Database Management allows a person to organize, store, and retrieve data from a computer. Database Management can also describe the data storage, operations, and security practices of a database administrator (DBA) throughout the life cycle of the data. Managing a database involves designing, implementing, and supporting stored data to maximize its value. Database Management Systems, […]
What Is Data Literacy?
Data literacy describes the ability to read, work with, analyze, and argue with data, according to Raul Bhargava and Catherine D’ignazio from MIT and Emerson College. Easy access to data sets is essential to exercise these skills. All employees in an organization involved with data-driven decisions should learn to think critically about the data they […]
Case Study: Jerry’s Foods Improves In-Store Data Infrastructure
The ability for people to be able to buy food and essential supplies, in-store IT and data infrastructure must be kept running. Jeff Miller, Director of IT at Jerry’s Foods, a national chain with fifty grocery, retail, hardware, and liquor stores, knows this reality very well. Miller explains that each Jerry’s Foods franchise includes many […]
What Is Data Architecture?
Data Architecture describes the models and artifacts that connect a Business Strategy and Data Strategy with its technical execution. Primarily, it provides a foundation for people and systems to work with data most efficiently. Data Architecture is as much a business decision as it is a technical one, as new business models and entirely new […]
Updating Data Governance: Set Up a Cohesive Plan First
Enterprises are taking Data Governance—planning and programming to control and secure data—more seriously. In a recent DATAVERSITY® Trends in Data Management Report, 76 percent of organizations have a Data Governance program in place or such a plan for the future. This makes sense as companies focus more on security and business growth. Data breaches have […]
What Is a Data Catalog?
A data catalog centralizes access to all of an organization’s available data assets through a metadata inventory. This repository facilitates dataset search and retrieval so that users and systems can easily find the information needed for business. A data catalog differs from a data dictionary in its ability to search and retrieve information. Data catalogs “may […]
What Is Data Management?
Data Management is a comprehensive collection of practices, concepts, and processes dedicated to leveraging data assets for business success and compliance with data regulations. It spans the entire lifecycle of a given data asset from its original creation point to its final retirement, from end to end of an enterprise. The practice includes an extensive […]
What Is Data Modeling?
Data models document Data Architecture, aligning core business rules with data definitions. In addition, data models give companies and their customers an inside view of data structures, relationships, and how data flows between different entities, such as tables, applications, or data stores. Through viewing and working with data models, organizations understand what data systems track, […]
What Is a Data Container?
A data container is a transportation solution for a database required to run from one computer system to another. A data container is a data structure that “stores and organizes virtual objects (a virtual object is a self-contained entity that consists of both data and procedures to manipulate the data).” This is similar to the packaging of a […]
Data Warehouse vs. Data Lake Technology: Different Approaches to Managing Data
Solving business problems using big data depends upon the approach taken. For example, if an organization only knows data warehouses, then challenges will be framed to fit using a data warehouse. As Abraham Maslow, a prominent psychologist eloquently said “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat […]