Database Technology and Church Management MSCM 8630 IT for Church Management Dr. Wagner October 2, 2008

This week in class… Two on-line sessions this week ◦ Thursday night 7:30 p.m. EST ◦ Tuesday morning 9:30-10:30 EST (repeat session) Continue reading ◦ Chapter 4 in Welch book ◦ Go over articles from CC magazine Start discussing database technology Review the details of the second assignment ◦ Do Access (or other Database package) tutorials in Element K as needed

Questions about class so far?

The Church IT Director (article) Shows growth in role of IT in churches ◦ IT budgets  Using some outside vendors ◦ Church IT Directors not aware of resources  journals  CMS user groups  Special software and hardware discounts  Dell  Grassroots network of blogs  Challenges?

The Virtual World Dawning (article) How are virtual environments transforming churches? ◦ Multi-site distributed model ◦ 47 of 100 fastest growing churches use this (?) ◦ Church sites can be anywhere  Non-threatening, easy access, collaborate across time zones  Movement from push to pull communication model  TIVO, iPod, Youtube On-line digital libraries? Security issues? Worlds interacting? IBM and Cisco experiment with virtual buildings for team meetings ◦ People tend to mingle after meetings ◦ Discussion groups form spontaneously

The Virtual World Dawning (cont.) Virtual World Technologies ◦ Forterra Systems software ◦ Qwaq hosting (now virtualworldsmanagement) ◦ Virtual confession booth ◦ Virtual cemeteries ◦ ◦ Life Church Purchases 16 acres in Second Life Life Church Purchases 16 acres in Second Life ◦ 6 million Google searches by spiritual searchers each day (?) Advantages for churches? ◦ Anonymous, opportunity to explore, funnel into church, build a global presence?

Database Technology Why is this important? What are the basics? Look at some examples Practice in Access

Why manage data? Changing view of data Higher costs of lost data Encouragement of “team problem- solving” Flexible reporting Integrating it into decision-making better

What kind of data do churches manage? What is structured data? What is unstructured data?

What kind of data do churches manage? Sermons, research prep Letters, – internal and external Databases ◦ Member lists, contacts, contributions, baptisms, attendance ◦ Problems with multiple databases Multimedia files – photos, videos, audio, bulletins Governance docs – minutes, agendas, meeting notices Custom templates, programs, etc.

Data Management Tasks designing the database structure entering the data updating data by adding, changing, or deleting sorting the data searching through the data for a record or group of records obtaining screen or printed output Common tasks for databases include:

Why not just use spreadsheets?

Redundancy ◦ Duplication of data or the storing of the same data in more than one place Difficulty accessing data Lack of powerful query capabilities Limited security Size limitations

Approaches to Data Management include: Custom Program Approach File Processing System Approach Database Management System Approach

Database Management Systems Operating System Database Management System Application Programs Operating System Database Management System Application Programs Databases Data Dictionary Database Management

Major Types of Databases Database Server Database Server External Databases End User Workstation Operational Databases Analytical Databases Data Warehouse Databases End User Databases Distributed Databases

Database Management Systems Program(s) through which users interact with database Popular DBMSs include ◦ Access ◦ Filemaker Pro ◦ Oracle ◦ DB2 ◦ SQL Server

Logical Data Elements Personnel Database Employee Record 2 Employee Record 1 Employee Record 3 Employee Record 4 NameSSSalaryNameSSSalaryNameSSSalaryNameSSSalary Data Payroll File Benefits File

Let’s try some database practice MS Access 2003 You can also get to a version of this by going to ◦ Login with VU userID and PW ◦ Navigate to “General Applications” folder  You should see both Office 2003 and Office 2007

Assignment for next week Finish spreadsheet assignment Start using the Access tutorials on Element K (if necessary) Start thinking of project ideas

Questions?