How Databases Work For Records Management

Presented By Joe Gentry

President, Xpert Systems, Inc.

Record Keeping Uses Databases

Databases are increasingly at the core of records management classification and indexing from simple electronic card catalogs to complex applications such as electronic record-keeping systems.

Our Direction Today

We will discuss database usage in records management, including in depth analysis of good and poor database designs.

Target Audience

Ever Heard of the Beginner Series of books that begin with “For Dummies…”?

This is the “Databases For Dummies” Presentation …

(But, of course WE are not Dummies)

Why Do I Need To Know This?

Databases are everywhere You use them in everyday applications They Force you to be Organized People will talk about them – you should

at least know enough to talk about them Business = Data Collection

How Can I Apply This?

Good Question! What Do You Do? Keep Track of Things – Any Thing Records Files Collections To Do Items – Task Lists

What We Will Cover

What is a Database? Different Database Uses How To Create a Database How To Design Tables (Good and Bad) How To Connect To Your Data How To Find Your Data How To Apply This To Your Work

What We Will Not Cover

The “Tough” stuff – It’s unnecessary The “College” stuff – Who’s got time The “Bad” stuff – The Sky is Falling The “Hard” stuff – Easier Than You Think The “Boring” stuff – My Personal ChallengeNo one will walk out of here today and apply for a

job as a Database Administrator. There are lot’s of courses taught and books sold to give you more detailed information on databases.

What Is A Database – Really?

The Purpose of a Database is to Store Data

Physically, a Database is Implemented as one or more files – depending on the type of database used

Databases consist of Multiple Objects

Who Uses Databases?

Everyone who uses Windows! Run REGEDIT.EXE some time View the Microsoft Window’s Internal

Database Where Associations Are Stored Where Application Settings Are Stored Where Object Permissions Are Stored

(Windows Database Trick)

Ever Install A Program That Puts an Annoying Reminder Message That Just Never Seems to Want To Go AWAY?

Would You Like to Know the “Trick” Hiding Place For This Application?

Internet Giants Use Databases

The Following Web Sites have to handles thousands of requests each day all relying heavily on, you guessed it, Databases! E-Bay Amazon.Com Imovies CheapTickets

Database Objects

Tables Keys Constraints Indexes Views Stored Procedures Triggers Defaults Rules

Who’s Afraid Of Databases?

Well If you’ve Taken A Course Of Any Kind On Database Design Theory – Probably You Are!

Today, We Are Going To Focus on Simplicity – So Never Fear

Can We Make This Complicated?

Before We Delve Into How The Internal Workings of A Database Operate, Let’s Consider The Following: It’s Like Driving A Car

Many people have no idea how the Internal Combustion Engine operates in their Automobile

They Just Need To Know How To Turn The Key To Start The Motor And That’s It!

Database Applications

Let’s Take A Few Minutes To Discuss How Databases Are

Used In Some Day-To-Day Programs

Example Database Applications

Contact Manager Document Manager Library Books Manager Accounting Retail Store Manager Document Capture Management Work-Flow Management Personal Organizer Human Resources Manager

Contact Manager

As used by the salespeople in any company Keep track of all the customers you work with Contacts at that company Every phone conversation Every letter sent out Every follow-up that needs to be performed Tie all of the different salesperson’s data together to

give the sales manager an overall view of what their people are doing

Where they are in the different sales cycles Are they even working?

Document Manager

Keeps track of your documents Paper, Electronic Files, Images, Email, etc. For every document you need to know:

What it is? Who it Belongs to? Where should it go? How long do I need to keep it? How do I need to secure it? How do I find it later?

