Managing Data

Learning Objectives

• Identify key features of models such as simulators, including their data requirements.

• Evaluate the use of models that represent real-life systems.

• Know how to use functions in spreadsheets to analyse data, including IF, MIN, MAX,
COUNT.

• Create spreadsheets that model real-life systems.

• Know how to create relational databases with two or more linked tables.

• Know how to create complex searches for data in databases using two or more criteria.

• Create complex searches in relational databases.

• Define the term ‘Big Data’ and describe its applications.

What is a model in data analysis?

A model is a computer application that replicates a real-life environment, where data can
be changed to see what happens. Explain that simple models can be built in spreadsheet
software.

What is a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet is a piece of software that allows the user to enter and to present data and
perform calculations.

A teacher wants to collect data about the marks their learners have gained in
recent tests. The different items of data that the teacher will need to gather for this
scenario :
• their class or teaching group
• the name of the test
• the mark achieved in the test
• the date of the test.
What is required for data to be suitable, for example:
• it should contain all the required data; for example - marks cannot be missing
• it does not contain any excess data; for example - choice of food for a class party is
unnecessary
• the data collected is limited to what is acceptable; for example, all the test marks need to
be given as a numeric value and not some as numbers and others as green, amber or red.

Why is it important that collected data is suitable for its purpose?

Answer: So that it is complete and contains everything that is required. There is no
excess data and the data is in an appropriate format.
What can happen if the data is not complete?
Answer: It may not be able to be analyzed fully and may not therefore produce the
required information.
What can happen if there is excess data?
Answer: It can take longer to process and uses more storage space. Excess data can also
be a distractor.
What can happen if data is not appropriate?
Answer: The application may not function or may not give accurate results.
Formulas and Functions in Excel

Formulas
In Microsoft Excel, a formula is an expression that operates on values in a range of cells.
These formulas return a result.
Excel formulas enable you to perform calculations such as addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division and a lot more
A Formula alsways begins with an equal to(=) sign.

Example:
 Formula used in above table =A2*B2

Functions

Function is a predefined formula already available in Excel. Functions perform specific

calculations in a particular order based on the specified values.

For example, instead of specifying each value to be summed like in the formula, you can use the
SUM function to add up a range of cells: =SUM(A2:A14)

Basic Functions in MS EXCEL

SUM

The SUM function adds values. You can add individual values, cell references or ranges or a mix
of all three. For example:

• =SUM(A2:A10) Adds the values in cells A2:10.

• =SUM(A2:A10, C2:C10) Adds the values in cells A2:10, as well as cells C2:C10.

• =SUM(B2, B6) - adds up values in cells B2 and B6

Average

Returns the average (arithmetic mean) of the arguments. For example, if the range A1:A20
contains numbers, the formula =AVERAGE(A1:A20) returns the average of those numbers.

AVERAGE(number1, [number2], ...)

MAX and MIN

The MAX and MIN formulas in Excel get the largest and smallest value in a set of numbers,
respectively. For our sample data set, the formulas will be as simple as:

=MAX(B2:B6)
=MIN(B2:B6)

COUNT

The COUNT function counts the number of cells that contain numbers.

COUNT(value1, [value2], ...)

COUNTA

The COUNTA function counts the number of cells that are not empty in a range.

COUNTA(value1, [value2], ...)

COUNTIF

The COUNTIF function is purposed for counting cells that meet a certain criterion. Its syntax
requires 2 arguments, which are self-explanatory:

COUNTIF(range, criteria)

In the first argument, you define a range where you want to count cells. And in the second
parameter, you specify a condition that should be met.

For example, to count how many cells in range A2:A15 are "Apples", you use the following
COUNTIF formula:

=COUNTIF(A2:A15, "apples")
LEN

Whenever you want to know the number of characters in a certain cell, LEN is the function to
use:

LEN(text)

Wish to find out how many characters are in cell A2? Just type the below formula into another
cell:

=LEN(A2)

Please keep in mind that the Excel LEN function counts absolutely all characters including
spaces:
TODAY & NOW

To see the current date and time whenever you open your worksheet without having to manually
update it on a daily basis, use either:

=TODAY() to insert the today's date in a cell.

=NOW() to insert the current date and time in a cell.

The beauty of these functions is that they don't require any arguments at all, you type the
formulas exactly as written above.

IF FUNCTION

IF is one of logical functions that evaluates a certain condition and returns one value if the
condition is TRUE, and another value if the condition is FALSE.

The syntax of the IF function is as follows:

IF(logical_test, [value_if_true], [value_if_false])

As you see, IF takes a total of 3 arguments, but only the first one is obligatory, the other two are
optional.

