Running Head: DATABASE DESIGN & MANAGEMENT 2
DATABASE DESIGN & MANAGEMENT 2
Executive Summary
The business selected for the case study report is Apple Inc. This is a company in the manufacturing industry whose headquarters are in California, US. The business is concerned with the manufacturing supply of consumer electronics. Because of the rising demand for business goods and services and competition from other companies, the business is facing challenges in addressing emerging issues in the manufacturing industry. Addressing the challenges raises has remained problematic because there is limited information. In this light, implementing a database solution is important because it will aid in gathering, managing, and sorting data from all aspects of the business. This will eventually facilitate the tasks the business has ventured into.
Business Case
Huang et al. (2018) define data management as “the process of ingesting, storing, organizing and maintaining the data created and collected by an organization.” When there is efficient management of data in an organization, the deployment of an IT system remains crucial. With IT systems in place, the provision of analytical information which can aid decision-making in the organization remains a success. Business managers and executives always find it easy to run and sustain the business. Data management is made up of diverse functions which collectively work together to ensure data availability in the cooperate IT systems is reliable, confidential, and accurate. The better part of the job needed is normally executed by IT teams. However, business users typically take part in decision-making.
Business Background
According to Ghobakhloo (2018), “manufacturing is the process of converting raw material and components into the final product to sell in the marketplace for public consumption”. Although there exist different categories in the manufacturing industry, the paper sought to examine a business under the electrical equipment industry. The business to be examined will be Apple Inc. Apple Inc. refers to an American multinational and technological firm concerned with electronic brands. The company’s headquarters are based in California. The core business of Apple Inc company is designing, manufacturing, developing, and selling consumer electronics, software, and also provision of online services. The business is ranked among the best and largest tech companies across the globe with more than 123,000 employees. The employees are distributed within 500 retail stores across the globe. The bestselling products of the company are iPhones smartphones and iPad tablets (NIK, 2019). The business model of Apple is based on innovation together with consumer-centric devices. The company has managed to remain relevant because of its ability to understand the dynamics of its customers and develop devices that can easily solve the challenges folks are facing. In addition, the company can develop gadgets and devices that are user-friendly and hence increasing their demand in the market.
Business Impact
Proper data management has helped Apple Inc. minimize potential errors that might have impacted the normal operations of the organization. Through data management, the business has been able to come up with policies that aid in building trust in the data that is being used in making crucial decisions within the organization. The positive impacts that Apple has undergone as a result of data management include but are not limited to; enjoying full access to high-quality data that has been used in the analysis of business operations. With high-quality data, the decisions that will be arrived at by the organization will remain viable and support the growth of the business. Second, the impact is ensuring that any available information has been maintained under provided regulations. Apple has been able to remain compliant in the broader manufacturing industry because of the presence of enough, quality and relevant data. The last impact is that the business has been able to establish the right architecture of data which is totally in line with the needs of the enterprise in the industry. It should be understood that further data analysis aids employees and management of Apple Inc find precisely what they are looking for and hence, addressing the issues they might be facing.
Database Solution
Database solutions dwell on the utilization of database management systems in organizing data and information about an organization. The following aare the database solutions that are to be installed. The first solution is storage of data and information. The second solution is modification of the existing data and information already collected. The third solution is extraction of unique records from already existing general records and the last solution is searching and retrieving of information required. Apple is among the recent companies to join big data analytics technologies and techniques. In every product that the business is selling, data is collected about manufacturing, supply, selling as well as customer reviews on the same. There are other devices like Apple’s Siri which searchers the voice information in apple storage and synchs it with what the user is looking for (Obradović, Vlačić & Dabić, 2018). iTunes is another example of a service that deals with large volumes of data.
The benefit toBusiness Using Database Solutions
The utilization of database solutions in Apple, just like any other business comes with several benefits. This is in comparison with manual ways of managing data and utilization of alternative solutions to manage data. In the Apple business, the technology has been embraced in gathering, storing, and processing customers’ and suppliers’ data. This has given the business an added advantage when it comes to understanding their competitors and addressing the needs of the customers. Below are the associated benefits to the business while making use of database solutions.
