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Question 1 (A) What is a data warehouse? A data warehouse stores data from multiple application systems by means of an online data dictionary. The data has multiple indexes and can be accessed a variety of different ways. A data warehouse is a consolidated repository of data as opposed to multiple smaller data bases. A data warehouse can be organization wide, nation wide, or industry of sic code wide. The data warehouse standardizes data format across organizations or industries with each user with access to the data warehouse using the same codes, numbers, and definitions for entities in the data warehouse.
Do to the multiplicity of ways to traverse the data, the data warehouses were originally thought harder to maintain and regarded less secure, more complex to program. If two programs access the data warehouse simultaneously the integrity of the data has to be maintained. It is possible to get an intermediate or incorrect result in a field or key if the security system is not accurately granting access to information. (B) What problems does it solve for a business? Data warehousing is less expensive than maintaining data in redundant applications. Data warehousing can improve accountability and reduce waste due to inventory and budget figures not maintained across divisions and applications within the same company, division, or industry. Data warehouses allow multiple ways to access the same data.
Centralized data warehouses standardize data and definitions and insures that the data will be uniform across systems. Data warehouses do some of the data processing that had to be manually entered in the past. For example, entering one field can result in other fields being filled with information maintained in the warehouse. (C) Assuming that you are the data analyst on the project team building a data warehouse for a company of your choice, list the possible data sources from which you will bring the data into your data warehouse. State clearly any assumptions that you will make. As always in data analysis begin with the desired output, look at all the reports, invoices, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and general ledger. Interview all applications managers for an understanding of definitions, and priority functions of their division.
Analyze the existing programs to determine if any parts of the programs have not been executed for a long time and make the unused code comments for a period of time to make sure they are indeed not used. Determine which data interfaces between applications systems to know the impact of a change in one application on other applications. Use the record layouts from the existing programs for lists of data elements. Standardize the names of data elements. A part number for example may have a six digit number in a service application, but a ten digit number where the parts are inventoried. The definitions have to be consistent throughout the organization and divided into roots, prefixes, and suffixes as used in individual applications.
It must be possible to add, modify, and retrieve meaningful data in a multiplicity of ways without getting invalid or incorrect data in a field. Fields that are added have to be numeric while fields with text data will not work in a field designated as numeric. (D) What do you see as the benefits of using a Web-like browser to access information from a data warehouse? The benefit of the web browser accessing the data warehouse is immediate availability of data and the ability to compare to other sources to make the best business decisions considering many different business needs from ability to deliver on time to format and cost. It is also possible to make sure that the data is meaningful in a specific application. Data that is perfectly applicable in one location may be of no value in another state. More than one source of information may make it possible to compare different solutions or ways to look at a problem or an item to calculate a more accurate or meaningful result or solution.
It is possible to locate data in text form and simply copy it into a document possibly without reformatting necessitated by old applications system. Internet browsers can accept payments making sales immediate and gives the ability to do credit checks. Money from such transactions is available at the time of the Internet transaction. Question 2 Use the Internet to research and evaluate the products of two vendors of enterprise applications software.
You could compare, for example, the SAP and Oracle enterprise systems (web & web). Use what you have learned from these companies Websites to compare the software packages you have selected in terms of business functions supported, technology platforms, cost, and ease of use. Which vendor would you select? Why? Would you (2 B) select the same vendor for a small business as well as a large one? Explain your findings. (You may consider setting up a table to evaluate the enterprise application software products of the two vendors and make the comparison by considering the list of most valuable features in the products.
You may also choose to assign scales to each feature in order to determine which products you would select from the vendors. ) (All Question 2 answers should be Approx. 200 words) Comparing SAP and Oracle data base systems, SAP seems to be oriented to large business, while Oracle data bases which were originally for large applications is now applicable to most small businesses. Oracle is user-friendly for the average entrepreneur. The Oracle home page has enough information on it. The average entrepreneur can read it and understand it. The SAP webpage contains acronyms and more expensive features than the average business owner can afford. SAP claims to provide a comprehensive range of enterprise software applications and business solutions to empower every aspect of a business.
