Transcript Lecture11 - Data Administration

COIS20026 Database
Development & Management
Week 10 – Data Administration
Prepared by: Angelika Schlotzer
Updated by: Satish Balmuri
Updated by: Tony Dobele
This week - Data Administration
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Readings for this week:
Study guide module 10
 Text book readings as directed in
study guide
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Data Administration
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Objectives:
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discuss the difference between data
administration and database
administration
describe the areas of responsibility of
the data administrator within an
organisation
describe the areas of responsibility of a
database administrator
define the term ‘data steward’
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Objectives (cont’d)
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Describe the distinction between a Data
Dictionary, CASE tool & Information
Repository
list & describe threats to data security
explain what is meant by ‘data security
plan’)
list & briefly describe the most
important security features of data
management software (eg views,
encryption, authentication etc)
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The Importance of Data
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Most of us will by now have
recognised the importance of data to
any organisation 
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asset and resource
needs to be competently & carefully
managed
technology has made effective data
management achievable
effective data administration can assist
enormously in decision making
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Ineffective Data Administration
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Poor data administration is
characterised by:(see text p 496)
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multiple definitions of the same data
entity and/or inconsistent
representations of same data elements
in separate databases
missing key data elements
low data quality levels
inadequate familiarity with existing
data
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Effective Data Administration
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The following functions must be
addressed:
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establishment of data policies,
procedures & standards
planning information architecture that
will meet an organisation’s diverse
information needs
resolution of data ownership conflicts
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Effective Data Administration
(cont’d)
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internal marketing of importance of
adherence to procedures & policies
management of the information
repositories
selection of hardware & software
management of data security, privacy &
integrity
procedures for data backup & recovery
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Data Administration
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The functions of data administration
include:
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database planning
analysis, design, implementation
maintenance & protection
improving database performance
education, training & support for end
users
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Data Administrator
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The data administrator is generally
responsible for data administration
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responsible for overall management of
data resources
develops procedures to protect &
control data resources
resolve disputes about ownership of
data when it is centralised & shared
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Data Administrator (cont’d)
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Plays significant role in decisions about
where data will be stored & managed, &
implementing standards & procedures
interacts with top level management,
users & computing specialists
must be highly skilled manager with
good negotiation, conflict resolution
and persuasion skills
must also have high level of technical
skills
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Database Administration
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Database administration involves
more physical engagement with
management of database(s); ie
technical function involving:
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physical database design &
implementation
enforcement of standards & procedures
established by data administrator for
security, programming standards, etc
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Database Administrator
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Database administrator also needs to
have a wide variety of skills 
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understanding of database development
lifecycle
project management skills
strong technical background with
understanding of current architectures,
capabilities & limitations
thorough understanding of data
processing
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Database Administrator (cont’d)
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strong design & data modelling skills
strong managerial skills since the DBA
must manage other IS personnel
very good interpersonal &
communication skills to interact with all
levels of management & end users
provide high-quality systems in a timely
manner
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DA versus DBA
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The roles of DA and DBA are not
necessarily as distinct as stated
earlier 
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essentially it could be said that the role
of DA is more management oriented &
role of DBA is more technically oriented
many organisations may not be able to
employ both a DA and a DBA in which
case, the DBA is usually responsible for
all the activities
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DA versus DBA (cont’d)
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Organisations will also differ in
allocations of responsibilities between
DA & DBA
today’s environment requires more rapid
development & deployment of databases
 new databases more likely to be
departmental & client/server
 prototyping often used in development
 blending of data administration &
database administration
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(see figure 12-1 life-cycle phase functions & functions typically
performed by DA & DBA)
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DBA’s Future Role
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Role of DBA will continue to evolve &
is likely to become more specialised 
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distributed database/network capacity
planning
server programming
warehousing
off-the-shelf customising
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Database Security
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Hoffer et al (2007,p 495) define
database security as:
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‘protection of the data against
accidental or intentional loss,
destruction or misuse’
Since data is vital to any
organisation, it is important to
ensure that it is protected
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Data Security Threats
