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Instructor’s Resource Manual—Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
Databases and Information

Management
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you will be able to answer the following questions:
1. What are the problems of managing data resources in a traditional file

environment and how are they solved by a database management system?
2. What are the major capabilities of database management systems (DBMS) and
why is a relational DBMS so powerful?
3. What are some important principles of database design?
4. What are the principal tools and technologies for accessing information from
databases to improve business performance and decision making?
5. Why are information policy, data administration, and data quality assurance
essential for managing the firm’s data resources?
OPENING CASE: CAN HP MINE SUCCESS FROM AN

ENTERPRISE DATA WAREHOUSE?
The essential message of this chapter is the statement that “Organizations need to manage
their data assets very carefully to make sure that the data are easily accessed and used by
managers and employees across the organization.” Data have now become central and
even vital to an organization’s survival. You can illustrate these comments by
referencing the opening case, “Can HP Mine Success from an Enterprise Data
Warehouse?,” in order to stress the importance of data and database systems for success
in business.
Without a consistent view of the enterprise, HP senior executives struggled with

decisions on matters such as the size of sales and service teams assigned to particular
systems. HP had too many different information system applications in too many
computer centers. It had too many different database technologies and way too many
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 179

different databases. As with most organizations, departments were allowed to create,

manage and use their own databases without regard towards sharing the data with other
departments—islands of information at their finest. HP CIO Randy Mott began
consolidating hundreds of data marts into a single data warehouse. He had three goals for
the database: it had to always be up-to-date, consistent for the entire enterprise, and
complete. The Neoview system includes all of the data used by a company and not just
partial segments of data or the company.
What’s interesting and intriguing about the opening vignette is how it points out that
every organization, even a technology company like HP, struggles with the need to
manage data and information as an important resource. How businesses store, organize,
and manage their data has a tremendous impact on organizational effectiveness.
Companies need to manage their data to help them reduce costs, improve operational
efficiency and decision making, and most of all, boost profitability.
6.1 ORGANIZING DATA IN A TRADITIONAL

FILE ENVIRONMENT
Information is becoming as important a business resource as money, material, and

people. Even though a company compiles millions of pieces of data doesn’t mean it can
produce information that its employees, suppliers, and customers can use. Businesses are
realizing the competitive advantage they can gain by compiling useful information, not
just data.
Why should students learn about organizing data? Because it’s almost inevitable that
someday they will be establishing or at least working with a database of some kind.
Understanding the jargon is the first step to understanding the whole concept of
managing and maintaining information.
FILE ORGANIZATION TERMS AND CONCEPTS

The first few terms, field, record, file, database, are depicted in Figure 6-1, which shows
the relationship between them.

An entity is basically the person, place, thing, or event on which we maintain

information. Each characteristic or quality describing an entity is called an attribute.
PROBLEMS WITH THE TRADITIONAL FILE

ENVIRONMENT
Many problems such as data redundancy, data inconsistency, program-data dependence,
inflexibility, poor data security, and of data sharing and availability among applications
have occurred with traditional file environments.
Data Redundancy and Inconsistency

Students will recognize the situation that occurs when they move and change addresses.
You can use the example of the university. A student notifies everyone of their new
address including the registrar’s office. Everything is going smoothly until, at the end of
the year, the library sends an overdue notice to the old address. Why? Because the new
address was changed in one database, but the library maintains a separate database and
the address was never changed in it. This is an example of data inconsistency. It also
illustrates data redundancy. That is, the information is in two separate databases with
duplicate records. This wastes storage resources, but more important it also leads to
incorrect data as in the example above.
Program-Data Dependence
Even more troublesome is when several departments or individuals decide to set up their
own islands of information. This usually happens because they find the main system
inflexible or it just doesn’t fit their needs. So they set up their own fields and records and
files and use them in their own programs to manipulate data according to their needs.
Now each department is spending dollars and time to establish and maintain islands of
information because of program-data dependence.
Taking this problem even further, the fields and records for marketing probably don’t
have the same structure and meaning as the fields and records for accounting, or those for
production. Each record describes basically the same entity (customers or products), but
it is very possible that each database file will have different information, or attributes, in
records concerning the same entity.
All of this may happen with the best of intentions. All departments began with the goal of
making their part of the organization more efficient. Eventually these good intentions can
cost big dollars to bring the islands together, resolve data conflicts, and retrain people to
understand the new database structures.
Lack of Flexibility
A traditional file system can deliver routine scheduled reports after extensive
programming efforts, but it cannot deliver ad hoc reports or respond to unanticipated
information requirements in a timely fashion.
Poor Security
Because there is little control or management of data, access to and dissemination of
information may be out of control. Management may have no way of knowing who is
accessing or even making changes to the organization’s data.
Lack of Data Sharing and Availability

Pieces of information in different files and different parts of the organization cannot be
related to one another. This situation makes it virtually impossible for information to be
shared or accessed in a timely manner. For example, assume that the marketing
department has a promotional program whereby all individuals placing an order last
month of $1 000 or more are issued a $50 gift card on their next purchase. After placing
their order, the customer later returns the product and the accounting department issues

them a full credit. If the marketing department maintains their own customer sales
database, then they would have no way of knowing that the customer returned the
product. Thus, even customers who returned their orders would still be issued the $50 gift
card. In this example you can see the necessity for data sharing and making it available to
the different parts of the organization that need to access it.
Bottom Line: Managers and workers must know and understand how databases are
constructed so they know how to use the information resource to their advantage.
Managers must guard against problems inherent with islands of information and
understand that sometimes resolution of short-term problems is far costlier in the
long term.
6.2 THE DATABASE APPROACH TO DATA

MANAGEMENT
The key to establishing an effective, efficient database is to involve the entire

organization as much as possible, even if everyone will not immediately be connected to
it or use it. Perhaps they won’t be a part of it in the beginning, but they very well could be
later on.
DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

A database management system (DMBS) is software that permits an organization to
centralize data, manage them efficiently, and provide access to the stored data by
application programs. The DBMS acts as an interface between application programs and
the physical data files.
Physical views of items are often different from the logical views of the same items when
they are actually being used. For instance, assume you store tablets of paper in your
lower-right desk drawer. You store your pencils in the upper-left drawer. When it comes
time to write a note, you pull out the paper and pencil and put them together on your
desktop. It isn’t important to the task at hand where the items were stored physically; you
are concerned with the logical idea of the two items coming together to help you
accomplish the task.
The physical view of data focuses on where the data are actually stored in the record or in
a file. The physical view is important to programmers who must manipulate the data as
they are physically stored in the database.
Does it really matter to the user that the customer address is physically stored on the disk
before the customer name? Probably not. However, when users create a report of
customers located in Nova Scotia, they generally will list the customer name first and

then the address. So it’s more important to the end user to bring the data from its physical
location on the storage device to a logical view in the output device, whether screen or
paper.
How a DBMS Solves the Problems of the Traditional File Environment

A DBMS reduces data redundancy and inconsistency by minimizing isolated files in
which the same data are repeated. A DBMS eliminates data inconsistency because the
DBMS can help the organization ensure that every occurrence of redundant data has the
same values. The DBMS enables the organization to centrally manage data, their use, and
security.
Relational DBMS
The most popular type of DBMS today for PCs as well as for larger computers and
mainframes is the relational DBMS. A relational DBMS uses tables in which data are
stored to extract and combine data in whatever form or format the user needs. The tables
are sometimes called files, although that is actually a misnomer, since you can have
multiple tables in one file.
Ask students to think about designing a database, for an example like a newspaper
delivery business. In order to succeed, you need to keep accurate, useful information for
each customer. In the database, the data about a single customer resides in a row in a
customer table. Rows are commonly referred to as records, or in a very technical term, a
tuple. Thus, for each customer, you create a record. Within each record you have the
following fields: customer name (ask students to consider why the first name and second
name should be separate fields), address (again, what elements should be made separate
fields?), ID, date last paid. Smith, Jones, and Brooks are the records within a file you
decide to call Paper Delivery. The entities then are Smith, Jones, and Brooks, the people
about whom you are maintaining information. The attributes are customer name, address,
ID, and date last paid.
Each record requires a key field, or unique identifier. The key field in this file is the ID
number; perhaps you’ll use phone number because it will be unique for each record. Ask
students to think about the pros and cons of using the telephone number (there may be
more than one customer in the same house?) This is a very simplistic example of a
database, but it should help students understand the terminology.
In a relational database, each table contains a primary key, a unique identifier for each
record. To make sure the tables relate to each other, the primary key from one table is
stored in a related table as a secondary key. For instance, in the customer table the
primary key is the unique customer ID. That primary key is then stored in the order table
as the secondary key so that the two tables have a direct relationship.
Operations of a Relational DBMS

Relational database tables can be combined to deliver data required by users, provided
that any two tables share a common data element.

Use these three basic operations to develop relational databases:

 Select: Create a subset of records meeting the stated criteria.
 Join: Combine related tables to provide more information than individual tables.
 Project: Create a new table from subsets of previous tables.
The biggest problem with these databases is the misconception that every data element
should be stored in the same table. In fact, each data element should be analyzed in
relation to other data elements, with the goal of making the tables as small in size as
possible. The ideal relational database will have many small tables, not one big one. On
the surface that may seem like extra work and effort, but by keeping the tables small, they
can serve a wider audience because they are more flexible. This setup is especially
helpful in reducing redundancy and increasing the usefulness of data.
Hierarchical and Network DBMS

The hierarchical DBMS presents data to users in a treelike structure. Think of a mother
and her children. A child only has one mother and inherits some of her characteristics,
such as eye color or hair color. A mother might have one or more children to whom she
passes some of her characteristics but usually not exact ones. The child then goes on to
develop her own characteristics separate from the mother.
In a hierarchical database, characteristics from the parent are passed to the child by a
pointer, just as a human mother will have a genetic connection to each human child. You
can demonstrate this concept to students by showing them how this database pointer
works by illustrating the simple hierarchy illustrated below.
A network data model is a variation of the hierarchical model. Take the same scenario
with one parent and many children and add a father and perhaps a couple of stepparents.
Now the parents aren’t restricted to only one (the mother), but to many parents. That is, a
parent can have many children and a child can have many parents. The parents pass on
certain characteristics to the children, but the children also have their own distinct
characteristics.
As with hierarchical structures, each relationship in a network database must have a

pointer from all the parents to all the children and back, as this figure demonstrates.
These two types of databases are not easily manipulated and require extensive technical
programming to meet changing requirements. Because they are difficult to build in the
first place, some businesses are hesitant to replace them with newer relational data

models. They are referred to as legacy systems—systems that continue to be used

because of the high cost of replacing them.
Object-Oriented Databases
Many companies are moving away from strictly text-based database systems. Data as
objects can be pictures, groups of text, voice, and audio. Object-oriented databases
bring the various objects from many different sources and get them working together. If
you combine the capabilities of a relational DBMS and an object-oriented database, you
create an object-relational DBMS.
The next time you go to your dentist’s office, you might see a good example of an object-
oriented database management system. Many sophisticated dental database programs
include a traditional text-based record of your treatment history, and will also include
objects such as computer-stored X-ray films, and maybe a digital photograph of the
inside of your mouth. All these objects are maintained as a database record. When you
visit your dentist, she can retrieve your record on the computer terminal, update your
treatment history, and take new X-rays and a new digital photo, all on the computer. On
the screen, she can compare last year’s X-rays with this year’s. She may even use a
graphic tooth chart to mark which teeth need attention.
CAPABILITIES OF DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

A Database Management System (DBMS) is basically another software program like
Word or Excel or e-mail. This type of software is more complicated; it permits an
organization to centralize data, manage them efficiently, and provide access to the stored
data by application programs. A DBMS has three components, all of them important for
the long-term success of the system.
Data definition language. Marketing looks at customer addresses differently from

