Data management comprises all the disciplines related to managing data

Data

The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...

 as a valuable resource.

Overview

The official definition provided by DAMA

DAMA

DAMA is a not-for-profit, vendor-independent, international association of technical and business professionals dedicated to advancing the concepts and practices of information resource management and data resource management .DAMA's primary purpose is to promote the understanding, development...

 International, the professional organization for those in the data management profession, is: "Data Resource Management is the development and execution of architectures, policies, practices and procedures that properly manage the full data lifecycle needs of an enterprise." This definition is fairly broad and encompasses a number of professions which may not have direct technical contact with lower-level aspects of data management, such as relational database

Relational database

A relational database is a database that conforms to relational model theory. The software used in a relational database is called a relational database management system . Colloquial use of the term "relational database" may refer to the RDBMS software, or the relational database itself...

 management.

Alternatively, the definition provided in the DAMA Data Management Body of Knowledge (DAMA-DMBOK) is:
"Data management is the development, execution and supervision of plans, policies, programs and practices that control, protect, deliver and enhance the value of data and information assets."

The concept of "Data Management" arose in the 1980s as technology moved from sequential processing (first cards, then tape) to random access processing. Since it was now technically possible to store a single fact in a single place and access that using random access disk, those suggesting that "Data Management" was more important than "Process Management" used arguments such as "a customer's home address is stored in 75 (or some other large number) places in our computer systems." During this period, random access processing was not competitively fast, so those suggesting "Process Management" was more important than "Data Management" used batch processing time as their primary argument. As applications moved more and more into real-time, interactive applications, it became obvious to most practitioners that both management processes were important. If the data was not well defined, the data would be mis-used in applications. If the process wasn't well defined, it was impossible to meet user needs.

Corporate Data Quality Management is according to the European Foundation for Quality Management

EFQM

EFQM is a non-profit membership foundation based in Brussels. EFQM is the custodian of the EFQM Excellence Model, a non-prescriptive management framework that is widely used in public & private sector organisations throughout Europe and beyond.EFQM Membership is open to organisations, rather than...

 and the Competence Center Corporate Data Quality (CC CDQ, University of St. Gallen) the whole set of activities intended to improve corporate data quality (both reactive and preventive). Main premise of CDQM is the business relevance of high-quality corporate data. CDQM comprises with following activity areas:

• Strategy for Corporate Data Quality: As CDQM is affected by various business drivers and requires involvement of multiple divisions in an organization; it must be considered a company-wide endeavor.
• Corporate Data Quality Controlling: Effective CDQM requires compliance with standards, policies, and procedures. Compliance is monitored according to previously defined metrics and performance indicators and reported to stakeholders.
• Corporate Data Quality Organization: CDQM requires clear roles and responsibilities for the use of corporate data. The CDQM organization defines tasks and privileges for decision making for CDQM.
• Corporate Data Quality Processes and Methods: In order to handle corporate data properly and in a standardized way across the entire organization and to ensure corporate data quality, standard procedures and guidelines must be embedded in company’s daily processes.
• Data Architecture for Corporate Data Quality: The data architecture consists of the data object model - which comprises the unambiguous definition and the conceptual model of corporate data - and the data storage and distribution architecture.
• Applications for Corporate Data Quality: Software applications support the activities of Corporate Data Quality Management. Their use must be planned, monitored, managed and continuously improved.

Topics in Data Management

Topics in Data Management, grouped by the DAMA DMBOK Framework, include:

1. Data governance
   Data governance
   Data governance is an emerging discipline with an evolving definition. The discipline embodies a convergence of data quality, data management, data policies, business process management, and risk management surrounding the handling of data in an organization...
   
   




• Data asset


• Data governance
  Data governance
  Data governance is an emerging discipline with an evolving definition. The discipline embodies a convergence of data quality, data management, data policies, business process management, and risk management surrounding the handling of data in an organization...
  
  


• Data steward
  Data steward
  In metadata, a data steward is a person that is responsible for maintaining a data element in a metadata registry. A data steward may share some responsibilities with a data custodian....
  
  




2. Data Architecture, Analysis and Design




• Data analysis
  Data analysis
  Analysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of highlighting useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision making...
  
  


• Data architecture
  Data architecture
  Data Architecture in enterprise architecture is the design of data for use in defining the target state and the subsequent planning needed to achieve the target state...
  
  


• Data modeling
  Data modeling
  Data modeling in software engineering is the process of creating a data model for an information system by applying formal data modeling techniques.- Overview :...
  
  
  


3. Database Management




• Data maintenance
  Data maintenance
  Data maintenance is the adding, deleting, changing and updating of binary and high-level files, and the real world data associated with those files. Data can be maintained manually and/or through an automated program, but at origination and translation/delivery point must be translated into a...
  
