IT Agility and Relational Databases, Essay Example

The Value of IT Agility

In order for organizations to utilize their IT solutions as effectively and efficiently as possible, business leaders and frontline supervisors must be able to correlate the relationship between IT resources and operational efficiencies. In doing so, organizations will be able to maximize their bottom line – employee productivity and performance.

As globalization increases, businesses must seek competitive advantages that will help to maintain their position in the marketplace. Part of that includes incorporating organizational agility. Developing an agile organization means that businesses are able to make critical business decisions that can measured by their Return on Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). This process can begin by an organizational evaluation of their IT architecture.

In the article The Value of Agility, author Michael Hugos discusses the success of their implementation of IT agility within a national restaurant chain. The client requested IT processes that would increase sales and reduce cost by incorporating it food inventory with local consumer demands. Hogos, defying the odds, was able to establish agile IT methods that were able to accomplish this goal for the client.

Hugos used a joint application design based on the ideas and recommendations from business and technical employees. Afterwards, Hugos and his team developed business processes based on predictable data. Once the business processes were defined, the IT team was able to develop a prototype and an object-oriented design of web pages, databases, spreadsheets and other elements needed to develop Version 1.0 of this system. Within weeks, and through the elimination of faxes and emails, Hugos and his team were able to provide the processes and procedures that would produce standardized reports that would assist their client in data analysis and effective decision making strategies (Hugos, 2006).

SQL and the Relational Database Model

The Relational Database Model is a compilation of related files. Typically, these files are compiled according to the model. For example, early models consisted of the hierarchical model in which files were related in a parent-child format with each child having at least one parent. You also had the network model which means that files were developed based on the owner and members. The relational database model was a huge success as it was able to compile files based on a common factor. Using this model created a flexible process for its users.

Structured Query Language (SQL), on the other hand, is the language of a database used for maintaining data within the relational database system. SQL has become a widely used process for relational databases. Although SQL was a significant development for the computer world, it was not without its disadvantaged. Many developers and vendors were dissatisfied with SQL due to its deficiency in cross-platform portability, underdeveloped procedures for managing missing data and for its complexities in language and semantics.

In the article The end of SQL and relational databases?, author Intersimone addresses a common question being asked regarding SQL and relational databases. Can we be approaching the end of SQL? Author David Intersimone says not so fast! Intersimone believes that there are too many relevant frameworks that are still dependent upon the development and maintenance of relational databases. These frameworks still rely on team members who work on the design, development and maintenance of relational databases. Intersimone also discusses the significant development within Microsoft’s LINQ which minimizes the disconnections between programming and database communication. Intersimone also believes that benefits such as vertically and horizontally scalable and higher performance will keep relational databases alive.

References

Hugos, M. H. (2006). The Value of Agility. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from web: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/112307/The_Value_of_IT_Agility?taxonomyId=14&pageNumber=1

Intersimone, D. (2010). The end of SQL and relational databases? Retrieved May 9, 2010 from web: http://blogs.computerworld.com/15510/the_end_of_sql_and_relational_databases_part_1_of_3