Shipping, so you must make sure that all database users are speaking the same language.
Think of it this way: marketing is speaking French, production is speaking German, and
human resources is speaking Japanese. They are all saying the same thing, but it’s very
difficult for them to understand each other. Defining the data definition language itself
sometimes gets shortchanged. The programmers who are creating the language
sometimes say “Hey, an address is an address, so what.” That’s when it becomes critical
to involve users in the development of the data definition language.
Data dictionary. Each data element or field should be carefully analyzed when the
database is first built or as the elements are later added. Determine what each element
will be used for, who will be the primary user, and how it fits into the overall scheme of
things. Then write it all down and make it easily available to all users. This is one of the
most important steps in creating a good database.
Querying and Reporting

Data manipulation language. This is a formal language programmers use to manipulate

the data in the database and make sure they are formulated into useful information. The
goal of this language should be to make it easy for users. The basic idea is to establish a
single data element that can serve multiple users in different departments, depending on
the situation. Otherwise, you’ll be employing programmers to get information from the
database that users should be able to get on their own.
Data manipulation languages are getting easier to use and more prevalent. SQL
(Structured Query Language) is the most prominent language and is now embedded in
desktop applications such as Microsoft Access.
Because SQL is becoming a popular, easy method of extracting data, let’s look at a
couple of the commands it uses.
 Select Statement: Used to query data for specific information

 Conditional Selection: Used to specify which rows of a table are displayed,
based on criteria contained in the WHERE clause
 Joining Two Tables: Used to combine data from two or more tables and display
the results
SQL commands can be embedded in application programs written in many different

languages. The manipulative characteristics of SQL have led to its popularity.
Bottom Line: Database Management Systems have three critical components: the
data definition language, the data manipulation language, and the data dictionary.
Managers should ensure that all three receive attention. There are three types of
databases: hierarchical, network, and relational. Relational databases are becoming
the most popular of the three because they are easier to work with, easier to change,
and can serve a wider range of needs throughout the organization. Managers should
also make sure that end users are fully involved in developing organizational
databases.
DESIGNING DATABASES
Before creating a database using a DBMS, students need to design the database.
Emphasize that they should consider how the information is used, and how it is
organized, and stored. Have them consider how this information could be organized
better and used more easily throughout the organization.
Normalization and Entity-Relationship Diagrams

Have the students determine the relationships between each data element that is currently
used (entity-relationship diagram). The data don’t necessarily have to be in a computer

for you to consider the impact. Determine which data elements work best together and
how you will organize them in tables. Break your groups of data into as small a unit as
possible (normalization). Even when you say it’s as small as it can get, go back through
again. Avoid redundancy between tables. Decide what the key identifier will be for each
record. Emphasize that work at this stage will save money and time in the long run.
The example in the textbook is a good example to work through to show the
normalization technique. You can also use examples of class registrations, hotel
reservations, or video store rentals.
Distributing Databases
A distributed database, which is stored in more than one physical location, is usually
found in very large corporations that require immediate, fast access to data at multiple
sites. There are two ways to structure distributed databases:
1. Partition a central database so that each remote processor has the necessary data
to serve its local area.
2. Replicate the central database at all remote locations.
As the book points out, there are lots of disadvantages so you should be careful to
determine if this is the right way for you to run your business.
6.3 USING DATABASES TO IMPROVE BUSINESS

PERFORMANCE AND DECISION MAKING
Corporations and businesses go to great lengths to collect and store information on their
suppliers and customers. What they haven’t done a good job of in the past is fully using
the data to take advantage of new products or markets. They’re trying, though, as we see
in this section.
DATA WAREHOUSES
As organizations want and need more information about their company, their products,
and their customers, the concept of data warehousing has become very popular. Data
warehouses store old and new data about anything and everything that a company wants
to maintain information on.
What Is a Data Warehouse?

A data warehouse is a database that stores current and historical data of potential interest
to decision makers throughout the company. The data warehouse consolidates and
standardizes information from different operational databases so that the information can
be used across the enterprise for management analysis and decision making.

The data come from a variety of sources, both internal and external to the organization.
They are then stored together in a data warehouse from which they can be accessed and
analyzed to fit the user’s needs.
WINDOW ON MANAGEMENT: CANADIAN TIRE WAREHOUSES BUSINESS

INTELLIGENCE FOR PROFITABILITY
TO THINK ABOUT QUESTIONS

1. Why was it so difficult for Canadian Tire to analyze the data it had collected?
Through mergers and acquisitions the company consisted of disparate units, whose data
were stored separately. There was no enterprise-wide view of the data because units
were separate and there was a lot of data to collect from the many stores. In addition to
not having a consolidated and adequate data warehouse, there was also a lack of
analytic software to explore the data that were collected.
2. What kind of challenges did Canadian Tire encounter when implementing its
data warehouse? What management, organization, and technology issues had to
be addressed?
Management: It took a long time to hire a person with the requisite skills. Management
would need to be supportive of the initiative (cost, time). They needed to have strong

oversight of the vendors, especially when there were two external suppliers to manage
(they are now one).
Organization: Units were used to having separate ownership of data. They would need
to understand and support integration of the data.
Technology: They were using an older mainframe; they would need to migrate to
newer hardware and software. Other systems may be impacted. Users would need
training. They might need a new network to handle the collection of data from
distributed stores.
3. How did the data warehouse improve decision making and operations at
Canadian Tire? Are there benefits to customers?
They could compare stores and find best practices, problems, or trends that could
inform business decision making (ex. Effective product placements, sales trends,
inventory management (using RFID, for example), and discovery of theft). They had
real-time data that would allow faster response to issues. Customers would benefit if
the improved decision making leads to better cost control: savings could be passed
along to customers. Also, customers would benefit by better inventory management
(items available in stores), sales that are targeted to certain locations, and improved
customer service (based upon knowledge of demographics, trends, etc.).
4. Do you think the issues facing the Bank of Montreal were the same or similar to
those faced by Canadian Tire?
Yes, some of the issues are the same: the data was silo-ed in branches and there was
no enterprise-wide data warehouse. They would have had similar issues with looking
at trends and operational effectiveness, although Canadian Tire would have had more
issues with inventory management.
MIS IN ACTION QUESTIONS
1. Go to www.cognos. ca and find information about Cognos’ business intelligence

products. How much training do you think would be required to learn how to use
a Cognos system?
From the website:
Your business benefits
Turn your investment in IBM® Cognos® 8 Business Intelligence into a strategic and
operational advantage for your organization.
 Accelerate know-how across the organization, fully leveraging the functionality in

your IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence solution.
 Get results by increasing the confidence of your users to take advantage of the
software effectively.
 Empower users with the flexible training options to ramp them up quickly and
efficiently for optimal performance, reducing the calls to your helpdesk.

 Ensure success by using certified IBM Cognos Education experts to empower

your organization to drive maximum value from the IBM Cognos solution and
benefit from time and cost savings in current and future projects.
Find the training that's right for you
Complete curricula have been designed to meet the diverse needs of every IBM Cognos 8
Business Intelligence user, including Administrator, Business Author, Professional
Author, Consumer, Developer and Project Manager. For existing customers, we also
offer "What's New" courses.
 IBM Cognos 8 BI Curricula

 Search and register for a course
From this, we can see that there are different training needs depending on the user’s
role: an end user would need some training, but much of the output is presented as
scorecards which are generally intuitive and easy to understand for most business end
users. The website provides more detail on the courses/training available to
contributors, administrators/modellers/project managers.
2. How could Canadian Tire managers use their data to help them make decisions
related to ordering, inventory, and pricing?
Students can look at Wal-Mart to understand the full power of data mining. They can
link the data warehouse to their inventory management system to allow automatic
(just-in-time) ordering from suppliers. They could use data mining to look at cross
selling opportunities (e.g. product placement decisions based on past purchases).
They can mine the data to understand which items sell well in different geographic
areas and have price discrimination based on this intelligence.
Data Marts
Since the data warehouse can be cumbersome, a company can break the information into
smaller groups called data marts. It’s easier and cheaper to sort through smaller groups
of data. It’s still useful to have a huge data warehouse, though, so that information is
available to everyone who wants or needs it. You can let the user determine how the data
will be manipulated and used. Using a data warehouse correctly can give management a
tremendous amount of information that can be used to trim costs, reduce inventory, put
products in the right stores at the right time, and attract new customers.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, MULTIDIMENSIONAL DATA

ANALYSIS, AND DATA MINING
Tools for consolidating, analyzing, and providing access to vast amounts of data to help
users make better business decisions are often referred to as business intelligence (BI).
Principal tools for business intelligence include software for database query and

reporting, tools for multidimensional data analysis (online analytical processing), and
data mining.
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)

As technology improves, so does our ability to manipulate information maintained in
databases. Have you ever played with a Rubik Cube — one of those little multicolored
puzzle boxes you can twist around and around to come up with various color
combinations? That’s a close analogy to how multidimensional data analysis or online
analytical processing (OLAP) works. In theory, it’s easy to change data around to fit
your needs.
Data Mining
By using data mining, a digital firm can get more information than ever before from its
data. One danger in data mining is the problem of getting information that on the surface
may seem meaningful, but when put into context of the organization’s needs, simply
doesn’t provide any useful information.
For instance, data mining can tell you that on a hot summer day in the middle of Ontario,
more bottled water is sold in convenience stores than in grocery stores. That’s
information managers can use to make sure more stock is targeted to convenience stores.
Data mining could also reveal that when customers purchase white socks, they also
purchase bottled water 62 percent of the time. We seriously doubt there is any correlation
between the two purchases. The point is that you need to beware of using data mining as
a sole source of decision making and make sure your requests are as focused as possible.
Many companies collect lots of data about their business and customers. The most
difficult part has been to turn that data into useful information. With improved database
technology, organizations are creating new opportunities for connecting with their
customers by extracting information easier and more precisely from their data
warehouses. Firms are using better data mining techniques to target customers and
suppliers with just the right information at the right time.
The types of information obtainable from data mining include:

 Associations — occurrences linked to a single event.
 Sequences — events are linked over time.
 Classification — recognizes patterns that describe the group to which an item
belongs by examining existing items that have been classified and by inferring a
set of rules.
 Clustering — works in a manner similar to classification when no groups have yet
been defined.
 Forecasting — uses a series of existing values to forecast what other values will
be.
Predictive analysis uses data mining techniques, historical data, and assumptions about
future conditions to predict outcomes of events, such as the probability a customer will
respond to an offer or purchase a specific product.