  


• Database administration


• Database management system
  Database management system
  A database management system is a software package with computer programs that control the creation, maintenance, and use of a database. It allows organizations to conveniently develop databases for various applications by database administrators and other specialists. A database is an integrated...
  
  




4. Data Security Management




• Data access
  Data access
  Data access typically refers to software and activities related to storing, retrieving, or acting on data housed in a database or other repository...
  
  


• Data erasure
  Data erasure
  Data erasure is a software-based method of overwriting data that completely destroys all electronic data residing on a hard disk drive or other digital media. Permanent data erasure goes beyond basic file deletion commands, which only remove direct pointers to data disk sectors and make data...
  
  


• Data privacy
  Data privacy
  Information privacy, or data privacy is the relationship between collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, and the legal and political issues surrounding them....
  
  


• Data security
  Data security
  Data security is the means of ensuring that data is kept safe from corruption and that access to it is suitably controlled. Thus data security helps to ensure privacy. It also helps in protecting personal data. Data security is part of the larger practice of Information security.- Disk Encryption...
  
  




5. Data Quality Management




• Data cleansing
  Data cleansing
  Data cleansing, data cleaning, or data scrubbing is the process of detecting and correcting corrupt or inaccurate records from a record set, table, or database. Used mainly in databases, the term refers to identifying incomplete, incorrect, inaccurate, irrelevant, etc...
  
  


• Data integrity
  Data integrity
  Data Integrity in its broadest meaning refers to the trustworthiness of system resources over their entire life cycle. In more analytic terms, it is "the representational faithfulness of information to the true state of the object that the information represents, where representational faithfulness...
  
  


• Data enrichment


• Data quality
  Data quality
  Data are of high quality "if they are fit for their intended uses in operations, decision making and planning" . Alternatively, the data are deemed of high quality if they correctly represent the real-world construct to which they refer...
  
  


• Data quality assurance
  Data quality assurance
  Data quality assurance is the process of profiling the data to discover inconsistencies, and other anomalies in the data and performing data cleansing activities Data quality assurance is the process of profiling the data to discover inconsistencies, and other anomalies in the data and performing...
  
  

6. Reference and Master Data Management




• Data integration
  Data integration
  Data integration involves combining data residing in different sources and providing users with a unified view of these data.This process becomes significant in a variety of situations, which include both commercial and scientific domains...
  
  


• Master data management
  Master Data Management
  In computing, master data management comprises a set of processes and tools that consistently defines and manages the non-transactional data entities of an organization...
  
  


• Reference data
  Reference data
  Reference data are data describing a physical or virtual object and its properties. Reference data are usually described with nouns.Reference data is used in data management to define characteristics of an identifier that are used within other data centric processes...
  
  




7. Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Management




• Business intelligence
  Business intelligence
  Business intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....
  
  


• Data mart
  Data mart
  A data mart is the access layer of the data warehouse environment that is used to get data out to the users. The data mart is a subset of the data warehouse which is usually oriented to a specific business line or team.- Terminology :...
  
  


• Data mining
  Data mining
  Data mining , a relatively young and interdisciplinary field of computer science is the process of discovering new patterns from large data sets involving methods at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics and database systems...
  
  


• Data movement (extract, transform and load)


• Data warehousing




8. Document, Record and Content Management




• Document management system
  Document management system
  A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by different users . The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management...
  
  


• Records management
  Records management
  Records management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
  
  




9. Meta Data Management




• Meta-data management
  Meta-data management
  Meta-data management involves storing information about other information. With different types of media being used, references to the location of the data can allow management of diverse repositories....
  
  


• Metadata
  Metadata
  The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
  
  


• Metadata discovery
  Metadata discovery
  In metadata, metadata discovery is the process of using automated tools to discover the semantics of a data element in data sets. This process usually ends with a set of mappings between the data source elements and a centralized metadata registry....
  
  


• Metadata publishing
  Metadata publishing
  Metadata publishing is the process of making metadata data elements available to external users, both people and machines using a formal review process and a commitment to change control processes....
  
  


• Metadata registry
  Metadata registry
  A metadata registry is a central location in an organization where metadata definitions are stored and maintained in a controlled method.-Use of Metadata Registries:...
  
  




10. Contact Data Management




• Business continuity planning
  Business continuity planning
  Business continuity planning “identifies [an] organization's exposure to internal and external threats and synthesizes hard and soft assets to provide effective prevention and recovery for the organization, whilst maintaining competitive advantage and value system integrity”. It is also called...
  
  


• Marketing operations
  Marketing operations
  Marketing Operations is a relatively new discipline within the Corporate Marketing function. Its existence was first recognized 15 years ago by research firms such as IDC and SiriusDecisions. Early adopters were high tech companies such as Cisco Systems, Symantec, and Adobe...
  
