Program : BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN

ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEM

Course Code : ITAp-313

Course Title : IT Application Tools in Business

Course Credit : 3 units Contact Hours : 54

BULACAN POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Bulihan, City of Malolos
 ITAP 313 – IT Application Tools in Business
MODULE MATERIALS

List of Modules

No. MODULE
MODULE TITLE
CODE

1 SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE BASICS ITAp-313-1

2 NETWORKS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ITAp-313-2

3 DESIGNING DATABASES ITAp-313-3

4 THE RELATIONAL DATABASE MODEL ITAp-313-4

5 TECHNICAL FOUNDATIONS OF MIS ITAp-313-5

6 BUILDING SUSTAINABLE MIS INFRASTRUCTURES ITAp-313-6

7 DATA, INFORMATION, AND DATABASES ITAp-313-7

8 BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ITAp-313-8

CONNECTIVITY: THE BUSINESS VALUE OF A
9 ITAp-313-9
NETWORKED WORLD
MOBILITY: THE BUSINESS VALUE OF A WIRELESS
10 ITAp-313-10
WORLD

Bachelor of Science in Bulacan Date Developed:

Accounting July 2020
Polytechnic Date Revised: Page 2 of 9
Information System
College July 2020
IT Application Tools in Developed by:
Business Document No. Ferdinand R. Tamayo Revision # 02
20-ITAp 313
ITAp-313
 MODULE CONTENT

COURSE TITLE: IT Application Tools in Business

MODULE TITLE Data, Information, and Databases

NOMINAL DURATION: 3 HRS (No. of hours per topic)

SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this module you MUST be able to:
1. Explain the four primary traits that determine the value of information;
2. Describe a database, a database management system, and the relational
database model;
3. Identify the business advantages of a relational database; and
4. Explain the business benefits of a data-driven website.

TOPICS:
1. Business Benefits of High-Quality Information
2. Storing Information sing a Relational Database Management System
3. Using a Relational Database for Business Advantages
4. Case Study

ASSESSMENT METHOD/S:
• Written Quizzes and Assignments on PDF sent through FB Messaging or
email
• Oral recitation or Demonstrative Exercises via Google Meet

REFERENCE/S:
Laudon, K.C., and Laudon, J.P. (2014). Management Information Systems:
Managing the Digital Firm 13th Global Edition. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Post, G.V. (2012). Management Information Systems Cases.
Stair, R.M., and Reynolds G.W. (2013). Principles of Information Systems: a
Managerial Approach 6th Edition.

Bachelor of Science in Bulacan Date Developed:

Accounting July 2020
Polytechnic Date Revised: Page 3 of 9
Information System
College July 2020
IT Application Tools in Developed by:
Business Document No. Ferdinand R. Tamayo Revision # 02
20-ITAp 313
ITAp-313
 Information Sheet ITAp 313-6:
Data, Information, and Databases

Learning Objectives:
After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:
1. Explain the four primary traits that determine the value of information;
2. Describe a database, a database management system, and the relational
database model;
3. Identify the business advantages of a relational database; and
4. Explain the business benefits of a data-driven website.

Introduction:
Welcome back, and congratulations on completing the midterm exams.

In this module, we go back and build on the concepts of data and databases; then in the next
module, we will revisit data warehousing.

Interesting stuff, but thankfully this module is also quite short. So let us begin.

Business Benefits of High-Quality Information

Characteristics of High-Quality Data

Data quality is crucial – it assesses whether information can serve its purpose in a particular
context (such as data analysis, for example). So, how do you determine the quality of a given set
of information? There are data quality characteristics of which you should be aware.

There are five traits that you’ll find within data quality:

• Accuracy – is the information correct in every detail?

• Completeness – how comprehensive is the information?
• Reliability – does the information contradict other trusted resources?
• Relevance – do you need this information?
• Timeliness – how up-to-date is the information? Can it be used for real-time reporting?

Source: https://www.precisely.com/blog/data-quality/5-characteristics-of-data-quality,
downloaded on 29 July 2020.

Information Types: Transactional and Analytical

There are hundreds of transactions that go through organizations every day. The result of these
transactions is transactional information. Transactional information is all the information
contained within a business unit. The primary purpose of transactional information is to
support the day-to-day operations of the unit. Examples of transactional information include
sales receipt, packing slip, purchase confirmation, etc. So transactional information is the result
of performing daily operating tasks.

