Data and data management

Terms related to data, including definitions about data warehousing and words and phrases about data management.

noisy data - Noisy data is a data set that contains extra meaningless data.
normal distribution - A normal distribution is a type of continuous probability distribution in which most data points cluster toward the middle of the range, while the rest taper off symmetrically toward either extreme.
object-oriented database management system (OODBMS) - An object-oriented database management system (OODBMS), sometimes shortened to ODBMS for object database management system, is a database management system (DBMS) that supports the modelling and creation of data as objects.
OLAP (online analytical processing) - OLAP (online analytical processing) is a computing method that enables users to easily and selectively extract and query data in order to analyze it from different points of view.
Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) - Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is an open standard application programming interface (API) that allows application programmers to easily access data stored in a database.
operational data store (ODS) - An operational data store (ODS) is a type of database that's often used as an interim logical area for a data warehouse.
operational efficiency - Operational efficiency refers to an organization's ability to reduce waste of time, effort and material while still producing a high-quality service or product.
operational intelligence (OI) - Operational intelligence (OI) is an approach to data analysis that enables decisions and actions in business operations to be based on real-time data as it's generated or collected by companies.
pandemic plan - A pandemic plan is a documented strategy for business continuity in the event of a widespread outbreak of a dangerous infectious disease.
parallel file system - A parallel file system is a software component designed to store data across multiple networked servers.
pebibyte (PiB) - A pebibyte (PiB) is a unit of measure that describes data capacity.
performance and accountability reporting (PAR) - Performance and accountability reporting (PAR) is the process of compiling and documenting factors that quantify an organization's achievements, efficiency and adherence to budget, comparing actual results against previously articulated goals.
personal health record (PHR) - A personal health record (PHR) is an electronic summary of health information that a patient maintains control of themselves, as opposed to their healthcare provider.
PL/SQL (procedural language extension to Structured Query Language) - In Oracle database management, PL/SQL is a procedural language extension to Structured Query Language (SQL).
precision agriculture - Precision agriculture (PA) is a farming management concept based on observing, measuring and responding to inter- and intra-field variability in crops.
predictive modeling - Predictive modeling is a mathematical process used to predict future events or outcomes by analyzing patterns in a given set of input data.
primary key (primary keyword) - A primary key, also called a primary keyword, is a column in a relational database table that's distinctive for each record.
product data management (PDM) - Product data management (PDM) is the process of capturing and managing the electronic information related to a product so it can be reused in business processes such as design, production, distribution and marketing.
public data - Public data is information that can be shared, used, reused and redistributed without restriction.
radiology information system (RIS) - A radiology information system (RIS) is a networked software system for managing medical imagery and associated data.
raw data (source data or atomic data) - Raw data is the data originally generated by a system, device or operation, and has not been processed or changed in any way.
RDBMS (relational database management system) - A relational database management system (RDBMS) is a collection of programs and capabilities that enable IT teams and others to create, update, administer and otherwise interact with a relational database.
real-time analytics - Real-time analytics is the use of data and related resources for analysis as soon as it enters the system.
record - In computer data processing, a record is a collection of data items arranged for processing by a program.
records information management (RIM) - Records information management (RIM) is a corporate area of endeavor involving the administration of all business records through their life cycle.
redundancy - Redundancy is a system design in which a component is duplicated so if it fails there will be a backup.
refactoring - Refactoring is the process of restructuring code, while not changing its original functionality.
registered health information technician (RHIT) - A registered health information technician (RHIT) is a certified professional who stores and verifies the accuracy and completeness of electronic health records.
relational database - A relational database is a type of database that organizes data points with defined relationships for easy access.
Report on Compliance (ROC) - A Report on Compliance (ROC) is a form that must be completed by all Level 1 Visa merchants undergoing a PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) audit.
restore point - A system restore point is a backup copy of important Windows operating system (OS) files and settings that can be used to recover the system to an earlier point of time in the event of system failure or instability.
RFM analysis (recency, frequency, monetary) - RFM analysis is a marketing technique used to quantitatively rank and group customers based on the recency, frequency and monetary total of their recent transactions to identify the best customers and perform targeted marketing campaigns.
SAP BW (Business Warehouse) - SAP Business Warehouse (BW) is a model-driven data warehousing product based on the SAP NetWeaver ABAP platform.
schema - In computer programming, a schema (pronounced SKEE-mah) is the organization or structure for a database, while in artificial intelligence (AI), a schema is a formal expression of an inference rule.
security information management (SIM) - Security information management (SIM) is the practice of collecting, monitoring and analyzing security-related data from computer logs and various other data sources.
self-driving car (autonomous car or driverless car) - A self-driving car -- sometimes called an autonomous car or driverless car -- is a vehicle that uses a combination of sensors, cameras, radar and artificial intelligence (AI) to travel between destinations without a human operator.
self-service analytics - Self-service analytics is a type of business intelligence (BI) that enables business users to access, manipulate, analyze and visualize data, as well as generate reports based on their discoveries.
sensitive information - Sensitive information is data that must be protected from unauthorized access to safeguard the privacy or security of an individual or organization.
