TS5352 � Enterprise Database Systems - DOC - DOC

							                          TS5352 – Enterprise Database Systems
                                    Mark Lindquist
                                   mrkcl@msn.com
                                  Unit 1 Discussion 2

July 14th, 2009
Data as an Organizational Asset:

Data are stored representations of objects or events that have meaning in the user’s
environment. Data, arranged in a certain way as to increase the user’s knowledge, is
called information. An organization, in order to produce a competitive advantage, must
use this data and subsequent information in a way that meets the goals and objectives of
the organization. This relationship between data and organizational goals is gaining
widespread consensus throughout today’s business environment. It has become clear that
data, used throughout the organization, are the element(s) that most importantly supports
the goals of the organization.

For instance Amazon’s website, an ecommerce website, uses data such as the resulting
order of a book to produce profits and further a competitive advantage by offering more
products to sell. Data in this respect thus supports the goals of Amazon, to sell products.
In fact the whole structure of Amazon is to sell products, to utilize the related data in
doing so, to produce profits.

In today’s organizational environment this use of data, either through selling products or
other company uses such as customer relationship management or tracking financial
records or the numerous other uses of data within an organization i.e. data warehousing
shows that an organization’s main asset is its data. Manipulated in some way to produce
information that is beneficial to the organization’s goals, data becomes the key ingredient
in an organization’s success.

As data has become the deciding factor in an organization’s success it becomes necessary
then to manage this data through a data management program. Within an organization I
would –

      Set up an overall Data Management Program to oversee the activities needed to
       keep the data managed.
      The use of data within an organization requires a Database Management System
       (DBMS) which would come under the control of the information system’s
       architecture.
      A committee to oversee the relevance of data (keeping the data current and useful
       to the organization) would be set up.
      Stemming from this committee would be managers that oversee the data, making
       sure the data is independent, that it reduces data dependencies, improves data
       sharing, improves data quality, and other data characteristics.
It is difficult for me to give an example of an organization that uses data in this way as I
have been a freelance web designer working from my house for ten years but I can see
the importance of data in many organizations from my everyday activities. Within an
organization’s many department’s data and the manipulation of it have become as
ubiquitous in society today as driving a car. Everywhere you go data is entered and
accessed from computers and has become the catalyst that determines an organization’s
future success.

I know, although a small company, that my web design company, with which I am no
longer involved, treats data and manage it similar to that described in the list above.
Special tasks are created that track data and keep it up to date and beneficial to the
company. In essence data at this small company was the element that ran the company
above anything else. Yes data has become an organization’s asset.


References:

Hoffer J. Prescott M. Topi H. (2009). (Modern Database Management-ninth edition)
Chapter 1.