Data Processing
Data is a collection of facts – unorganized but able to be organized into useful information
Information is data arranged in an order and form that is useful to the people who receive it
Data processing is a series of actions or operations that converts data into useful information
A data processing system includes resources such as people, procedures, and devices used to
process input data for producing desirable output
Data Storage Hierarchy
Relationship Among Character, Field, Record, and File:
Standard Methods of Organizing Data:
File-oriented approach: Application’s data is organized into one or more files and application
program processes them to generate the desired output
Database-oriented approach: Data from multiple related files are integrated together to form
a database:
Provides greater query flexibility
Reduces data redundancy
Solves data integrity (inconsistency) problem
Makes data independent of the application programs
Includes data security features at database level, record level, and field level
File Management System:
In file-oriented approach of organizing data, an application’s data is organized into one or
more files
Application program processes the data stored in these files to generate the desired output
Set of programs is provided to facilitate the users in organizing, creating, deleting, updating,
and manipulating their files
All these programs together form a File Management System (FMS)
File Types:
A file management system supports following file types:
Transaction file: Stores input data until it can be processed
Master file: Contains all current data relevant to an application
Output file: Stores output produced by one program that is used as input to another program
Report file: Holds a copy of a report generated by an application
Backup file: Copy of a file, created as a safety precaution against loss of data
File Organizations:
File organization is the physical organization of the records of a file for convenience of storage
and retrieval of data records
Three commonly used file organizations are:
Sequential: Records are stored one after another in ascending or descending order
determined by the value of the key field of the records
Direct/random: Desired record pertaining to current transaction can be directly located by its
key field value without having to navigate through sequence of other records
Indexed sequential: There are two files for everydata file – the data
file which contains the records stored in the file, and the smaller
index file which contains the key and disk address of each record
stored in the data file
Organization of An Indexed Sequential File:
File Utilities:
Routines to perform a variety of generalized operations on data files
Operations performed by some commonly used file utilities are Sorting, Searching,
Merging, Copying, Printing, and Maintenance
Sorting On One Key:
Sorting On Two Key:
Merging of Two Files:
Database Management System:
In database-oriented approach of organizing data, a set of programs is provided to facilitate
users in organizing, creating, deleting, updating, and manipulating data in a database
All these programs together form a Database Management System (DBMS)
Database Models:
Database model defines the manner in which the various files of a database are linked
together.
Four commonly used database models are:
Hierarchical
Network
Relational
Object-oriented
Hierarchical:
Network:
Relational:
Object-oriented:
Main Components of a DBMS:
DBMS allows users to organize, process and retrieve selected data from a database without
knowing about the underlying database structure
Four major components of a DBMS that enable this are:
Data Definition Language (DDL): Used to define the structure (schema) of a database
Data Manipulation Language (DML): Provides commands to enable the users to enter
and manipulate the data
Main Components of a DBMS:
Query Language: Enables users to define their requirements for extracting the desired
information from the database in the form of queries
Report generator: Enables the users of a database to design the layout of a report so that it
can be presented in the desired format
Creating a Database:
Creation of a database is a three step process:
Defining its structure (schema)
Designing forms (custom screens) for displaying and entering data
Entering the data into it
Sample Database Form:
Viewing, Modifying, Deleting, and Adding Records:
All database systems provide commands to view, modify, delete, or add records of an already
established database
Many database systems also provide a facility to set up a filter allowing user to browse through and
view only those records that meet some criterion
Searching a Database:
Commonly supported features for enabling a user to search for desired information in a database are:
Find command: Used for simple database queries
Query language: Used for more complex database queries
Query By Example (QBE): Provides a simple user interface for specifying search criteria
Creating Reports:
Reports are generated by using report generator of a database system to assemble the output of a
database query in desired format
Report generator enables user to specify layout of the report, titles & subtitles for the report, column
headings for various fields, and other elements to make the report appear more presentable
Sample Output of Report:
