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Key Issues And Applications Of Databases Within Organisations

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TASK 1 – Analysis of key issues and applications of databases within organisations
a) Analyse the following key issues of databases within organisational environments:
• Integrity
• Security
• Legislation
• Recovery
• Industry standards (e.g. Microsoft SQL, Oracle, Sybase, MySQL)

There are several issues and applications of databases within organisations. It is important to know these in order to design a good database.

Integrity

Data integrity can be defined as “The accuracy and consistency of stored data, indicated by an absence of any alteration in data between two updates of a data record.” (http://www.businessdictionary.com, 23/01/15) Data integrity can be degraded due to “invalid data, redundant data, and inconsistent data.”(Database Security and Auditing, Page 11) These degradations could be the result of:

• User entering invalid data mistakenly or due to incompetence.
• Application code not validating inputted data.
• Faulty design that does not conform to normalisation standards.
• Errors that occur when data is transmitted from one computer to another.
• Software bugs or viruses.
• Hardware malfunctions, such as disk crashes.
• Fires, floods and other natural disasters.

Threats to data integrity can be reduced by:

• Backing up data regularly.
• Controlling access to data via security mechanisms.
• Designing user interfaces that prevent the input of invalid data.
• Using error detection and correction software when transmitting data.

Data integrity is

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