Business Intelligence (BI)
Collective, information about your customers, your competitors, your business partners, your competitive environment, and your own internal operations
Online Transaction Processing (OLTP)
The gathering of input information, processing that information, and updating existing information to reflect the gathered and processed information
Operational Databases
A database that supports OLTP
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
The manipulation of information to support decision making
Database
A collection of information that you organize and access according to the logical structure of that information
Relational Database
Uses a series of logically related two-dimensional tables or files to store information in the form of a database
Relation
Describes each two-dimensional table or file in the relational model
Data Dictionary
Contains the logical structure for the information in a database
Primary Key
A field that uniquely describes each record
Foreign Key
A primary key of one file that appears as another file
Integrity Constraints
Rules that help ensure the quality of the information
Database Management System (DBMS)
Helps you specify the logical organization for a database and access and use the information within a database
DBMS Engine
Accepts logical requests from the various other DBMS subsystems, converts them into their physical equivalent, and actually accesses the database and data dictionary as they exist on a storage device
Physical View
Deals with how information is physically arranged, stored, and accessed on some type of storage device such as a hard disk
Logical View
Focuses on how you as a knowledge worker need to arrange and access information to meet your particular business needs
Data Definition Subsystem
Helps you create and maintain the data dictionary and define the structure of the files in a database
Data Manipulation Subsystem
Helps you add, change, and delete information in a database and query it for valuable information
View
Allows you to see the contents of a database file, make whatever changes you want, perform simple sorting, and query to find the location of specific information
Report Generators
Helps you quickly define formats of reports and what information you want to see in a report
Query-By-Example Tools (QBE)
Help you graphically design the answer to a question
Structured Query Language (SQL)
A standardized fourth-generation query language found in most DBMSs
Application Generation Subsystem
Contains facilities to help you develop transaction-intensive applications
Data Administration Subsystem
Helps you manage the overall database environment by providing facilities for backup and recovery, security management, query optimization, concurrency control, and change management
Backup
A copy of the information stored on a computer
Recovery
The process of reinstalling the backup information in the event the information was lost
Data Warehouse
A logical collection of information - gathered from many different operational databases - used to create business intelligence that supports business analysis activities and decision-making tasks
Data-Mining Tools
The software tools you use to query information in a data warehouse
Query-and-Reporting Tools
Similar to QBE tools, SQL, and report generators in the typical database environment
Multidimensional Analysis Tools (MDA)
Slice-and-dice techniques that allow you to view multidimensional information from different perspectives
Data Mart
A subset of a data warehouse in which only a focused portion of the data warehouse is kept
Competitive Intelligence (CI)
Business intelligence focused on the external competitive environment
Digital Dashboard
Displays key information gathered from several sources on a computer screen in a format tailored to the needs and wants of an individual knowledge worker
Data Administration
The function in an organization that plans for, oversees the development of, and monitors the information resource
Database Administration
The function in an organization that is responsible for the more technical and operational aspects of managing the information contained in organizational information repositories