Data Processing

HB Consad II
Data
• Data are raw uninterrupted facts that are without meaning.
• When data are interpreted, information is produced.
• Data are meaningless, information is meaningful.
• For data to be interpreted and information produced the data must
be processed
• data are organized so that patterns and relationships between the
data can be identified.
Several approaches to organizing data
• Sorting
• Classifying
• Summarizing
• Calculating
Database
• A database is an organized collection of related data.
• a database can be organized and stored in many different formats
finding information in databases depends on
several factors
• How the data are named (indexed) and organized
• The size and complexity of the database
• The type of data within the database
• The methodology or tools used to search the database
Information systems
• Information systems are used to process data and produce information.
• The term “information system” is often used to refer to computer systems,
but this is only one type of information system.
• There are manual information systems as well as human information
systems.
• The most effective and complex information system is the human brain.
• In healthcare, weare working with a combination of manual, automated,
and human information processing systems. This offers both the
advantages and disadvantages of each of these systems as well as a
multitude of interface problems.
Types of Data
two primary approaches to classifying data in
a database system
1. they are classified in terms of how these data will be used by the
user, sometimes referred to as the conceptual view of the data.
Ex. financial data, patient data, or human resource data
2. data are classified by their computerized data type
Computer-Based Data Types
• Alphanumeric data include letters and numbers in any combination;
however, the numbers in an alphanumeric field cannot perform
numeric function (ex. address, social security number)
Numeric data
• Numeric data are used to perform numeric functions including
adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.
• Numeric data can be long integer, currency, or scientific.
Logic data
• Logic data are'data limited to two options.
Examples: YES or NO, TRUE or FALSE, 1 or 2, and ON or OFF
advantages of an automated information
system
• One of the major advantages of an automated information system is
that each of these data elements can be captured once and used
many times by different users for different purposes.
Database Management Systems
• DBMSs are computer programs used to input, store, modify, process,
and access data in a database.
• Before a DBMS can be used, the DBM software must first be
configured to manage the data specific to the project.
• The process of configuring the database software is called database
system design
• A functioning DBMS consists of three interacting parts.
• These are the data,
• the DBMS configured software program, and
• the query language used to access the data.
Advantages of Automated Database
Management Systems
• decrease data redundancy
• increase data consistency
• improve access to all data
• Data redundancy occurs when the same data are stored in the
database more than once.
• data become inconsistent when the same data are stored in different
manuals or automated databases
Fields, Records, and Files
Fields

Records
Types of Files
• two basic types of files
• data files
• processing files
Processing Files
• Executable files consist of a computer program or set of instructions
that, when executed, causes, the computer to open or start a specific
computer program or function
Data files
• Data files contain data that have been captured and stored on a
computer using a software program. Many times the extension for
the file identifies the software program used to create the file.
Database Models
• A database system provides access to both the data in the database
and to the interrelationship within and between the various data
elements. Building a database begins by identifying these data
elements and the relationships that exist between the data elements.