Ch.3

Business Intelligence

collective, information about your customers, your competitors, your business partners, your competitive environment, and you own internal operations that gives you the ability to make effective, important, and often strategic business decisions. (BI)

Online transaction processing

is the gathering of input information, processing that information, and updating existing information to reflect the gathered and processed information. (OLTP)

operational databases

databases that support OLTP, inside these databases is valuable information that forms the basis for business intelligence

Online analytical processing

the manipulation of infromation to support decision making. (OLAP)

data warehouse

is a logical collection of information-gathered from many different operational databases-used to create business intelligence that supports business analysis activities and decision-making skills.

database

a collection of information that you organize and access according to the logical structure of that information

relational database

it uses a series of logically related two-dimensional tables or files to store information in the form of a database
2 parts:
-the information itself
-the logical structure of that information

relation

often 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

is a field (or group of fields in some cases) that uniquely describes each record.

foreign key

is a primary key of one file that appears in another file
-essential in the relational database model, without them you have no way of creating logical ties among the various files.

integrity constraints

rules that help ensure the quality of the information.
ex. by stating that "customer number" is the primary key of the "customer file" and a foreign key in the "order file" you're saying 1.no two customers can have the same "customer number" and 2. that a

database management system

helps you specify the logical organization for a database and access and use the information w/in a database. (DBMS)
5subsystems

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

of information deals with how information is physically arranged, stored, and accessed on some type of storage device such as a hard disk.

logical view

of information focuses on how you as a knowledge worker need to arrange and access information to meet your particular business needs.

data definition subsystem

of a DBMS helps you create and maintain the data dictionary and define the structure of the files in a database

data manipulation subsystem

of a DBMS 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

help you quickly define formats of reports and what information you want to see in a report.

query by example tools

help you graphically design the answer to a question. (QBE)

structured query language

a standardized fourth generation query language found in most DBMS's. (SQL)
performs the same functions as QBE, except that you perform the query by creating a statement instead of pointing, clicking, and dragging.

application generation subsystem

of a DBMS contains facilities to help you develop transaction-intensive applications.
these types of applications usually require that you perform a detailed series of tasks to process a transaction.

data administration subsystem

of a DBMS helps you manage the overall database environment by providing facilities for backup and recovery, security management, query optimization, concurrency control, and change management.
most often used by a data administrator or database administr

backup

simply a copy of the information stored on a computer

recovery

is the process of reinstalling the backup information in the event the information was lost.

CRUD

C-create
R- read
U- update
D- delete

backup and recovery facilities

provide a way for you to periodically back up info and restart or recover a database and its information in case of a failure.

security management facilities

allow you to control who has access to what information and what type of access those people have.

query optimization facilities

often take the queries from users and restructure them to minimize response times.

reorganization facilities

continually maintain statistics concerning how the DBMS engine physically accesses information and reorganizes how information is physically stored

concurrency conrol facilittes

ensure the validity of database updates when multiple users attempt to access and change the same information.

change management facilities

allow you to access the impact of proposed structural changes to a database

data mining tools

are the software tools you use to query information in a data warehouse

query and reporting tools

are similar to QBE tools, SQL, and report generators in the typical database environment.

multidimensional analysis tools

are slice-and-dice techniques that allow you to view multidimensional information from different perspectives. (MDA)

data mart

is a subset of a data warehouse in which only a focused portion of the data warehouse information is kept

competitive intelligence

is business intelligence focused on the external competitive environment. (CI)

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.
-can provide up to the minute snapshots of any type of info and can often help to identify trends th

data administration

is the function in an organization that plans for, oversees the development of, and monitors the information resource.

database administration

is the function in an organization that is responsible for the more technical and operational aspects of managing the information contained in organizational information repositories (databases, data warehouses, and data marts).
functions include: definin