Reduction in the amount of time that business spends in collecting, storing, analyzing, and utilizing information about the business. Database solutions comprise database models which facilitate any process that ought to be executed. For example, the form, a database object is essential in collecting any form of information needed. Reports on the other hand are database objects which are used to display the results of any analysis of data. In this line, time-saving is a benefit when making use of database solutions in a business. The second benefit is an enhanced analysis of data in multiple ways (Dallman et al., 2018). Database solutions allow an analysis of data in multiple ways. Single task analysis of a business can be enhanced. Multi-task analysis of the business can also be done using database solutions. There are no limitations on what cannot be undertaken and what can be carried out. Hence, giving the business diverse solutions on which step to take during the decision-making process.
The third benefit is that the database solution is capable of turning a certain volume and disparate information into a valuable resource. For instance, when data about suppliers has been collected, it cannot be of great importance to the business if its impacts cannot be examined at every point. If a detailed analysis of such disparate data is undertaken, then the business can understand which suppliers’ areas require adjustments and how the emerging issues amongst suppliers can be addressed. Besides, the string areas of the suppliers can be identified as well and more effort channeled towards it to ensure that suppliers remain successful pillars of the business. The third benefit is upholding discipline when approaching the management of data. Database solutions offer systematic ways of managing data within the organization and business at large. There are certain aspects of information that can be accessed by every person in the business while there is certain information that is only accessed by the executive managers. This is made possible because a database can secure information. The utilization of the queried in the organization also ensures that any conditional data required has been addressed the best way possible. The last benefit to the business is enhancing the quality and the consistency of the information within the business (Dallman et al., 2018). The quality of business information is determined by how well the information addresses issues that are emerging in the organization. Consistency on the other hand is how relevant the information is to the business despite the changes that the organization is going through. Some businesses might not have enough resources to gather large volumes of information. Some might not be tech companies which comprise of employees that are informed about data management techniques. In such cases, database solutions have proved to be one of the most beneficial solutions that an organization can venture into.
Project Objectives
I. Facilitate the analysis of data to save on the resources and minimize wastage of business funds.
II. Enhance the automation of the tasks in the business while utilizing employees effectively.
III. Secure data gathered from all aspects of the business.
IV. Manage customer data to make them more productive in the business.
V. Manage employee and employer relationships to ensure that the business is stable whatsoever the challenges that might emerge.
Product scope
There exist different tasks that Apple’s business will undertake to achieve the above-mentioned objectives. To facilitate the analysis of data and minimize resource wastage, the management must first produce reports on previous expenditures of the organization. Although this might be a time-consuming exercise, the spreadsheets about previous data management must be provided first so that comparison can be made possible (Dallman et al., 2018). The spreadsheet and manual reports available must be presented and the raw data digitized. In this way, determining how resources have been consumed and enhancing the analysis will remain an easy task.
The business ought to venture into some work just to ensure that employees are utilized maximumly and effectively. This can be attained through the training of all Apple employees n digital ways of managing data and information. Although some tech employees might be fully aware of ways through which data can be gathered and analyzed, it is vital to ensure that every person is informed. On the other hand, there exist high-tech employees who can mess up the business data if given permission (Dallman et al., 2018). Such employees should be deterred from directly accessing sensitive information within the organization. This is because they can choose to use the data for malicious purposes. Database security tools and features must be installed. This can be attained through educating employees on secure ways of managing data or even installing software that serves to secure data alongside the database solution. However, this majorly depends on which type of data segmentation is to be utilized.
Another serious work that needs to be done to ensure that the objectives are attained is keeping track of every customer data. There comes nothing more frustrating to customers than a result that is mixed up and which lies on wrong billings and or even delayed delivery of goods and services. The customer data should be collected equally as this will ensure that any move made towards decision-making remains a success. The tracking of the movement of goods and services within the organization will aid the determination of what is going on well and what is astray at any given time.
