Technology Changes Roll of Database Administrator
The database administrator (DBA) is responsible for managing and coordinating all
database activities. The DBA's job description includes database design, user
coordination, backup, recovery, overall performance, and database security. The
database administrator plays a crucial role in managing data for the employer. In the
past the DBA job has required sharp technical skills along with management ability.
(Shelly, Cashman, Waggoner 1992). However, the arrival on the scene of the relational
database along with the rapidly changing technology has modified the database
administrator's role. This has required organizations to vary the way of handling
database management.
(Mullins 1995)
Traditional database design and data access were complicated. The database
administrator's job was to oversee any and all database-oriented tasks. This included
database design and implementation, installation, upgrade, SQL analysis and advice for
application developers.. The DBA was also responsible for back-up and recovery, which
required many complex utility programs that run in a specified order. This was a
time-consuming energy draining task. (Fosdick 1995)
Databases are currently in the process of integration. Standardizing data, once done
predominately by large corporations, is now filtering down to medium-size and small
companies. The meshing of the old and new database causes administrators to maintain two
or three database products on a single network. (Wong 1995)
Relational database management systems incorporate complex features and components to
help with logic procedures. This requires organizations to expand the traditional
approach to database management and administration. The modern database management
systems not only share data, they implement the sharing of common data elements and
code elements. (Mullins 1995)
Currently, the more sought after relational database products are incorporating more
and more complex features and components to simplify procedural logic. Due to the
complexity of todays relational database, corporations are changing the established way
of dealing with database management personnel. Traditionally, as new features were
added to the database, more and more responsibility fell on the DBA. With the emergence
of the relational database management system (RDBMS), we are now beginning to see a
change in the database administrator's role.(Mullins 1995)
The design of data access routines in relational database demands extra participation
from programmers. The database administrator simply checks the system's optimization
choice, because technology is responsible for building access paths to the data. Program
design and standard query language (SQL) tools have become essential requirements for the
database administrator to do this job. However, this technology requires additional
supervision and many DBAs are not competent in SQL analysis and performance monitoring.
The database administrator had to learn to master the skills of application logic and
programming techniques. (Mullins 1995)
The database administrator's job description and responsibilities have changed with
technology. The DBA is greatly concerned with database quality, maintenance and
availability . If the relational database fails to perform, the database administrator
will be held accountable for the failure.
The role of the database administrator is expanding to include too many responsibilities
for a single person. This has led to the DBA's job being split into two separate titles:
a traditional DBA along with a procedural DBA.
The traditional database administrator is responsible for organizing and managing data
objects. However, with new technology, the DBA is not always responsible for
debugging, utilities or programming in C, COBOL or SQL. (Mullins 1995). These tasks go
to object builder programming personnel who are familiar with object-oriented programming
languages. With the database manager unqualified in SQL, the job is referred to object
builders well versed in using C, COBOL, SQL. (Sipolt 1995). The traditional database
administrator's strength is in creating the physical design of the database. The
procedural database administrator is an expert in accessing data. Procedural DBAs are
responsible for procedural logic support, application code reviews, access path review
and analysis, SQL rewrites, debugging, and analysis to assure optimal execution.
(Mullins 1995)
Along with the changing job description, administrators are facing increased demands
from the corporations for which they work. Database administrators are responsible for
staff cost control, hardware, software, and are becoming increasingly responsible for
the work quality and response time of their staff. (Riggsbee 1995)
The job modifications are not the only change in this industry. Database administrators
received a substantial increase in their wages in 1995. The average earnings for a DBA
are now $52,572 according to the 1995 survey source. However, salaries differ according
to the specific region of the country in which one resides. The mid-level database
administrator in San Francisco earns $55,000 to $65,000, substantially more than our
survey states. However, Salt Lake City database administrator's salary fell between
$30,000 to $35,000. Another area of salaries on the rise is the health care
profession. Previously lower end on the pay scale, hospital pay is on the rise and
currently mid-scale in the market. (Mael 1995)
Companies no longer feel responsible for additional training or long-term retention of
an employee. The trend is currently opting for a new employee, rather than hiring from
within the company. Companies are willing to compensate new blood for their knowledge,
rather than invest time and effort in training. This cold hard fact is true from the
top management down to data entry. Therefore, it is vital to individual database
personnel to make sure they are receiving the proper training to prepare them for our
rapidly changing technology world. (Mael 1995)
The database administrator's roll has become ambiguous. Therefore, the job description
has been separated into two fields. The traditional database administratori is
responsible for managing and the organization of data. He is no longer responsible for
programming in C, COBOL, or SQL. Traditional database administration personnel create
the physical data design. The task of procedural database administrator encompasses
logic support, coding review, programming in SQL, C, or COBOL. The procedural database
administrator's expertise is in data access.
Our world of rapidly changing technology has placed greater demands on database
administration personnel. Relational database demanded modification of the database
administraton into two separate specialities. This change should result in the
traditional database administrator maintaining a managerial capacity, with
responsibilities in the physical design of the database. The procedural database
administrator's capacity is in the more technical aspects of building the relational
database. He expertise in procedural logic support, data access path review and
analysis demands superior performance of the relational database.
Works Cited
Fosdick, Howard. "Managing Distributed Database Servers" Database Programming & Design,
Dec. 1995, p. 533-537.
Mael, Susan. " Want to Earn Big Money? West or Become CIO" , Datamation . Oct 1, 1995,
p45-49.
Mullins, Craig S., "The Procedural DBA", Database Programming & Design, Dec 1995,
p. 40-47.
Riggsbee, Max. "Database Support: Can It Be Measured?", Database Programming & Design.
July 1995, p. 32-37.
Shelly, Cashman, Waggoner., Complete Computer Concepts and Programming in Microsoft
Basic., Massachusetts. Boyd & Frazer Publishing Company, 1992.
Sipolt, Michael J., "An Object Lesson In Management (Excerpt from 'The Object- Oriented
Enterprise')", Datamation. July 1, 1995, p. 51-54.
Wong, William, "Database Integration", Network VAR, Nov 1995, p. 31-37.
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