Library Books Manager

Used to track the Corporate Library What books on shelves What books are loaned out When are They due back Who has what Where are the books located

Accounting Management

Similar to Quicken/Quickbooks Create Invoices Customers Who Owes Us Money Who We Owe Money To Taxes Collected/Owed Employees Payroll

Retail Store Manager

Customers Products Sold Taxes Collected Sales People Commissions Owed Inventory On Hand – Inventory To Order Reports

Document Capture Management

Used When Scanning Paper Documents What Type Of Document Is It? Where Does It Get Stored? What Index Information Do I Need? Is It Part of a Batch of Documents? Do I Want To QA, OCR, Index Each One? Internal Routing of Batch’s Work-Flow

Work-Flow Management

In-Box Work-Flow Moves Documents From Point to Point Tracks Documents Which Work-Flow Where/Who It Came From? Where It Goes Next? Approval Action (Initials, etc.) Age of Items Reports

Personal Organizer

Day-Timer Type of Application - Outlook Daily To-Do Lists Short Term Goals Long Term Goals Personal Phone Numbers Important Dates (Birth Dates, etc.)

Human Resources Manager

Keeps Track of People Resumes Application Data Job Reviews – Performance Evaluations Equipment Assigned Office Locations Payroll

The Common Denominator

The Glue that holds all of these different applications together is the database

Every significant business application must store it’s information somewhere

Levels Of Database Usage

Ordinary Application User No Idea What A Database Even Is

Seasoned Application User Knows Enough About Databases To Be Dangerous Knows Where Data is Stored And How To Poke Around

Application DeveloperIs Responsible For Designing Database Architecture

Database AdministratorThe Guru

Hypothetical Situation

It Never Fails! Your Boss comes to You and Assigns The Task of Tracking Records For A Special Project

How Are You Going To Keep Track Of Them?

But I’ve Got Excel Here!

Over The Years, I Have Seen Them All: Post-It Notes Plain Notebook Paper Index Cards Excel Spreadsheets Notepad Text Document A Database A Really High-End Database

Different Types Of Databases

There are Three Main Types of Databases: Desktop Databases

Access, FoxPro, Paradox, Btrieve, etc. Client/Server Databases

SQL Server, Sybase, Oracle, Informix, etc. Mainframe Databases

DB2, etc.

Database Components

Data FilesWhere The Actual Data is Stored

Database EngineHandles Search Requests, Record Additions/Deletions, etc.

User Interface Some Method to Connect To The Database Engine

Desktop Databases

These are the “Do It All” databases

The Three Main Components All Operate Together On Your Local Desktop Machine: The Database File is Stored On Your Local C: Drive The Database Engine Resides In Memory on Your

Machine The User Interface is Running On the Same Machine

Microsoft Access

Part of the Microsoft Office Suite of Products (Professional Edition)

Simple to Use Easy To Create Objects using Wizards Built-In Reports Built-In Programming Language Stores File as .MDB file on Drive

Desktop Utility

Desktop Databases Get the Job Done And Have Been Doing So For Many Years

You Can Store Your Data For Many Years And You May Still Get The Job Done

But Then, The Question Is…

Do You Share?

If you have a Desktop Database That Is Being Shared By Many Other Users, You Start To Edge Into The Next Level

When There Is A Lot of Activity Against A Desktop Database such as Access, Locking Issues Creep Into The Picture

Room To Grow

The Next Most Pressing Issue With A Desktop Database is Volume

As The Size Grows – Depending On The Situation, The Database May Become Inappropriate For The Job

Client/Server Who?

A Client/Server Database Breaks Down The Three Main Components Over Two Or More Computers

The Server is Where The Database Files Are Located

The Server is Where The Database Engine is Located (Possibly A Different Server From Where The Database Files Are Located)

The Client is The User Interface Portion of The Process And Is Processed By The Local User’s Computer

Server Databases

Server Databases usually run as a Service on the Server Computer

It’s A Program That is Running In Memory Just Waiting For Users To Request Work

This Service Program Can Handle Many Different User Requests At Once

They Can Store Large Volumes of Data Data Files Can Even Span Multiple Physical

Devices

Through Thick And Thin Clients

Early Client/Server Applications Were known as Thick Clients An Actual Program Is Installed On Your Local Machine That Connects To The Database

Upgrading Lots Of Users=Lots Of Pain

Today More People Desire Thin Clients Usually Little Or Nothing is Installed On Local

Computer Updates Are Done In One Place – The Server Often, But not Always, Browser-Based

Applications Store Data

New Thin Client Applications Allow me To Do My Work Through A Browser

The Data Application can Add New Records, Perform Searches, Run Reports

Basically I can Do All I need To Do With Nothing Installed On My Machine*

*Okay, Need a Browser with the Latest Java Runtime

Let’s Do It!

