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Study Material For BCA Students: Data Dictionary: Bcastuff - Blogspot.in

A data dictionary contains definitions and descriptions of all data elements, structures, flows and stores in a system to provide a common understanding for programmers and serve as a reference during implementation. It includes details like data types, names, descriptions and other characteristics for each item. The data dictionary is organized into sections for different data items and provides important information to define and document the data in the system.

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194 views3 pages

Study Material For BCA Students: Data Dictionary: Bcastuff - Blogspot.in

A data dictionary contains definitions and descriptions of all data elements, structures, flows and stores in a system to provide a common understanding for programmers and serve as a reference during implementation. It includes details like data types, names, descriptions and other characteristics for each item. The data dictionary is organized into sections for different data items and provides important information to define and document the data in the system.

Uploaded by

deepak
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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bcastuff.blogspot.

in

Study Material for BCA Students: Data


dictionary

3-4 minutes

Data Dictionary

It is store house of data, giving information about data. During


system implementation it serves as common base for
programmers who are working on the system, It compares
their data description. It is also an important step in building
database.

            “Data dictionary contains description & definition


consulting the data structure, data elements, their
interrelationship & other characteristics of a system.”

Objectives of Data Dictionary

                                i.            A standard definition of all terms in a


system i.e. each data item is uniquely identified and defined.

                              ii.            Easy cross referencing between


subsystem’s program and modules.

                            iii.            Simple program maintenance.

                           iv.            It contains information about the data


of the system and there is an entry in the data dictionary for
every element of DFD. Thus DFD and Data Dictionary are
compliment of each other.

Data Items:

There are three classes of data items –


a.     Data Element –

                                    It is the smallest unit of data which cannot


be meaningfully decomposed further.

For Ex:

            Employee code, unit of measurement

b.     Data Structure –

                                    A group of data elements forms a data


structure.

For Ex:

            Data Structure of employee consist of a group of data


elements such employee code, name, age, experience, phone
no., address etc.

c.      Data Flow & Data stores –

                                    Data flows are data structures in motion


whereas Data stores are data structure at rest. Data stores
may be files, database etc.

Format of Data Dictionary:

A data dictionary is organised into five sections –

                                                        i.            Data Elements


                                                      ii.            Data Flows

                                                    iii.            Data Store

                                                   iv.            Process

                                                     v.            External Entities

Data Dictionary lists all data elements, flows, stores, process of


the system and it gives the detail about each item in following
format –

Data types, data name, data description, data characteristics,


data control information, composition, physical location of
data, etc.

Data dictionary for data element Employee code in dictionary –

Data Element  -           Employee code

Description      -           Unique code assigned for each employee

Type                -           char

Length             -           4

Range              -           0-9999

Data Stores     -           Employee table, Payroll table

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