DATABASES AND THE WEB

Even though Web browsers have only been around for a few years, they are far easier to
use than most of the query languages associated with the other programs on mainframe
computer systems. Many companies are finding out that it’s easier to provide their “road
warriors” with Web-like browsers attached to the computer at the main office. Employees
anywhere can have up-to-the-minute access to any information they need. It’s also
proving cheaper to create “front-end” browser applications that can more easily link
information from disparate systems than to try to combine all the systems on the “back-
end”.
One of the easiest ways to make databases available to any user is by linking the
internal databases to the Web through software programs that provide a
connection to the database without major reconfigurations. A database server,
which is a special dedicated computer, maintains the DBMS. A software program,
called an application server, processes the transactions and offers data access. A
user making an inquiry through the Web server can connect to the organization’s
database and receive information in the form of a Web page.
Figure 6-16 shows how an application server provides the interface between the
database and the Web.
The benefits of using a Web browser to access a database are as follows:

 Ease-of-use
 Less training for users
 No changes to the internal database
 Cheaper than building a new system
 Creating new efficiencies and opportunities
 Provide employees with integrated firmwide views of information
Bottom Line: There are many ways to manipulate databases so that an organization
can save money and still have useful information. With technological improvements
companies don’t have to continually start from scratch but can blend the old with

the new when they want to update their systems. The Web is the perfect delivery
vehicle for databases and is cheaper than building proprietary systems.
WINDOW ON TECHNOLOGY: THE DATABASES BEHIND

MYSPACE
TO THINK ABOUT QUESTIONS
1. What kind of databases and database servers does MySpace use?
In its initial phases, MySpace operated with two Web servers communicating with one
database server and a Microsoft SQL Server database. The site continued adding Web
servers to handle increased user requests. After the number of accounts exceeded 500,000
the site added more SQL Server databases: one served as a master database, the others
focused on retrieving data for user page requests. After two million accounts were
activated, MySpace switched to a vertical partitioning model in which separate databases
supported distinct functions of the Web site. After three million accounts, the site scaled
out by adding many cheaper servers to share the database workload.
It eventually switched to a virtualized storage architecture in which databases write data

to any available disk, thus eliminating the possibility of an application’s dedicated disk
becoming overloaded. MySpace later installed a layer of servers between the database
servers and the Web servers to store and serve copies of frequently accessed data objects
so that the site’s Web servers wouldn’t have to query the database servers with lookups
as frequently.
2. Why is database technology so important for a business such as MySpace?
Almost everything MySpace receives from and serves to its users are data objects like
pictures, audio files and video files. The objects are very individualized and attached to a
certain entity (person). Its databases must make the objects readily available to anyone
requesting access to that entity. Database technology is the only technology that
accomplishes the mission.
3. How effectively does MySpace organize and store the data on its site?
In its infancy, MySpace used two Web servers communicating with one database server.
That was adequate when the site had a small number of users who were updating or
accessing database objects. Obviously that won’t work with tens of millions of users.
Unfortunately, MySpace still overloads more frequently than other major Web sites.
With a log-in error rate of 20 to 40 percent on some days, the site is not effectively
organizing or storing data at all.
4. What data management problems have arisen? How has MySpace solved, or
attempted to solve, these problems?

Some of the problems MySpace has encountered are inadequate storage space on its
database servers, slow access or no access through its log-in application, and users’
inabilities to access data. Over the years, MySpace has attempted to fix these problems
by adding more Web servers and more database servers. Some were simply “added on”
without restructuring the entire system to more efficiently use its hardware and software.
Workloads were not distributed evenly between servers which caused inefficient use of
resources. MySpace developers continue to redesign the Web site’s database, software,
and storage systems, to keep pace with its exploding growth, but their job is never done.
MIS IN ACTION QUESTIONS

Explore MySpace.com, examining the features and tools that are not restricted to
registered members. Then answer the following questions:
1. Based on what you can view without registering, what are the entities in
MySpace’s database?
Obviously, individual users are the main entity in MySpace’s databases. Other entities
are video files, audio files, blogs, forums, groups, events, favourites, and email.
2. Which of these entities have some relationship to individual members?
Which of the entities have a relationship to individual members depends on what the
individual decides. For instance, it’s possible that Sarah would have a list of films (video
files) attached to her profile. She may also participate in forums or groups. It’s possible
that all the entities have some relationship to individual members.
3. Select one of these entities and describe the attributes for that entity.
Films included in MySpace’s databases likely have these attributes: name, date
produced, date released, actors, actresses, director, subject, place it was filmed, musical
scores included in the film, awards given to the film, comments of film goers, and critics’
ratings.
6.4 MANAGING DATA RESOURCES
Setting up a database is only a start. In order to make sure that the data for your business
remain accurate, reliable, and readily available to those who need it, your business will
need special policies and procedures for data management.
ESTABLISHING AN INFORMATION POLICY

Every organization needs to have rules on how the data are to be organized and
maintained, and who is allowed to view the data or change them.
Information policy — No one part of the organization should feel that it owns
information to the exclusivity of other departments or people in the organization. A
certain department may have the primary responsibility for updating and maintaining the
information, but that department still has to share it across the whole company. Well-
written information policies can outline the rules for using this important resource,
including how it will be shared, disseminating, acquiring, standardizing, classifying, and
inventorying information.
Data administration is responsible for the specific policies and procedures through
which data can be managed as an organizational resource. This function can help define
and structure the information requirements for the entire organization to ensure it receives
the attention it deserves. Data administration is responsible for the following:
 Developing information policies
 Planning for data
 Overseeing logical database design
 Data dictionary development
 Monitoring the usage of data by techies and non-techies
Data governance deals with the policies and processes for managing the availability,
usability, integrity, and security of the data employed in an enterprise, with special
emphasis on promoting privacy, security, data quality, and compliance with government
regulations.
Bottom Line: Information is power. The more information users have in an easy-to-
use form, the more they can accomplish. Managers need to consider information as
an important resource for which everyone has a responsibility.
ENSURING DATA QUALITY

Poor data quality can have far-reaching implications that can make a company legally
liable. Although all employees may share in the responsibility for maintaining good
quality data, managers obviously have the greater share. And, there is a lot more to a
useful database than simply listing a bunch of data elements and hoping people use them
as intended.
Data quality audits can help companies identify the accuracy and completeness of data.
Data cleansing also known as data scrubbing can detect and correct data and enforce
consistency among different sets of data. This last point is important if an organization
has combined several databases from different sources since chances are great that there
are erroneous or mismatched data.

Bottom Line: As with any other resource, managers must administer their data,
plan their uses, and discover new opportunities for the data to serve the
organization through changing technologies.
SUMMARY
environment and how are they solved by a database management system?
A computer system organizes data in a hierarchy that starts with bits and bytes and
progresses to fields, records, files, and databases. Traditional file management
techniques make it difficult for organizations to keep track of all of the pieces of data
they use in a systematic way and to organize these data so that they can be easily
accessed. Different functional areas and groups were allowed to develop their own
files independently. Over time, this traditional file management environment creates
problems such as data redundancy and inconsistency, program-data dependence,
inflexibility, poor security, and lack of data sharing and availability.
2. What are the major capabilities of a database management system (DBMS), and
why is a relational DBMS so powerful?
A database management system (DBMS) consists of software that permits

centralization of data and data management so that businesses have a single consistent
source for all their data needs. A single database services multiple applications. The
most important feature of the DBMS is its ability to separate the logical and physical
views of data. The user works with a logical view of data. The DBMS retrieves
information so that the user does not have to be concerned with its physical location.
The principal capabilities of a DBMS include a data definition capability, a data

dictionary capability, and a data manipulation language. The data definition language
specifies the structure and content of the database. The data dictionary is an
automated or manual file that stores information about the data in the database,
including names, definitions, formats, and descriptions of data elements. The data
manipulation language, such as SQL, is a specialized language for accessing and
manipulating the data in the database.
The relational database is the primary method for organizing and maintaining data
today in information systems. It organizes data in two-dimensional tables with rows
and columns called relations. Each table contains data about an entity and its
attributes. Each row represents a record and each column represents an attribute or

field. Each table also contains a key field to uniquely identify each record for retrieval
or manipulation.
Designing a database requires both a logical design and a physical design. The logical
design models the database from a business perspective. The organization’s data
model should reflect its key business processes and decision-making requirements.
The process of creating small, stable, flexible, and adaptive data structures from
complex groups of data when designing a relational database is termed normalization.
A well-designed relational database will not have many-to-many relationships, and all
attributes for a specific entity will only apply to that entity. An entity-relationship
diagram graphically depicts the relationship between entities (tables) in a relational
database. Database design also considers whether a complete database or portions of
the database can be distributed to more than one location to increase responsiveness
and reduce vulnerability and costs. There are two major types of distributed
databases: replicated databases and partitioned databases.
Powerful tools are available to analyze and access the information in databases. A
data warehouse consolidates current and historical data from many different
operational systems in a central database for reporting and analysis. Data warehouses
support multidimensional data analysis, also known as online analytical processing
(OLAP). OLAP represents relationships among data as a multidimensional structure,
which can be visualized as cubes of data and cubes within cubes of data, enabling
more sophisticated data analysis. Data mining analyzes large pools of data, including
the contents of data warehouses, to find patterns and rules that can be used to predict
further behaviour and guide decision making. Conventional databases can be linked
via middleware to the Web or a Web interface to facilitate user access to an
organization’s internal data.
Developing a database environment requires policies and procedures for managing

organizational data as well as a good data model and database technology. A formal
information policy governs the maintenance, distribution, and use of information in
the organization. In large corporations, a formal data administration function is
responsible for information policy, as well as for data planning, data dictionary
development, and monitoring data usage in the firm.
Data that are inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent create serious operational and
financial problems for businesses because they may create inaccuracies in product
pricing, customer accounts, and inventory data, and lead to inaccurate decisions about

the actions that should be taken by the firm. Firms must take special steps to make
sure they have a high level of data quality. These include using enterprise-wide data
standards, databases designed to minimize inconsistent and redundant data, data
quality audits, and data cleansing software.
KEY TERMS
The following alphabetical list identifies the key terms discussed in this chapter.
Attributes — a piece of information describing a particular entity.
Business Intelligence — Applications and technologies to help users make better

business decisions.
Data administration — a special organizational function for managing the organization’s

data resources that is concerned with information policy, data planning, maintenance of
data dictionaries, and data quality standards.
Data cleansing — activities for detecting and correcting data in a database or file that are
incorrect, incomplete, improperly formatted, or redundant. Also known as data scrubbing.
Data definition language — the component of a database management system that

defines each data element as it appears in the database.
Data dictionary — an automated or manual tool for storing and organizing information
about the data maintained in a database.
Data governance — deals with the policies and processes for managing the availability,
usability, integrity, and security of the data employed in an enterprise, with special
emphasis on promoting privacy, security, data quality, and compliance with government
regulations.
Data inconsistency — the presence of different values for the same attribute when the
same data are stored in multiple locations.
Data manipulation language — a language associated with a database management

system that end users and programmers use to manipulate data in the database.
Data mart — a small data warehouse containing only a portion of the organization’s data
for a specified function or population of users.
Data mining — analysis of large pools of data to find patterns and rules that can be used
to guide decision making and predict future behaviour.

Data quality audit — a survey and/or sample of files to determine accuracy and
completeness of data in an information system.
Data redundancy — the presence of duplicate data in multiple data files.
Data warehouse — a database with reporting and query tools that stores current and
historical data extracted from various operational systems and consolidated for
management reporting and analysis.
Database — a group of related files.
Database (rigorous definition) — a collection of data organized to service many

applications at the same time by storing and managing data so that they appear to be in
one location.
Database administration — refers to the more technical and operational aspects of

managing data, including physical database design and maintenance.
Database management system (DBMS) — special software to create and maintain a

database and enable individual business applications to extract the data they need without
having to create separate files or data definitions in their computer programs.
Database server — a computer in a client/server environment that is responsible for

running a database management system (DBMS) to process structured query language
(SQL) statements and perform database management tasks.
Distributed database — a database that is stored in more than one physical location.
Parts or copies if the database are physically stored in one location, and other parts or
copies are stored and maintained in other locations.
Entity — a person, place, thing, or event about which information must be kept.
Entity-relationship diagram — a methodology for documenting databases illustrating the

relationship between various entities in the database.
Field — a group of characters into a word, a group of words, or a complete number, such
as a person’s name or age.
File — A group of records of the same type.
Foreign key — field in a database table that enables users to find related information in
another database table.
Information policy — formal rules governing the maintenance, distribution, and use of
information in an organization.

