 Is
Your Data Flatlined or In a Relationship
by
Kurt Stickney,
Software Engineer
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Flat File databases hold all the
data in one large table.
Relational databases hold data in many smaller tables that all link
together.
A relational database is different from a flat file format such as
those created by a spreadsheet or a word processor. Flat file are
easy to set up, but difficult to manage. Problems that arise with
flat files can be resolved with a properly constructed relational
database:
Problem:
You store the same information in several places, such as: Customer
Names, Product Information, Order Information and Employee
Information.
When you update these items, it is
time consuming to find all of the places they occur and type in the
same information over and over. Will you be completely sure
that all copies are the same? Is there a risk of deleting
important data, then finding that there were no backup copies?
Solution:
A properly designed relational database stores each item in only one
table, pointing to that table from other tables of related
information. Information can be returned from sets of related tables
as though they were all stored as one table.
Properly planned cascade updates
and deletes can keep the database from accumulating obsolete or
misleading data.
Problem:
Your Data displays improbable or implausible
information, such as: Orders for products that do not exist, Orders
for customers that do not exist or Employees hired before they were
born.
Solution:
A carefully constructed
relational database includes data validation and business rules for
verifying data, so that mistyped or inconsistent entries are caught
before they are saved in your database.
The same system can also flag
entries for special attention; for example, a customer who orders
from a new product category or one who waits longer than usual to
re-order!
Types of Databases:
- Historical Databases
track and explain past events. A data warehouse holds the
history ranging back five, ten or more years!
- Analytical Databases
extract and analyze data statistically in order to explain and
inform. They hold summarized, aggregated data describing not
only the current conditions, but also recent and even remote
history.
- Operational Databases
describe the current state of affairs in a company. They support
daily operations and processes of business transactions. An
Operational Database is constantly being updated.
Case
Study: Company "A"
Company "A" had the "I entered the data but now I can't find it" and
"All the data somehow got deleted" syndrome, all to common to many
businesses today.
The solution was to completely re-design the database in such a
manner that information retrieval was radically simplified and
deleted data was a thing of the past. User-friendly data entry
screens and password-protected deletions solved this dilemma.
Case Study: Company "B"
Company "B" had information scattered everywhere within the company.
Many of the employees duplicated data entry work already performed
by someone else in the company. Information was kept in spreadsheets
instead of a centralized relational database. Information reporting
was a nightmare and took days to gather information from around the
company to assemble a simple report.
The solution was to create and implement a centralized company wide
database. Data in spreadsheets was re-worked and imported into the
database. Redundant data entry came to a complete halt. Information
reporting was reduced to minutes instead of days.
If your company experiences situations like the ones in this article
it's past time to get a handle on the problem before your company is
flat lined.
"Many people can write programs; yet,
it's the rare programmer
who can write the program the customer needs to have," says Kurt.
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