Datbase management system v. Traditional file processing system

University Degree Mathematical and Computer Sciences

Describe the advantages of database management systems over traditional file processing systems

Database management system is “a collection of programs that enables you to store, modify, and extract information from a database” (Webopedia 2010). It is a fast and efficient method to store and retrieve information (Ezine@rticle 2005). On the other hand, for the traditional file processing system, “each user defines and implements the needed files for a specific application to run” (Ezine@rticle 2005). The two differ greatly. Therefore, we will try to investigate through this essay the advantages of database management systems over traditional file processing systems.

Traditional file processing systems “are still widely used today” (Hoffer, Prescott & McFadden 2002). However, the new complex business application have made it evident that the system had “a number of shortcomings and limitations” (Hoffer, Prescott et al. 2002). That is because in most organizations, “data files and systems tended to grow independently without a company-wide plan” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). Each department in the organisation, such as accounting, marketing or human resources, “all developed their own systems and data files” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). Therefore, as we can see in fig.1, the process leads to the creation of many master files that are maintained and operated by separate department (Laudon and Laudon 2006). As this goes on, the organisation is slowly saddled with hundreds of programs and application that are very difficult to maintain and manage (Laudon and Laudon 2006). This leads us to a few problems with the traditional file environment. They include data redundancy and inconsistency, program-data dependence, lack of flexibility, poor security and a lack of data sharing and availability. As we can see, the traditional file processing system is highly outdated. The database management system (DBMS) is an appropriate alternative for the dynamic organisations of our globalised world.

The database is “a collection of data organized to serve many applications efficiently by centralizing the data” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). A data model would comprise of three components. It would consist of a structural part (a set of rules to construct the database), a manipulative part (that would define the types of operation that can done on the data) and a set of integrity rules (that will ensure the data is accurate) (Goyal 2008). The DBMS “enables users to define, create, maintain and control access to the database” (Connolly and Begg 2003). This approach will therefore emphasize “integration and sharing of data” (Hoffer, Prescott et al. 2002) within the organisation. This allows the companies to use that easy-sharing of information as a competitive weapon (Hoffer, Prescott et al. 2002).

As we can see, the DBMS seems to be a lot more efficient than the traditional file system. To support this hypothesis, we will now concentrate on four important advantages of the DBMS over traditional file processing systems.

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First of all, one of the great advantages of DBMS is the control of data redundancy. As we’ve discussed previously, “traditional file-based systems waste space by storing the same information in more than one file” (Connolly and Begg 2003). The DBMS will however make sure that no multiple copies are stored. It will attempt to remove the redundancies by “integrating the files” (Connolly and Begg 2003) and recording the data in only one place in the database. Therefore, we will have a minimum amount of “isolated files in which the same data are repeated” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). If the traditional file system was used, we would be wasting storage space (because of the duplicated data) and computer resources would therefore be needlessly used (Goyal 2008). The storage space is very important in any organisation because the amount of data stored increases every year. Aberdeen Group, recently surveyed 173 organisations and 99% of them reported that their data’s volume was increasing (Trembly 2010). It was reported that on average, the overall data volume growth rate exceeded 30% per year (Trembly 2010). With 10,000 files, you would end up with 138,000 files after just 10 years if the information increases at an annual rate of 30%. That means you will need almost 14 times more storage space. If the storing of data is not controlled and managed properly, it can be very costly to the organisation. The DBMS has had a positive impact in solving the problem, by integrating the files in order to store them in one place, therefore, minimal storage space is wasted. This is a definitive advantage it has over the traditional file processing system.

Another advantage of the DBMS is the consistency of the data. As we’ve seen in the previous paragraph, the DBMS will attempt “eliminating or controlling redundancy” (Connolly and Begg 2003). Although the DBMS may not eliminate data redundancy completely, it will eliminate data inconsistency because “the DBMS can help the organisation to ensure that every occurrence of redundant data has the same values” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). This will help “reducing the risk of inconsistencies occurring” (Connolly and Begg 2003). With the traditional file systems, information is duplicated throughout the system without any real control (Goyal 2008). By centralizing the database, inconsistency will be removed by controlling the duplicated files. This means that “changes once made are reflected to all the tables where a particulars field is stored” (Goyal 2008). This automatic update is known as “propagating updates” (Goyal 2008). As an example, we can look at the marketing department of an organisation. For the marketing department, data consistency is very important. The information kept in the database would be used “to achieve significant business benefits by supporting and improving performance across the whole spectrum of sales and marketing techniques” (BNET 2009) . To understand the market, your customer and/or competitor, data needs to be consistent across the whole database. The DBMS will make it easier than the traditional file system to keep the data consistent. Again, the DBMS has got a real advantage over the traditional file processing system.