Key field — a field in a record that uniquely identifies instances of that record so that it
can be retrieved, updated, or sorted.
Normalization — the process of creating small stable data structures for complex groups
of data when designing a relational database.
Object-oriented DBMS — an approach to data management that stores both data and the
procedures acting on the data as objects that can be automatically retrieved and shared;
the objects can contain multimedia.
Object-relational DBMS — a database management system that combines the

capabilities of a relational database management system (DBMS) for storing traditional
information and the capabilities of an object-oriented DBMS for storing graphics and
multimedia.
Online analytical processing (OLAP) — capability for manipulating and analyzing large
volumes of data from multiple perspectives.
Predictive analysis — Use of data mining techniques, historical data, and assumptions
about future conditions to predict outcomes of events.
Primary key — unique identifier for all the information in any row of a database table.
Program-data dependence — the close relationships between data stored in files and the
software programs that update and maintain those files. Any change in data organization
or format requires a change in all the programs associated with those files.
Record — a group of related fields.
Relational DBMS — a type of logical database model that treats data as if they were
stored in two-dimensional tables. It can related data stored in one table to data in another
as long as the two tables share a common data element.
Structured query language (SQL) — the standard data manipulation language for
relational database management systems.
Tuple — a row or record in a relational database.
REVIEW QUESTIONS

environment, and how are they solved by a database management system?
List and describe each of the components in the data hierarchy.

Figure 6–1 shows the data hierarchy. The data hierarchy includes bits, bytes, fields,
records, files, and databases. Data are organized in a hierarchy that starts with the bit,
which is represented by either a 0 (off) or a 1 (on). Bits can be grouped to form a byte
to represent one character, number, or symbol. Bytes can be grouped to form a field,
such as a name or date, and related fields can be grouped to form a record. Related
records can be collected to form files, and related files can be organized into a
database.
Define and explain the significance of entities, attributes, and key fields.
 Entity is a person, place, thing, or event on which information can be obtained.

 Attribute is a piece of information describing a particular entity.
 Key field is a field in a record that uniquely identifies instances of that unique
record so that it can be retrieved, updated, or sorted. For example, a person’s
name cannot be a key because there can be another person with the same name,
whereas a social security number is unique. Also a product name may not be
unique but a product number can be designed to be unique.
List and describe the problems of the traditional file environment.
Problems with the traditional file environment include data redundancy and
confusion, program-data dependence, lack of flexibility, poor security, and lack of
data sharing and availability. Data redundancy is the presence of duplicate data in
multiple data files. In this situation, confusion results because the data can have
different meanings in different files. Program-data dependence is the tight
relationship between data stored in files and the specific programs required to update
and maintain those files. This dependency is very inefficient, resulting in the need to
make changes in many programs when a common piece of data, such as the zip code
size, changes. Lack of flexibility refers to the fact that it is very difficult to create new
reports from data when needed. Ad-hoc reports are impossible to generate; a new
report could require several weeks of work by more than one programmer and the
creation of intermediate files to combine data from disparate files. Poor security
results from the lack of control over the data because the data are so widespread. Data
sharing is virtually impossible because it is distributed in so many different files
around the organization.
Define a database and a database management system and describe how it solves
the problems of a traditional file environment.
A database is a collection of data organized to service many applications efficiently

by storing and managing data so that they appear to be in one location. It also
minimizes redundant data. A database management system (DBMS) is special
software that permits an organization to centralize data, manage them efficiently, and
provide access to the stored data by application programs.
A DBMS can reduce the complexity of the information systems environment, reduce

data redundancy and inconsistency, eliminate data confusion, create program-data

independence, reduce program development and maintenance costs, enhance
flexibility, enable the ad hoc retrieval of information, improve access and availability
of information, and allow for the centralized management of data, their use, and
security.
2. What are the major capabilities of DBMS and why is a relational DBMS so
powerful?
Name and briefly describe the capabilities of a DBMS.
A DBMS includes capabilities and tools for organizing, managing, and accessing the
data in the database. The principal capabilities of a DBMS include data definition
language, data dictionary, and data manipulation language.
 The data definition language specifies the structure and content of the database.
 The data dictionary is an automated or manual file that stores information about
the data in the database, including names, definitions, formats, and descriptions of
data elements.
 The data manipulation language, such as SQL, is a specialized language for
accessing and manipulating the data in the database.
Define a relational DBMS and explain how it organizes data.
The relational database is the primary method for organizing and maintaining data
today in information systems. It organizes data in two-dimensional tables with rows
and columns called relations. Each table contains data about an entity and its
attributes. Each row represents a record and each column represents an attribute or
field. Each table also contains a key field to uniquely identify each record for
retrieval or manipulation.
List and describe the three operations of a relational DBMS.
In a relational database, three basic operations are used to develop useful sets of data:
select, project, and join.
 Select operation creates a subset consisting of all records in the file that meet
stated criteria. In other words, select creates a subset of rows that meet certain
criteria.
 Join operation combines relational tables to provide the user with more
information that is available in individual tables.
 Project operation creates a subset consisting of columns in a table, permitting the
user to create new tables that contain only the information required.

Define and describe normalization and referential integrity and explain how
they contribute to a well-designed relational database.
Normalization is the process of creating small stable data structures from complex
groups of data when designing a relational database. Normalization streamlines
relational database design by removing redundant data such as repeating data groups.
A well-designed relational database will be organized around the information needs
of the business and will probably be in some normalized form. A database that is not
normalized will have problems with insertion, deletion, and modification.
Referential integrity rules ensure that relationships between coupled tables remain
consistent. When one table has a foreign key that points to another table, you may not
add a record to the table with the foreign key unless there is a corresponding record in
the linked table.
Define a distributed database and describe the two main ways of distributing
data.
A distributed database is one that is stored in more than one physical location. A
distributed database can be partitioned or replicated. When partitioned, the database is
divided, so that each remote processor has access to the data that it needs to serve its
local area. These databases can be updated locally and later justified with the central
database. With replication, the database is duplicated at various remote locations.
Figure 6–12 shows how a database is distributed.
Define a data warehouse, explaining how it works and how it benefits

organizations.
A data warehouse is a database with archival, querying, and data exploration tools
(i.e., statistical tools) and is used for storing historical and current data of potential
interest to managers throughout the organization and from external sources (e.g.,
competitor sales or market share). The data originate in many of the operational areas
and are copied into the data warehouse as often as needed. The data in the warehouse
are organized according to company-wide standards so that they can be used for
management analysis and decision making. Data warehouses support looking at the
data of the organization through many views or directions. The data warehouse makes
the data available to anyone to access as needed, but it cannot be altered. A data
warehouse system also provides a range of ad hoc and standardized query tools,
analytical tools, and graphical reporting facilities. The data warehouse system allows
managers to look at products by customer, by year, by salesperson, essentially
different slices of the data. Normal operational databases do not permit such different
views.

Define business intelligence and explain how it is related to database technology.
Powerful tools are available to analyze and access information that has been captured
and organized in data warehouses and data marts. These tools enable users to analyze
the data to see new patterns, relationships, and insights that are useful for guiding
decision making. These tools for consolidating, analyzing, and providing access to
vast amounts of data to help users make better business decisions are often referred to
as business intelligence. Principal tools for business intelligence include software for
database query and reporting tools for multidimensional data analysis and data
mining.
Describe the capabilities of online analytical processing (OLAP).
Data warehouses support multidimensional data analysis, also known as online

analytical processing (OLAP), which enables users to view the same data in different
ways using multiple dimensions. Each aspect of information represents a different
dimension.
OLAP represents relationships among data as a multidimensional structure, which

can be visualized as cubes of data and cubes within cubes of data, enabling more
sophisticated data analysis. OLAP enables users to obtain online answers to ad hoc
questions in a fairly rapid amount of time, even when the data are stored in very large
databases. Online analytical processing and data mining enable the manipulation and
analysis of large volumes of data from many perspectives, for example, sales by item,
by department, by store, by region, in order to find patterns in the data. Such patterns
are difficult to find with normal database methods, which is why a data warehouse
and data mining are usually parts of OLAP. OLAP represents relationships among
data as a multidimensional structure, which can be visualized as cubes of data and
cubes within cubes of data, enabling more sophisticated data analysis.
Define data mining, describing how it differs from OLAP and the types of
information it provides.
Data mining provides insights into corporate data that cannot be obtained with OLAP
by finding hidden patterns and relationships in large databases and inferring rules
from them to predict future behavior. The patterns and rules are used to guide
decision making and forecast the effect of those decisions. The types of information
obtained from data mining include associations, sequences, classifications, clusters,
and forecasts.
Explain how text mining and Web mining differ from conventional data mining.
Conventional data mining focuses on data that have been structured in databases and
files. Text mining concentrates on finding patterns and trends in unstructured data
contained in text files. The data may be in email, memos, call center transcripts,

survey responses, legal cases, patent descriptions, and service reports. Text mining
tools extract key elements from large unstructured data sets, discover patterns and
relationships, and summarize the information.
Web mining helps businesses understand customer behaviour, evaluate the

effectiveness of a particular Web site, or quantify the success of a marketing
campaign. Web mining looks for patterns in data through
 Web content mining: extracting knowledge from the content of Web pages
 Web structure mining: examining data related to the structure of a particular
Web site
 Web usage mining: examining user interaction data recorded by a Web server
whenever requests for a Web site’s resources are received
Describe how users can access information from a company’s internal databases
through the Web.
Conventional databases can be linked via middleware to the Web or a Web interface
to facilitate user access to an organization’s internal data. Web browser software on
his/her client PC is used to access a corporate Web site over the Internet. The Web
browser software requests data from the organization’s database, using HTML
commands to communicate with the Web server. Because many back-end databases
cannot interpret commands written in HTML, the Web server passes these requests
for data to special middleware software that then translates HTML commands into
SQL so that they can be processed by the DBMS working with the database. The
DBMS receives the SQL requests and provides the required data. The middleware
transfers information from the organization’s internal database back to the Web
server for delivery in the form of a Web page to the user. The software working
between the Web server and the DBMS can be an application server, a custom
program, or a series of software scripts.
Describe the roles of information policy and data administration in information

management.
An information policy specifies the organization’s rules for sharing, disseminating,

acquiring, standardizing, classifying, and inventorying information. Information
policy lays out specific procedures and accountabilities, identifying which users and
organizational units can share information, where information can be distributed, and
who is responsible for updating and maintaining the information.
Data administration is responsible for the specific policies and procedures through
which data can be managed as an organizational resource. These responsibilities
include developing information policy, planning for data, overseeing logical database
design and data dictionary development, and monitoring how information systems

specialists and end-user groups use data.
In large corporations, a formal data administration function is responsible for

information policy, as well as for data planning, data dictionary development, and
monitoring data usage in the firm.
Explain why data quality audits and data cleansing are essential.
Data that are inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent create serious operational and
financial problems for businesses because they may create inaccuracies in product
pricing, customer accounts, and inventory data, and lead to inaccurate decisions about
the actions that should be taken by the firm. Firms must take special steps to make
sure they have a high level of data quality. These include using enterprise-wide data
standards, databases designed to minimize inconsistent and redundant data, data
quality audits, and data cleansing software.
A data quality audit is a structured survey of the accuracy and level of completeness
of the data in an information system. Data quality audits can be performed by
surveying entire data files, surveying samples from data files, or surveying end users
for their perceptions of data quality.
Data cleansing consists of activities for detecting and correcting data in a database
that are incorrect, incomplete, improperly formatted, or redundant. Data cleansing
not only corrects data but also enforces consistency among different sets of data that
originated in separate information systems.
Discussion Questions
1. It has been said that you do not need database management software to create a
database environment. Discuss.
A database is a collection of data organized to service many applications at the same

time by storing and managing data so that they appear to be in one location. It is not
mandated that a database have a DBMS. What is most important is the concept of a
database — a model for organizing information so that it can be stored and accessed
flexibly and efficiently. Without the right vision of a database and data model, a
DBMS is not effective. A DBMS is special software to create and maintain a
database. It enables individual business applications to extract the data they need
without having to create separate files or data definitions in their computer programs.
However, the use of a DBMS can reduce program-data dependence along with
program development and maintenance costs. Access and availability of information
can be increased because users and programmers can perform ad-hoc queries of data
in the database. The DBMS allows the organization to centrally manage data, its use,
and security.
2. To what extent should end users be involved in the selection of a database

management system and database design?
End users should be involved in the selection of a database management system and
the database design. Developing a database environment requires much more than
just selecting the technology. It requires a change in the corporation’s attitude toward
information. The organization must develop a data administration function and a data
planning methodology. The end-user involvement can be instrumental in mitigating
the political resistance organizations may have to many key database concepts,
especially to sharing information that has been controlled exclusively by one
organizational group.
COLLABORATION AND TEAMWORK: IDENTIFYING ENTITIES

