your students, during the sometimes awkward first day of class. In a database course, this

1-1

Chapter 1: Data: The New Corporate Resource

Presenting the Chapter

I believe that at the very beginning of introducing students to a new subject (i.e. the first day of class) it is worth taking a little time to ease them into it by giving them the historical perspective. So, this chapter begins with a light discussion of the history of data and of data storage devices, suitable for getting acquainted with the subject and with your students, during the sometimes awkward first day of class. In a database course, this serves an additional purpose, which is to make the point that before there can be “database,” there has to be “data.”

But, there is an another reason for talking about the history of data. When they reach their database course, most students will have a predisposition to thinking of the computer as the primary focus of the information systems field. Now, right at the beginning of their database course, is a good time to start shifting their thinking towards the importance of data as the corporate resource that is the key to information systems.Indeed, if they have learned anything about the history of information systems up to this point, most likely it has been oriented towards the history of computers, not towards the history of data. So, this is an opportune time to reorient the students towards data by showing that from the earliest days, the motivation for developing data storage and calculating devices was the need to manage and utilize data.

The latter half of the chapter continues with the motivation of the subject but shifts its emphasis to today’s business environment. By introducing the notion of using data to gain a competitive advantage, the problems of storing and accessing large amounts of data, and the concept of data as a corporate resource, we lay the foundation for going on to discuss database management.

Discussion Stimulation Points

Ask your students which of the two words in the term, “information systems” is the more important: the “information” or the “systems” that process the information. Indeed, this point parallels the same argument regarding the two words in the earlier term, “data processing.” Perhaps in the early days, the “processing” was more important than the “data.” Now, the “information” is more important than the “systems.”

Ask your students if they have personally experienced data collection used to enhance a business experience or relationship. Have they purchased books at Amazon.com and been offered related books in the future? Do they patronize a supermarket that tracks their purchases with a personal bar code and then offers them targeted discount coupons?Do they participate in an airline or hotel “frequent flyer” or “frequent stay” program? Do (Fundamentals of Database Management Systems 2e Mark L. Gillenson) (Solution Manual all Chapters) 1 / 4

Chapter 1 Data: The New Corporate Resource 1-2 they patronize a store like Just for Feet which tracks purchases and eventually offers free merchandise?

Ask your students if they are aware of “big business” examples of how data is treated as a corporate resource and used for competitive advantage. One universal example is that every Wal-Mart “cash register” is really a computer terminal that tracks purchases by bar codes. The data is not only used by Wal-Mart but is automatically sent to its suppliers for inventory control and replenishment. Another is the use of data in the automobile industry to develop automated “just-in-time” parts inventory replenishment from suppliers.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Questions

• What did the Middle Eastern shepherds’ pebbles and sacks, Pascal’s calculating

device, and Hollerith’s punched card devices all have in common?

They all involved the development of calculating and/or data storage devices, the need for which was data driven within their respective “business environments.” The shepherds had to keep track of their sheep; Pascal was trying to help his father keep track of tax collections, and Hollerith was trying to store and process census data.

• What did the growth of cities have to do with the need for data?

When people live in communities, such as cities, they tend to specialize in the goods and services they produce and they become dependent on each other for the goods and services they need. This kind of intra-community trading encourages the development of data to keep track of the goods and the value of the goods produced and acquired.

• What did the growth of trade have to do with the need for data?

The answer to Question 3 above referred to data being developed as the result of intra-community trading. The growth of trade also encouraged the development of data for similar reasons but for inter-community trading.

• What did Jacquard’s textile weaving device have to do with the development of data?

There are two parts to this answer. One is that patterns in cloth are a form of data and so the Jacquard loom was an early and novel device that permitted data to be stored and retrieved for use. The other is that the Jacquard loom included the invention of punched-card data storage, which would later be used by Hollerith in his machines for the 1890 U.S. census and on into the 1960s in a broad array of electro-mechanical “data processing” devices.

5. Choose what you believe to be the: 2 / 4

Chapter 1 Data: The New Corporate Resource 1-3

• One most important
• Two most important
• Three most important

landmark events in the history of data. Defend your choices.

The chapter provides a variety of possible answers to this question and students may

come up with additional ones. Among the choices found in the chapter are:

• Clay tokens used for data recording in the ancient Middle East and Asia.• The clay texts of ancient Sumeria.• The rise of cities, which encouraged data recording in intra-community trade.• The Crusades, which eventually led to increased trade and its need for data.• The development of double-entry bookkeeping in fourteenth century Italy.• The Code of Commerce in 1673 which was the forerunner of balance sheets and annual reports.• Pascal and his adding machine in France in the 1640s.• The Jacquard loom of 1805.• Hollerith’s punched-card machinery for the 1890 U.S. census.

• Do you think that computing devices would have been developed even if specific data

needs had not come along? Why or why not?

This “thought” question can be answered either way. What is important is that a cogent argument be given. Having said that, the better answer would clearly be “no” because without the data need there was simply no reason to develop calculating devices. A “yes” answer to this question might be justified on the basis of the natural curiosity of people to invent new things even if a specific need was not established.

• What did the need for data among ancient Middle Eastern shepherds have in common

with the need for data of modern corporations?

In both cases, the need for data was or is a response to the need to manage the business environment. For the ancient Middle Eastern shepherds, the business environment was limited to the comings and goings of their sheep. For the modern corporation the business environment is obviously much more complex. But the point is that the shepherd’s sheep were no less important to him than the business of the modern corporation is to its management.

• List several problems in storing and accessing data in today’s large corporations.

Which do you think is the most important? Why?

• The large volume of data.• The increasing numbers of people (employees, customers, trading partners) who want access to the data, causing performance issues.• Data security.• Data privacy.• Backup and recovery. 3 / 4

Chapter 1 Data: The New Corporate Resource 1-4 • Data accuracy problems caused by data redundancy.

As to which is the most important and why, look for arguments focusing on performance, the ability to find needed data, security, and data accuracy or integrity problems.

• How important of an issue do you think data accuracy is? Explain.

It is a little early in the book to expect an expert answer to this question, but look for a common sense argument regarding the importance of having accurate data and the inability to intelligently manage a company without it.

• How important of a corporate resource is data compared to other corporate

resources? Explain.

A good answer to this question would be that data is the most important corporate resource because it describes and tracks all of the others, which is critical in today’s corporate environment. However, a reasonable counter-argument can be made that the other corporate resources, money, personnel, plant and equipment, inventory, etc., are more important because without them the company could not function at all.Also, someone might argue that it depends somewhat on the industry involved. In data-intensive industries such as banking, insurance, and securities brokerage, the essence of the company’s work is data and so it is the most important corporate resource.

• What factors led to the development of database management systems?

• A new awareness of the value of data as a corporate resource.• Larger, faster, and cheaper computers and their memories plus more sophisticated operating systems, which led to the feasibility of higher-level programming languages and a partial shift in information systems emphasis from programming to data.

Solutions to End-of-Chapter Exercises

• Draw a timeline showing the landmark events in the history of data from ancient

times to the present day. Do not include the development of computing devices in this timeline.

• Pre-history Middle Eastern shepherds use pebbles in a pouch to keep track of sheep.• 8500 B.C. Clay tokens or counters in the Zagros region of Iran.• 7000 B.C. Clay tokens in Turkey, Pakistan, and Sudan, among other places.• 3000 B.C. Clay tokens in sealed clay vessels as bills of lading in Susa, Iran.• 3000 B.C. Clay texts in Uruk, Sumeria.

• / 4