DATA AND INFORMATION

Data
• Can include text, numbers, images, audio and video
• Used to generate information

Information
• Are processed data
• Data that is organized, meaningful and useful
• Can be in the form of documents, audio, images and video
• Ex: bank statements; membership card information; receipt information; stock analyses;
credit reports
• Computers process data in a database into information.

Data Integrity
• Identifies the quality of data in a database
• The more errors the data contains, the lower its integrity
• Data integrity is important because computers and people use information to take actions and
make decisions

GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out)

• Points out that the accuracy of a computer’s output depends on the accuracy of the input
• Incorrect data will give you incorrect results/information

Qualities of Valuable Information

• Accurate
o Error free; incorrect information lead to incorrect decisions
• Verifiable
o Can be proven as correct or incorrect
• Timely
o The information has age suited to its use
• Organized
o Arranged to suit the needs and requirements of the decision maker
• Accessible
o Available when the decision maker needs it
o Having to wait for information may delay an important decision
• Useful Information
o Has meaning to the person to the person who receives it
o Avoid distributing useless information
• Cost-effective
o Should give more value than it costs to produce

Hierarchy of Data
Character
⇒ Represents a single number, letter, punctuation mark or other symbols
Field
⇒ A combination of one or more related characters
⇒ Field names uniquely identify each column in a table in Access
o Text, Numeric, AutoNumber, Currency, Date, Memo, Yes/No, Hyperlink,
Object
Record
 ⇒ represents a collection of attributes that describe a real-world entity. A record
consists of fields, with each field describing an attribute of the entity (object, person,
place, or event).
⇒ a group of related fields
o Primary key – a key field, which uniquely identifies each record in a file
File
⇒ A collection of related records stored on a storage medium such as HD, CD, DVD
⇒ Files are frequently classified by the application for which they are primarily used
(employee file).
Database
⇒ is an integrated collection of logically related records or files. A database consolidates
records previously stored in separate files into a common pool of data records that
provides data for many applications. The data is managed by systems software called
database management systems (DBMS). The data stored in a database is independent
of the application programs using it and of the types of secondary storage devices on
which it is stored.

NORAMLIZATION

⇒ Normalization organizes a database into one or several normal forms to remove ambiguous
relationships between data and minimize data redundancy
⇒ The objective of normalization is to prevent replication of data, with all its negative
consequences.
⇒ In a relational database, each table is normalized, which means that
o all its fields will contain single data elements
o all its records will be distinct, and
o each table will describe only a single class of entities
⇒ When a database suffers from poor table organization, experts say it's not normalized. There
are rules that govern how a relational database should store its tables. These rules are called
the Rules of Data Normalization.

Rule#1: Avoid Repeated Information (Fields/Columns)

Let’s say that you want to keep contact information on your customers along with a
record of each transaction they make. If you kept it all in one table, you would have to repeat the
customer’s full name, address and phone number each time you entered a new transaction! And
it would also be a nightmare if the customer’s address changed; you would have to make the
change to every transaction.

CUSTOMER NAME CUSTOMER ADDRESS CUSTOMER ORDER ORDER

PHONE DATE TOTAL
ABC Plumbing 201 W. 44th St. (317)555-2394 2/5/96 $155.90
ABC Plumbing 201 W. 44th St. (317)555-2394 5/14/96 $90.24
ABC Plumbing 201 W. 44th St. (317)555-2394 7/9/96 $224.50
Jack’s Emporium 1155 Conner Ave. (317)555-4501 6/6/95 $1,592.99
Jack’s Emporium 1155 Conner Ave. (317)555-4501 7/26/96 $990.41
Millie’s Pizza 108 Ponting St. (317)554-2349 8/29/96 $39.95

A better way is to assign each customer an ID number. Include that ID number in a table
that contains names and addresses (see the Customers Table). Then you can include the same ID
number as a link in separate table that contains transactions (see the Orders Table).
Customers Table
CUSTOMER ID CUSTOMER NAME CUSTOMER ADDRESS CUSTOMER PHONE
1 ABC Plumbing 201 W. 44th St. (317)555-2394
2 Jack’s Emporium 1155 Conner Ave. (317)555-4501
3 Millie’s Pizza 108 Ponting St. (317)554-2349

Orders Table
CUSTOMER ID ORDER DATE ORDER
TOTAL
1 2/5/96 $155.90
1 5/14/96 $90.24
1 7/9/96 $224.50
2 6/6/95 $1,592.99
2 7/26/96 $990.41
3 8/29/96 $39.95

Rule#2: Avoid Redundant Data

Let’s say you want to keep track of which employees have attended certain training
classes. There are lots of employees and lots of classes. One way to do this would be to keep it all
in a single Personnel table, like this:

Employee Employee Employee Training Class Taken Credit Passed?

Name Address Phone Date Hours
Phil Sharp 211 W. 16th St. (317)555-4321 5/5/96 Leadership Skills 3 Yes
Becky Rowan 40 Westfield Ct. (317)555-3905 5/5/96 Customer Service 2 Yes
Nick Gianti 559 Ponting St. (317)555-7683 6/15/96 Public Speaking 9 Yes
Jan Donato 720 E. Warren (317)555-2930 5/5/96 Public Speaking 9 No
Andrea Jafar 3904 110th St. (317)555-0293 6/15/96 Leadership Skills 3 Yes

But what if employee takes more than one class? You’d have to add a duplicate line in the
table to list it, and then you’d have the problem described as multiple records with identical field
entries. And what if the only employee who has taken a certain class leaves the company? When
you delete that employee’s record, you delete the information about the class’s credit hours, too.

A better way would be to create separate tables for Employees, Classes, and Training.
Here are some examples of what such tables might look like:

Employee Table
Employee ID Employee Name Employee Address Employee Phone
1 Phil Sharp 211 W. 16th St. (317)555-4321
2 Becky Rowan 40 Westfield Ct. (317)555-3905
3 Nick Gianti 559 Ponting St. (317)555-7683
4 Jan Donato 720 E. Warren (317)555-2930
5 Cynthia Hedge 108 Carroll St. (317)555-5990

Class Table
Class ID Class Taken Credit Hours
C1 Leadership Skills 3
C2 Customer Service 2
C3 Public Speaking 9

Training Table
Employee ID Training Date Class Passed?
1 5/5/96 C1 Yes
 2 5/5/96 C2 Yes
3 6/15/96 C3 Yes
4 5/5/96 C3 No
5 6/15/96 C2 Yes
6 6/15/96 C1 Yes

Guidelines in developing a database:

1. Determine the purpose of the database

2. Design the tables
 Design tables on paper first
 Each table should contain data about one subject
 Ex. Member table contains data about members only
3. Design the records and fields for each table
4. Be sure every record has a primary key (A Primary key is a key field, which uniquely
identifies each record in a file)
 Use separate fields for logically distinct items (ex. A name could be stored in six
fields:

Title [Mr., MRs., Dr., etc.]

First name
Middle NameLast
Name
Suffix [Jr., Sr., etc.]
Nickname

 Do not create fields for information that can be derived from entries in other fields.
Ex. Do not include a field for Age. Instead store the birthdate and compute the
age

5. Determine the relationship among the tables.