The purpose of this chapter is to provide a set of tools for understanding data management from conceptual, technical, and social perspectives. The intention is that this chapter will serve people involved in various management roles in an organization, including:
- general clients: those who depend on a data management system to carry out daily tasks, but who are not involved directly in the technical aspects of the system's design or operation;
- managers: those who manage people and operations through the use of a data management system and may or may not be be directly involved in the system's technical aspects of its design or operation;
- technical clients: those who are involved directly in the operation and maintenance of a data management system; and,
- systems analysts: those who are directly involved in the planning, design, implementation, and maintenance of data management systems.
People occupying the roles listed above will most likely have different level of expertise in data management, but ideally everyone occupying those roles should share some common understanding of the issues involved in managing data within their organization. For example, a person whose role in an organization is management must be able to communicate her data management needs with systems analysts and technical users. A manager must also be able to reason about the implications of technical issues communicated to them by systems analysts on their management tasks.
Example questions for managers:
Will the elimination of a certain database remove essential information needed to manage the organization?
Are expenses from new hardware recommended by technical users justified in terms of new efficiencies that would be realized?
On the other side, technical users and systems designers must be able to translate the organizational and social issues communicated to them by users and managers into appropriate features or modifications to the information systems they design and operate.
- 1317 reads
