C.

Raghunath
Senior Section Engineer Comp.Centre Central Workshop South Western Railway Ashokapuram Mysore India

Introduction
This presentation is intended to

provide a conceptual understanding of data, database and information systems. Technical terms and jargon are avoided to a maximum extent.

DATA
What is data?
Data can be defined in many ways. Information

science defines data as Unprocessed Information.

Sole purpose of a Data Management System is

converting Raw Data to refined and useful data called Information The Technology that deals with this transformation is called Information Technology (IT)

DATA
In an organisation, every action generates

Data.

Ex: A Car is received in the Workshop

An employee is promoted Gate Attendance Card is punched in Related actions get clubbed together and become a story.

DATA
Example of a story:
A car was received at a workshop on 31-07-04 for first Periodical Overhaul and was sent out on 27-08-04. In due course, it was received on 21-10-05, 02-08-07, 18-11-08, 21-01-10 and sent out on 19-11-05, 29-09-07, 01-12-08, 06-02-10 respectively. During its visit during 2007, it was subjected to Heavy Corrosion Repairs

DATA
This data is in RAW form.
Facts are not arranged.

Raw data is not very useful.

To have effective control on the

activities of the organisation, this data needs to be refined and processed

Processed Data (Information)

Database and DBMS

What is a database?
Simply, its an organized collection of data.

What is a DBMS?
A database management system (DBMS) provides you with

the software tools you need to organize that data in a flexible manner. It includes tools to add, modify or delete data from the database, Ask questions (or queries) about the data stored in the database and produce reports summarizing selected contents. Ex: Microsoft Access, Oracle or SQL Server

Database Management System (DBMS)

Activities
Generate Control

Data

Information

Knowledge

Action

Database Management System (DBMS)

Information Systems
Generic Goal of any Information System is to : Transform Data into Information At the Core of an Information System is a Database (raw data).

Data centric Information systems

Passenger Reservation System of Indian Railways (PRS) Email applications like yahoo, gmail, rediff Mobile telecommunication systems Online stores like ebay, music india online Share market software

Parts of a DBMS
From the users point of view, a Database Management System consists of
Tables basic building blocks
Queries retrieve specific information

Forms interface between the user and

DBMS Reports out put from a DBMS

TABLES (Entity)
(Attributes) FIELD RECORD (Tuple)

Containers in to which data is filled in raw form manually or automatically

TYPES OF DATABASES
Non-relational databases
Data tables are not connected. Changes made in one table do not reflect in

others Ex: Change of address to be re-entered in different tables separately Old generation technology

TYPES OF DATABASES
Relational databases (RDBMS) Data tables are connected. Changes made in one table automatically reflect in others All the present day databases are of this type.

CONCLUSION
File: A collection of records or documents

dealing with one organisation, person, area or subject Manual (paper) files Computer files (Word, Excel files) Database: A collection of similar records with relationships between the records to enable centralised information management

THANK YOU !