Unit 3 MIS 213 - Storing and Organizing Information VOCAB

Vocabulary flashcards covering key database concepts, storage architectures, and data-management terms from the lecture notes.

Database

An organized collection of data.

Relational Database

Stores data in connected two-dimensional tables; the dominant type of database for business.

DBMS

Software that creates, maintains, and uses databases.

Table

A collection of rows and columns that represents an entity in a database.

Field

A column or attribute; a characteristic of the thing being stored.

Primary Key (PK)

A unique identifier for each row in a table.

Composite Primary Key

A primary key made up of more than one field.

Foreign Key

A field that references a primary key in a related table to link tables.

Relationship

Cross-referencing of tables that links related data.

One-to-Many Relationship (1:M)

A row in one table relates to many rows in another.

Many-to-Many Relationship

Rows in one table relate to many rows in another; requires a linking/intersection table.

Linking Table

A table that links two related tables to support a many-to-many relationship.

ERD (Entity-Relationship Diagram)

A diagram showing entities (tables) and the relationships between them.

Database Schema

The blueprint of the database structure, including tables, keys, and relationships.

NAS (Network-Attached Storage)

Storage using file servers to expand capacity with fast connections.

DAS (Direct-Attached Storage)

Storage directly attached to a computer; fast access but limited scalability.

Data Lake

Huge volumes of data stored in original format with identifiers/tags; schema not defined until data are needed.

ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)

Process to extract data from sources, transform it, and load it into a target system.

SQL (Structured Query Language)

Language used to query structured data in databases.

NoSQL (Not Only SQL)

Databases designed for unstructured data with greater scalability and ad hoc queries; often schema-on-read.

Big Data

Vast data volumes beyond traditional processing tools, often terabytes to petabytes.

Data Analytics

Interpretation of data to extract meaning, regardless of storage method.

Online Databases

Databases available over the internet that provide sources and pointers for research.

Spreadsheets

Good for analyzing and visually displaying information; prone to redundancy and data integrity issues when used as a data store.

Redundancy

Duplication of data across storage, leading to inconsistencies and higher error risk.

Inconsistency

Conflicting or erroneous data values across records.

Data Integrity

Accuracy and consistency of data throughout its lifecycle.