Information Handling

Information Handling

1. A database is an organised store of data.

   • Examples
     • Medical Records
     • School Registers
     • Police (Criminal) Records
     • Search Engines

2. Benefits

   • Faster/Easier access then a paper bases system
   • Easy to edit
   • Reports can be printed
   • Security - passwords can be set
   • Can add, delete and sort data very quickly
   • Validation

3. Validation

   • Automatic computer check to ensure data put into a database is sensible and reasonable
   • Does not insure that data put in is completely correct
   • Types
     • Range Check: allows you to set suitable boundaries when working with numbers
     • Type Check: ensures the correct type of data is inputted into that field
     • Length Check: ensures a code entered is a specific length

4. Database Terminology

   • Tables
     • Allow you to see all the data stored in a database
   • Records
     • A record is all the data about one person or one thing
   • Fields
     • One peice of data about one person or thing
       • Key Field ----->
   • Data Types
     • Number
     • Text
     • Date/Time
     • Yes/No
     • Currency

5. Verification

   • To check the data you've entered against the original source data
   • eg. Entering the data twice
   • eg. Checking against the data on the original paper document (Proof Reading)

6. Queries

   • Used to search for data in a database

7. Reports

   • A database report is the formatted result of database queries and contains useful data for decision-making and analysis.

Images and files in the map