EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL DATABAE MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM AND ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

NAME: ADENIJI ADEDAPO ADEDOTUN (S14136538)

COURSE: MSC, COMPUTING
MODULE: PROFESSIONAL SKILLS AND RESEARCH METHOD
MODULE LEADER: DR. CAIN EVANS
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

Abstract
Computing is the oversight of various fields that are linked together namely; Computer Engineering,
Computer science, System Engineering, Information System and Database System these fields are inter-
related and they work together. Database can be highlight as the gathering, analysis, manipulation, storing,
structuring and management of information and data for a specific purpose. Computing in the early years
had a less efficient ways of storing data, data are stored as a paper based documents which lead to
damage or loss of vital documents. The advent of Database Management System which is used by most
Enterprise Systems brought about automation of business processes, provision of necessary and adequate
information to support decision making, efficient data handling, availability of various productive tools to aid
data processing and easy access to customers for business transactions. It comprises of any hardware,
software, or communications technology that might be a mode of operation by an organisation to support or
control a business process, enable management decisions and provide a competitive advantage.

Keywords
Database Management System, Relational Database Management System, Business Process, Enterprise
System

1.0 Introduction
Computing is the oversight of various fields that are linked together namely; Computer Engineering,
Computer Science, System Engineering, Information System and Database System these fields are inter-
related and they work together. Computing in the early years had a less efficient ways of storing data, data
are stored as a paper based documents which lead to damage or loss of vital documents. Technology
plays a major role in today's business environment, many companies greatly rely on computers and
software to provide precise information to effectively manage their business. It is becoming increasingly
necessary for all businesses to adopt information technology solutions to operate successfully. Database
can be highlight as the gathering, analysis, manipulation, storing, structuring and management of
information and data for a specific purpose.
The advent of Database Management System which is used by most Enterprise Systems for
brought about automation of business processes, provision of necessary and adequate information to
support decision making, efficient data handling, availability of various productive tools to aid data
processing and easy access to customers for business transactions. It comprises of any hardware,
software, or communications technology that might be adopted by an organisation to support or control a
business process, enable management decisions and provide a competitive advantage.
Over the years Database Management System had evolved to Relational Database Management
System, though some small business organisation still make use of the former for business process. The
radical improvement of Database Management System to Relational Database Management System is a
powerful change approach that brought about major change in Business Process. With the evolution of
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

Database Management System also came Enterprise System which change the structure of how Business
Process is being handle.

1.1 Aim
To analyse the relationship, impact, improvement and support of Relational Database Management
System on Enterprise System in achieving Business Process.

1.2 Objectives
1. Evaluate the breakdown of Business Process.
2. To emphasize the importance of Relational Database Management System and Enterprise System in
structuring the Business Process.
3. To define the link between Business Process, Relational Database Management System and
Enterprise System.

1.3 Scope of Work

The work is concerned with the details of how Business Process is achieved with Enterprise System
in relation to Relational Database Management System.

1.4 Problem definition

Analysis of Business Process, Relational Database Management System and Enterprise System.

Literature Review
2.0 DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
According to Worboys (1994) “Database Management Systems have grown out of file
management systems that perform basic file handling operations such as sorting, merging, and report
generation”. Database Management System (DBMS) is a complex set of system programs that controls the
organisation, storage, management, and retrieval of data in a database. Database Management System is
a system that aid the process of ‘defining’, ‘designing’ and ‘manipulating’ databases for various
applications. ‘Defining’ a database involves specifying the data types, structures and constraints in the data
to be stored in the database. ‘Designing’ the database is the process of storing data itself on some storage
media that is controlled by the database management system. ‘Manipulating’ the database includes
functions that query the database to retrieve specific data, updating data to reflect changes in and around
the application and generating reports from the data. (Christine [undated]).
A Database System is an integrated collection of related files, along with details of the interpretation
of the data contained therein. The Database System allows the users to access and manipulate the data
contained in the database in a convenient and effective manner. In addition, DBMS exerts centralised
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

control of the database, prevents unauthorised users from accessing the data and ensures privacy of data.
Database Management System can be classified based on Data modeling or Functionality here we are only
concerned on classification based on data modeling which are; Network Model, Hierarchical Model, Object-
Relational Model and Relational Model. In these article we will only be concern with the relational model.

