturing and production. Predict machinery failures, find key factors to
help optimize manufacturing capacity.
 Insurance. Forecast claim amounts, medical coverage costs, predict which
customers will buy new insurance policies.
 Policework. Track crime patterns, locations, criminal behavior; identify
attributes to assist in solving criminal cases.
 Health care. Correlate demographics of patients with critical illnesses,
develop better insight to identify and treat symptoms and their causes.
 Marketing. Classify customer demographics to predict how customers will
respond to mailing or buy a particular product.

4.5 DATA VISUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES.

 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a computer-based system for

capturing, integrating, manipulating and displaying data using digitized maps.

 Find locations for new restaurants.

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 Emerging GIS applications integrated with global positioning systems

(GPSs).

 Virtual Reality is interactive, computer-generated, three-dimensional graphics

delivered to the user through a head-mounted display.

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4.6 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT.

 Knowledge management (KM) is a process that helps organizations

manipulate important knowledge that is part of the organization’s memory,
usually in an unstructured format.
 Knowledge is information that is contextual, relevant and actionable;
information in action.
 Intellectual capital (or intellectual assets) is another term often used for
knowledge.
 Explicit knowledge deals with more objective, rational and technical
knowledge.
 Tacit knowledge is the cumulative store of subjective or experiential
learning.
 Knowledge management systems (KMSs) use modern information
technologies – Internet, intranets, extranets, data warehouses - to systemize,
enhance and expedite intra-firm and inter-firm knowledge management.
 Best practices are the most effective and efficient ways of doing things,
readily available to a wide range of employees.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CYCLE

 Create knowledge. Determine new ways.

 Capture knowledge. Identify as valuable.
 Refine knowledge. Make it actionable.
 Store knowledge. Store in a reasonable format.
 Manage knowledge. Verify it is relevant, accurate.
 Disseminate knowledge. Made available.

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Figure 4.5 The knowledge management cycle

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