Review of Information Systems Introduction

• “Information systems” describe processes that transform data

into information, using digital technology, to enable
organizations to make better decisions
– requires inputs, outputs, processes, feedback
– composed of hardware, software, databases, infrastructure, people and
procedures
– classified into transaction processing systems, e-commerce, management
information systems and decision support systems
• Computer hardware encompasses all digital machinery used to
input, store, process and output data
– CPU + memory is computer’s “heart”, linked to input devices, output
devices, communications devices, secondary storage
– Computer systems include: network computers, PCs, workstations,
midrange computers, mainframes and supercomputers

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 Information Systems Introduction (cont’d)
• Computer software encompasses all programs that direct
hardware to perform specific tasks
– types include: operating system, utility, application software
– application software purchase options include: proprietary, off-the-shelf
and customized
– application software scope includes: personal, workgroup and enterprise
– applications are developed using languages
– software cost dominates organization IS total costs
• The Internet is a worldwide linkage of computers that
communicate
– Every host sends, receives and transfers messages and has a unique URL
– Internet services include e-mail, FTP/telnet, Usenet and telephony
– The World Wide Web allows organized access to documents anywhere on
the Internet
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Why Do We Focus on Relational Databases?
Databases are the lifeblood of any organization and answer the
“who/what/when/where/why” of operations.
Relational databases store large volumes of data with a minimum
of data duplication, inconsistency, or anomalies, and encode
key business practices
Relational database management systems address the collection,
storage and management of data in a relational databases, using:
– Tables
– Queries
– User interfaces
– Reports
– Application programs

Growth in Internet communications has increased the

importance of relational database design and applications
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 Heinz School Network Information
• Computer information:
– Nearly 100 computers in the clusters, nearly all running Windows NT;
one Mac.
– Nearly 100 more computers given to staff, faculty, Ph.D students, etc.
Staff and faculty machines generally run Windows 95; Ph.D student
machines run Windows NT
• Server information:
– Five servers: Sparc and NT servers for websites, three-server setup for
our Heinz domain controllers (one primary, two backups). A few stand-
alone servers as well.
– All servers will eventually run on Windows NT Server.
• Novell vs. NT:
– Novell considered more robust, more stable and less able to be hacked
than Windows NT
– Corporate purchasing decisions are dominating technical considerations
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 The Wide World of Heinz
• The computing world at Heinz is divided into two:
– The web server (domain www.heinz.cmu.edu) called Howland: a Sun
Solaris machine running Unix
– Howland is connected to the Andrew file system
– the PC world (domain HEINZ), in which three NT servers connect all
faculty, staff and student computers, web/database/Exchange servers
– HEINZ domain is part of the CMU “meta-domain”

CMU
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu “Unix” “NT” NT
“meta-
domain”
Server 1
http://www.heinz.cmu.edu
ia FTP
AFS ic a te v NT NT
o mmun Server 2 Server 3
Howland C
(Heinz School
webserver)
Faculty, student, staff, servers
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Overview of the Relational Database Model
Relational databases can store any type of data:
– IDs
– Codes
– Memos
– Numerical Values
– Hypertext Links
– Images/Sounds
– Date/Time
– Spatial attributes
– OLE

All organizations use these types of data in their operations,

but fewer use databases to define relationships between data

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 Relational Database Example: Service
Delivery
• Aardvark Towing , Inc.
– Mission: Tow vehicles from pick up sites to
destinations, charging by the mile towed.
– Resources: 5 trucks, 20 drivers, radio dispatch, police
scanners
– Problems: Need to automate records, beat out the
competition
– Solution: Database, change from random to targeted
truck locations

What data does Aardvark need?

