Importance of Data Management within an Organization - Essay Example

Without access to its data, an organization would not know who owned its money or to whom it should be supplying its products or services (Davis 2001). If the data held by an organization is to be of any use to the organization, it has not only to be stored but has to be readily available for use by staff within the organization, in a manageable format and promptly (Holloway 1989).

Many organizations have found their data to be rich but information as poor (Davis 2001). The reason for this is that a large amount of data is available but it cannot be accessed properly and easily and it is not filtered in ways, which can make the data useful (Zeleny 2000).

The effective management of data should be a concern for every organization. The ease with which, data can be captured to computer storage and the relative cheapness of that storage means that the amount of data, which organizations can store is very large indeed (Frees 1996). However, not only must the data be stored but it must be accessed quickly and flexibly, by managers who increasingly see new and innovative ways to use the computerized storage of data to enhance their analytical capabilities and decision-making potential (Schauer 2004).

Data management software programs are used by organizations to manage the data of the organizations. These software programs are active and supportive and help the organization in data integration, data integrity, data independence, data retrieval, and data security (Martin 1982).

Data management deals with the gathering and retention of process metrics (Zeleny 2000). This requires standardized data definitions, data management facilities, and staff to ensure that data is promptly obtained, properly checked, accurately entered in the database, and effectively managed (Frees 1996).

Therefore, it is quite clear that data management is a very significant concern for organizations all over the world. Without data management, organizations cannot manage their business activities. For data management, organizations make use of different software programs and database management systems.

Data management software programs are supportive of organizational working and are very crucial as they solve many problems of data management. With the help of data management programs, data integration, data integrity, data security, data retrieval, and data independence, all tasks are performed easily. Read More