Okay So Your Boss Is Still Dropping Hints That Your Project Has Yet To Show Any Progress

Let’s Get Busy Writing The Plan

The Plan

The Project Needs A Plan –

Even If It Is A Simple One

Step 1. Describe The Scope of Project

Step 2. Outline Objects Involved

Step 3. Describe Relationships Of Objects

Step 4. Start Initial Design On Paper

Step 5. Design Actual Database

How Do I Pick A Database?

When Deciding Which Database to Use, There Are Three Major Decisions That Need To Be Answered:

What Can I Afford? How Much Data Will I Have? How Many Users Will I Have?

Database System Comparison

Access Low Number Users/Moderate Frequency of Transactions, or Moderate Number of Users/Low Frequency of Transactions

SQL Server High Number Users/Moderate Frequency of Transactions, orModerate Number Users/High Frequency of Transactions

Oracle High Number Users/High Frequency of Transactions

Simple Decision For Us

Since Our Department Has NO BUDGET And We Already Own Microsoft Access, We Will Do Our Project Using Access

The Good News – All Of Our Data Can Easily Be Imported Into Either SQL Server Or Oracle When The Time Comes

How Do I Get Started?

Step 1. Describe The Scope Of Project

Basically, It’s To Manage All Of The Folders And Documents In A Five Drawer Filing Cabinet

Paralysis Of Analysis

Step 2. Outline Objects Involved

This is Where A Lot Of Projects Can Get Bogged Down Or Go In The Wrong Direction

Don’t Over-Analyze

Simple Design

The Objects:

Cabinet Drawers Folders Documents

Who’s Related To Who?

Step 3: Describe Relationships Of Objects

One Cabinet Has Many Drawers

One Drawer Has Many Folders

One Folder Has Many Documents

Initial Design

Step 4: Start Initial Design On Paper

Designing A Database Is As Much Art As It Is Science

Don’t Over-Complicate Matters If Possible

Create The First Database

Step 5. Design Actual Database

This is Where the “Fun” comes in …

The “Wrong” Way

We Create One Table Called FileCabinets With The Following: Cabinet Name – What we Call this Cabinet Cabinet Location – Where it’s Physically Located Cabinet Type – We Have Many Different Drawer Number – Drawer 1, 2, 3, etc. Drawer Name – Label on the Front of Drawer Folder Name – Label on Actual Folder Folder Owner – Who is Responsible For This Folder? Document Name – What is The Document Called Document Type – What Kind of Document is it? Document Attribute 1 – Used To Describe The Document Document Attribute 2 – Used To Describe The Document

Get The Job Done

Pick up any book on Database Design and you will probably get overwhelmed by all of the jargon.

There are lots of “Preferred” ways to do things

Most Import of All is Get The Job Done

Before We Begin The Design

We Are Going To Have To Consider The “Right” Way To Build Our Database

What Is The “Right” Way?

Parental Advisory

The Next Few Slides May Be Deemed Inappropriate For People Of ALL Ages

“Stick With Me, Here Comes The Technical Stuff…”

Relational Database Design

Before We Look At Relational Database Design We Should Define The Term “Relational Database”

A Relational Database is a Database That Has Been Organized Into Related Tables, Rows, and Columns

This Type of Database Normally Uses More Tables That Are Narrow Vs. Few Tables That Are Wide

More Tables That Contain Fewer Columns

Are You Normal?

When You Take A Course On Relational Database Management Systems, Or Pick Up A Book That Covers Database Design, Count On One Thing To Come Up…

Normalization!

