Data Management
Ref:
Keith Gordon, Principles of Data Management -
Facilitating information sharing(2nd Edition), BCS,
2013.
Content
Why data management?
Types of data
Data management responsabilities and
roles
Sharing data
Information systems share data. Need
Common definition of data
Coordinated enterprise-wide control of
actual live data
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
system could replace company’s
information systems
But normally it is yet another IS
Shared data
Shared data between departments
So data is a corporate resource which
should be
Of high quality
Readily available
Why Data Management? Designed
based on
different
fundamentals
Information Systems (ISs) cannot be interfaced
Difficult to join as not 2 IS designed together
No data sharing
Incompatible data definitions and disparate information
systems
date: number - 30092015
date: varchar(20) – September 30 2015
Data: date – DDMMMYYYY 30Sep2015
Communication breakdown
Lack of data sharing within reasonable time
Reinvention – same issues considered in different
information systems.
Data requirements
System requirements
DB development
Unnecessary data transcription
Reduced competitive edge
Staff discontent and frustration – inability to provide
the required service
Categorising data
Groupings of data with similar
characteristics or features.
Key to data management as some data
may be treated differently based on their
classification.
A good understanding of the
relationship and dependency between
the different categories can help direct
data quality efforts.
Types of Data
4 types
Master
Transactional
Reference
Meta
Other classification
Historical
Real-time
Master data
Describe the people, places & other elements
involved in an company’s business.
Include people (e.g. customers, employees,
suppliers), places (e.g., offices, rigs, customers),
and things (e.g., accounts, products, assets)
Used by multiple business process and IT
systems
For system integration need:
Standardisation of formats and
Synchronisation of values
Grouped into master records, which may
include associated reference data.
Transactional data
Data about internal or external events
or transactions, e.g. sales orders,
invoices, purchase orders
Typically grouped into transactional
records, which include associated
master and reference data.
Reference data
Sets of values or classification schemas that are
referred to by
systems, applications, data stores, processes, and reports
transactional and master records,
e.g. lists of valid values, code lists, status codes, state
abbreviations, product hierarchy.
Standardised reference data are key to data
integration and interoperability and facilitate
the sharing and reporting of information.
Used to distinguish one type of record from
another for classification and analysis.
Can be defined
Internally - to characterize or standardise own information.
Externally (e.g. by government) to be used by multiple
organizations.
Metadata
Data about data.
describes, or characterises other data
makes it easier to retrieve, interpret, or use information.
Technical metadata such as field names, length,
type, lineage, and database table layouts
Business metadata such as field definitions, report
names, headings in reports and on web pages,
application screen
Audit trail metadata
protected from alteration
capture how, when, and by whom the data were created,
accessed, updated, or deleted.
Used for security, compliance, or forensic purposes.
E.g. timestamp, creator, create date, and update date.
Data Manager
Responsibilities
Provide a corporate service in
which they support:
the strategic definition, management and
use of business data
The operational development of
computerised information systems.
Data manager responsibilities
Awareness of data as a valuable business
resource. Applies to
Structured data: e.g. data in a relational DB
Unstructured data: e.g. documents containing
free text, images, etc
Improve data quality
Establish procedures for the maintenance of
data quality
Facilitate information sharing
Ensuring appropriate functional
departments (not IT or IS) are responsible
for the development of data definitions -
they understand the data
Establish single source for reference data to
support all ISs
Data manager activities
Coordination
Information
Education
Service
Data
System
Management
Development
Policy and
Support
Strategy
Data
Data Definition:
Management • Models
Tools • Standards
• Ownership
Facilitation
Deliverables
System Data
Information
Development management
service
support tools
Set of
Quality repositories/
Knowledge
assured data dictionaries
base
models
• With
information
complying with
standards
Coordination Database
of data usage schema
… deliverables
Data
management
Education: Data definition
policy and
strategy
training Corporate
courses Policy data model
documents
Identified
Seminars
data owners
Plans Approved
Articles
data definition
Data management roles
Part of information management
3 data manager roles:
Data administrator
Database administrator
Repository administrator
Data administrator
Has corporate view of data
Policy-making role which establishes
the rules and procedures for the
definition, quality control and
accessibility of corporate data
May also participate in the development
of data definitions
Conduct data quality audits
Data cleansing
Provides advice on data modelling
Database administrator
Manages the software tool used to access
the actual physical data.
Administer databases and database
management systems
Monitor performance
Restructuring
Reordering
Advice of physical DB design
Archiving
Backing up
Security management
Upgrades
Repository administration
Manages SW which deals with meta-
information, i.e. information about
information. E.g. data dictionaries,
catalogues, etc.
Definition
Storage
Manipulation
Internal support of data management
DB administration to support data
administration
Information Management
Other information management roles
NOT part of data management
Process management
System management
Business information support.
Information Management
Information
management
Business
Data Process System
information
management management management
support
Data Database Repository
administration administration administration
Conclusion
Data management – essential
Types of data:
Master
Transactional
Reference
Metadata
Data manager activities:
Coordination
Facilitation
Data management roles: data,
database and repository administration.