SequenceFile - A SequenceFile is a flat, binary file type that serves as a container for data to be used in Hadoop distributed compute projects.
serverless database - A serverless database is a type of cloud database that is fully managed for an organization by a cloud service provider and runs on demand as needed to support applications.
SNOMED CT (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine -- Clinical Terms) - SNOMED CT (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine -- Clinical Terms) is a standardized, multilingual vocabulary of clinical terminology that is used by physicians and other health care providers for the electronic exchange of health information.
snowflaking (snowflake schema) - In data warehousing, snowflaking is a form of dimensional modeling in which dimensions are stored in multiple related dimension tables.
software-defined storage (SDS) - Software-defined storage (SDS) is a software program that manages data storage resources and functionality and has no dependencies on the underlying physical storage hardware.
spatial data - Spatial data is any type of data that directly or indirectly references a specific geographical area or location.
standard business reporting (SBR) - Standard business reporting (SBR) is a group of frameworks adopted by governments to promote standardization in reporting business data.
star schema - A star schema is a database organizational structure optimized for use in a data warehouse or business intelligence that uses a single large fact table to store transactional or measured data, and one or more smaller dimensional tables that store attributes about the data.
statistical analysis - Statistical analysis is the collection and interpretation of data in order to uncover patterns and trends.
storage class memory (SCM) - Storage class memory (SCM) is a type of physical computer memory that combines dynamic random access memory (DRAM), NAND flash memory and a power source for data persistence.
stream processing - Stream processing is a data management technique that involves ingesting a continuous data stream to quickly analyze, filter, transform or enhance the data in real time.
streaming data architecture - A streaming data architecture is an information technology framework that puts the focus on processing data in motion and treats extract-transform-load (ETL) batch processing as just one more event in a continuous stream of events.
structured data - Structured data is data that has been organized into a formatted repository, typically a database.
supply chain planning (SCP) - Supply chain planning (SCP) is the process of anticipating the demand for products and planning their materials and components, production, marketing, distribution and sale.
syslog - Syslog is an IETF RFC 5424 standard protocol for computer logging and collection that is popular in Unix-like systems including servers, networking equipment and IoT devices.
system of record (SOR) - A system of record (SOR) is an information storage and retrieval system that stores valuable data on an organizational system or process.
System Restore (Windows) - System Restore is a Microsoft Windows utility designed to protect and revert the operating system (OS) to a previous state.
T-SQL (Transact-SQL) - T-SQL (Transact-SQL) is a set of programming extensions from Sybase and Microsoft that add several features to the Structured Query Language (SQL), including transaction control, exception and error handling, row processing and declared variables.
table - A table in computer programming is a data structure used to organize information, just as it is on paper.
text mining (text analytics) - Text mining is the process of exploring and analyzing large amounts of unstructured text data aided by software that can identify concepts, patterns, topics, keywords and other attributes in the data.
timeline - A timeline is a visual representation of a chronological sequence of events along a drawn line that helps a viewer understand time relationships.
transactional data - In computing, transactional data is the information collected from transactions.
transcription error - A transcription error is a type of data entry error commonly made by human operators or by optical character recognition (OCR) programs.
transportation management system (TMS) - A transportation management system (TMS) is specialized software for planning, executing and optimizing the shipment of goods.
tree structure - A tree data structure is an algorithm for placing and locating files (called records or keys) in a database.
utility storage - Utility storage is a service model in which a provider makes storage capacity available to an individual, organization or business unit on a pay-per-use basis.
virtual desktop - A virtual desktop is a computer operating system that does not run directly on the endpoint hardware from which a user accesses it.
volatile memory - Volatile memory is a type of memory that maintains its data only while the device is powered.
web analytics - Web analytics is the process of analyzing the behavior of visitors to a website by tracking, reviewing and reporting the data generated by their use of the site and its components, such as its webpages, images and videos.
web services - Web services are a type of internet software that use standardized messaging protocols and are made available from an application service provider's web server for a client or other web-based programs to use.
WebLogic - Oracle WebLogic Server is a leading e-commerce online transaction processing (OLTP) platform, developed to connect users in distributed computing production environments and to facilitate the integration of mainframe applications with distributed corporate data and applications.
