Data Management encompasses all departments involved in managing information as a valuable asset. This includes computer systems, such as desktop, laptop, tablet PCs and other handheld devices. It also includes all the software and hardware designed to manage these systems. The use of this software and hardware often depends on what a particular company needs to do with its data and how that company needs to do it.
In a nutshell, data management is used to save organizations from the time consuming, costly and often unsuccessful process of retrieving data sets. One example is the time saved by using an online data retrieval service for large corporations. These services retrieve the data that a large corporation has stored in their own internal network. This is because it is not feasible to use manual methods of retrieving data sets. However, even for these organizations, data management plays an important role.
There are several key areas involved in data management. Key areas include security, availability, usability, recovery, quality and fraud. Each of these topics is a topic in its own right but together they form a comprehensive data management strategy. Security is perhaps the most important facet of data management; therefore it is imperative to implement best practices for securing data. It is also important to implement best practices for ensuring the longevity of these data management tools.
Availability is the ability of your data management system to provide services when needed. Best practices include ensuring that your data management system is scalable so that it can serve a larger volume of users effectively. In addition to ensuring maximum availability, you should also consider implementing governance measures to ensure that all aspects of the governance process are met. In addition to ensuring maximum availability, there are other areas of governance that are very important to have a data architecture address.
User experience is becoming an increasingly important factor in businesses; therefore it is imperative to consider how users will gain access to data management tools and application. This is where the topic of usability enters the picture. User usability is a very critical area and is one of the main reasons why organizations are using data management tools. The usability of data management tools is dependent on the usability of the end user, so it is very important to ensure that the end user is able to use the data management application and that they are able to understand the steps that are required to access that data. It is also important to ensure that they can understand and perform the necessary actions in order to maintain their data management environment.
It is imperative to use the appropriate tools when developing a well-designed data management architecture. These tools should be able to create a workflow that is easy for analysts as well as for end users. It is essential for data management analysts to understand their users and how their workflow will function within their data management environment.