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 First Step in Relational Database
Design: Identify Entity Sets
Entity Set: Collection of similar persons, things, places, events,
concepts, or linkages
Potential Entity Sets:
• TRUCK

• DRIVER

• VEHICLE

• TOW

• VEHICLE DRIVER

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 Second Step: Identify Primary Keys for
Entity Sets
Primary Key: Has a unique value for every entity
Candidate Key: Alternate primary key

Entity Sets Candidate Keys

TRUCK Truck#, Truck VIN, Truck Plate#
DRIVER Employee#, SSN, Last Name, First Name
VEHICLE Vehicle VIN, Vehicle Plate#, Vehicle State
TOW Tow#
VEHICLE DRIVER Driver#, Driver Name, Driver Operator#, Driver State

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 Third Step: Identify Attributes of Entity
Sets
Attribute: Characteristic or property of entities

Entity Sets Attributes

TRUCK Truck Make And Model Code, Truck Year
DRIVER Address, Phone, DOB
VEHICLE Vehicle Make And Model, Vehicle Type, Vehicle
Year, Insurance Co.
TOW Tow Date, Time, Pick Up Address, Destination
Address, Miles
VEHICLE DRIVER Driver Address, Driver Phone, Owner

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 Data Example: tblTruck
Truck Truck VIN Truck Plate # Truck Make And Truck
Model Code Year
1 E45889J BBR 667 Dodge-Truck 1994
2 186DK1 GRT 554 Ford-Truck 1992
3 MK8765 ACS 923 Dodge-Truck 1992
4 K78753 NJK 345 Dodge-Truck 1991
5 7975433 BLO 903 Ford-Truck 1990

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 Next Step: Design Entity-Relationship
Diagram
An entity-relationship (E-R) diagram is a blueprint of the
relational database. It defines associations between and
within entities that capture: connectivity, cardinality,
functional relationship and others.
(performs a) (is used in a)

EMPLOYEE
1 M M 1 VEHICLE
TOW

M M
(drives a)
1
(is used for a)
1
TRUCK VEHICLE
DRIVER

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 Relationships Between Tables - Example
Truck Truck VIN Truck Plate # Truck Make And Truck
Model Code Year
1 E45889J BBR 667 Dodge-Truck 1994
2 186DK1 GRT 554 Ford-Truck 1992
tblTruck 3 MK8765 ACS 923 Dodge-Truck 1992
4 K78753 NJK 345 Dodge-Truck 1991
5 7975433 BLO 903 Ford-Truck 1990

Tow # Truck Employee# Truck VIN Tow Date Pick Up Address

1 2 1 5U8V4S2345 7/2/97 77 West Deer LN
2 5 4 665RT7YH76CV 7/4/97 510 5th AV
tblTow 3 1 3 77YB43F098 7/12/97 905 Main St
4 5 4 BF76TY761 7/12/97 612 South Bend
RD
5 3 1 CS76RTT9867 7/13/97 100 Gatling LN
6 1 1 M76ER56CX544 7/16/97 77 East Landing ST
7 5 4 M76ER56CX544 7/19/97 771 Ridgeway AV

One truck can participate in many tows;

Truck is a primary key for tblTruck and a foreign key for tblTow
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Last Step: Full Relational Database Model
tblTruck (Truck#, Truck VIN, Truck Plate#,
Truck Make And Model Code, Truck Year)
tblEmployee (Employee#, Social Security Number, First Name,
Last Name, Address, Phone, DOB)
tblVehicle (Vehicle VIN, Driver#@, Vehicle Plate#,
Vehicle State, Vehicle Make and Model Code,
Vehicle Type, Vehicle Year, Insurance Co.)
tblTow (Tow#, Truck#@, Employee#@, Vehicle VIN@, Date Towed,
Time Towed, Pick Up Address, Pick Up Zone,
Destination Address, Distance Towed (Miles), Comment)
tblVehicleDriver (Driver#, First Name, Last Name, Operator#,
Street Address, City, Zip Code, State,
Phone, Owner? )
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What Else Is Needed to Create a RDBMS
for Aardvark Towing, Inc.?
• Build case for relational database management system
• Learn business rules, data sources
• Define and populate tables using a relational database
software
• Implement E-R diagram relationships
• Build forms for data entry
• Display spatial data in GIS
• Implement spatial and aspatial queries
• Design summary reports
• Implementation and testing
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