Introduction
Computers/Information Systems (CIS) is an academic professional that bridges the gap between business fields with computer science. This field involves the use of computers for carrying out several computational activities. It also involves the studying of computers and algorithmic applications and their impacts in the society. In this study, we are going to consider a career that deals with computers or the CIS in general. There are several careers that a person can pursue with the use of computers. We are specifically going to consider database administration as a career and take an insight overview of the tasks involved in the field.
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Database administration involves managing and maintaining database management systems software. There are several software tools which are used for maintaining the database. They include: Oracle, MYSQL and IBM DB2. A person who is charged with the responsibility of maintaining the database is called the database administrator. The database administrator is solely responsible for the performance, security and the integrity of a database. The database administrator can also extend his/her functions to include development, planning and troubleshooting a database. In the process of maintaining and monitoring the database, the database administrator has to ensure that data always remains consistent, data is clearly defined, and users can easily and concurrently access data in a manner that suits their needs and also ensure that there is a strong form of data security and recovery control implemented in the database management system.
A database administrator is very important in any organization. This is because database can be found in almost every organization that has more than 5 employees. The database can be used to store information about the employees and the goods/services that the company is involved in. a database therefore needs to be maintained and kept up to date all the time. This will pay a very big role in ensuring that the company’s status is always kept up to date and that customers are aware of the activities being carried out in the firm. A database can also be very important towards stock management. It is therefore a necessity that a company finds a good database administrator to handle this sensitive piece of information that is vital to the smooth running of any organization.
A good database administrator must be able to exercise excellent communication skills so that he/she can be able to freely and easily interact with other employees in the company. A database administrator should also be a person who exercises high moral standards so as to ensure that no data is leaked to third parties. A database administrator needs to ensure that all the information about the company and the employees is always kept up to date.
Roles of database administrator
Database administration involves all the procedures that are involved in ensuring that the database of a company is always functional. It is a requirement that a database administrator logs into the system more often and query the database to ensure that the data is consistent and that data integrity is always maintained. The database administrator can also help the front-desk staff and the office secretaries to prepare reports and queries for the company.
The responsibilities of a database administrator may vary according to the nature of organization he/she is working for or according to the level/position being occupied by the administrator. The functions of a database administrator may be to maintain the database only or also specialize in the development of the database.
The following is a list of the responsibilities of a database administrator.
i. Monitoring the activities of the users and establishing the needs of a user. Once this has been established, a user can then be granted access into the system.
ii. Monitoring the performance of the users and providing fast responses to the customers’ requests.
iii. Carrying out capacity planning for the organization
iv. Commissioning and installation of new applications to be used for database management in the organization.
v. Ensuring that the storage and backup services of the systems are functioning properly
vi. Performing routinely monitoring and update of the database to ensure that all the entries are always up to date.
vii. Writing of database documentation and maintaining the database standards for the organization.
Database administrator must posses the virtue of thinking logically and being able to make rational decisions. The database administrators can work both in the labs or the offices. The normal duration of work for database administrators is usually 40 hours a week. However, some extra hours of work may be needed. In some cases, some administrators may work from home. Database administrators can also suffer from eyestrains and wrist problems. Therefore it is very essential that the database administrators observe ergonomic principles strictly so as to protect themselves from such complications in the course of their job.
The database administrators work in almost every sector of the economy with the largest number being those ones working in service related industry. The number of database administrators is likely to grow in the near future. This is because the increase in internet usage and e-commerce.
Work Cited List
1. A set theoretic data structure and retrieval language". SIGIR Forum (ACM Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval) 7 (4): 45–55. Winter 1972. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1095495.1095500.
2. Thomas Haigh (June 2006). "Origins of the Data Base Management System" (PDF). SIGMOD Record (ACM Special Interest Group on Management of Data) 35 (2).
3. Database Administrator (DBA). BusinessDictionary.com. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/Database-Administrator-DBA.html.
