CHAPTER 5 ITM

Chapter 5 

ACID properties

Properties (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) that guarantee relational database transactions are processed reliably and ensure the integrity of data in the database.

Attribute

A characteristic of an entity.

concurrency control

A method of dealing with a situation in which two or more users or applications need to access the same record at the same time.

Data

Raw facts such as an employee number or total hours worked in a week.

data cleansing

The process of detecting and then correcting or deleting incomplete, incorrect, inaccurate, or irrelevant records that reside in a database.

data definition language (DDL)

A collection of instructions and commands used to define and describe data and relationships in a specific database.

data dictionary

A detailed description of the data stored in the database.

data governance

The core component of data management; it defines the roles, responsibilities, and processes for ensuring that data can be trusted and used by the entire organization, with people identified and in place who are responsible for fixing and preventing issues with data.

data item

The specific value of an attribute.

data lifecycle management (DLM)

A policy-based approach to managing the flow of an enterprise’s data, from its initial acquisition or creation and storage to the time when it becomes outdated and is deleted.

data management

An integrated set of functions that defines the processes by which data is obtained, certified fit for use, stored, secured, and processed in such a way as to ensure that the accessibility, reliability, and timeliness of the data meet the needs of the data users within an organization.

data manipulation language (DML)

A specific language, provided with a DBMS, which allows users to access and modify the data, to make queries, and to generate reports.

data normalization

The process of organizing the data in a relational database to eliminate data redundancy (all data is stored in only one place) and ensure data dependencies make sense (only storing related data in a table).

data steward

An individual responsible for the management of critical data elements, including identifying and acquiring new data sources; creating and maintaining consistent reference data and master data definitions; and analyzing data for quality and reconciling data issues.

Database

A well-designed, organized, and carefully managed collection of data.

database administrator (DBA)

A skilled and trained IS professional who holds discussions with business users to define their data needs; applies database programming languages to craft a set of databases to meet those needs; tests and evaluates databases; implements changes to improve the performance of databases; and assures that data is secure from unauthorized access.

database approach to data management

An approach to data management where multiple information systems share a pool of related data.

Database-as-a-Service (DaaS)

An arrangement where the database is stored on a service provider’s servers and accessed by the service subscriber over a network, typically the Internet, with the database administration handled by the service provider.

database management system (DBMS)

A group of programs used to access and manage a database as well as provide an interface between the database and its users and other application programs.

Domain

The range of allowable values for a data attribute.

enterprise data model

A data model that identifies the data entities and data attributes of greatest interest to the organization along with their associated standard data definitions, data length and format, domain of valid values, and any business rules for their use.

Entity

A person, place, or thing for which data is collected, stored, and maintained.

entity-relationship (ER) diagram

A data model that uses basic graphical symbols to show the organization of and relationships between data.

File

A collection of similar entities.

foreign key

An attribute in one table that refers to the primary key in another table.

Information

A collection of data organized and processed so that it has additional value beyond the value of the individual facts.

Joining

The combining of two or more tables through common data attributes to form a new table with only the unique data attributes.

Knowledge

The awareness and understanding of a set of information and the ways that information can be made useful to support a specific task or reach a decision.

primary key

An attribute or set of attributes that uniquely identifies the record.

Projecting

Manipulating data to eliminate columns in a table.

Record

A collection of attributes about a specific entity.

relational database model

A simple but highly useful way to organize data into collections of two-dimensional tables called relations.

Schema

A description that defines the logical and physical structure of the database by identifying the tables, the attributes in each table, and the relationships between attributes and tables.

Selecting

Manipulating data to eliminate rows according to certain criteria.

SQL

A special-purpose programing language for accessing and manipulating data stored in a relational database.