2.1 RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Relational Databases were new way of thinking about how data should be structured and stored.
The key to this database is in understanding the relationship within data, then structuring the information
base to reflect those relationship. The goal in a Relational Database is to build a database in which only
data changes and not the structure itself. Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a system
which manages its database entirely through its relational capabilities based on a relational model
proposed by Dr. Codd (1970), these model is based on the following components; collection of objects or
relation, set of operations to act on the relations, data integrity for accuracy and integrity. A Relational
Database Management System uses the relational model to store and manipulate data, the relational
model facilitates the representation of complex relationship among data. (Crain. [Undated]).
The relational model is a mathematical model for representation, manipulation and interpretation of
data, it provides algorithm for performing various operations and proves the correctness of these algorithms
(Veenstra, P. et al. [undated]). “RDBMS is a system design to implement simple CRUD – Create, Read,
Update, and Delete – functionality” (Agile database book 2003), in other word it is a DBMS that is perceived
by the user as a collection of two-dimensional tables. Normalised data are saved in tables, interconnected
using primary and secondary keys.

2.2 BUSINESS PROCESS

According to business dictionary “Business Process is a series of logically related activities or task
(such as planning, production, or sales) performed together to produce a defined set of results”. “It implies
a strong emphasis on how the work is done within an organisation, in contrast to a product’s focus on what”

(Sparx Systems 2004). A process requires a series of actions to achieve a certain objective, in view of
these a business process is thus a specific ordering work activities across time and place, with a beginning
and end, clearly defined outputs and inputs, and a structure for action. It is essential to an organisation’s
success in producing its goods and services. A business process is a set of business events that together
enable the creation and delivery of an organization’s products or services to its customers. (Sparx Systems
2004).
The process must involve clearly defined inputs and a single output. These inputs are made up of
all of the factors which contribute (either directly or indirectly) to the added value of a service or product.
These factors can be categorized into Management processes, Operational processes and Supporting
processes.
Management processes: governs the operation of a particular organisation’s system of operation such as;
corporate governance and strategy management. Operational processes: it constitutes the core business;
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

the activities that embodied the major business operations. Supporting/Events processes: such as human
resources and accounting are put in place to support the core processes. (Ulric et al, 2008)

2.3 Enterprise System

Enterprise Systems are integrated software packages designed to provide complete integration of
an organisation’s business information processing systems and all related data. “Enterprise Systems are
the large-scale, distributed, highly complex, and business-critical software systems that extend across and
between organisations”. (University of York (U.K). Department of Computer Science [Undated]).
In “Enterprise System data are shared across systems to support the operations and management
of the organisation. Modules within these packages are named for the functions that they support and
include logistics (sales and distribution, procurement, inventory management), accounting (financial
accounting, treasury, controlling), manufacturing (planning and scheduling, cost accounting, capacity
planning), and human resources (payroll, employee tracking, tax compliance)” (Ulric, J. et al, 2008)
Majorly an Enterprise System are classified into three separate system which can exist
independently but they all support business process; enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems,
enterprise planning systems, and customer relationship management software. The three system will be
referred to as Enterprise System in these article.

Research Methodology
3.0 Analysis of Business Process
A business process; as a goal, has a specific inputs, has specific outputs, uses resources, has a
number of activities that are performed in some order, may affect more than one organisational unit,
horizontal organisational impact creates value of some kind for the customer and the customer may be
internal or external.
Figure 1. A Diagram representation of activities in The Simple Business Process

Resources Goal
Information

Events/Inputs Business process Output

(From: Sparx Systems 2004)