In contrast to transactional information, analytical information is used for managerial

analysis and decision making. People who are higher up in the hierarchy of the company
usually do not need all the details of transactional information. They need a bigger picture. Here
is where analytical information is used. An example of analytical information is a report on
monthly sales. A manager does not need to see all daily transactions that took place
(transactional information), but he needs a monthly sales report to identify trends and to make
decisions (analytical information). Transactional information, however, is an integral part of
analytical information. If you do not have good records of daily sales, you cannot compile a useful

Bachelor of Science in Bulacan Date Developed:

Accounting July 2020
Polytechnic Date Revised: Page 4 of 9
Information System
College July 2020
IT Application Tools in Developed by:
Business Document No. Ferdinand R. Tamayo Revision # 02
20-ITAp 313
ITAp-313
report to identify trends. That’s why efficient handling of transactional information is very
important.

Databases that can handle transactions are known as transactional databases. The main
purpose of a database is to ensure the accuracy and integrity of information. That’s why it is
extremely important that when a transaction takes place, it is recorded in a database accurately
and consistently. To illustrate this point, let’s look at an example of a double-entry accounting
system where we use debits and credits. Any transaction involves a debit and a credit so a
transactional system will record both debit and credit or a transaction cannot take place. This
way, you cannot have a transaction involving a debit or a credit only. So integrity and consistency
of information are ensured.

Source: http://www.computerbusinessresearch.com/Home/database/transactional-
information, downloaded on 29 July 2020.

Information Governance

Information governance is a holistic approach to managing corporate information by

implementing processes, roles, controls, and metrics that treat information as a valuable
business asset.

The goal of a holistic approach to information governance is to make information assets available
to those who need it while streamlining management, reducing storage costs, and
ensuring compliance. This, in turn, allows the company to reduce the legal risks associated with
unmanaged or inconsistently managed information and be more agile in response to a changing
marketplace.

Source: https://searchcompliance.techtarget.com/definition/information-governance,
downloaded on 29 July 2020.

Storing Information Using a Relational Database Management System

A relational database organizes data into tables that can be linked—or related—based on data
common to each. This capability enables you to retrieve an entirely new table from data in one
or more tables with a single query. It also allows you and your business to better understand
the relationships among all available data and gain new insights for making better decisions or
identifying new opportunities.

For example, imagine your company maintains a customer table that contains company data
about each customer account and one or more transaction tables that contain data describing
individual transactions.

The columns (or fields) for the customer table might be Customer ID, Company Name, Company
Address, etc.; the columns for a transaction table might be Transaction Date, Customer
ID, Transaction Amount, Payment Method, etc. The tables can be related based on the
common Customer ID field. You can, therefore, query the table to produce valuable reports, such
as a consolidated customer statement.

Report generators take these queries and run them on demand to create formal reports. Many of
the documents businesses run to track inventory, sales, finance, or even perform financial
projections come from a relational database operating behind the scenes.

You can communicate with relational databases using Structured Query Language (SQL), the
standard language for interacting with management systems. SQL allows the joining of tables
using a few lines of code, with a structure most non-technical employees can learn quickly.

With SQL, analysts do not need to know where the order table resides on disk, how to perform
the lookup to find a specific order, or how to connect the order and customer tables. The database
compiles the query and figures out the correct data points.

Bachelor of Science in Bulacan Date Developed:

Accounting July 2020
Polytechnic Date Revised: Page 5 of 9
Information System
College July 2020
IT Application Tools in Developed by:
Business Document No. Ferdinand R. Tamayo Revision # 02
20-ITAp 313
ITAp-313
The primary benefit of the relational database approach is the ability to create meaningful
information by joining the tables. Joining tables allows you to understand
the relationships between the data, or how the tables connect. SQL includes the ability to count,
add, group, and also combine queries. SQL can perform basic math and subtotal functions and
logical transformations. Analysts can order the results by date, name, or any column.

Those features make the relational approach the single most popular query tool in business
today.

Source: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/relational-databases, downloaded on 29 July 2020.