  


• Customer data integration
  Customer Data Integration
  In data processing, customer data integration combines the technology, processes and services needed to set up and maintain an accurate, timely, complete and comprehensive representation of a customer across multiple channels, business-lines, and enterprises — typically from multiple sources of...
  
  


• Identity management
  Identity management
  Identity management is a broad administrative area that deals with identifying individuals in a system and controlling access to the resources in that system by placing restrictions on the established identities of the individuals.Identity management is multidisciplinary and covers many...
  
  


• Identity theft
  Identity theft
  Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
  
  


• Data theft
  Data theft
  Data theft is a growing problem primarily perpetrated by office workers with access to technology such as desktop computers and hand-held devices capable of storing digital information such as USB flash drives, iPods and even digital cameras...
  
  


• ERP software


• CRM software


• Address (geography)
  Address (geography)
  An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used for describing the location of a building, apartment, or other structure or a plot of land, generally using political boundaries and street names as references, along with other identifiers such as house or...
  
  


• Postal code
  Postal code
  A postal code is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. Once postal codes were introduced, other applications became possible.In February 2005, 117 of the 190 member countries of the Universal Postal Union had postal code systems...
  
  


• Email address


• Telephone number
  Telephone number
  A telephone number or phone number is a sequence of digits used to call from one telephone line to another in a public switched telephone network. When telephone numbers were invented, they were short — as few as one, two or three digits — and were given orally to a switchboard operator...
  
  

Body Of Knowledge

The DAMA Guide to the Data Management Body of Knowledge" (DAMA-DMBOK Guide), under the guidance of a new DAMA-DMBOK Editorial Board. This publication is available from April 5, 2009.

Usage

In modern management usage

Management fad

The term management fad is used to characterize a change in philosophy or operations that sweeps through businesses and institutions. Some fads may become established aspects of business, sustaining themselves over several years...

, one can easily discern a trend away from the term 'data' in composite expressions to the term information

Information

Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...

 or even knowledge

Knowledge

Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...

 when talking in non-technical context. Thus there exists not only data management, but also information management

Information management

Information management is the collection and management of information from one or more sources and the distribution of that information to one or more audiences. This sometimes involves those who have a stake in, or a right to that information...

 and knowledge management

Knowledge management

Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...

. This is a fairly detrimental tendency in that it obscures the fact that is usually always plain, traditional data that is managed or somehow processed

Data processing

Computer data processing is any process that a computer program does to enter data and summarise, analyse or otherwise convert data into usable information. The process may be automated and run on a computer. It involves recording, analysing, sorting, summarising, calculating, disseminating and...

 on second looks. The extremely relevant distinction between data and derived values can be seen in the information ladder

Information ladder

The information ladder is a diagram created by education professor Norman Longworth to describe the stages in human learning. According to the ladder, a learner moves through the following progression to construct "wisdom" at the highest level from "data" at the lowest level:Whereas the first two...

. While data can exist as such, 'information

Information

Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...

' and 'knowledge

Knowledge

Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...

' are always in the "eye" (or rather the brain) of the beholder and can only be measured in relative units.

See also

• Information architecture
  Information Architecture
  Information architecture is the art of expressing a model or concept of information used in activities that require explicit details of complex systems. Among these activities are library systems, Content Management Systems, web development, user interactions, database development, programming,...
  
  
• Enterprise architecture
  Enterprise architecture
  An enterprise architecture is a rigorous description of the structure of an enterprise, which comprises enterprise components , the externally visible properties of those components, and the relationships between them...
  
  
• Information design
  Information design
  Information design is the skill and practice of preparing information so people can use it with efficiency and effectiveness. Where the data is complex or unstructured, a visual representation can express its meaning more clearly to the viewer....
  
  
• Information system
  Information system
  An information system - or application landscape - is any combination of information technology and people's activities that support operations, management, and decision making. In a very broad sense, the term information system is frequently used to refer to the interaction between people,...
  
  
• Lean Integration
  Lean Integration
  Lean Integration is a management system that emphasizes creating value for customers, continuous improvement, and eliminating waste as a sustainable data integration and system integration practice. Lean Integration has parallels with other lean disciplines such as Lean Manufacturing, Lean IT, and...
  
  
• Controlled vocabulary
  Controlled vocabulary
  Controlled vocabularies provide a way to organize knowledge for subsequent retrieval. They are used in subject indexing schemes, subject headings, thesauri, taxonomies and other form of knowledge organization systems...
  
  
• Best practices in ecological and environmental data management from DataONE
  DataONE
  Data Observation Network for Earth is a project supported by the National Science Foundation under the DataNet program. DataONE will provide scientific data archiving for ecological and environmental data produced by scientists worldwide. DataONE's stated goal is to preserve and provide access to...