AND ATTRIBUTES IN AN ONLINE DATABASE
With a group of two or three of your fellow students, select an online database to
explore, such as AOL Music, iGo.com, or the Internet Movie Database. Explore
these Web sites to see what information they provide. Then list the entities and
attributes that they must keep track of in their databases. Diagram the relationship
between the entities you have identified. If possible, use electronic presentation
software to present your findings to the class.
Direct your students to the Web sites below. In their analysis, students should quickly
articulate that many of these sites use the same entities and attributes to keep track of
their database.
There are hundreds of Internet Movie Databases so students will have to select the one
that interests them. The Web sites for AOL Music and iGo.com are listed below.
http://music.aol.com/
http://igo.com/
LEARNING TRACK MODULES

Database Design, Normalization, and Entity-Relationship Diagramming
Introduction to SQL
Hierarchical and Network Data Models
Students will find Learning Track Modules on these topics at the MyMISLab for this
chapter.
HANDS-ON MIS: PROJECTS

Management Decision Problems

1. Emerson Process Management: data warehouse was full of inaccurate and redundant
data gathered from numerous transaction processing systems. The design team assumed
all users would enter data the same way. Users actually entered data in multiple ways.
Assess the potential business impact of these data quality problems. What decisions have
to be made and steps taken to reach a solution?
Managers and employees can’t make accurate and timely decisions about customer
activity because of inaccurate and redundant data. The company could be wasting
resources pursuing customers it shouldn’t and neglecting its best customers. The
company could be experiencing financial losses resulting from the inaccurate data.
Managers, employees, and data administrators need to identify and correct the faulty data
and then establish better routines for editing data when it’s entered. The company should
perform a data quality audit by surveying entire data files, surveying samples from data
files, or surveying end users for perceptions of data quality. The company needs to
perform data cleansing operations to correct errors and enforce consistency among the
different sets of data at their origin.
2. Industrial supply company: the company wants to create a single data warehouse by
combining several different systems. The sample files from the two systems that would
supply the data for the data warehouse contain different data sets.
1. What business problems are created by not having these data in a single standard
format?
Managers are unable to make good decisions about the company’s sales and products
because of inconsistent data. Managers can’t determine which products are selling the
best world-wide; they can only determine product sales by region.
2. How easy would it be to create a database with a single standard format that could
store the data from both systems? Identify the problems that would have to be addressed.
It may not be too hard to create a database with a single standard format if the company
used middleware to pull both data sets into the consolidated database. The company
should use specialized data-cleansing software that would automatically survey data files,
correct errors in the data, and integrate the data in a consistent company-wide format.
Problems that may occur would stem from inconsistent data names like the Territory and
Customer ID in the old sets and data element names like Division in the new set. The data
administrators, managers, and employees may have to track the data conversion and
manually convert some data.
3. Should the problems be solved by database specialist or general business managers?

Explain.

Both the database specialist and general business managers should help solve the
problems. Data administrators are responsible for developing information policy,
planning for data, overseeing logical database design and data dictionary development,
and monitoring how information system specialists and end-user groups use data.
However, end-users and business managers have the final decision-making authority and
responsibility for the data.
4. Who should have the authority to finalize a single company-wide format for this
information in the data warehouse?
Owners and managers are the only ones who have the authority to finalize the format for
the information in the data warehouse. They could develop an information policy that
specifies the organization’s rules for sharing, disseminating, acquiring, standardizing,
classifying, and inventorying information.
ACHIEVING OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE. BUILDING A

RELATIONAL DATABASE FOR INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
Software skills: Database design, querying and reporting

Business skills: Inventory management
This exercise requires that students know how to create queries and reports using
information from multiple tables. The solutions provided here were created using the
query wizard and report wizard capabilities of Access. Students can, of course, create
more sophisticated reports if they wish.
The data for students for this exercise is found in the file named Inventory_Mgmt_Q.mdb
in the Chapter 6 folder.
The database would need some modification to answer other important questions about
the business. The owners might want to know, for example, which are the fastest-selling
bicycles. The existing database shows products in inventory and their suppliers. The
owners might want to add an additional table (or tables) in the database to house
information about product sales, such as the product identification number, date placed in
inventory, date of sale, purchase price, and customer name, address, and telephone
number. Management could use this enhanced database to create reports on best selling
bikes over a specific period, the number of bicycles sold during a specific period, total
volume of sales over a specific period, or best customers. Students should be encouraged
to think creatively about what other pieces of information should be captured on the
database that would help the owners manage the business.
1. Prepare a report that identifies the five most expensive bicycles. The report should list
the bicycles in descending order from most expensive to lease expensive, the quantity
on hand for each, and the markup percentage for each.

2. Prepare a report that lists each supplier, its products, the quantities on hand, and
associated reorder levels. The report should be sorted alphabetically by supplier.
Within each supplier category, the products should be sorted alphabetically.
3. Prepare a report listing only the bicycles that are low in stock and need to be
reordered. The report should provide supplier information for the items identified.
4. Write a brief description of how the database could be enhanced to further improve
management of the business. What tables or fields should be added? What additional
reports would be useful?
The answers to the following questions can be found in the file named
Inventory_Mgmt_S.mdb in the Chapter 6 folder.
IMPROVING DECISION MAKING: SEARCHING ONLINE

DATABASES FOR OVERSEAS BUSINESS RESOURCES
Software skills: Online database

Business Skills: Researching services for overseas operations
The Internet is a valuable source of databases where users can search for services and
products in areas or countries that are far from their own locations. Your company is
located in Calgary, Alberta and manufactures office furniture of various types. You have
recently acquired several new customers in Australia, and a study you commissioned
indicates that with a presence there, you could greatly increase your sales. Moreover,
your study indicates that you could do even better if you actually manufactured many of
your products locally (in Australia). First you need to set up an office in Melbourne to
establish a presence, and then you need to begin importing from Canada. You then can
plan to start producing locally.
You will soon be traveling to the area to make plans to actually set up an office, and you
want to meet with organizations that can help you with your operation. You will need to
engage people or organizations that offer many services necessary for you to open your
office, including lawyers, accountants, import-export experts, telecommunications
equipment and support, and even trainers who can help you to prepare your future
employees to work for you.
1. List the companies you would contact to interview on your trip to determine
whether they can help you with functions you think are vital to establishing your
office.
Start by searching for Canadian government Department of Foreign and International

Trade (DFAIT)
(http://www.international.gc.ca/commerce/index.aspx?menu_id=12&menu=L) for
advice on doing business in Australia. Information on how to obtain permits, and
legislation around doing business internationally can be found on this site. You may
also find information on trade missions. You can also check your provincial

government website for information on any trade missions to Australia, although

most provincial missions are coordinated by the DFAIT office.
Then try the following online databases to locate companies that you would like to
meet with during your coming trip: Australian Business Register, Australia Trade
Now, and the Nationwide Business Directory of Australia. If necessary, you should
also try search engines such as Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) and Google
(www.google.com).
2. Rate the databases you used for accuracy of name, completeness, ease-of-use,
and general helpfulness.
3. What does this exercise tell you about the design of databases?
Students may not understand that the World Wide Web is one massive data
warehouse, but in non-technical terms that is exactly what it is. Remind them of this
when they are completing this assignment. This assignment may best be
accomplished in groups, where they can consolidate their findings into a written or
oral presentation.
CASE STUDY: THE RCMP AND ITS DATA: MORE AND MORE
AND MORE DATA – AND WHAT THE RCMP DOES WITH ITS
DATA?
1. Evaluate the RCMP's reasons for implementing STaCS and CADVIEW.

Compare the need for efficiency with the need for effectiveness. Were both
efficiency and effectiveness key factors in these solutions?
The systems are used to prevent, solve, track, and report crimes. STaCS allows the
process by which DNA is evaluated to be viewed by those involved in the case. A
DNA sample can be tracked and monitored, to ensure the process is not
compromised. CADVIEW allows law enforcement to see where criminal activity is
occurring. This can be used for scheduling resources, and for evaluating and
responding to trends.
Students can also refer to earlier Window on Technology to discuss the use of the
DNA database to solve crimes, and to prevent the innocent from being convicted.
In this case, effectiveness is probably more important than efficiency, although in

some cases efficiency would be more critical. For example, in most cases it is more
important to have a case solved (or prevented) rather than doing it in the least time or
with the least amount of resources. There may be cases (such as kidnapping) where
efficiency (time) is more important, and these systems would support that by
providing lists of people with matching DNA. Overall, efficiency was more important
for the processing of the DNA samples (STaCS) and effectiveness was key for the

CADVIEW system (allocating resources, preventing crime). However, STaCS does

provide increases in productivity and therefore cost savings.
2. What management, organization, and information technology factors were

responsible for the decision to implement these systems?
Management: recognition that there is a need to have a centralized database, and

allow sharing of data between jurisdictions; recognition of potential for increased
efficiency; willingness to support; understanding of culture
Organization: highly organized and structured; top down, so implementation and buy-
in to new system was “seamless.”
Technology: Software available to allow them to create these systems
3. What problems were to be addressed by these systems? How did data

management address these problems? How effective are these solutions?
 The need to have a centralized databank of DNA records to allow sharing
cross-jurisdictions
 To prevent crimes
 To solve crimes
 To prevent improper incarceration
 To have better information on crime activity (rates, types, locations) with
a view to prevention
 Better allocation of recourses
 Ensure proper processing of DNA samples
4. What are the privacy issues that arise from the use of these two databases? Are
there simple solutions to these issues, or are the privacy issues complex,
requiring the courts to adjudicate them?
These are complex issues, and include ethical issues. Citizens resist having this data
stored about them: it is vulnerable to hackers, it may be used for purposes undefined,
and it may not be accurate. The courts will be called in to offer opinions and
judgments as situations arise as these are new areas. There is little legislation that
governs the use of these databases. There is an obligation for the management to
ensure the data is secure, but the consequences and penalties for non compliance will
need to be established by the courts.