Using Relational Database for Business Advantages

Relational databases have several advantages compared to other database formats:

Flexibility

SQL has its built-in language for creating tables called Data Definition Language (DDL). DDL
allows you to add new columns, add new tables, rename relations, and make other changes even
while the database is running and while queries are happening. This allows you to change the
schema or how you model data on the fly.

Reduced redundancy

Relational databases eliminate data redundancy. The information for a single customer appears
in one place—a single entry in the customer table. The order table only needs to store a link to
the customer table. The practice of separating the data to avoid redundancy is called
normalization. Progressional database designers make sure the tables normalize during the
design process.

Ease of backup and disaster recovery

Relational databases are transactional—they guarantee the state of the entire system is
consistent at any moment. Most relational databases offer easy to export and import options,
making backup and restore trivial. These exports can happen even while the database is running,
making restore on failure easy. Modern, cloud-based relational databases can do continuous
mirroring, making the loss of data on restore measured in seconds or less. Most cloud-managed
services allow you to create Read Replicas, like in IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL. These
Read Replicas enable you to store a read-only copy of your data in a cloud data center. Replicas
can be promoted to Read/Write instances for disaster recovery as well.

Source: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/relational-databases, downloaded on 29 July 2020.

Self-Check Exercises ATAp 313-7

Bachelor of Science in Bulacan Date Developed:
Accounting July 2020
Polytechnic Date Revised: Page 6 of 9
Information System
College July 2020
IT Application Tools in Developed by:
Business Document No. Ferdinand R. Tamayo Revision # 02
20-ITAp 313
ITAp-313
Identify:
Instructions: Answer the following questions in the space provided.

What are the traits of data quality?

1. _________________________________
2. _________________________________
3. _________________________________
4. _________________________________
5. _________________________________

6. What is transactional information? What is its purpose?

7. What is the analytical information used for?

8. What is information governance?

Bachelor of Science in Bulacan Date Developed:

Accounting July 2020
Polytechnic Date Revised: Page 7 of 9
Information System
College July 2020
IT Application Tools in Developed by:
Business Document No. Ferdinand R. Tamayo Revision # 02
20-ITAp 313
ITAp-313
ANSWER KEY ATAp 313-7

What are the traits of data quality?

1. Accuracy
2. Completeness
3. Reliability
4. Relevance
5. Timeliness

6. What is transactional information? What is its purpose?

Transactional information is all the information contained within a business
unit. The primary purpose of transactional information is to support the day-
to-day operations of the unit.

7. What is the analytical information used for?

Analytical information is used for managerial analysis and decision making.

8. What is information governance?

Information governance is a holistic approach to managing corporate
information by implementing processes, roles, controls, and metrics that
treat information as a valuable business asset.

Bachelor of Science in Bulacan Date Developed:

Accounting July 2020
Polytechnic Date Revised: Page 8 of 9
Information System
College July 2020
IT Application Tools in Developed by:
Business Document No. Ferdinand R. Tamayo Revision # 02
20-ITAp 313
ITAp-313
 TASK SHEET ITAp 313-7
Title: MIS Case Study – FedEx

Performance Objective: Intermediate level case study to apply the student’s

knowledge of business intelligence.

Supplies/Materials : -- N/A --

Equipment : Internet-connected PC, laptop, tablet or cellphone

Steps/Procedure:
1. Open the file MIS Case - FedEx.pdf you previously
downloaded from
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1eZeoJ
IPZpJuO2ZGnWL8zLfOnD5UA8rSy
2. Read the section “FedEx”; then answer the guide
questions. You may need to research additional
information on the internet.
3. Submit to the professor the answers to the guide
questions upon completion of this module at the end
of the week.
Assessment Method:
Once the student submits the written answers to the professor, the following
rubrics will be used to grade the output:
1. Gleaning information from the case study and using that information to
answer the guide questions directly – 5 points.
2. Searching for additional information about the topic not mentioned and
using that additional information as further arguments to answer the
guide questions – 5 points.
3. Adding personal insights and substantiating these insights based on 1
and 2 above – 10 points.
4. TOTAL Points: 20 points.

Bachelor of Science in Bulacan Date Developed:

Accounting July 2020
Polytechnic Date Revised: Page 9 of 9
Information System
College July 2020
IT Application Tools in Developed by:
Business Document No. Ferdinand R. Tamayo Revision # 02
20-ITAp 313
ITAp-313