What is information system?
Information in a simple sense means the data in a processed form. Information is inevitable part of the daily life of human being. Each and every activity of a human being is directly or indirectly linked or related with information in one way or the other. Information is considered as the corner stone of any organization. Different policies and plans are designed based on the very important resource called information.
Though different other resources are used in an organization, information assumes more significance than any other resources. The reason is that information combines or links all other resources and it is essential for smooth functioning of the organization. As regards an organization is concerned, the information may strategic or tactical or operational. Strategic information refers to the information required for long term planning.
Tactical information refers to the information required for implementing short term activities. For example, the information required for the decision of what the maximum stock level should be. Operational information refers to information required for daily operations of the organization. Therefore, it is indisputable that the proper management of information is essential for ensuring smooth functioning of an organization.
Information Management has become a commonly used word in modern management enterprises systems and gained lots of advantage over its usage in selected firms. Information management can be defined as “the acquisition, recording, organizing, storage, dissemination, and retrieval of information. Good information management has been described as getting the right information to the right person in the right format at the right time” (Schrader, 1983, p. 601).
Information system is a collection of prearranged system or procedures, which is useful when it is properly processed and helps in various decisions making. In other words, information is a touchable or untouchable entity that minimizes uncertainty about a state.
For example, the information about the movements in capital market can minimize the uncertainty of what may be the share price tomorrow and so on. To be stated in different words, information about the possibility of rain can reduce the uncertainty about whether the cricket match is played or not (Nickerson, 2001).
For a business organization information system is a very important aspect for its growth and survival. The information system in an organization helps in the proper analysis of marketing environment and with the help of which taking various crucial decisions. The information about the customer is another important aspect of information management in a business organization. A full-fledged customer data base is essential for taking various marketing decision. The information about the competitors is also important as customer information as it helps in taking various strategic decisions.
Information system can be classified into transaction processing system, management information system and decision support system.
Transaction processing system is designed to support the daily operations of an organization. The management information system is designed for processing of short term or tactical information. The decision support system is designed for the efficient flow and processing of strategic information.
The decision support system helps in formulation of long term policies for the organization. An information system is designed as a “combination of people, hardware, software, communications networks, and data resources that stores and retrieves, transforms, and disseminates information in an organization” (O’Brien, 2005, p. 6).
From the above definition it is clear that, the main components of information system are human being, hardware, software and data resources.
What does a database management system do?
A database is a collection of logically related information. Database management is the job of maintaining databases so that information is available as and when required. The software needed for executing the duty of database management is called database management system (DBMS). Database management systems are created to keep and protect large volume of data. Management of data includes the following (Shim, 2000).
- Defining structure of data storage
Database management system defines the structure of data storage. In other words it designs a frame work of how the data are stored in a database. - Providing mechanism for data manipulation such as adding, editing, and deleting data.
With the help of database management system it is easy to add new data, edit or delete existing data and also it facilitate the data manipulation. - Providing data security against unauthorized access.
It is one of the main functions of database management system. Data security is very important in today’s world. A properly implemented database management system can prevent unauthorized access. - Other functions of data base management system include updating and accessing of data, data recovery…etc
Database management systems are now available on a wide range of computers, from desktop to mainframes. The size and power of the computer determine the system facilities such as security and storage. The database management systems provide a proficient and suitable environment that is used to store data in, and retrieve data from a database. It also manages information about users who interact with the database management system and the activities that these users can perform on various clusters of data
Database management systems are extensively used in different industries. In banks the transactions of the bank are managed and controlled a database management system. In the Airline industry, ticketing and passenger reservation are made easy with help of database management system.
Another main application of the database management system is in the human resource management. If the records of the employees are keeping with the help of database management system, it would be easy to access the required information as and when required.
The database management system eliminates the data redundancy that may arise due to different reasons like storing data in different file formats if stored in a traditional system of data management. If the data are stored in a database, the accessing of the stored data would be an easy task.
The database management system is a solution for various data security problems. In other words, database management systems offer end-to-end data security solution for organizations. Using database management system some confidential data can be made inaccessible to others.
Different techniques are used for this purpose. The architecture of a database system is given below. Different terminologies like attributes, primary key…etc are used in database management system for the proper implementation of the system. The database management system creates a standardized and higher degree of accuracy and reliability. The data in a database can be accessed using queries. The cost of information processing can be minimized with the help of database management system.
Why is data validation important?
Data validation s the process of ensuring the correct, required and clean data is input into database or web application. The data validation can prevent the attacks from the hackers or the like people from attacking the database system. The chance of threat or attack is very low if proper validation is applied in a database management system or web application (Nickerson, 2001).
The data validation act as a filter while receiving or sending the data or in other words in the process of input and output. The one of the main benefits of data validation is that, it involves saving of time, money and efforts. The efficiency of some of the computerized systems depends up on the accuracy of the input data.
It is the data validation process that ensures the data transmitted or input into the system are valid, correct and useful. The data validation can eliminate errors in data analysis. The reason is that if the data validation is implemented wrong values will not be given as input values and thereby protecting from errors in data analysis and data modeling.
Data validation helps in sorting of data and elimination of data manipulation …etc. Another thing that the problems or errors or mistakes in the data are revealed only after someone actually uses the data. Before that it is difficult to find out these errors. The data validation overcomes this problem (Nickerson, 2001).
It is possible that some web application accept some items of data without looking at the validity of the data. If the web application is properly validated these kinds of mistakes can be eliminated. It is said that not validating the web application is one of the common mistakes committed by the web developers. The data validation can offer great amount of data security by way of preventing crash of systems, hacking, and corruption of database…etc.
It also helps in eliminating overflow of buffer. That is in web applications like payment processing system or like that there is a chance of hacking the confidential information of the company or customers by the hackers by way of committing manipulation in login session. The chance of these kinds of manipulation can be eliminated by proper validation of data.
Also the data validation has a significant role in today’s world of emergence of highly technically qualified thieves. Hacker designs programs to hack the important data of people by spending hours of research on the latest information technology concepts and facilities.
If data validation is strictly implemented, it can prevent, to a great extent, the problems like hacking, unauthorized access, misuse of data…etc. Though the technology is goes on developing beyond the limit, it is not successful in completely elimination the aforesaid problems. The data validation can reduce the possibility to happen these kinds of problems.
With the help of data validation it is easy to find out the any difference in procedure from the actual procedure to be followed. A separate set of instructions are created t find out the deviations, if any. In a nut shell it can be said data validation is very important in ensuring the data that are stored and input into systems are valid in different perspectives.
Work Cited
Nickerson, C. Robert., Business and information systems, India, Prentice Hall, 2001
O’Brien, A. James., & George M. Marakas., Management information systems, California, McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2005
Schrader, M. Alvin., Toward a theory of library and information science, University Microfilms International, 1983
Shim, K. Jae., Information systems and technology for the non-information systems executive: an integrated resource management guide for the 21st century, Texas, CRC Press, 2000