Data		Stored representations of objects and events that have meaning and importance in the user’s environment.
Information		The first step in database development, in which the scope and general contents of organizational databases are specified.
Metadata		Data that have been processed in such a way as to increase the knowledge of the person who uses it.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)		An organized collection of logically related data.
Data Warehouse		A detailed, technology-independent specification of the overall structure of organizational data.
Constraint		A software system that is used to create, maintain, and provide controlled access to user databases.
Database		A rule that cannot be violated by database users.
Entity		A set of specifications that detail how data from a logical data model (or schema) are stored in a computer’s secondary memory for a specific database management system. There is one physical data model (or schema) for each logical data model.
Database Management System		A class of systems that integrate all functions of the enterprise, such as manufacturing, sales, finance, marketing, inventory, accounting, and human resources.
Client/Server Architecture		A local area network-based environment in which database software on a server (called a database server or database engine) performs database commands sent to it from client workstations, and application programs on each client concentrate on user interface functions.
Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)		An iterative process of systems development in which requirements are converted to a working system that is continually revised through close work between analysts and users.
Prototyping		A person, place, object, event, or concept in the user environment about which the organization wishes to maintain data.
Enterprise data model		Data that describes the properties or characteristics of end-user data and the context of that data.
Conceptual Data Model		An integrated decision support database whose content is derived from the various operational databases.
Logical Data Model		A traditional methodology used to develop, maintain, and replace information systems.
Physical Data Model		The representation of data for a particular data management technology (such as the relational model). In the case of a relational data model, elements include tables, columns, rows, primary and foreign keys, as well as constraints.