SAP is available in more than 50 countries. Oracle Fusion Middleware interfaces with the database and retrieves the information to process requests. SAP helps businesses finely tune their system and makes it more efficient. The SAP system creates webcasts or webinars to aid sharing of tacit knowledge. Oracle appears to be less expensive, easier to understand, and easier to use. Oracle lowers the cost of change, performance, and protects and compresses the data.
Oracle uses middleware to retrieve and organize data. SAP has more sophisticated customer interfaces and can be used to fine tune applications or to track trends to improve customer satisfaction and secures and compresses data. Oracle provides training in the use of their systems because clustered data is different than single application data. Oracle database improves customer retention. The break-even point of installation of oracle data base structures is six to twelve months on the cost of the installation. 3. (3) Write a mini lecture summary relating to: (write the summary as if you have just received a lecture on Data warehouse and data mining, and you have been asked by your lecturer to write a 250 word summary on both) Data Warehouse and Data Mining Data warehousing is centralizing data for greater accuracy, efficiency, and standardization, which saves the business money. Data mining is using a browser to search multiple sources for comparative information.
Browsers now have the ability to search data bases of journal articles to retrieve articles with the same words anywhere within as opposed to searching based on keys like mainframe databases did. Data warehouses increase capacity for growth and change, improve insight into business operations, and mitigate risks and drive compliance. Data warehouses increase productivity and process efficiency. Data warehouses are easily managed low cost grids on lower-cost hardware, which are securely protected and faster than traditional database systems with the capacity to share across database management systems (DBMS).
Training is required to use the clustered warehouses because the structure is more complex than single databases. Query language is used to interface with the database, but is transparent to the end user. Oracle data warehouses enterprise applications in an open architecture to retain and service customers, manage money, bill, and electronic commerce. Electronic commerce automatically responds to customer requests with electronic service solutions and extends sales.
Data warehouses can increase revenue by decreasing human interface and monitoring data flow across multiple applications as well as support growth of the business. Data warehousing not only identifies data flows but it identifies competitive advantages. Data mining makes it possible to compare different solutions or ways to look at a problem or to calculate a more accurate or more meaningful result. Internet browsers can check credit and accept payments making sales immediate. Money from such transactions is available at the time of the Internet transaction. Question 4 Select an online database to explore such as AOL Music (web), Grace note (web) or the Internet Movie Database (web).
Explore these Websites to see what information they provide. Then list the entities and attributes that they must keep track of in their databases. If possible, draw the relationship diagram between the entities you have identified. web Entities in music at aol. com maybe types of music where the attributes are artists, recording studios, or year produced. The attributes of the artists maybe different compact discs titles, different individual songs, or places they perform.
There are options to purchase the music to download it or to order it. All the information about the individual song, the artist, and the compact disc title may be necessary to import the music into a computer or an ipod or mp 3 player. The music can be combined in any order with music of other artists to create the individual selection. It is also necessary for the database to retain information about the customer with attributes such as the billing address and credit card number. Question 5 (iii) What is the role of entity-relationship diagrams and normalization in database design? The entity and relationship diagrams show the uses of the data and normalization means the initial or default value of the data field.
As previously discussed, it must be possible to add, modify, and retrieve meaningful data in a multiplicity of ways without getting invalid or incorrect data in a field. Fields that are added have to be numeric while fields with text data will not work in a field designated as numeric. Data with the same or similar name may have a different data description in a different application within the same company. Perhaps the invoice number, which is twelve digits where it processed, is only 8 digits where it originates, because the first four digits in the invoice number could be the department.
Normalization includes inserting the department number to insure that accurate data is passed to the department that pays on the invoices. Retrieved from web on April 8, 2009 Retrieved from web on April 8, 2009 Retrieved from web on April 8, 2009 Sawhney, M. (2001). Don't homogenize, synchronize. Harvard Business Review 79 (7). Scott, R. (2003). Organizations: Rational, natural and open systems.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. web web
Free research essays on topics related to: data base, data mining, electronic commerce, data warehousing, data warehouse
Research essay sample on Data Warehouse Electronic Commerce
