Too much data, too little exploits

If I had the resources, backing and opportunity, I would advocate for a new breed of specialist data managers (in addition to existing data managers) whose role is simply to extract data and generate reports ... call them Reporting Specialists, BI Specialists, Report Generators, Data Extractors, or whatever you may like - but title is a trivia, so let's move on.

Through the times, I have learnt that many organizations own so much data which sits in some electronic database, but never gets the chance to see the light of the day. This really beats the purpose, and until we harness that data, we would be allocating resources to doing something that does not ultimately benefit the organization. To be specific, what I mean is that we would be spending a lot of money managing a lot of data for no ultimate use. Think about the resources spent on managing data - from human resources to software and hardware infrastructure ... the list is long. And I can assure you that this is the reality in many environments.

In my view, an average sized organization would do much better with a couple of Reporting Specialists whose role is purely writing SQL queries to extract data and format the output in some reporting format that can be used for research, M&E, management (strategic, tactical or operational) or other purposes. I can nearly guarantee that the Return On Investment (ROI) for spending on Reporting Specialists would be significant. We might all be amazed at how much positive impact such a move will have on the worrying HIV/AIDS rates in some countries.

Most organizations use electronic systems that were acquired off-the-shelf; a few build their systems in-house. Either way, the need for the Reporting Specialist is growing by the day. Without a paradigm shift, the concept of data-information-knowledge is grossly undermined because data will remain data, yet in the ideal world, data is meant to be transformed into information and ultimately knowledge. This is the real essence of data.

This is my take, even though insignificant as it may sound.

How can MS Access use a MySQL database as the backend?

This question arose while I was presenting a beginner's training in MySQL. It is very simple to accomplish this, but the answer is not one word, or one sentence. I will try to summarize below.

The technology used is ODBC (Open Database Connectivity)  - read about this for better understanding.

Assuming that you already have MS Access and MySQL installed on your computer, then do the following:

1. Install the MySQL ODBC driver - straightforward installation
2. Create the database with tables in MySQL - the normal way databases are created
3. In MS Access, setup ODBC driver to communicate with the MySQL database - simply using External data / ODBC database
4. Create your user interface (forms) in MS Access - as you always do! Only that this time the tables will be in a linked MySQL database.

In 4 simple steps, you are home and dry. With this setup, you benefit from the robust and stable engine of MySQL database management system, while you also retain the simplicity of forms design in Access.

Multi-user access to your database on a network will no longer suffer from the drawbacks of an Access database.

Remember also that this principle applies to any ODBC-compliant database management system (DBMS) - which most DBMSs are. In fact, ODBC drivers exist for most DBMSs, including Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, etc.

If you are interested in further details, read, read and read ... OR simply contact me. As easy as 123.

Beginner's guide to MySQL

A saying goes thus: "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

Likewise the journey to MySQL land may start right here, if you haven't already started. You will decide whether to reach your destination or not, but that is entirely up to you - largely driven by your interests and priorities.

In this post, I flag off that journey, but out of courtesy, you might want to share with us the progress that you have made in due course.

Recently, I made a presentation to the Data Managers Forum, and I thought that it might be worthwhile sharing. Please find the relevant document here.