A Normalized Database Improves Performance Even Though There Are More Tables

Normalization

There Are Six Different Forms of Normalization Each Method is Usually Referred To As

“Normal Form” There Are Three Normal Forms Commonly

Used Over-Normalized Databases Will Be Normalized

To The Fourth, Fifth, Or Sixth Forms And May Actually Slow Overall Performance

First Normal Form

Eliminates Repeating Groups of Data in a Table

Create a Separate Table For Each Set of Related Data

Assign a Primary Key To Each Table Which is Used as an ID (Identifier)

Eliminate Repeating Groups

Cabinet Name

Cabinet Location

Cabinet Type Drawer Number

Row 1 HR Cabinet HR Break-room

5 Drawer 1

Row 2 HR Cabinet HR Break-room

5 Drawer 1

Row 3 HR Cabinet HR Break- room

5 Drawer 1

Separate Tables With ID’s

Cabinets

Cabinet ID

Cabinet Name

Cabinet Location

Cabinet Type

Drawers

Drawer ID

Drawer Number

Drawer Name

Folders

Folder ID

Folder Name

Folder Owner

Documents

Document ID

Document Name

Document Type

Document Attribute 1

Document Attribute 2

Second Normal Form

Create Separate Tables For Sets Of Values That Apply To Multiple Records

Relate These Tables With Foreign Keys

Tables For Values That Apply To Multiple Records

Document Types

Document Type ID

Document Type

Locations

Location ID

Location

Owners

Owner ID

Owner Name

Cabinet Types

Cabinet Type ID

Cabinet Type

Relate With Foreign Keys

Cabinets

Cabinet ID

Cabinet Name

Location ID*

Cabinet Type ID*

Drawers

Drawer ID

Drawer Number

Drawer Name

Folders

Folder ID

Folder Name

Owner ID*

Documents

Document ID

Document Name

Document Type ID*

Document Types

Document Type ID*

Document Type

Locations

Location ID*

Location

Owners

Owner ID*

Owner Name

Cabinet Types

Cabinet Type ID*

Cabinet Type

Third Normal Form

Eliminate Columns That Do Not Depend On the Primary Key

Eliminate Columns

The Columns In Each Table You Define Should Relate To Primary Key

Doesn’t Belong

Employees Table

Employee ID

Employee Name

Supervisor ID

Supervisor Name

Address

Can You ID That Person?

The “Trick” To The Primary Key is Uniqueness Sometimes Defining the Primary Key is Fairly

Simple Social Security Number Phone Number Employee Number License Number

Sometimes You Have To Completely Make One Up Folder ID, Document ID, Cabinet ID, Drawer ID Fortunately Auto-Incrementing Columns Help

Doesn’t Feel Very Normal

Okay, We Now Have a Normalized Relational Database Designed and Created – What Next?

If You Are Adding Records One By One, It Could Be Considered “Painful”

The Best Solution is to Write a “Client” Interface Of Some Sort That Connects To The Database And Allows You To Enter Data And Retrieve Data

Slow Down

Relax - We’re Not Going To Turn You Into Programmers At This Point

This Process Is Very Much Required In Every Electronic Records Management Application Developed Today – Only Much More Complicated Than What We Have Done, Of Course

Ways To Connect To A Database

We Have A Database And With The Help Of One Our Programmer Friends (NICE People To Have Around ;) We Also Have A Client Program To Use With The Database As Well

How Do They “Talk” To Each Other?

The “Old Way”

In The Early Days, Programmers Wrote Applications That Were Tightly Coupled With A Specific Database

If The Customer Needed A Version For A Different Database

Several Years Ago

ODBC = K.I.S.S.

Several Years Ago Microsoft And Other Database Software Vendors Defined A Standard Interface For Connecting To Databases Called ODBC

Open Database Connectivity Application Developers Could Now Write One

Application That Could Connect To Practically Any ODBC-Compliant Database - Simple

Out With The “Old”

As Is Common In Technology ODBC is now considered “Old”

The Current Revision of The ODBC Standard is 3.0 and Will Be The Last

The Newest Kid On The Block Is Called

ADO - OLEDB

SQL – The Language Of Databases

A Little Is All You Need

A VIEW Of The Future

Thank You!

I Hope You Enjoyed This Presentation

I Am Available For Any Questions or Comments