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head; the man had a red puckered face and silver hair. He held the
dramatic section of the paper taut between two grimy flippers. “Them
young actresses all dressed naked like that.... Why cant they let you
alone.”
“Dont you like to see their pictures in the papers?”
“Why cant they let you alone I say.... If you aint got no work and
you aint got no money, what’s the good of em I say?”
“Well lots of people like to see their pictures in the paper. Used to
myself in the old days.”
“Used to be work in the old days.... You aint got no job now?” he
growled savagely. Joe Harland shook his head. “Well what the hell?
They ought to leave you alone oughtn’t they? Wont be no jobs till
snow shoveling begins.”
“What’ll you do till then?”
The old man didnt answer. He bent over the paper again screwing
up his eyes and muttering. “All dressed naked, it’s a croime I’m tellin
yez.”
Joe Harland got to his feet and walked away.
It was almost dark; his knees were stiff from sitting still so long. As
he walked wearily he could feel his potbelly cramped by his tight belt.
Poor old warhorse you need a couple of drinks to think about things.
A mottled beery smell came out through swinging doors. Inside the
barkeep’s face was like a russet apple on a snug mahogany shelf.
“Gimme a shot of rye.” The whiskey stung his throat hot and
fragrant. Makes a man of me that does. Without drinking the chaser
he walked over to the free lunch and ate a ham sandwich and an
olive. “Let’s have another rye Charley. That’s the stuff to make a man
of you. I been laying off it too much, that’s what’s the matter with me.
You wouldnt think it to look at me now, would you friend, but they
used to call me the Wizard of Wall Street which is only another
illustration of the peculiar predominance of luck in human affairs....
Yes sir with pleasure. Well, here’s health and long life and to hell with
the jinx.... Hah makes a man of you ... Well I suppose there’s not one
of you gentlemen here who hasnt at some time or other taken a
plunger, and how many of you hasnt come back sadder and wiser.
Another illustration of the peculiar predominance of luck in human
affairs. But not so with me; gentlemen for ten years I played the
market, for ten years I didn’t have a ticker ribbon out of my hand day
or night, and in ten years I only took a cropper three times, till the
last time. Gentlemen I’m going to tell you a secret. I’m going to tell
you a very important secret.... Charley give these very good friends
of mine another round, my treat, and have a nip yourself.... My, that
tickles her in the right place.... Gentlemen just another illustration of
the peculiar predominance of luck in human affairs. Gentlemen the
secret of my luck ... this is exact I assure you; you can verify it
yourselves in newspaper articles, magazines, speeches, lectures
delivered in those days; a man, and a dirty blackguard he turned out
to be eventually, even wrote a detective story about me called the
Secret of Success, which you can find in the New York Public Library
if you care to look the matter up.... The secret of my success was ...
and when you hear it you’ll laugh among yourselves and say Joe
Harland’s drunk, Joe Harland’s an old fool.... Yes you will.... For ten
years I’m telling you I traded on margins, I bought outright, I covered
on stocks I’d never even heard the name of and every time I cleaned
up. I piled up money. I had four banks in the palm of my hand. I
began eating my way into sugar and gutta percha, but in that I was
before my time.... But you’re getting nervous to know my secret, you
think you could use it.... Well you couldnt.... It was a blue silk
crocheted necktie that my mother made for me when I was a little
boy.... Dont you laugh, God damn you.... No I’m not starting
anything. Just another illustration of the peculiar predominance of
luck. The day I chipped in with another fellow to spread a thousand
dollars over some Louisville and Nashville on margin I wore that
necktie. Soared twentyfive points in twentyfive minutes. That was the
beginning. Then gradually I began to notice that the times I didnt
wear that necktie were the times I lost money. It got so old and
ragged I tried carrying it in my pocket. Didnt do any good. I had to
wear it, do you understand?... The rest is the old old story
gentlemen.... There was a girl, God damn her and I loved her. I
wanted to show her that there was nothing in the world I wouldnt do
for her so I gave it to her. I pretended it was a joke and laughed it off,
ha ha ha. She said, Why it’s no good, it’s all worn out, and she threw
it in the fire.... Only another illustration.... Friend you wouldn’t set me
up to another drink would you? I find myself unexpectedly out of
funds this afternoon.... I thank you sir.... Ah that puts ginger in you
again.”
In the crammed subway car the messenger boy was pressed up

