Page 271 -

270 Part Two Information Technology Infrastructure

• List and describe the three operations of a • Describe the capabilities of online analytical
relational DBMS. processing (OLAP).
• Explain why non-relational databases are • Define data mining, describing how it differs
useful. from OLAP and the types of information it
3. What are some important database design provides.
principles? • Explain how text mining and Web mining
• Define and describe normalization and referen- differ from conventional data mining.
tial integrity and explain how they contribute to • Describe how users can access information
a well-designed relational database. from a company’s internal databases through
• Define and describe an entity-relationship dia- the Web.
gram and explain its role in database design.
5. Why are information policy, data administration,
4. What are the principal tools and technologies and data quality assurance essential for managing
for accessing information from databases to the firm’s data resources?
improve business performance and decision
• Describe the roles of information policy and
making?
data administration in information
• Define big data and describe the technologies management.
for managing and analyzing it.
• Explain why data quality audits and data
• List and describe the components of a cleansing are essential.
contemporary business intelligence
infrastructure.

Discussion Questions

1. It has been said there is no bad data, just bad 3. What are the consequences of an organization
management. Discuss the implications of this not having an information policy?
statement.
2. To what extent should end users be involved in
the selection of a database management system
and database design?

Hands-On MIS Projects

The projects in this section give you hands-on experience in analyzing data quality problems, establish-
ing company-wide data standards, creating a database for inventory management, and using the Web to
search online databases for overseas business resources.
Management Decision Problems

1. Emerson Process Management, a global supplier of measurement, analytical, and monitoring instru-
ments and services based in Austin, Texas, had a new data warehouse designed for analyzing customer
activity to improve service and marketing. However, the data warehouse was full of inaccurate and
redundant data. The data in the warehouse came from numerous transaction processing systems in
Europe, Asia, and other locations around the world. The team that designed the warehouse had
assumed that sales groups in all these areas would enter customer names and addresses the same way.
In fact, companies in different countries were using multiple ways of entering quote, billing, shipping,

MIS_13_Ch_06 Global.indd 270 1/17/2013 2:27:44 PM