Database Management
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>> Hi there. Welcome to
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our next lesson, database management.
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In this lesson, we'll cover what database management is,
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some of the advantages of database management system,
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the organizational aspects of DBMS,
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the different types of DBMS,
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and the database audits.
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Let's begin. Database management systems or
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DBMS assist in the organization control
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and use of data by application programs.
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You'll see a lot of
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organizations are essentially run by databases,
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and the database is not
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the application that necessarily the user uses,
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but the structure and the way that the data
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is actually managed and maintained.
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Basically, the DBMS system controls access
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to all levels of the data for the user and the programs.
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Programs are written on top of the database
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to access the valuable data we contain within.
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Some of the advantages.
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As I was just saying,
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in data independence of the application,
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the data exists separately to
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the application that uses it or
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applications that use it,
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that gives a lot of flexibility in terms of
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how the data is manipulated and used.
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There's transaction processing efficiency,
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so the database system is designed to actually
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manage the data and ensure
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that these processes such as updates,
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reads, deletes are done effectively.
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It's reduction of data redundancy.
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As we'll learn in the next few slides,
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there are mechanisms within
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database management systems to
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ensure that there's minimal duplication of data.
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There's also consistency across the data,
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so there are mechanisms to ensure that
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the data is managed and
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maintained in the way it needs to be.
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Minimized cost through data sharing.
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Many applications can access
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the same data with different views and
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different approaches so that there's
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no need to necessarily recreate an entire database,
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just build an application on top of it.
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There's an enforcement of standards.
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The data is maintained under
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a given control of legislation or protocols.
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Data security. DBMSs contain
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a ability to lock down
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the data and control it at a very granular level.
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A database management systems will maintain integrity,
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and also allow ad-hoc access to
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data such as SQL queries, for example.
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A couple of key terms with the DBMS organizations.
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We have the data definition language or the DDL,
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and this defines the data stored in the database and
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the relationships between
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different proportions of that data.
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It's basically the way that the data is
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structured and interrelates with one another.
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The data dictionary stores information
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about the internal structure of the database.
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In essence, the data dictionary
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is a database about the database.
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It defines exactly how the database is made,
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and how the data is actually defined.
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We have the data manipulation language
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or the DML which is used to insert,
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delete or update data in the DBMS.
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A common example of that is Microsoft OS,
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structured query language, or SQL.
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Now relational database management systems are
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probably the more common ones that you'll come across.
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Basically, relational database management system or
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RDBMS consist of one or more tables.
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The table contains different data,
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so broken up into topics for example.
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An example could be names and
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addresses of customers in one table,
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and customer orders can be
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maintained in a separate table.
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There is one unique table field called the primary key.
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This ensures that there is no duplication.
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For example, in a customer database,
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the primary key could be the phone number.
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We know that that is likely to be
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a unique field across all the different customers,
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and it's a way to ensure that
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there's no duplication of data.
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We also have multiple indexes,
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so different ways to search and manage the data,
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and also foreign keys.
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They can be foreign keys which are
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unique table fields or primary keys
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from separate table databases.
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RDBMS security.
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We have access control,
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encryption, and audit logging.
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Pretty much the controls that you would expect
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in any modern IT system.
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NoSQL.
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Well, this has appeared in the last few years,
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probably the last 10 years now,
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it's a non-relational database,
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and it supports large and disparate data sets
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across multiple systems.
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You would be looking at this type of
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thing for big data applications.
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Areas where there is
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large amounts of data that needs to be analyzed,
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scientific data, for example,
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is a key, and it's essentially used when
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relational databases are not an optimal choice.
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It's very much a special needs database
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that basically is determined
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based upon the data requirements.
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Object database management systems.
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This is another type of database management system,
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but to be honest, in my career,
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I certainly have never come across one of these before.
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Basically, it's information represented as objects.
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It's used in object-orientated programming language,
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and it's basically used for data that doesn't
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require a static already predefined attributes.
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You're not likely to see these widely used commercially,
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but certainly be aware that
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this type of database is another option that exists.
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Hierarchical database management systems.
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This is a data model that's
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driven in a top-down hierarchy.
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We have paired records,
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and one or more child records underneath those records.
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It's basically a dominant product in
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use today for IBM's, IMS,
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and a good example of this would
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be your Windows computer registry,
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where you have top-level keys and you have
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sub-child keys contained within
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the written registry database.
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As an auditor, these are
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the things that you need to have a look for.
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You could be doing an audit on the
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logical or the physical schema,
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so this would be basically
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an audit or the actual structure of the database itself.
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Access time reports, so auditing
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who is accessing what information, where and when.
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Database security controls are obviously
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an area of access or area of audit.
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Interfaces with other software.
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As I mentioned earlier,
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there's a separation between
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the application and the database itself,
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and so you may have a single database set
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of data being accessed by
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a large number of applications within an organization.
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The interfaces with these applications,
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the other software, might
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need to be the subject of an audit.
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Obvious one would be backup and disaster recovery,
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given that organizations are very data-driven,
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this is a key thing that needs to be audited.
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Database supported information system controls,
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so how well is the database
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supported within the organization's IT system?
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IT Asset Management.
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Data being a valuable asset,
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it needs to be managed pretty much as such,
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just like any physical asset would.
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That's the end of our lesson.
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We've talked a little bit about database management,
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some of the advantages of using this type of system,
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the organization of databases,
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different types of database management systems,
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and what to look out for as an auditor.
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That's the end of our lesson.
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I hope you enjoyed it. I look
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forward to seeing you at the next one.
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