The Figure 1 shows the way in which the various activities of an organisation work together to add
value in the perspective of the customer and achieve a specific goal in a simple business process however
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

a different model and activities will be involved in a complex business process which will be discuss further
in the article. Information unlike resources is not consumed in the process rather it is used as part of the
transformation process of an input/events to output/goal in a Business Process, information may come from
external sources, from customers, from internal organisation units and may even the product of other
process. The way these activities function and interrelate constitute an organisation’s processes, according
to Ulric, J. et al. (2008) “the process perspective on management involves understanding businesses in
terms of their individual processes”.
For an organisation to maximise its competitiveness it needs to have processes which are both well
designed and which work effectively, a business process has three component processes that work
together to support its logical activities which are; information process, operations process, management
process. Information process: is that portion of the overall activities related to a particular business process,
the information process plays a critical role in the way all three processes work together because
information is the essential drive for the other components for achieve their respect output. An Operations
Process: is a human-made system consisting of the people, equipment, organisation, guidelines, and
procedures whose objective is to accomplish the goal/output of the organisation. Operations Processes
typically include distribution, manufacturing, human resources, and their sub-processes. The Management
Process is a human ware system consisting of the people, authority, organisation, policies, and procedures
whose objective is to plan and control the operations of the organization. The three most prominent
management activities are planning, controlling, and decision making. (Ulric, J. et al, 2008), (ARIS software
Business Process Model 2003). Business Processes play key roles in executing business application
integration and collaboration across multiple organisations, integration can be categorised into two types:
internal and external, a Business Process use information to fashion out or to complete their activities and
this information are made readily available by Relational Database Management System.
With Relational Database Management System and Enterprise System the Business Process can
be achieve by various means and has created more mode of transactions. The business Process can
either be a simple traditional process of simple transaction as shown in Figure. 2, business transaction, or
modern/complex process such as system transactions, e-business, e-commerce etc. The simple traditional
process is the real world buying and selling without the use of technology (RDBMS and Enterprise System)
as tool for transaction.
Figure 2. Simple Tradition Business Transaction
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

From:(IBM webspshere integration developer [undated])

3.1 How RDBMS and Enterprise System support and structure The Business Process
Every organisation has a number of business events that link together to form a business process.
The nature of an organisation’s business dictates the range of processes it can adopt to achieve its
objectives, the organisation’s information system (RDBMS and Enterprise System) will collect, process, and
store business event data in support of its business processes.
Table 1. Framework of an Enterprise System
Strategy Strategy goal; vision and direction of the enterprise including business model;
enterprise objectives.
Policy/External The policy, external and societal environment in which the business operates.
Environment
Process Core leadership, life cycle and enabling process by which enterprise creates
values for its customers.
Organisation The organisational structure of the enterprise as well as relationships, culture,
behaviours and boundaries between individuals, various unit and
organisations.
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

Knowledge The implicit and tacit knowledge, capabilities, and intellectual system involve
in the enterprise.
Information Information needs of the enterprise, including flows of information as well as
the systems and technologies needed to ensure information availability
(RDBMS).
Product Products developed by the enterprise.
Service Services delivered and or supplied by the enterprise, including in support of
products.

From: (Nightingale, D. 2009)

Figure 3. A flow diagram showing Enterprise Framework

From: (Nightingale, D. 2009)

To stay competitive, companies must be agile in adapting processes to ever-changing market

dynamics, looking beyond traditional enterprises/marketplaces through collaborative interactions and
dynamic e-business solutions. The enterprise infrastructure must provide capability for dynamic discovery
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