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Security policies & procedures need
to be established, implemented &
enforced to deal with possible data
security threats
Threats to data security can include
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accidental losses including human error,
software & hardware breaches
theft & fraud - usually by electronic
access
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Data Security Threats (cont’d)
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loss of privacy or confidentiality
loss of data integrity
loss of availability
Data management software
(incorporated in DBMS) provides
security features that assist in
reducing/minimising threats
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Data Management Software Security Features
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Features include:
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views or subschemas
authorisation rules to identify users &
restrict actions that can be taken
user-defined procedures - provide
additional constraints or limitations
encryption
authentication schemes
backup, journaling & checkpointing
capabilities (covered in week 9)
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Views
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Views can provide some security by 
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presenting only data which user
requires
user can be granted right to access view
but not underlying base table
not really considered to be a truly
adequate security measure since
unauthorised users may gain access
to the view & experimentation may
provide access to data
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Authorisation Rules
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Authorisation rules 
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incorporated in data management
system
can restrict access to data and actions
that can be taken by user
figure 12-5 of the text illustrates the
ways in which most current DBMS
implement authorisation rules
Does MS Access have this feature?
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User-defined Procedures
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Provision for creation of user-defined
security procedures by system
designers/user
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in addition to authorisation rules
not offered by all DBMS products
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Encryption
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The process of encoding data so that
it cannot be read
a routine provided by the DBMS
(some allow user defined routines)
needs to be complemented by a
decoding routine - care must be
taken to secure this also
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Authentication Schemes
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Used to positively identify a person
attempting to gain access to
computer or resources:
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passwords have been used for quite a
long time - not really good at identifying
the individual person
biometric devices are showing some
promise of specifically identifying the
individual attempting access (eg. Acer has
released a laptop computer that uses
fingerprint identification)
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Data Quality
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Data quality refers to data that is:
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accurate
consistent
current
relevant
complete
available in a timely fashion
Data quality impacts on
organisational decision making
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Data Quality (cont’d)
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Business information advisory
committee can contribute to
establishment of high quality data
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members often referred to as ‘data
stewards’
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Data Stewards
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Data stewards will:
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liaise with IT & their business units
consider enterprise-wide data needs
have strong interest in managing
information
have good negotiation skills
in-depth understanding of the business
try to ensure that captured data is
accurate and consistent
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Data Quality Standards
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Policies need to be established to
deal with issues such as:
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data sharing and the potential problems
that can arise from this
security policy & disaster recovery
personnel controls
physical access controls
maintenance controls
data protection & privacy
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Data Dictionaries
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Data dictionary generally part of the
database system catalog
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documents database data elements
active data dictionary is maintained by
DBMS (most common now)
passive data dictionary maintained by
users
System catalog generated for each
database
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documents & describes all database
objects
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Information Repository
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Stores metadata describing
organisation’s data & data
processing resources
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essential element of both development
& production environments
information needs to be readily
accessible & current
information repository dictionary
system can be used to manage
information repository
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Information Repository
Dictionary System
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Software tool that provides facilities
for recording, storing & processing
descriptions of significant
organisational data & processing
resources
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compliant systems can transfer data
definitions among data dictionaries
generated by variety of products
(see figure 12-16 of text for repository system architecture)
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Information Repository
Dictionary System (cont’d)
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Repository engine as defined in
Bernstein’s 1996 model supports
five functions:
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object management
dynamic extensibility
relationship management
version management
configuration management
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Summary
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Today we have:
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

distinguished between data
administration and database
administration
explored the areas of responsibility of
the data administrator versus the
database administrator
defined the term ‘data steward’
35
Summary (cont’d)
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

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looked at the differences between a
Data Dictionary & Information
Repository
explored possible threats to data
security
explained what is meant by the term
‘data security plan’
identified the most important security
features of data management software
36