What are autonomous AI agents and which vendors offer them? - Autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agents are intelligent systems that can perform tasks for a user or system without human intervention.
What are data silos and what problems do they cause? - A data silo is a repository of data that's controlled by one department or business unit and isolated from the rest of an organization, much like grass and grain in a farm silo are closed off from outside elements.
What are graph neural networks (GNNs)? - Graph neural networks (GNNs) are a type of neural network architecture and deep learning method that can help users analyze graphs, enabling them to make predictions based on the data described by a graph's nodes and edges.
What are knowledge-based systems (KBSes)? - Knowledge-based systems (KBSes) are computer programs that use a centralized repository of data known as a knowledge base to provide problem-solving.
What are spreadsheets and how do they work? - A spreadsheet is a computer program that can capture, display and manipulate data arranged in rows and columns.
What is a 3-tier application architecture? - A three-tier application architecture is a modular client-server architecture that consists of a presentation tier, an application tier and a data tier.
What is a backpropagation algorithm? - A backpropagation algorithm, or backward propagation of errors, is an algorithm that's used to help train neural network models.
What is a business intelligence dashboard (BI dashboard)? - A business intelligence dashboard, or BI dashboard, is a data visualization and analysis tool that displays on one screen the status of key performance indicators (KPIs) and other important business metrics and data points for an organization, department, team or process.
What is a Consensus Algorithm? - A consensus algorithm is a process in computer science used to achieve agreement on a single data value among distributed processes or systems.
What is a data architect? - A data architect is an IT professional responsible for defining the policies, procedures, models and technologies used in collecting, organizing, storing and accessing company information.
What is a data flow diagram (DFD)? - A data flow diagram (DFD) is a graphical or visual representation that uses a standardized set of symbols and notations to describe a business's operations through data movement.
What is a data lake? - A data lake is a storage repository that holds a vast amount of raw data in its native format until it is needed for analytics applications.
What is a data mart (datamart)? - A data mart is a repository of data that is designed to serve a particular community of knowledge workers.
What is a framework? - In general, a framework is a real or conceptual structure intended to serve as a support or guide for the building of something that expands the structure into something useful.
What is a pivot table? - A pivot table is a statistics tool that summarizes and reorganizes selected columns and rows of data in a spreadsheet or database table to obtain a desired report.
What is a private cloud? Definition and examples - Private cloud is a type of cloud computing that delivers advantages similar to public cloud, including scalability and self-service, but through a proprietary architecture.
What is a records retention schedule? - A records retention schedule is a policy that defines how long paper and electronic content must be kept and provides disposal guidelines for how those items should be discarded.
What is a semantic network? - A semantic network is a knowledge structure that depicts how concepts are related to one another and how they interconnect.
What is a stored procedure? - A stored procedure is a set of Structured Query Language (SQL) statements that multiple programs can reuse and share to perform specific tasks.
What is a support vector machine (SVM)? - A support vector machine (SVM) is a type of supervised learning algorithm used in machine learning to solve classification and regression tasks.
What is a validation set? How is it different from test, train data sets? - A validation set is a set of data used to train artificial intelligence (AI) with the goal of finding and optimizing the best model to solve a given problem.
What is a vector database? - A vector database is a type of database technology that's used to store, manage and search vector embeddings, numerical representations of unstructured data that are also referred to simply as vectors.
What is actionable intelligence? - Actionable intelligence is information that can be immediately used or acted upon, either tactically in direct response to an evolving situation, or strategically as the result of data analytics or some other assessment.
What is AI ethics? - AI ethics is a system of moral principles and techniques intended to inform the development and responsible use of artificial intelligence technology.
What is an analytics database (analytical database)? - An analytics database, also called an analytical database, is a read-only system that stores historical data on business metrics such as sales performance and inventory levels.
What is an API endpoint? - An API endpoint is a point at which an application programming interface -- the code that enables two software programs to communicate with each other -- connects with the software program.
What is an inductive argument? - An inductive argument is an assertion that uses specific premises or observations to make a broader generalization.
What is an information system (IS)? - An information system (IS) is an interconnected set of components used to collect, store, process and transmit data and digital information.
What is an NVDIMM (non-volatile dual in-line memory module)? - An NVDIMM (non-volatile dual in-line memory module) is hybrid computer memory that retains data during a service outage.
What is anomaly detection? An overview and explanation - Anomaly detection is the process of identifying data points, entities or events that fall outside the normal range.
What is artificial intelligence as a service (AIaaS)? - Artificial intelligence as a service (AIaaS) is a cloud-based service that enables organizations to access artificial intelligence (AI) through a third-party offering.