Information Management System

Concept of Database Management System (DBMS)

Before understanding the concept of DBMS, it is important to know what is database. It is a logical collection of information which defines variables and their interrelationship with the each other. DBMS is software of computer systems for developing and managing the database of the entire corporation. It is user friendly software and allows the users as well as programmers to create, recover, update, delete and manage the information in a systematic manner. It is essential system which helps in creating the interface between the users and database. It is also ensure that, the collected data should be well organized and easily accessible.

The important things of DBMS are the data, database engine and database schema which allows complete data integration and security to the users. It also support in change management, monitoring the performance of system, backup of the information and helps in recovering from big loss. In the present time, there are many types of DBMS system which also assist the organizations in auditing process. It provides centralized view of information which can be easily accessed by large number of users at a same time from different locations. The most important feature or a benefit which is provided by the facility is taking the review of the store information in many formates. The database users in any company are database administrators, database designers and end users. The common languages used in DBMS are data definition languages, data manipulation language and structured query languages. The application areas where DBMS can be used are banking, airlines, sales, manufacturing, human resource management and universities.

Technical responsibilities of database administrator

Database administrator is an IT professional person who is responsible in ensuring about integrity of data, monitor and evaluating the performance of system and check the security of database within the organization. The following person performs duties and other activities to manage the information in an appropriate manner. The role played by database administrator is to develop and design strategies for database management, monitoring the system and ensuring the working of software as well as developing the plan using system according to the requirements. To perform duties of database administrator, there are certain skills which are required such as good communication skills, complete and deep knowledge of database theory and design, understand the distributed computing architectures, able to perform the work on different types of OS and having better understanding of information storage and its management.

The role of database administrator varies from industry to industry and organization to organization. But there are some activities which are needed to be performed by database administrator as a primary work. The common technical responsibilities of database administrator are as follows...

• Taking the backup of the data and recovering the information during failure system.
• Install and configure the Oracle Software in the computer systems.
• Creation of new database.
• Designing of database schema and required database objects according to requirements and future needs.
• Development of optimal application SQL (structured query languages).
• Ensuing the database security and implementing the DBMS to store and manage the information.
• Woking with application developers and system administrators to ensure that the present DBMS meet all the requirements of the organization.
• Updating the existing DBMS as per the requirements with complete security.

Requirements of data storage and information gathering in organizations

In the present time, the need of the data storage and information gathering in both small and large enterprises are increasing with the time. The rise of amount of information and data put pressure on the organizations to adopt various kinds of storage strategies, methods and technologies. Information cannot be considered as a data because it has been collected from the observation and it is unstructured in nature. When the available information processed and is converted c into meaningful form then it is called as data.

Data and information, both are important for every kind of organization because it help in taking different types of business decisions and formulating various policies. Therefore, it is more important to gather, manage and store available information in an appropriate manner. Storage is an important part of the organization and from the research, it has been found that about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data has been created every day in every company in which 90% are unstructured. These types of information are generally related to customer sales interactions, firm's logistics information, communication between the business partners as well as vendors and customer database. There are several reasons which influence enterprises and generate requirements of data storage and information gathering which are as follows.

Compliance with the law

Every year, each organization has to conduct audits at their workplace. These audits are financial, operational, department, human resource, information audit etc. Therefore, to organize internal as well as external audit, the different types of information and data are required. In this situation, it is needed to gather from the respective department by using the standard format. If the corporations are not using appropriate information collection process and then it will not be possible to conduct different audits.

Data hygiene

It is not possible for corporations to keep the records of all types of data in the right manner. Even electronic systems are not always feasible to store the data because they are having finite capacities to save the information. In this regard, the need for storage and gathering of information is required in companies.

New laws

For developing new policies and laws for the employees, a proper information and data collection and gathering is important. For example, for providing the flexibility in selection of working time by the workers a company has to know the reasons which can justify need of requirements of flexible working hours. So, for this, proper information has to be gathered and analysed in the appropriate way. Therefore, for developing new laws, the requirements of information gathering have been raised.

Adopting new business practices

With the time, every company is required to adopt new business practices for taking the competitive advantages and bringing growth in business. For example, the firm wants to change the method of promotion of product and services for target market. In this context, it is needed to know what are the lacking areas and reasons which affect the promotional strategies. Therefore, the management has to conduct meetings to identify the reasons of poor and ineffective promotion of product. By doing this, the new options can be raised for making the promotion more effective and attractive for the users. So, the gathered information and data help the organizations to adopt new business practices.

Rather than the above stated reasons, there are several other needs where the corporations are required to gather the information and store data such as to organize training and development for the employees, reducing cost of the final product, minimizing the liabilities, overcoming the risk of data loss etc.

