Any company that wants to survive, expand, and beat out the competition must have control over data maintenance and administration. While the two aspects go hand in hand, data maintenance and administration are also separate dynamics, which will be discussed in this article.  In summary, data management or maintenance is control over a company’s information from a number of angles.  Obviously, the primary goal is to ensure data is protected but also sorted, analyzed, distributed, and managed in a professional manner.

The operations side of data maintenance and administration has to do with the individual who is responsible for the technology aspect of the DBMS or Database Management Systems.  This person has a lot of responsibility and ownership to gather and understand the needs of everyone in the company so data used can be managed appropriately.  While there are numerous tasks associated with this particular position, the ones considered the most important include:

• Software Installation – For data maintenance and administration, the administrator has the role of spearheading installation of any new software.  Typically, the person in this position will also be heavily involved with the testing phase of said software prior to it being launched and used throughout the organization.
• Configuration – The database administrator also handles the configuration of both software and hardware programs.  In fact, many companies will have the administrator be the only hands-on person to have this type of access.
• Design – You will also find that administrators are often involved with the design of the database, working closely with other IT personnel.  The benefit of having the administrator working in this role is that many potential risks associated with the software and hardware can be identified early on, thus avoiding small and potentially large problems further down the road after the database is complete and launched.
• Security – Another aspect of data maintenance and administration has to do with security, which is obviously a huge issue for any company in today’s world.  This person will spend much of his or her time managing security issues to include the monitoring and administration of database activity.  In most cases, the security aspect of the administrator’s role also includes adding or deleting users of the company’s computer system, providing executives with statistics, along with auditing, and then making sure the systems used are protected from hackers, spam, downtime, and so on.
• Analysis – Although not always a major part of database maintenance and administration, sometimes the administrator will be asked to look at stored information and complete an analysis, followed by his or her recommendations on the best ways to improve operation, proficiency, efficiency, and effectiveness.
• Modeling – For database maintenance and administrator is done by the administrator as well, helping to determine the right ways to get the most out of the systems used.
• Standards and Best Practices – One other responsibility of the database administrator worth mentioning, although there are more, is that this person will help to identify and create high standards and best practices for every employees within the company pertaining to computer software and hardware.

Remember, database maintenance and administration is a vital part of any company’s success.  If this tool is not established, the business is putting itself at tremendous risk, something too dangerous to oversee.  The database itself could be developed using a number of systems and processes but the administrator will have the education, skills, and necessary training to know the right route to take.

The key is to have a system that is built correctly from the beginning, one that meets the company’s current needs, as well as can predict growth in the future, and a qualified administrator who knows all the ins and outs for both database maintenance and administration.  This means not only having a good foundation, tight security, flexibility, and the ability to analyze, but also recoverability.

While no company wants to experience lost data, it happens for various reasons.  If this were to happen due to bugging, hardware failure, or even data entry error, the database and administrator have to be such that data can be recovered quickly before there is any type of permanent damage done.  If data should be lost, the administrator along with IT personnel should have some type of redundancy in place so critical information can be recaptured in its entirety.