Study unit 3: Utilising databases – page 46
2 Databases in accounting and auditing – page 46
Finance departments use :
- accounting software to record the financial
- audit file software to run electronic audit files
- Microsoft Access for data analysis
3 Data warehouse – page 47
A data warehouse is a database populated with current and historical data extracted from the various databases in the business.
Because many organisations have multiple databases, and these are not always linked it becomes difficult to extrapolate the data.
And running large queries requires a great deal of processing so a data warehouse overcomes these problems.
– Define a Data Warehouse
A data warehouse is a database populated with current and historical data extracted from the organisations various databases.
4 Data Mart – page 47
Due to the size and slowness of data warehouses, a need arose to interrogate “smaller” data warehouses.
A “data mart” is a smaller warehouse extracted from the main warehouse and contains specific related data extracted for a specific user group in the business.
– Define a Data Mart
A data mart is a smaller data warehouse extracted from the main data warehouse and contains specific related data extracted for a specific organisational user group such as the finance department or the marketing department.
5 Data mining – page 48
Data mining software is used to analyse data sets in order to uncover previously unknown trends, patterns, and relationships between data.
Used in decision making including strategic decisions, forecasts, predictive modelling, fraud detection, and risk management
– Define Data Mining
Data mining software is used to analyse data sets in order to uncover previously unknown trends, patterns and relationships between data.
6 Online analytical processing (OLAP) – page 48
OLAP software enables users to interactively and rapidly analyse large sets of data from various viewpoints.
This software handles multidimensional queries OLAP is used in business intelligence, budgeting, forecasting, and management reporting.
An OLAP (online analytical processing) database allows business decision-makers to analyse data that has been sorted into hierarchical structures.
The data is static so all mathematical aggregations can be built into the database query, thereby providing a more efficient and resource-friendly means of reporting.
This data warehouse can then be pulled into a pivot table within excel, where the user is able to drill down into the report, using the hierarchical dimensions built into the query.
– Define OLAP
Online analytical processing (OLAP) software enables users to interactively and rapidly analyse large data sets from various viewpoints (ie OLAP can handle multidimensional queries).
7 Similarities and differences between OLAP and data mining – page 48
They are similar but are technically different and both provide business intelligence that complements each other, – and work in conjunction with each other.
OLAP is mainly used to summarise data, data mining is used to break data down in order to uncover trends, patterns, and relationships.
No Comments