DATABASE CONCEPTS

AND APPLICATIONS IN
HRIS
CHAPTER CONTENT

1. Data, Information and Knowledge

2. Database Management Systems
3. Key Relational Database Terminology
4. Introduction to MS Access

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 1.
DATA, INFORMATION AND
KNOWLEDGE

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▷ Data: Data represents the facts or transactions
that occur on a daily basis.

▷ Information: Information is the interpretation of

data. An interpretation of data always has some
goal or context. Sometimes the data themselves
can be informative without additional
transformation.

▷ Knowledge: Knowledge consists of the

procedures one follows to use data and
information to make decisions and conduct
business.
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 2.
DATABASE
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
(DBMS)

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DBMS
A DBMS is a set of software applications combined with a
database. A DBMS electronically allows organizations to
effectively manage data.

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Managing data means:

▷ Identifying the data needed to create information that

is necessary to make HR decisions

▷ Defining the characteristics of that data (e.g., number

data versus character data)

▷ Organizing that data in a way that promotes

integration, data quality, and accessibility

▷ Restricting access to data to the right personnel

By performing these functions effectively, a DBMS turns

data into an organizational resource
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BUT WHAT IS A
DATABSE?

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DATABASE

A set of organized data.

A permanent, self-descriptive store of

interrelated data items that can be
processed by one or more business
applications.

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Self-descriptive means that the database knows
about the characteristics of the data (e.g., the
length of an employees last name can be no
greater than 30 characters)

Interrelated means that there are links

between different sets of data in the database
(e.g., there can be links between HR data and
other data in the organization)

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MAIN FUNCTIONS
OF A DBMS

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1. Create the database

2. Insert, read, update and delete database data

3. Maintain data integrity/accuracy and security

4. Prevent data from being lost by providing

backup and recovery capabilities

5. Allow data to retrieved quickly by the many

users in the organization

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HOW DATABASEs
AND DBMSs
WORK?

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Databases and DBMSs work in
conjunction with business applications
(e.g., transaction processing system TPS)
to make organizations run smoothly

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 Payroll
Program

Payroll Data Recruitment

Program
Recruitment DBMS
Data
Workplace
Program
Workplace
Profiles Data
Performance
Performance
Program
Data

Application
Database Interface Users
Programs
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The business application must talk
both to the user sitting at a computer
terminal in a easy-to-use manner and
to the database in a way that is very
efficient

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EARLY DBMSs

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Early DBMSs were simply data
processing systems that performed
record-keeping functions that
mimicked existing manual procedures.

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Nature of Similarity
Paper Filing Early DBMS
Systems
A fining cabinet and a Individual computer files,
drawer for each type of typically one for each
business document type of document

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SHORTCOMINGS

▷ Data Redundancy: (e.g., an employee’s name

and phone number could be stored in many
different files)

▷ Poor Data Control: Access to a file means

access to all the data in that file, which may
not be desirable

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SHORTCOMINGS

▷ Inadequate Data Manipulation

Capabilities: It is difficult to combine
the data across files and to easily
update and to add new data

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SHORTCOMINGS
▷ Excessive Programming Effort: Any change in
the structure of data (e.g., adding a new field
such as email ID) required extensive change in
the software program that accessed the data

▷ Difficulty in converting data into information

▷ Difficulty in Sharing Data Across Applications

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The advent of relational DBMSs
addressed the many problems
associated with early DBMSs

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RELATIONAL
DBMSs

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In 1970, E. F. Codd introduced the
notion that rather than programming
relationships between data based on
physical location, the information
needed to integrate data should
reside within the data.

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Included in Codd’s proposal

▷ Data be stored in “tables” where each

table represented one “entity” in the real
world and the information associated
with the “entity” should be stored only in
that table

Such an idea removed problems with

redundancies

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For example

An organization could have an employee

table (i.e., employee is an entity), and so
information about employees, such as
name, address, phone number, email ID and
date of hire, would only be stored in that
table

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These tables are called relations and, from
this model came the name “relational
database”

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In relational database systems,
retrieval of data from different tables
was based on logical relationships
built into the table structures.

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Most significant difference between
a file-based system and a relation
database system is that data is easily
shared.

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There are three types of data
sharing
▷ Data sharing between different functions

▷ Data sharing between different levels

▷ Data sharing across geographically dispersed

locations

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DATA SHARING BETWEEN
DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS

Relational database facilitate data

integration across different functions such
that each function might have access not
only to its own data but also to other data
as well.