Assumptions and Constraints
Assumptions
There exist several assumptions associated with the utilization of database solutions. The first one is that database solutions gather accurate customer data. This is not always the case as people take it to be. When digitizing any form or data, the data is subject to several errors of different types (Wyszomirski & Gotlib, 2020). For example, truncation and syntax errors can be committed when entering data into a computer. This will imply that though the collection process would have been maintained, the accuracy of the data collected will be below. Hence, data gathered by database solutions are not always accurate.
The second assumption is proper management of business data when using database solutions. The appropriateness of data that has been collected depends on the skills that the employees require. There can be employees who do not have the skills to manage data within the business. The management of data in a business using database solutions is majorly based on the skills of managers and not on the fact that the solution is available or not. The assumption of data security when using database management tools is also rampant. It is obvious that when using database solutions, the software has several inbuilt features that like passwords that are used to ensure that the data gathered is secured whatsoever (Wyszomirski & Gotlib, 2020). This is not an issue to bank on and businesses should consider alternative data security measures to ensure that everything goes on well.
Constraints
There exist several constraints when it comes to the implementation of database solutions in a business. These include but are not limited to; the increased cost of hardware and software resources needed to ensure that everything goes on well as planned. The database requires high-speed processors because of the large amount of data that is to be stored, processed, and analyzed. Such processors can be costly within the organization. It should be noted that there are large volumes of data in every field therefore, the resultant data to be collected is voluminous. Secure software is also expensive to implement (Wyszomirski & Gotlib, 2020). The second constraint is the cost of staffing. Employees ought to be trained on how to make use of database solutions in their daily routine. Besides, database system designers are also needed to ensure that everything goes on well. Therefore, apart from existing employees to be trained more trained individuals also should be hired. In this regard, staffing turns out to be very costly. Complexity and cost of data conversion are other constraints that seriously hinders the implementation of database solution.
Major Deliverable, due dates, and acceptance criteria
Deliverable
Due Dates
Acceptance Criteria
Proposals
Before the project stars
Must be able to point out solutions to data management in business.
Associated costs and required resources
After submission of proposal
Must be within the business range.
Design documents
Two weeks after the launch of proposals
Must give phase implementation strategies
Technical interpretation
Two weeks after provision of design documents
Must be precise and easy to understand
Design review
After implementation
Must review possible challenges occurring
References
Dallman, T., Ashton, P., Schafer, U., Jironkin, A., Painset, A., Shaaban, S., … & Grant, K. (2018). SnapperDB: a database solution for routine sequencing analysis of bacterial isolates. Bioinformatics, 34(17), 3028-3029. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/bioinformatics/article-abstract/34/17/3028/4961427
Goathood, M. (2018). The future of manufacturing industry: a strategic roadmap toward Industry 4.0. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JMTM-02-2018-0057/
Huang, Y., Chen, Z. X., Tao, Y. U., Huang, X. Z., & Gu, X. F. (2018). Agricultural remote sensing big data: Management and applications. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 17(9), 1915-1931. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311917618598
NIK SOH, N. N. (2019). AN ANALYSIS OF AN EXPLANATION OF APPLE INC. retrieved from https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/97280
Obradović, T., Vlačić, B., & Dabić, M. (2021). Open Innovation in the manufacturing industry: A review and research agenda. Technovation, 102, 102221. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016649722100002X
Wyszomirski, M., & Gotlib, D. (2020). A Unified Database Solution to Process BIM and GIS Data. Applied Sciences, 10(23), 8518. Retrieved from https://www.mdpi.com/905798
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DATABASE DESIGN & MANAGEMENT 2 is the running title.
DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT OF DATABASES 2
Summary of the Report
Apple Inc. was chosen as the subject of the case study report. This is a manufacturing corporation with headquarters in California, United States. The company is in the consumer electronics manufacturing supply business. Because of the rising demand for business goods and services and competition from other companies, the business is facing challenges in addressing emerging issues in the manufacturing industry. Addressing the challenges raises has remained problematic because there is limited information. In this light, implementing a database solution is important because it will aid in gathering, managing, and sorting data from all aspects of the business. This will eventually facilitate the tasks the business has ventured into.
Business