against the back of a tall blond woman who smelled of Mary Garden.
Elbows, packages, shoulders, buttocks, jiggled closer with every
lurch of the screeching express. His sweaty Western Union cap was
knocked onto the side of his head. If I could have a dame like dat, a
dame like dat’d be wort havin de train stalled, de lights go out, de
train wrecked. I could have her if I had de noive an de jack. As the
train slowed up she fell against him, he closed his eyes, didnt
breathe, his nose was mashed against her neck. The train stopped.
He was carried in a rush of people out the door.
Dizzy he staggered up into the air and the blinking blocks of
lights. Upper Broadway was full of people. Sailors lounged in twos
and threes at the corner of Ninetysixth. He ate a ham and a
leberwurst sandwich in a delicatessen store. The woman behind the
counter had buttercolored hair like the girl in the subway but she was
fatter and older. Still chewing the crust of the last sandwich he went
up in the elevator to the Japanese Garden. He sat thinking a while
with the flicker of the screen in his eyes. Jeze dey’ll tink it funny to
see a messengerboy up here in dis suit. I better get de hell outa
here. I’ll go deliver my telegrams.
He tightened his belt as he walked down the stairs. Then he
slouched up Broadway to 105th Street and east towards Columbus
Avenue, noting doors, fire escapes, windows, cornices, carefully as
he went. Dis is de joint. The only lights were on the second floor. He
rang the second floor bell. The doorcatch clicked. He ran up the
stairs. A woman with weedy hair and a face red from leaning over
the stove poked her head out.
“Telegram for Santiono.”
“No such name here.”
“Sorry maam I musta rung de wrong bell.”
Door slammed in his nose. His sallow sagging face tightened up
all of a sudden. He ran lightly on tiptoe up the stairs to the top
landing then up the little ladder to a trapdoor. The bolt ground as he
slid it back. He caught in his breath. Once on the cindergritty roof he
let the trapdoor back softly into place. Chimneys stood up in alert
ranks all about him, black against the glare from the streets.
Crouching he stepped gingerly to the rear edge of the house, let
himself down from the gutter to the fire escape. His foot grazed a
flowerpot as he landed. Everything dark. Crawled through a window
into a stuffy womansmelling room, slid a hand under the pillow of an
unmade bed, along a bureau, spilled some facepowder, in tiny jerks
pulled open the drawer, a watch, ran a pin into his finger, a brooch,
something that crinkled in the back corner; bills, a roll of bills.
Getaway, no chances tonight. Down the fire escape to the next floor.
No light. Another window open. Takin candy from a baby. Same
room, smelling of dogs and incense, some kind of dope. He could
see himself faintly, fumbling, in the glass of the bureau, put his hand
into a pot of cold cream, wiped it off on his pants. Hell. Something
fluffysoft shot with a yell from under his feet. He stood trembling in
the middle of the narrow room. The little dog was yapping loud in a
corner.
The room swung into light. A girl stood in the open door, pointing
a revolver at him. There was a man behind her.
“What are you doing? Why it’s a Western Union boy....” The light
was a coppery tangle about her hair, picked out her body under the
red silk kimono. The young man was wiry and brown in his
unbuttoned shirt. “Well what are you doing in that room?”
“Please maam it was hunger brought me to it, hunger an my poor
ole muder starvin.”
“Isnt that wonderful Stan? He’s a burglar.” She brandished the
revolver. “Come on out in the hall.”
“Yes miss anythin you say miss, but dont give me up to de bulls.
Tink o de ole muder starvin her heart out.”
“All right but if you took anything you must give it back.”
“Honest I didn’t have a chanct.”
Stan flopped into a chair laughing and laughing. “Ellie you take
the cake.... Wouldnt a thought you could do it.”
“Well didnt I play this scene in stock all last summer?... Give up
your gun.”
“No miss I wouldn’t carry no gun.”
“Well I dont believe you but I guess I’ll let you go.”
“Gawd bless you miss.”
“But you must make some money as a messengerboy.”
“I was fired last week miss, it’s only hunger made me take to it.”
Stan got to his feet. “Let’s give him a dollar an tell him to get the
hell out of here.”
When he was outside the door she held out the dollarbill to him.
“Jez you’re white,” he said choking. He grabbed the hand with the
bill in it and kissed it; leaning over her hand kissing it wetly he caught
a glimpse of her body under the arm in the drooping red silk sleeve.
As he walked, still trembling, down the stairs, he looked back and
saw the man and the girl standing side by side with their arms
around each other watching him. His eyes were full of tears. He
stuffed the dollarbill into his pocket.
Kid if you keep on bein a softie about women you’re goin to find
yourself in dat lil summer hotel up de river.... Pretty soft though.
Whistling under his breath he walked to the L and took an uptown
train. Now and then he put his hand over his back pocket to feel the
roll of bills. He ran up to the third floor of an apartmenthouse that
smelled of fried fish and coal gas, and rang three times at a grimy
glass door. After a pause he knocked softly.
“Zat you Moike?” came faintly the whine of a woman’s voice.
“No it’s Nicky Schatz.”
A sharpfaced woman with henna hair opened the door. She had
on a fur coat over frilly lace underclothes.
“Howsa boy?”
“Jeze a swell dame caught me when I was tidying up a little job
and whatjer tink she done?” He followed the woman, talking
excitedly, into a dining room with peeling walls. On the table were
used glasses and a bottle of Green River whiskey. “She gave me a
dollar an tole me to be a good little boy.”
“The hell she did?”
“Here’s a watch.”
“It’s an Ingersoll, I dont call ’at a watch.”
“Well set yer lamps on dis.” He pulled out the roll of bills. “Aint dat
a wad o lettuce?... Got in himmel, dey’s tousands.”
“Lemme see.” She grabbed the bills out of his hand, her eyes
popping. “Hay ye’re cookoo kid.” She threw the roll on the floor and
wrung her hands with a swaying Jewish gesture. “Oyoy it’s stage
money. It’s stage money ye simple saphead, you goddam ...”
Giggling they sat side by side on the edge of the bed. Through the
stuffy smell of the room full of little silky bits of clothing falling off
chairs a fading freshness came from a bunch of yellow roses on the
bureau. Their arms tightened round each other’s shoulders;
suddenly he wrenched himself away and leaned over her to kiss her
mouth. “Some burglar,” he said breathlessly.
“Stan ...”
“Ellie.”
“I thought it might be Jojo;” she managed to force a whisper
through a tight throat. “It’ll be just like him to come sneaking around.”
“Ellie I don’t understand how you can live with him among all
these people. You’re so lovely. I just dont see you in all this.”
“It was easy enough before I met you.... And honestly Jojo’s all
right. He’s just a peculiar very unhappy person.”
“But you’re out of another world old kid.... You ought to live on top
of the Woolworth Building in an apartment made of cutglass and
cherry blossoms.”
“Stan your back’s brown all the way down.”
“That’s swimming.”
“So soon?”
“I guess most of it’s left over from last summer.”
“You’re the fortunate youth all right. I never learned how to swim
properly.”
“I’ll teach you.... Look next Sunday bright and early we’ll hop into
Dingo and go down to Long Beach. Way down at the end there’s
never anybody.... You dont even have to wear a bathingsuit.”
“I like the way you’re so lean and hard Stan.... Jojo’s white and
flabby almost like a woman.”
“For crissake don’t talk about him now.”
Stan stood with his legs apart buttoning his shirt. “Look Ellie let’s
beat it out an have a drink.... God I’d hate to run into somebody now
an have to talk lies to ’em.... I bet I’d crown ’em with a chair.”
“We’ve got time. Nobody ever comes home here before twelve....
I’m just here myself because I’ve got a sick headache.”
“Ellie, d’you like your sick headache?”
“I’m crazy about it Stan.”
“I guess that Western Union burglar knew that.... Gosh....
Burglary, adultery, sneaking down fireescapes, cattreading along
gutters. Judas it’s a great life.”
Ellen gripped his hand hard as they came down the stairs
stepping together. In front of the letterboxes in the shabby hallway he
grabbed her suddenly by the shoulders and pressed her head back
and kissed her. Hardly breathing they floated down the street toward
Broadway. He had his hand under her arm, she squeezed it tight
against her ribs with her elbow. Aloof, as if looking through thick
glass into an aquarium, she watched faces, fruit in storewindows,
cans of vegetables, jars of olives, redhotpokerplants in a florist’s,
newspapers, electric signs drifting by. When they passed cross-
streets a puff of air came in her face off the river. Sudden jetbright
glances of eyes under straw hats, attitudes of chins, thin lips, pouting
lips, Cupid’s bows, hungry shadow under cheekbones, faces of girls
and young men nuzzled fluttering against her like moths as she
walked with her stride even to his through the tingling yellow night.
Somewhere they sat down at a table. An orchestra throbbed. “No
Stan I cant drink anything.... You go ahead.”
“But Ellie, arent you feeling swell like I am?”
“Sweller.... I just couldnt stand feeling any better.... I couldnt keep
my mind on a glass long enough to drink it.” She winced under the
brightness of his eyes.
Stan was bubbling drunk. “I wish earth had thy body as fruit to
eat,” he kept repeating. Ellen was all the time twisting about bits of
rubbery cold Welsh rabbit with her fork. She had started to drop with
a lurching drop like a rollercoaster’s into shuddering pits of misery. In
a square place in the middle of the floor four couples were dancing
the tango. She got to her feet.
“Stan I’m going home. I’ve got to get up early and rehearse all
day. Call me up at twelve at the theater.”
He nodded and poured himself another highball. She stood
behind his chair a second looking down at his long head of close
ruffled hair. He was spouting verses softly to himself. “Saw the white
implacable Aphrodite, damn fine. Saw the hair unbound and the feet
unsandaled, Jiminy.... Shine as fire of sunset on western waters.
Saw the reluctant ... goddam fine sapphics.”
Once out on Broadway again she felt very merry. She stood in the
middle of the street waiting for the uptown car. An occasional taxi
whizzed by her. From the river on the warm wind came the long
moan of a steamboat whistle. In the pit inside her thousands of
gnomes were building tall brittle glittering towers. The car swooped
ringing along the rails, stopped. As she climbed in she remembered
swooningly the smell of Stan’s body sweating in her arms. She let
herself drop into a seat, biting her lips to keep from crying out. God
it’s terrible to be in love. Opposite two men with chinless bluefish
faces were talking hilariously, slapping fat knees.
“I’ll tell yer Jim it’s Irene Castle that makes the hit wid me.... To
see her dance the onestep juss makes me hear angels hummin.”
“Naw she’s too skinny.”
“But she’s made the biggest hit ever been made on Broadway.”
Ellen got off the car and walked east along the desolate empty
pavements of 105th Street. A fetor of mattresses and sleep seeped
out from the blocks of narrow-windowed houses. Along the gutters
garbagecans stank sourly. In the shadow of a doorway a man and
girl swayed tightly clamped in each other’s arms. Saying good night.
Ellen smiled happily. Greatest hit on Broadway. The words were an
elevator carrying her up dizzily, up into some stately height where
electric light signs crackled scarlet and gold and green, where were
bright roofgardens that smelled of orchids, and the slow throb of a
tango danced in a goldgreen dress with Stan while handclapping of
millions beat in gusts like a hailstorm about them. Greatest hit on
Broadway.
She was walking up the scaling white stairs. Before the door
marked Sunderland a feeling of sick disgust suddenly choked her.
She stood a long time her heart pounding with the key poised before
the lock. Then with a jerk she pushed the key in the lock and opened
the door.
“Strange fish, Jimmy, strange fish.” Herf and Ruth Prynne sat
giggling over plates of paté in the innermost corner of a clattery
lowceilinged restaurant. “All the ham actors in the world seem to eat
here.”
“All the ham actors in the world live up at Mrs. Sunderland’s.”
“What’s the latest news from the Balkans?”
“Balkans is right...”
Beyond Ruth’s black straw hat with red poppies round the crown
Jimmy looked at the packed tables where faces decomposed into a
graygreen blur. Two sallow hawkfaced waiters elbowed their way
through the seesawing chatter of talk. Ruth was looking at him with
dilated laughing eyes while she bit at a stalk of celery.
“Whee I feel so drunk,” she was spluttering. “It went straight to my
head.... Isnt it terrible?”
“Well what were these shocking goingson at 105th Street?”
“O you missed it. It was a shriek.... Everybody was out in the hall,
Mrs. Sunderland with her hair in curlpapers, and Cassie was crying
and Tony Hunter was standing in his door in pink pyjamas....”
“Who’s he?”
“Just a juvenile.... But Jimmy I must have told you about Tony
Hunter. Peculiar poissons Jimmy, peculiar poissons.”
Jimmy felt himself blushing, he bent over his plate. “Oh is that’s
what’s his trouble?” he said stiffly.
“Now you’re shocked, Jimmy; admit that you’re shocked.”
“No I’m not; go ahead, spill the dirt.”
“Oh Jimmy you’re such a shriek.... Well Cassie was sobbing and
the little dog was barking, and the invisible Costello was yelling
Police and fainting into the arms of an unknown man in a dress suit.
And Jojo was brandishing a revolver, a little nickel one, may have
been a waterpistol for all I know.... The only person who looked in
their right senses was Elaine Olgethorpe.... You know the titianhaired
vision that so impressed your infant mind.”
“Honestly Ruth my infant mind wasnt as impressed as all that.”
“Well at last the Ogle got tired of his big scene and cried out in
ringing tones, Disarm me or I shall kill this woman. And Tony Hunter
grabbed the pistol and took it into his room. Then Elaine Oglethorpe
made a little bow as if she were taking a curtaincall, said Well
goodnight everybody, and ducked into her room cool as a
cucumber.... Can you picture it?” Ruth suddenly lowered her voice,
“But everybody in the restaurant is listening to us.... And really I think
its very disgusting. But the worst is yet to come. After the Ogle had
banged on the door a couple of times and not gotten any answer he
went up to Tony and rolling his eyes like Forbes Robertson in Hamlet
put his arm round him and said Tony can a broken man crave
asylum in your room for the night.... Honestly I was just so shocked.”
“Is Oglethorpe that way too?”
Ruth nodded several times.
“Then why did she marry him?”
“Why that girl’d marry a trolleycar if she thought she could get
anything by it.”
“Ruth honestly I think you’ve got the whole thing sized up wrong.”
“Jimmy you’re too innocent to live. But let me finish the tragic
tale.... After those two had disappeared and locked the door behind
them the most awful powwow you’ve ever imagined went on in the
hall. Of course Cassie had been having hysterics all along just to
add to the excitement. When I came back from getting her some
sweet spirits of ammonia in the bathroom I found the court in
session. It was a shriek. Miss Costello wanted the Oglethorpes
thrown out at dawn and said she’d leave if they didn’t and Mrs.
Sunderland kept moaning that in thirty years of theatrical experience
she’d never seen a scene like that, and the man in the dress suit
who was Benjamin Arden ... you know he played a character part in
Honeysuckle Jim ... said he thought people like Tony Hunter ought to
be in jail. When I went to bed it was still going on. Do you wonder
that I slept late after all that and kept you waiting, poor child, an hour
in the Times Drug Store?”
Joe Harland stood in his hall bedroom with his hands in his
pockets staring at the picture of The Stag at Bay that hung crooked
in the middle of the verdegris wall that hemmed in the shaky iron
bed. His clawcold fingers moved restlessly in the bottoms of his
trousers pockets. He was talking aloud in a low even voice: “Oh, it’s
all luck you know, but that’s the last time I try the Merivales. Emily’d
have given it to me if it hadn’t been for that damned old tightwad. Got
a soft spot in her heart Emily has. But none of em seem to realize
that these things aren’t always a man’s own fault. It’s luck that’s all it
is, and Lord knows they used to eat out of my hand in the old days.”
His rising voice grated on his ears. He pressed his lips together.
You’re getting batty old man. He stepped back and forth in the
narrow space between the bed and the wall. Three steps. Three
steps. He went to the washstand and drank out of the pitcher. The
water tasted of rank wood and sloppails. He spat the last mouthful
back. I need a good tenderloin steak not water. He pounded his
clenched fists together. I got to do something. I got to do something.
He put on his overcoat to hide the rip in the seat of his trousers.
The frayed sleeves tickled his wrists. The dark stairs creaked. He
was so weak he kept grabbing the rail for fear of falling. The old
woman pounced out of a door on him in the lower hall. The rat had
squirmed sideways on her head as if trying to escape from under the
thin gray pompadour.
“Meester Harland how about you pay me tree veeks rent?”
“I’m just on my way out to cash a check now, Mrs. Budkowitz.
You’ve been so kind about this little matter.... And perhaps it will
interest you to know that I have the promise, no I may say the
certainty of a very good position beginning Monday.”
“I vait tree veeks ... I not vait any more.”
“But my dear lady I assure you upon my honor as a gentleman...”
Mrs. Budkowitz began to jerk her shoulders about. Her voice rose
thin and wailing like the sound of a peanut wagon. “You pay me tat
fifteen dollar or I rent te room to somebody else.”
“I’ll pay you this very evening.”
“Vat time?”
“Six o’clock.”
“Allright. Plis you give me key.”
“But I cant do that. Suppose I was late?”
“Tat’s vy I vant te key. I’m trough vit vaiting.”
“All right take the key..... I hope you understand that after this
insulting behavior it will be impossible for me to remain longer under
your roof.”
Mrs. Budkowitz laughed hoarsely. “Allright ven you pay me fifteen
dollar you can take avay your grip.” He put the two keys tied together
with string into her gray hand and slammed the door and strode
down the street.
At the corner of Third Avenue he stopped and stood shivering in
the hot afternoon sunlight, sweat running down behind his ears. He
was too weak to swear. Jagged oblongs of harsh sound broke one
after another over his head as an elevated past over. Trucks grated
by along the avenue raising a dust that smelled of gasoline and
trampled horsedung. The dead air stank of stores and lunchrooms.
He began walking slowly uptown towards Fourteenth Street. At a
corner a crinkly warm smell of cigars stopped him like a hand on his
shoulder. He stood a while looking in the little shop watching the slim
stained fingers of the cigarroller shuffle the brittle outside leaves of
tobacco. Remembering Romeo and Juliet Arguelles Morales he
sniffed deeply. The slick tearing of tinfoil, the careful slipping off of
the band, the tiny ivory penknife for the end that slit delicately as
flesh, the smell of the wax match, the long inhaling of bitter crinkled
deep sweet smoke. And now sir about this little matter of the new
Northern Pacific bond issue.... He clenched his fists in the clammy
pockets of his raincoat. Take my key would she the old harridan? I’ll
show her, damn it. Joe Harland may be down and out but he’s got
his pride yet.
He walked west along Fourteenth and without stopping to think
and lose his nerve went down into a small basement stationery
store, strode through unsteadily to the back, and stood swaying in
the doorway of a little office where sat at a rolltop desk a blueeyed
baldheaded fat man.
“Hello Felsius,” croaked Harland.
The fat man got to his feet bewildered. “God it aint Mr. Harland is
it?”
“Joe Harland himself Felsius ... er somewhat the worse for wear.”
A titter died in his throat.
“Well I’ll be ... Sit right down Mr. Harland.”
“Thank you Felsius.... Felsius I’m down and out.”
“It must be five years since I’ve seen you Mr. Harland.”
“A rotten five years it’s been for me.... I suppose its all luck. My
luck wont ever change on this earth again. Remember when I’d
come in from romping with the bulls and raise hell round the office?
A pretty good bonus I gave the office force that Christmas.”
“Indeed it was Mr. Harland.”
“Must be a dull life storekeeping after the Street.”
“More to my taste Mr. Harland, nobody to boss me here.”
“And how’s the wife and kids?”
“Fine, fine; the oldest boy’s just out of highschool.”
“That the one you named for me?”
Felsius nodded. His fingers fat as sausages were tapping
uneasily on the edge of the desk.
“I remember I thought I’d do something for that kid someday. It’s a
funny world.” Harland laughed feebly. He felt a shuddery blackness
stealing up behind his head. He clenched his hands round his knee
and contracted the muscles of his arms. “You see Felsius, it’s this
way.... I find myself for the moment in a rather embarrassing
situation financially.... You know how those things are.” Felsius was
staring straight ahead of him into the desk. Beads of sweat were
starting out of his bald head. “We all have our spell of bad luck dont
we? I want to float a very small loan for a few days, just a few
dollars, say twentyfive until certain combinations...”
“Mr. Harland I cant do it.” Felsius got to his feet. “I’m sorry but
principles is principles.... I’ve never borrowed or lent a cent in my life.
I’m sure you understand that....”
“All right, dont say any more.” Harland got meekly to his feet. “Let
me have a quarter.... I’m not so young as I was and I haven’t eaten
for two days,” he mumbled, looking down at his cracked shoes. He
put out his hand to steady himself by the desk.
Felsius moved back against the wall as if to ward off a blow. He
held out a fiftycent piece on thick trembling fingers. Harland took it,
turned without a word and stumbled out through the shop. Felsius
pulled a violet bordered handkerchief out of his pocket, mopped his
brow and turned to his letters again.
We take the liberty of calling the trade’s attention to four
new superfine Mullen products that we feel the greatest
confidence in recommending to our customers as a fresh and
absolutely unparalleled departure in the papermanufacturer’s
art ...
They came out of the movie blinking into bright pools of electric
glare. Cassie watched him stand with his feet apart and eyes
absorbed lighting a cigar. McAvoy was a stocky man with a beefy
neck; he wore a single-button coat, a checked vest and a dogshead
pin in his brocade necktie.
“That was a rotton show or I’m a Dutchman,” he was growling.
“But I loved the twavel pictures, Morris, those Swiss peasants
dancing; I felt I was wight there.”
“Damn hot in there.... I’d like a drink.”
“Now Morris you promised,” she whined.
“Oh I just meant sodawater, dont get nervous.” “Oh that’d be
lovely. I’d just love a soda.”
“Then we’ll go for a walk in the Park.”
She let the lashes fall over her eyes “Allwight Morris,” she
whispered without looking at him. She put her hand a little
tremulously through his arm.
“If only I wasn’t so goddam broke.”
“I dont care Morris.”
“I do by God.”
At Columbus Circle they went into a drugstore. Girls in green,
violet, pink summer dresses, young men in straw hats were three
deep along the sodafountain. She stood back and admiringly
watched him shove his way through. A man was leaning across the
table behind her talking to a girl; their faces were hidden by their
hatbrims.
“You juss tie that bull outside, I said to him, then I resigned.”
“You mean you were fired.”
“No honest I resigned before he had a chance.... He’s a stinker
d’you know it? I wont take no more of his lip. When I was walkin outa
the office he called after me.... Young man lemme tell ye sumpen.
You wont never make good till you learn who’s boss around this
town, till you learn that it aint you.”
Morris was holding out a vanilla icecream soda to her. “Dreamin’
again Cassie; anybody’d think you was a snowbird.” Smiling
brighteyed, she took the soda; he was drinking coca-cola. “Thank
you,” she said. She sucked with pouting lips at a spoonful of
icecream. “Ou Morris it’s delicious.”
The path between round splashes of arclights ducked into
darkness. Through slant lights and nudging shadows came a smell
of dusty leaves and trampled grass and occasionally a rift of cool
fragrance from damp earth under shrubberies.
“Oh I love it in the Park,” chanted Cassie. She stifled a belch.
“D’you know Morris I oughnt to have eaten that icecweam. It always
gives me gas.”
Morris said nothing. He put his arm round her and held her tight to
him so that his thigh rubbed against hers as they walked. “Well
Pierpont Morgan is dead.... I wish he’d left me a couple of million.”
“Oh Morris wouldn’t it be wonderful? Where’d we live? On Central
Park South.” They stood looking back at the glow of electric signs
that came from Columbus Circle. To the left they could see curtained
lights in the windows of a whitefaced apartmenthouse. He looked
stealthily to the right and left and then kissed her. She twisted her
mouth out from under his.
“Dont.... Somebody might see us,” she whispered breathless.
Inside something like a dynamo was whirring, whirring. “Morris I’ve
been saving it up to tell you. I think Goldweiser’s going to give me a
specialty bit in his next show. He’s stagemanager of the second
woad company and he’s got a lot of pull up at the office. He saw me
dance yesterday.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he’d fix it up for me to see the big boss Monday.... Oh but
Morris it’s not the sort of thing I want to do, it’s so vulgar and
howid.... I want to do such beautiful things. I feel I’ve got it in me,
something without a name fluttering inside, a bird of beautiful
plumage in a howid iron cage.”
“That’s the trouble with you, you’ll never make good, you’re too
upstage.” She looked up at him with streaming eyes that glistened in
the white powdery light of an arclamp.
“Oh don’t cry for God’s sake. I didnt mean anythin.”
“I’m not upstage with you Morris, am I?” She sniffed and wiped
her eyes.
“You are kinda, that’s what makes me sore. I like my little girl to
pet me an love me up a little. Hell Cassie life aint all beer an
sourkraut.” As they walked tightly pressed one to another they felt
rock under their feet. They were on a little hill of granite outcrop with
shrubbery all round. The lights from the buildings that hemmed in the
end of the Park shone in their faces. They stood apart holding each
other’s hands.
“Take that redhaired girl up at 105th Street.... I bet she wouldnt be
upstage when she was alone with a feller.”
“She’s a dweadful woman, she dont care what kind of a wep she
has.... Oh I think you’re howid.” She began to cry again.
He pulled her to him roughly, pressed her to him hard with his
spread hands on her back. She felt her legs tremble and go weak.
She was falling through colored shafts of faintness. His mouth
wouldnt let her catch her breath.
“Look out,” he whispered pulling himself away from her. They
walked on unsteadily down the path through the shrubbery. “I guess
it aint.”
“What Morris?”
“A cop. God it’s hell not havin anywhere to go. Cant we go to your
room?”
“But Morris they’ll all see us.”
“Who cares? They all do it in that house.”
“Oh I hate you when you talk that way.... Weal love is all pure and
lovely.... Morris you don’t love me.”
“Quit pickin on me cant you Cassie for a minute...? Goddam it’s
hell to be broke.”
They sat down on a bench in the light. Behind them automobiles
slithered with a constant hissing scuttle in two streams along the
roadway. She put her hand on his knee and he covered it with his big
stubby hand.
“Morris I feel that we are going to be very happy from now on, I
feel it. You’re going to get a fine job, I’m sure you are.”
“I aint so sure.... I’m not so young as I was Cassie. I aint got any
time to lose.”
“Why you’re terribly young, you’re only thirtyfive Morris.... And I
think that something wonderful is going to happen. I’m going to get a
chance to dance.”
“Why you ought to make more than that redhaired girl.”
“Elaine Oglethorpe.... She doesnt make so much. But I’m different
from her. I dont care about money; I want to live for my dancing.”
“I want money. Once you got money you can do what you like.”
“But Morris dont you believe that you can do anything if you just
want to hard enough? I believe that.” He edged his free arm round
her waist. Gradually she let her head fall on his shoulder. “Oh I dont
care,” she whispered with dry lips. Behind them limousines,
roadsters, touringcars, sedans, slithered along the roadway with
snaky glint of lights running in two smooth continuous streams.
The brown serge smelled of mothballs as she folded it. She

