Educational organisations need accurate, relevant and timely information for effective decision making. This means data must be collected processed and stored so as to generate information for decision making by the principal, senior assistants, panitia, heads of departments and teachers. The information produced must not only be reliable and timely but also accessible.
In other words information has to be propelry processed and stored using devices such as hard disk, optical disk (CD-ROMs, DVDs), i.e. information stored in the form of electronic files or databases.
What is a Database?
A database is a collection of logically related data designed to meet the information needs of an organisation. Yhe database is now such an integral part of our day-to-day life that often we are not aware we are using one. When you purchase goods from your local supermarket, it is likely that a database will be accessed. The checkout assistant will run a bar code reader over each of your purchases. This will be linked to a database application programme which uses the bar code to find out the price of the item from a products database. The programme than reduces the number of such items in stock and rings the price up on the till if the reorder level falls below a threshold, the system may automatically plac an order to obtain more stock of that item.
What is the advantage of a Database?
A computer-based database has the following advantages:
1) Reduces data redundancy
Traditionally each department in an organisation has its own files and this often redulted in data redundacny and in wasted storage. With an integrated or central database, the data is stored inone place and all departments can access the data to perform their relevant tasks.
2) Avoid data inconsistency
If each department updates its own files, there may be data inconsistency as the same information may updated (or update incorrectly) in one department but not in another department. A central database will eliminate this data inconsistency.
3) Permits data sharing
A database allows vaiours applications or departments to share data and allows new applications to make use of the available information immediately.
4) Maintians data independence
A database allows data to be independent and allows data to be ported to other applications and platforms. This eliminates the need to re-enter data and this important as it provides flexibility.
5) Controlling access
With all the data in one large database, access to the database can be controlled, i.e. different users can be given different veles of access priveleges and this ensure only authorised individuals have access.
Databse Concepts
a) Records and Fields
A record is a collection of related fields about an entity. For example, a student record may contain information such as ID, name, address, age and gender.
ID Name Address Gender Age
001 Ali Awang 12 Jalan Besar, L 14
47500 Petaling Jaya
The above record has 5 fields - ID, name, address, gender and age. The ID has the value "OO1" and the name field has the value "Ali Awang" and so on.
Files
A file is simply a collection of related records about an activity and is usually displayed in the form of a table. For example, a student file may contain the personal particulars of all the students in a class.
Educational organisations need accurate, relevant and timely information for effective decision making. This means data must be collected processed and stored so as to generate information for decision making by the principal, senior assistants, panitia, heads of departments and teachers. The information produced must not only be reliable and timely but also accessible.