Information System Components

(from Module 1)

Five components of Information Systems:

1. Hardware
2. Software
3. Data This Module
4. People
5. Process
 Data, Information, and Knowledge
Data Information Knowledge Wisdom

Data: raw facts without context or intent.

– Quantitative – numeric
– Qualitative – descriptive
– Data by itself is not useful
Information: data is given context and is more specific
Knowledge: information has been aggregated and analyzed to
make decisions, set policies, and spark innovation
Wisdom: the combination of knowledge and
experience which improves decision making.
– May take years to develop
 Data
Quantitative? or Qualitative ?
Number of weeks in a year?
A letter?
Photograph?
Age in years?
Length in centimeters?
Video recording?
 Database
Database – An organized collection of related
information to generate knowledge for decision
making purposes
– Example: a university transcript database may
contain information on students, classes taken, and
grades received
– A separate university database would be created to
maintain your financial information
 Relational Database
(Most used database)

Data is organized into one or more, two dimensional

tables, or relations (such as in Microsoft Access)
– Tables are a collection Records which contain Fields
• E.g., Student ID, Course ID, Grade Earned
– Record is an instance (or row) in the table
• E.g., First name, last name, major, birthdate
– Field: Each category in the record
• E.g. First name
Relational Database Table
 Database Design
Designing a database:
– Understand the Goal of how the database will be used
– Identify the data needed as part of accomplishing this
goal
– Identify how data is related to each other
– Identify tables and fields to organize the data
The main table needs a primary key field which is
unique to each record and will not change
– For example, Student Number
 Database Design

Each table needs a primary key field which is unique

to each record and will not change
-For example, Student Number
 Database Design
A Foreign key is a field in one table that connects to the
primary key data in the original table.
Normalization means to (1) reduce duplicated data and (2)
ensure data integrity. This done by using foreign keys in
relational tables.
 Database Design: Data Types
Data types:
– Text – non-numeric data less than 256 characters
– Number – numeric data
– Boolean (Yes/No; true/false) – 0 for No or False; and 1 for Yes or
True (only 2 possible options)
– Date/Time – number data type that can be interpreted as a
number or a time
– Currency – monetary data
– Paragraph Text – stores text longer than 256 characters
– Object – data that can’t be typed such as a picture or music file
Data types :
• dictate functions that can be performed – E.g. number fields can be
used to perform calculations
• indicate amount of storage for each field
Database Management Systems (DBMS)
Software for creating, storing, organizing, and accessing
data from a database
• Uses SQL (Structured Query Language) to analyze
and manipulate relational data.
• Separates the logical and physical views of the data
– Logical view: how end users view data
– Physical view: how data are actually structured and
organized (computer view)
Examples: Microsoft Access, DB2,
Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server,
MySQL Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education Ltd.
 Database Design

Designing a database:
– Understand the Goal of how the database will be used
• – Identify the data needed as part of accomplishing this
• Omplishing this
• goal
• – Identify how data is related to each other
• – Identify tables and fields to organize the data
• The main table needs a primary key field which is unique to
each record and will not change
– For example, Student Number
Human Resources Database:
Multiple Views

QID

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 How a Relational DBMS works
• Select:
– Creates a subset of all records meeting stated criteria
• Join:
– Combines relational tables to present the server with
more information than is available from individual
tables (databases)
• Project:
– Creates a subset consisting of columns in a table
– Permits user to create new tables containing only
desired information

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 The Challenge of Big Data
Big Data is massively large unstructured and semi-structured
data sets that conventional data processing technologies do
not have sufficient power to analyze
– 3Vs: Volume, variety, velocity
– Measured in Petabytes and exabytes
• Big datasets offer more patterns and insights than smaller
datasets, e.g.
– Customer behavior
– Weather patterns
• Requires new technologies and tools:
– Non-Relational Databases, Cloud Databases, Distributed
Databases
 Non-Relational Databases
“NoSQL” (Not Only SQL)
• Scale better than Relational Databases - usually on multiple
machines and, in some cases, machines in multiple data
centers
• Handle large data sets of data that are not easily organized
into tables, columns, and rows
• Use more flexible data model
– Don’t require extensive structuring
• Can manage unstructured data, such as social media and
graphics
E.g. Amazon’s Simple D B, MetLife’s Mongo D B
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 Cloud Databases and Distributed
Databases
Cloud Relational database engines are provided by cloud
computing services
– Pricing based on usage
– Appeal to small or medium-sized businesses
• Amazon Relational Database Service
– Offers MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database
engines
Distributed databases
– Stored in multiple physical locations
– Google’s Spanner cloud service
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 Blockchain

A distributed database of transactions

• Operates on a network without central authority
• Maintains a growing list of records called blocks
• Once recorded, blocks cannot be changed
• Reduces cost of processing transactions and enhances
security
• Cryptocurrencies (BitCoin) and NFTs use Blockchain

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How Blockchain Works

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 Block Chain

NOUNCE – Number used only once

 Cryptocurrency and NFT

NFTs are created using the same kind of programming language as cryptocurrencies,
but they are different.

Cryptocurrencies NFTs - Non-Fungible Token

 Cryptocurrencies are • Fungible means Changeable
“fungible”; they can be • Each NFT acts as a digital
traded or exchanged for one signature that makes it
another. They’re also equal impossible for them to be
in value. exchanged for, or equal to
 They can broken down into one another.
smaller parts • They can not be divided
For example, one Bitcoin is For example, The Last Supper is
always equal to another Bitcoin, a one of a kind painting and
or one Riyal is always equal to cannot be exchanged with
one Riyal. another painting.
Finding Value in Data:
Business Intelligence

Tools for obtaining useful information from

internal and external systems and big data
– Data Visualization
– Data Warehouses
– Data Mining
– Knowledge Management
 Data Visualization
• Graphical
representation of
information and data
(such as charts,
graphs, and maps).
• Quickly summarizes
data in a way that is
more intuitive and
can lead to new
insights and
understandings.
 Data Warehouse
Consists of extracting data from one or more of the
organization’s databases
• Allows the data to be copied and stored for analysis
– Needs to be refreshed as the data changes
• Data is time-stamped when extracted
– Allows comparisons between different time periods
• Data is standardized
– All similar fields (e.g., calendar dates) are structured the same
• Date is MM/DD/YYYY
Data marts are smaller subsets of
data warehouses for specific business
problems
 Data Warehousing

Database Design

Databases (e.g CRM, ERP, SCM)

 Data Warehouse Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHR_7jFCMeY
 Data Warehouse Benefits
• Forces organizations to better understand the data
• Centralized view of data to identify inconsistent
data
• Once inconsistencies are resolved, higher quality
data is used to make better business decisions
• Data can be analyzed over multiple
time periods
• Tools are available to combine
data and gain more insight into
business operations
 Data Mining
• Data Mining is an Automated process of analyzing data
– To find previously unknown trends, patterns, and associations
– To make better business decisions
• Business intelligence – uses mined data and analyzes it for
information to increase competitive advantage
• Business analytics – uses internal company data to improve
business processes and practices

• Privacy concerns
– Easier to combine dissimilar sources of
Information, and when aggregated tell you
much more about the individual
– Data brokers now to sell this information
 Knowledge Management (KM)
Data Information Knowledge Wisdom

• Companies and individuals accumulate

knowledge which is not consistently written
down or saved
• If its recorded, its not consistently organized

KM is the process of formalizing

the capture, indexing, and
storing of company knowledge