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DATA SHARING BETWEEN
DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS

As a result, relational database technology

increased the feasibility and popularity of
integrated business applications. These
integrated applications are referred to as
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
business applications.

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DATA SHARING BETWEEN
DIFFERENT LEVELS

Operational employees, managers, and

executives also share data but have different
objectives, and thus, different information
needs.

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DATA SHARING BETWEEN
DIFFERENT LEVELS

Operational employees focus on data-

processing transactions

Managers are more interested in summary data

Executives rely on information at an even more

aggregated level to evaluate trends and develop
business strategies

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DATA SHARING BETWEEN
DIFFERENT LEVELS
Software systems evolved to enable three different
levels of use in relational DBMS:

▷ Operational Level: Transaction Processing Systems

(TPS)

▷ Management Level: Management Reporting Systems

(MRS)

▷ Executive Level: Decision Support Systems (DSS)

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Basic Characteristics of Transaction
Processing Systems (TPS)

▷ A focus on data storage, processing, and

flows at the daily operational level

▷ Efficient transaction processing

▷ Summary reports for management

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Basic Characteristics of Management
Reporting Systems (MRS)

▷ Information aimed at middle managers

▷ Integration of TPS data by business

functions such as manufacturing,
marketing and HR

▷ Inquiry and report generation from the

database

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Basic Characteristics of Decision Support
Systems (DSS)

▷ Assist senior managers in making business

decisions

▷ Information derived from DSS: data

mining, data analytics, business
intelligence (BI)

▷ Relies on Data warehouses

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DATA SHARING ACROSS
LOCATIONS
Two issues in data sharing across locations:

1. Managing day/time of transaction

2. Determining where to store various

components of the business applications,
DBMS and database

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DATA SHARING ACROSS
LOCATIONS

To deal with day/time, developers of DBMSs

such as Oracle, MS SQL Server, and IBM
DB2 are building the capability to deal with
recording dates and times according to the
time zone in which the data originated

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DATA SHARING ACROSS
LOCATIONS

Companies with many locations and telecommuters

must develop a communications infrastructure to
facilitate data sharing over a wide geographical area.

The advent of internet and a standardized

communication protocol made centralized database
structure and data sharing feasible.

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 3.
KEY RELATIONAL
DATABASE
TERMINOLOGY

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1. Entities and Attributes:

Entities are things such as employees, jobs,

promotion transactions, positions in
companies and so on.

A company must identify its business

operations and all the entities that it believes
are important

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1. Entities and Attributes:

Each of these entities is made up of

“attributes”

An attribute is a characteristic of the entity.

Example
Entity: Employee
Attribute: Name, Address, Phone Number
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1. Entities and Attributes:

Attributes also have characteristics such as

 The type of data (e.g., date, number, or

character)

 Size (e.g., the largest number that can be

stored, or the number of characters)

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2. Tables:

Tables are used to store information about

entities.

Each table in a database contains columns

and rows.

Each column contains data that represent an

attribute of the entity. Each row represent
an “instance” of the entity.
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3. Relationships, Primary Keys and
Foreign Keys:

Relationships are created by having the

same attribute in each table with the
value of the attribute being the same in
each table.

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3. Relationships, Primary Keys and Foreign
Keys:

Each table has an attribute that has unique

values for each instance of the entity. These
unique attributes can be used as a table’s
primary key.

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3. Relationships, Primary Keys and Foreign
Keys:

When a primary key from one table is stored

as an attribute of another table, the attribute
is called a foreign key.

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4. Queries:

A query is structured way of posing your

question to the database in a language that
the DBMS can understand.

Each time a query is executed it searches

through the current table records and lists
the results.

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Three different kinds of queries:

▷ Select Query: Select queries allows you to

ask a question based on one or more
tables in a database. These queries can be
quite general or quite specific.

▷ Action Query: Action query performs an

action (e.g., updating data, deleting
records, inserting new records) on the
table on which it is based

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Three different kinds of queries:

▷ Cross-tab Query: Cross-tab query

Performs calculations on the various
values of the field and displays the result
in a datasheet

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4. Forms:

A form is an object in a database that you can

use to maintain, view, and print records in a
database in a more “structured” manner.

5. Report:

A report is a formatted presentation of data

from a table, multiple tables, or queries that is
created as a printout or to be viewed on screen.

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 4.
INTRODUCTION TO MS
ACCESS

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Let’s try to do design relational
database, run some queries, create a
few forms and reports using MS
Access in the next class!

Don’t forget to bring your laptops.

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