Procuring Data Management Systems

¶ … Information Systems Management

There are numerous components of information systems management discussed throughout this course. At a high level, these include some of the finer aspects of hardware, software, and middleware. At a more granular level these pertain to various facets of infrastructure, architecture, and user experience mechanisms such as application interfaces (APIs). Architectural concerns are generally based on choices for cloud or on-premise deployments, in addition to hybrid architectural paradigms. Infrastructure concerns involve database selection, analytics mechanisms, transformation options (ETL, ELT and others) and tools for publication. Additional components include mechanisms and constructs for both data governance and security, which are varied and involve both hardware and software.

The organization that I am familiar with is called Dataversity. It is a data-centric website publication for all aspects of data management. A substantial amount of the revenues this entity generates is from hosting data management conferences; some 'webinars' are hosted via internet connections. The personal knowledge management tools that this organization utilizes includes Hadoop, the open source big data platform which serves as its primary database. However, the organization has selected this option because of its capabilities as a data lake -- a centralized data management hub for storing all data in their native formats for expedient access. Dataversity operates Cambridge Semantics' Anzo Smart Data Lake platform atop Hadoop, which helps to facilitate well-governed, secure access of data of all types, structures and sources. Dataversity uses Tableau to publish the results of its analytics, which include a variety of diverse data on trending topics in data management, competitiors' articles, and its own. All of Dataversity's diversity of content is stored and accessed through Hadoop. The company communicates primarily through email; its workers mostly access the site via laptop computers and handheld mobile devices.

Dataversity secures its information and knowledge in two ways -- both at the source and at the end point device. At the company's physical location, it employs a number of traditional security measures including firewalls, appliances, and probes. It also deploys a variety of solutions for security accessed through the cloud, such as inSync which replicates data and makes copies of it (Harper, 2014). However, this company also secures the mobile devices which are used to access its centralized information management systems as well. It deploys solutions such as Stoneware's unified cloud platform, which can partition workspaces for business and personal use, and leverage security measures such as single sign-ons and the oversight of IT departments to view business workspaces on devices (Harper, 2014). These measures are combined with the sort of provenance, semantic and metadata consistency that the Anzo platform provides, which allows users to determine how data was accessed and by whom to ensure that it meets standards for governance and security.