Use of gather information in managerial decisions

Decision making is a cognitive method which is used in selection of appropriate action from the available options. It is an important part of every company to take day to day decisions. These daily bases decisions are taking on the basis of available information. During the decision making process, organization has to ensure that the required information should be collected, sorted and manage. The proper decisions can be taken within minimum time without affecting operational activities of business.

There are different types of managerial decisions which are taken by the enterprises such as programmed and non programmed decisions, organizational decisions; routine and strategic decisions etc. For taking these types of decisions, a proper collection of information and data is needed. If any information is missing during the decisions making process then, it well ruin all efforts of management and increase the chances of failure of the strategy.

The usefulness of gathering information in managerial decisions can be understood by an example. The effective management of the organization operations depend on the available information in the hand. If the firm wants to gain competitive advantages in the market and increase market share as compare to the rival parties then it is needed to collect required information. In this regard, the management has to gather the past sales data and analyse current market demand of their products. After this, the needs, expectations and complains of the customers from the services have to be determined. By collecting all these information, a proper analysis is required to reach at a particular result. Afterwards this, the management of the company can take managerial decision for developing strategies to gain the competitive advantages of the market competition as well as increased market share. From the above stated example, it has been clear that the gathered information and data have been used in managerial decisions in the enterprises.

Strategies used by the organizations to deal with security threats in information and database

Every organization is having the computer system which is used to save sensitive information and manage them in the right order. Security threat is a danger which generally occurs due to the breach of security and harms the data. At the time of performing various business operations, the firms have faced different kind of security threats such as viruses, worms, spyware, trojans, etc. But when the company adopt database system for information storage and management then there are numerous security threats which may harm the data. When hackers are trying to access the sensitive data and information of the firm, that time they can extract some important information from the system and use it for their personal benefits. The common database security threats are Excessive and unused privileges, Malware, Input injections, Storage media exposure, Denial of services, Weak audit trail etc.

There are various strategies by which the organizations can deal with different types of security threats of information and database which are as follows...

Discovery and assessment

This strategy is used in that situation when database assailable and critical data reside. In these conditions, input injections and Malware are the common threats which may harm the database and stole the information from the system. In this state, a procedure has to be adopted by companies which can help in identifying those areas which are easily accessible and face weak authentication. Along with this, by just categorizing the information into more to less sensitive terms, it can be easy to secure database and its information.

User right management

In this strategy, management of the firm have to manage the right of the users according to the organization structure. It helps in overcoming the excessive rights of the employees to access the information. Along with this, the management can also use different systems such as using the passwords or login method on those database which are more sensitive and important for the business.

Monitoring and blocking

By monitoring the suspicious activities on the system by using patterns in real time to detect leakage of information, the database security threats towards the store information can be minimized. Along with this, by blocking the malicious web request, the input rejection database security attack can be reduced. On the other hand, by allowing the limited connections with the server, the information can be secured from the outsiders.

Auditing

By implementing DAP solutions, the scalability and security of the data can be managed by the organizations. This solution helps in capturing the details of transactions of information from one system to another. Along with this, it also assists the firms in preparing the reports for auditing purpose and monitoring the performance of the existing system.

Data protection

For protecting the data for long time, it is important to save the information in various locations in different forms. This can be recovered in the case of loss or breakdown of the system to affect the operational activities of the business. By using Encrypt Database, a heterogeneous environment can be created for the present information. It allows the organizations to secure original and backup of the information to control access of the sensible data from the outsiders.

Non-technical security

By hiring the experiences security professionals, the enterprises can take the defend actions against the probability of internal and external database threats. With the help of this, the management can easily control over access of the information by employees and other people. On the other hand, by adopting the defensive matrix in the organizations, the management can easily protect database and its information from the different types of security risk. Along with this, by educating the workers with the help of training, the importance of database security and threats can be explained in more appropriate manner.

Conclusion

From the above study, it can be concluded that information management is an important requirement of every kind of organization. Many of the companies have used different kind of database management system to store, manage and retrieve the information to protect from any kind of harm. There are various reasons which generate the requirements of data storage and information gathering. This data help in taking managerial decisions and formulate various business policies. There are numerous kinds of roles and responsibilities played by database administrator in the every company. During performing operational activities, there are different types of information of business activities which are required to save at proper location and set format. In this situation, it is needed to store them in a proper manner by minimizing the risk of security threats. But, in the case of increase the risk of attack of database security threats, the various strategies have to be followed to manage risk and avoid threats.

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References

• Bloom, N., 2014. The distinct effects of information technology and communication technology on firm organization.Management Science.
• Catthoor, F., 2013.Custom memory management methodology: Exploration of memoryorganisation for embedded multimedia system design. Springer Science & Business Media.
• Conde, M. and et.al., 2014. An evolving Learning Management System for new educational environments using 2.0 tools.Interactive Learning Environments.
• Galliers, R. D. and Leidner, D. E., 2014.Strategic information management: challenges and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.

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