Data Base Management for Data Base Administrators (DBAs)

• Data modeling and database design: the ability to create an efficient physical database design from a logical data model and application specifications
• Metadata management and repository usage: the ability to collect, store, manage, and query data about the data in the database
• Database schema creation and management: the ability to translate a physical database design into an actual physical database implementation and to manage that database once it has been implemented
• Procedural skills: the ability to design, debug, implement, and maintain stored procedures, triggers, and user-defined functions that are stored in the DBMS
• Capacity planning: the ability to predict growth based on application and data usage patterns and to implement the necessary database changes to accommodate the growth
• Performance management and tuning: the ability to proactively monitor the database environment and to make changes to data structures, SQL, application logic, or the DBMS subsystem to optimize performance
• SQL code reviews and walk-throughs: the ability to understand and review SQL and host language programs and to recommend changes for optimization
• Backup and recovery: the ability to implement an appropriate database backup and recovery strategy based on data volatility and application availability requirements
• Database backup: incremental vs. full
• Versioning and dataspace configuration control
• Journaling transactions
• Incremental vs. full recovery of lost/contaminated data or databases
• Monitoring, measuring and replaying database transaction, journaling and archiving to assess the robustness of database controls
• Ensuring data integrity: the ability to design a database so that only accurate and appropriate data is entered and maintained
• General database management: knowledge of relational database tenets and the ability to accurately communicate them to others
• Data security and data integrity: the ability to implement a rigorous security infrastructure for production and test databases to ensure that only authorized users have access to data
• Maintain DB Access Control and Financial Controls
• Determining and ensuring who gets access, who doesn't
• Access barriers and defenses (e.g., user role and task-specific access control)
• Security control
• Passwords
• Authentication
• Encryption
• Journaling transactions for audit
• Insuring financial control over financial transaction data
• General systems management and networking skills: the ability to integrate database administration requirements and tasks with general systems management, requirements and tasks
• ERP and business knowledge: the ability to understand the requirements of the application users and to administer their databases to avoid interruption of business. This includes understanding how any ERP packages impact the business and how the databases used by those packages differ from traditional relational databases
• Extensible data type administration: the ability to understand, implement, and administer any extended (application-specific) data types implemented in the DBMS.
• Sourcing considerations (CIO-DBA interaction area)
• In-house database development
• Contracted database development and support (Built in-house in cooperation with an external, systems integration consulting firm)
• Off-site database management application services
• Recognizing Database vendor lock-in strategies
• Use of non-standard database programming language constructs (E.g., Oracle's PL/SQL, a procedural language extension to SQL)
• Resourcing: Getting the resources needed to do the job (CIO-DBA interaction area)
• Network
• LAN (Local Area Network) and Intranet
• WAN (Wide Area Network) and Internet
• Extranets and Virtual Private Networks
• Hardware
• Processor(s)
• Mass storage
• Backup archive
• Uninterruptible Power Supplies
• Software
• DBMS (e.g., Oracle 8i, MS SQL 7.0, IBM DB2)
• DBM Design and Implementation tools (e.g., Oracle Developer 2000)
• DB Warehousing tools
• Web client development tools
• Performance monitoring tools
• Staff
• CIO, Chief Information Officer, responsible for information systems, resources and data across the enterprise
• DB Administrator, responsible for managing enterprise databases and controlling access to database updates and modification
• DB System Architect, responsible for the design of database management system applications
• DB System Integrators, responsible for programming and testing software applications that are to be integrated with a DBMS (e.g., integrating a Web server with a DBMS using ODBC) using the provided network, hardware and software
• DB Designers, responsible for the design of database schemata and associated transactions
• DB Developers, responsible for the development and programming of database schemata and transaction, as well as any connections to external applications or application integration mechanisms
• DB Maintainers, responsible for archiving, cleaning or converting databases as they age
• DB Data Entry and Validation, responsible for instantiating database transactions (queries and updates)
• DB Users
• DBMS performance tuning and application controls monitoring
• Diagnostics and proactive alerting/alarming
• Bottleneck and resource congestion analysis
• Security, access and financial control verification