stooped to lay it in the trunk; a layer of tissuepaper below rustled
when she smoothed the wrinkles with her hand. The first violet
morning light outside the window was making the electriclight bulb
grow red like a sleepless eye. Ellen straightened herself suddenly
and stood stiff with her arms at her sides, her face flushed pink. “It’s
just too low,” she said. She spread a towel over the dresses and
piled brushes, a handmirror, slippers, chemises, boxes of powder in
pellmell on top of them. Then she slammed down the lid of the trunk,
locked it and put the key in her flat alligatorskin purse. She stood
looking dazedly about the room sucking a broken fingernail. Yellow
sunlight was obliquely drenching the chimneypots and cornices of
the houses across the street. She found herself staring at the white
E.T.O. at the end of her trunk. “It’s all too terribly disgustingly low,”
she said again. Then she grabbed a nailfile off the bureau and
scratched out the O. “Whee,” she whispered and snapped her
fingers. After she had put on a little bucketshaped black hat and a
veil, so that people wouldn’t see she’d been crying, she piled a lot of
books, Youth’s Encounter, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The Golden
Ass, Imaginary Conversations, Aphrodite, Chansons de Bilitis and
the Oxford Book of French Verse in a silk shawl and tied them
together.
There was a faint tapping at the door. “Who’s that,” she
whispered.
“It just me,” came a tearful voice.
Ellen unlocked the door. “Why Cassie what’s the matter?” Cassie
rubbed her wet face in the hollow of Ellen’s neck. “Oh Cassie you’re
gumming my veil.... What on earth’s the matter?”
“I’ve been up all night thinking how unhappy you must be.”
“But Cassie I’ve never been happier in my life.”
“Aren’t men dweadful?”
“No.... They are much nicer than women anyway.”
“Elaine I’ve got to tell you something. I know you dont care
anything about me but I’m going to tell you all the same.”
“Of course I care about you Cassie.... Dont be silly. But I’m busy
now.... Why dont you go back to bed and tell me later?”
“I’ve got to tell you now.” Ellen sat down on her trunk resignedly.
“Elaine I’ve bwoken it off with Morris.... Isn’t it tewible?” Cassie wiped
her eyes on the sleeve of her lavender dressinggown and sat down
beside Ellen on the trunk.
“Look dear,” said Ellen gently. “Suppose you wait just a second,
I’m going to telephone for a taxi. I want to make a getaway before
Jojo’s up. I’m sick of big scenes.” The hall smelled stuffily of sleep

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Management Information Systems

Managing the Digital Firm Canadian 5th

Databases and Information

1. What are the problems of managing data resources in a traditional file

OPENING CASE: CAN HP MINE SUCCESS FROM AN

Without a consistent view of the enterprise, HP senior executives struggled with

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 179

different databases. As with most organizations, departments were allowed to create,

6.1 ORGANIZING DATA IN A TRADITIONAL

Information is becoming as important a business resource as money, material, and

FILE ORGANIZATION TERMS AND CONCEPTS

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 180

An entity is basically the person, place, thing, or event on which we maintain

PROBLEMS WITH THE TRADITIONAL FILE

Data Redundancy and Inconsistency

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 181

Lack of Data Sharing and Availability

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 182

6.2 THE DATABASE APPROACH TO DATA

The key to establishing an effective, efficient database is to involve the entire

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 183

How a DBMS Solves the Problems of the Traditional File Environment

Operations of a Relational DBMS

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 184

Use these three basic operations to develop relational databases:

Hierarchical and Network DBMS

As with hierarchical structures, each relationship in a network database must have a

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 185

models. They are referred to as legacy systems—systems that continue to be used

CAPABILITIES OF DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Data definition language. Marketing looks at customer addresses differently from

Querying and Reporting

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 186

Data manipulation language. This is a formal language programmers use to manipulate

 Select Statement: Used to query data for specific information

SQL commands can be embedded in application programs written in many different

Normalization and Entity-Relationship Diagrams

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 187

6.3 USING DATABASES TO IMPROVE BUSINESS

What Is a Data Warehouse?

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 188

WINDOW ON MANAGEMENT: CANADIAN TIRE WAREHOUSES BUSINESS

TO THINK ABOUT QUESTIONS

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 189

MIS IN ACTION QUESTIONS

1. Go to www.cognos. ca and find information about Cognos’ business intelligence

Your business benefits

 Accelerate know-how across the organization, fully leveraging the functionality in

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 190

 Ensure success by using certified IBM Cognos Education experts to empower

Find the training that's right for you

 IBM Cognos 8 BI Curricula

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, MULTIDIMENSIONAL DATA

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 191

Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)

The types of information obtainable from data mining include:

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 192

DATABASES AND THE WEB

The benefits of using a Web browser to access a database are as follows:

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Canada Inc. 193

WINDOW ON TECHNOLOGY: THE DATABASES BEHIND