Logical_test (required) - the condition to test. Can be evaluated as either TRUE or FALSE.

Value_if_true (optional) - the value to return when the logical test evaluates to TRUE, i.e. the
condition is met. If omitted, the value_if_false argument must be defined.

Value_if_false (optional) - the value to return when the logical test evaluates to FALSE, i.e. the
condition is not met. If omitted, the value_if_true argument must be set.

Which formula finds the smallest number in a list?

Answer: MIN
Which formula finds the largest number in a list?
Answer: MAX
Which formulae counts how many items are in a list?
 Answer: COUNT
Which formula do you use to find the highest number of sales?
Answer: MAX
Which formula do you use to find how many records are in a spreadsheet?
Answer: COUNT
What are the similarities between an IF statement in programming and in spreadsheets?
Answer: They both have the same key word

Database Software – MS Access

Primary Key
It is a unique field/identifier for a record.

Flat File System vs Relational database management system

Flat File System
A flat file system stores its data in one table, which is organized by rows and columns .
For example , following table about teachers , each record(row) in the table contains data about
one person. Each column in the table contains a field that has been given a field name.

Relational database

A relational database stores data in more than one linked table, stored in a file. Relational
databases are designed so that the same data is not stored many times. The tables within a
relational database are linked with relationships (hence the name).

Key fields
Each table within a relational database will have a key field. The relationships linking the tables
use these key fields.
Primary key fields

Most tables will have a primary key field that holds unique data (no two records
are the same in this field) and is the field used to identify that record.
What is a database?
A database is an organised collection of data. A database program is software which stores and
retrieves data in a structured way. This includes the data that is stored and the links between the
data items.

Databases allow their users to enter, access, and analyze their data quickly and easily.

All databases store data using a system of files, records and fields:

• A field is a single item of data, such as a forename or date of birth. Each field has a field
name that is used to identify it within the database. Each field contains one type of data,
for example numbers, text or a date.
• A record is a collection of fields, for example, all the information about one person or one
item. These may contain different data types.
• A file (in database terms) is an organised collection of records, usually where all the
records are organised so that they can be stored together. A file can have one or more
tables within it.

Commonly used Data Types in MS Access

Data Type Usage

Short Text (formerly known as Alphanumeric data (names, titles, etc.)
“Text”)
Long Text Large amounts of alphanumeric data: sentences and
paragraphs
Number Numeric data.
Large Number Numeric data.
Date/Time Dates and times.
Currency Data involving currency, rates or prices.
 Data Type Usage
AutoNumber Unique value generated by Access for each new record.
Yes/No Boolean (true/false) data; Access stores the numeric value zero
(0) for false, and -1 for true.

Query – To perform searches.

Queries are a way of searching for and compiling data from one or more tables.

When you build a query in Access, you are defining specific search conditions to find exactly
the data you want.

Queries are far more powerful than the simple searches you might carry out within a table. While
a search would be able to help you find the name of one customer at your business, you could
run a query to find the name and phone number of every customer who has made a purchase
within the past week.

You can search for data in Access using a query. This allows you to select a subset of the data
stored in your table.
Each query is created, saved and can be used again later.
If new data is added to the table, when you open a query again it will select the subset from all
the data, including the new data.
Example :

What is a complex query?

Answer: A query that has more than one criteria, or that is across two database tables.
What is the difference between AND, and OR in a query?
Answer: AND requires both criteria to return a value, OR requires one or both.
How do you make a query across multiple tables?
Answer: Add both tables to the query and then the fields from each.
Big Data
Big Data is a collection of data that is huge in volume, yet growing exponentially with time. It is
a data with so large size and complexity that none of traditional data management tools can store
it or process it efficiently. Big data is also a data but with huge size.

These data come from many sources like

o Social networking sites: Facebook, Google, LinkedIn all these sites generates huge
amount of data on a day to day basis as they have billions of users worldwide.
o E-commerce site: Sites like Amazon, Flipkart, Alibaba generates huge amount of logs
from which users buying trends can be traced.
o Weather Station: All the weather station and satellite gives very huge data which are
stored and manipulated to forecast weather.
o Telecom company: Telecom giants like Airtel, Vodafone study the user trends and
accordingly publish their plans and for this they store the data of its million users.
o Share Market: Stock exchange across the world generates huge amount of data through
its daily transaction.

3V's of Big Data

1. Velocity: The data is increasing at a very fast rate. It is estimated that the volume of data
will double in every 2 years.
2. Variety: Now a days data are not stored in rows and column. Data is structured as well as
unstructured. Log file, CCTV footage is unstructured data. Data which can be saved in
tables are structured data like the transaction data of the bank.
3. Volume: The amount of data which we deal with is of very large size of Peta bytes.