of trading partners, service providers and enable general security system, solution monitoring and
management. Enterprise Systems are software packages that use relational database technology to
integrate various units of an organisation's information system. To date RDBMS is the most successful of
all enterprise computing infrastructure product to handle data used for enterprise application. Participant in
the Business process can be a back-office system (such as RDBMS or Enterprise Systems), software
components, users (such as purchasing manager) or partners (such as a supplier or customer). Business
Transactions (for example the fulfilment of a purchase order) and system transactions (for example a
transaction on database table) can be define as part of a process. Business Transaction usually involve two
or more partners (-business) while system transaction involve multiple back-office packages (distributed
transaction). E-business is the application of electronic networks (including the Internet) to undertake
business processes between individuals and organizations. These processes include interaction between
back-office processes (internal processes such as distribution, manufacturing, and accounting) and front-
office processes (external processes such as those that connect an organization to its customers and
suppliers). (Ulric, J. et al, 2008).
One major area that RDBMS and Enterprise System had successfully improve business is the term
E-business. In an online transaction entry (OLTE) system, use of data entry devices allows business event
data to be entered directly into the Information System at the time and place that the business event
occurs. These systems merge the traditional sub processes of business event occurs (which includes
completion of the source document) and record business event data into a single operation. At the point of
the business event, a computer input device is used to enter the event data into the data entry system
rather than onto a source document. Generally, the system automatically generates prices as the computer
retrieves data from the system data stores. E-business captures business event data at the connection with
a customer or supplier, Enterprise Systems store data and make it readily accessible to all who need it.
3.2 Criticism and Justification of RDBMS and Enterprise System in the Business
Process
According to Thomas, H. and Donna, B. (1994) some has argue that technology innovation in
business process is any project you want to get funded and as a result of this imprecision, many managers
are pursuing re-engineering because of its positive press without truly understanding what re-engineering
is, though it may be true. But the positive impact of RDBMS on business process cannot be overlooked
because of few manager who do not have the technical know-how of the technology. Before managers go
through many constraints in arriving to a key strategic planning of the business workout plan, with the help
of RDBMS information needed to complete these are made available and accessible promptly.
Though Thomas, H. and Donna, B. (1994) put argument put forward based on the fundament myth
they proposed that Technology innovation might just be overemphasised in the Business Process. But after
much consideration came to conclusion that the fundamental myth is false. Generally, information
technology were valuable and has changed how work was done, information technology changes the
organisation structure, policies and human resources management which are key components of BP. ‘It is
generally accepted that one key factors for a successful information system planning and implementation is
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

the close linkage of information strategy with business strategy” (Elsevier. B. cited by Thomas, H. and
Donna, B. (1994)) in reference to these the close linkage of RDBMS and Enterprise system in carrying out
a business process is essential to its success. RDBMS provides easy and accessible information to support
running a core business operations and as well provides information needed for decision making in the
management level of business process in view of these RDBMS is the backbone of an Enterprise System
in carrying out a Business Process. With RDBMS there is increase process efficiency, stability, flexibility,
quality, reliability and time saving. It improves the process by analysing and simulating them to removes
constraints and with a well structure RDBMS identify and remove waste and redundancy.
Here RDBMS and Enterprise System will be refers to as Information system, another argument by
put forward by Venkatraman, N. (1993: p.73) is despite years of impressive technology improvements and
investment there is not yet evidence that Information System is improving productivity or other measure of
business performance, with the questions that confronts senior managers such as; is the logical
requirement of aligning business Information Technology and Information System strategies so compelling
just a few years now obsolete, has Information System become a common utility that is best managed for
efficiency, is the role of Information System in our business today fundamentally different from its role in the
past decades, does Information System still play a role in shaping new business strategies, or does it
simply play a supporting role in our current business strategy. In view of how Enterprise System uses
RDBMS to achieve a business process efficiently it is obvious all these argument put forward are just weak
argument which cannot stand. Because the advent of Enterprise System made it possible for organisation
to modify the system to suite their process. With E-business and many more Business Process mode that
the relationship of RDBMS and Enterprise System had achieved it has proved that Information System still
play a role in shaping new business strategy.
4.0 Conclusion
The use of Relational Database Management System by Enterprise System for Business Process
has brought more innovation to the Process. Using an RDBMS for data management offers many key
benefits:
1) Provides a data model and method (normalisation) for eliminating redundant data.
2) System ensures data integrity and consistency through use of the model.
3) Provides data access through unique keys.
4) Expresses relationships between tables through matches on these keys.
5) Physical storage of data managed by system.
6) Storage and database operations optimized to provide best execution times.
7) Allow multiple users access to data while ensuring data integrity.
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

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ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THE BUSINESS PROCESS

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