The sharing of available data is another important aspect of an information system. With the traditional file processing system, there is a lack of data sharing and availability. That is because “pieces of information in different files and different parts of the organisation cannot be related to one another” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). The information cannot flow freely throughout the organisation. Moreover, users may not trust the accuracy of their data if they find they find different values of the same piece of information in two different systems (Laudon and Laudon 2006). Since “the database belongs to the whole organisation and can be shared by all authorized users” (Connolly and Begg 2003), the data can easily be shared. Mike Fitzgerald, Vice President of Standard Motor Products, has said in an interview that the sharing of data, is vital within any organisation. People need to evolve and construct their organisation’s system for easy sharing of information. As mentioned by Mike Fitzgerald, the benefits of data sharing include better management of inventory, faster growing of the sales, maximum margin opportunities or even reacting faster to changes in the industry (Network 2009). Sharing of information is essential to any modern organisations. The DBMS has the advantage over the traditional file processing system of offering this capacity.

Finally, an important aspect of the DBMS is the improved security by protecting “the database from unauthorized users” (Connolly and Begg 2003). By centralizing the data with the DBMS, it is easier to control who has access to what parts of the database (Goyal 2008). This type of security “may take the form of usernames and passwords” (Connolly and Begg 2003). This will allow giving employees different types of privileges. For example, the clerk of a bank may only be authorized to see the name of the customers with a loan while an executive will have access to detailed information. It is important to keep a good hierarchy within the organisation. It is even more important to keep confidential information from competitors. With the traditional file system, there is “little control or management of the data” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). This means that the managers have no real control of knowing “who is accessing or even making changes to the organisation’s data” (Laudon and Laudon 2006).

We have seen the DBMS offers solutions for the problems of the traditional file processing system. We will now investigate the additional capabilities of the DBMS. For large organisation, “special capabilities and tools are required for analyzing vast quantities of data and for accessing data from multiple systems” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). This can only be done using the DBMS that offers capabilities including data warehousing, online analytical processing or data mining.

First of all, data warehouse is “a database that stores current and historical data of potential interest to decision makers throughout the company” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). With the traditional file system, it would be difficult to locate the required information. However, with the help of data warehouse we can consolidate and standardize information “from different operational databases so that the information can be used across the enterprise for management analysis and decision making” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). This will help the organisation “run the business more efficiently” (Laudon and Laudon 2006).

After having organized the data in a data warehouse, we are able to perform further analysis (Laudon and Laudon 2006). The series of tools available when dealing with the DBMS are often referred as “business intelligence (BI)” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). BI will provide firms with the “capability to amass information; develop knowledge about customers, competitors, and internal operations; and change decision-making behavior” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). This will all be done in the interest of achieving higher profitability and other business goals (Laudon and Laudon 2006). The principle tools for BI that we will now investigate are both online analytical processing and data mining.

Online analytical processing (OLAP) “supports multidimensional data analysis” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). This will enable the users to “view the same data in different ways” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). With OLAP, each aspect of information represents a different dimension (Laudon and Laudon 2006). Therefore, the user can easily “find patterns and meaning in the data” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). This is something of great importance in the business world to be always on top of the market. The traditional file processing system does not have the capacity to offer such a tool and the DBMS proves to be better once more.

Data mining, on the other hand, is “more discovery driven” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). Data mining will find “hidden patterns and relationships in large databases” (Laudon and Laudon 2006). This will allow the user to predict future behavior (Laudon and Laudon 2006). For any organisation, trying to predict the future is very important. An accountant for example, will be looking at the predicted sales for better pricing. If the predictions are not done right, the organisation may be left over with huge stock that need to be kept. This is often very costly to the organisation. Therefore, data mining is very important giving the DBMS a new important advantage over traditional file processing system.

Throughout the course of this essay, the advantages of a DBMS have been identified, analysed and compared to a traditional file processing system. The benefits achievable from investing in a DBMS for a firm are countless and significant. It can be confidently acknowledged that a DBMS is superior to a traditional file processing system. However, it should not be forgotten that the DBMS also has negative sides such as its complexity, size, cost, performance or the higher impact in case of failure. These limitations are existent but do not overcome the numerous gains a firm can achieve in terms of consistency, control of data redundancy, security and data sharing.

Bibliography

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Connolly, T. and C. Begg (2003). Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation, and Management. Upper Saddle River, Pearson Education.

Ezine@rticle. (2005). "How Database Approach Differs from Traditional File System Concepts." Retrieved 13/01/2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Database-Approach-Differs-from-Traditional-File-System-Concepts?&id=102012.

Goyal, A. (2008). Database Management System (DBMS) Basic Concepts.

Hoffer, J. A., M. B. Prescott, et al. (2002). Modern Database Management. Upper Saddle River, Pearson Education.

Laudon, K. C. and J. P. Laudon (2006). Management Information Systems: Managing the digital firm. Upper Saddle River, Pearson Education.

Network, A. B. (2009). Importance of Data Sharing: 1 min 40 sec.

Trembly, A. C. (2010). "The Problem with Data Storage: Way Too Much Information." Retrieved 13/01/2010, from http://www.information-management.com/news/data_storage-10016887-1.html.

Webopedia. (2010). "Database Management System." Retrieved 13/01/2010, from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/database_management_system_DBMS.html.