Creating a database does not signify the end of your work as a database administrator. The whole process, from the planning and design stage to the database implementation and operation, is a project that requires project management best practices.
Database administrators need to implement the best practices for project management to ensure that database performance meets set expectations while the quality of data in use remains high and stable all the time.
In addition, organisations need to set the right goals for their databases while at the same time ensuring that their teams help database administrators. This is crucial in getting the most from their databases.
Here are some project management best practices for database administrators;
Avoid Data Duplication Throughout the Project
As discussed above, your work does not end after you have created a database. This is a complete project that needs to be checked throughout the lifetime of the database. One of the best practices in project management when dealing with databases is to avoid data duplication.
It is important to note that having duplicate data hurts the performance of your database. It also minimises the things you can achieve with the database. In addition, duplicate data uses more resources, meaning that you might have issues with resource allocation.
You might even spend a lot of time fixing a small issue due to data duplication. For example, database administrators might spend more time fixing an issue with a single customer who has their data duplicated. You should, therefore, avoid data duplication.
Business Goals Play an Essential Role
Every database is designed to address certain needs and requirements in a business. When it comes to the project management best practices for database administrators, they should make sure that their database management strategies match the requirements of their organisations.
Business heads, on the other hand, should work with DBAs to ensure that their business strategies are aligned with technology, in this regard, databases.
They should also ensure that all the metrics that are needed to check performance and success are clearly outlined. To do this, DBAs should understand the data that they need to collect. They also need to make sure that this data is used effectively.
If not, they might end up collecting data that is not useful or does not align with the goals of their businesses. They will also be wasting resources collecting the wrong data. The right business goals ensure that project management is easy for DBAs.
Establish Procedures and Policies for Database Management
Database administrators need to establish procedures and policies that direct their actions in case something happens. This should include the first steps to take, the procedures to follow, and how to navigate through a problem.
They should also ensure that databases are monitored around the clock to establish any issues that might affect performance. For this, they can try a database performance tuning tool to anticipate and fix performance issues.
In addition to performance tuning, they should use process mappings and flowcharts provided by the tools that they choose to use. This helps them visualise their database performance. The procedures and policies for database management should always guide their actions to ensure that everything follows the right process.
Easy Access to Data
Managing a database also includes making sure that there is easy access to data. Database administrators should ensure that other people such as application users can benefit from the data.
In addition to that, all stakeholders including end users and internal users should find it easy to access the data and use it without any problems. When doing this, the data should be protected from unauthorised access at all times.
To do this effectively, database administrators need to make sure that they have designed their databases to match the requirements of their users. It is important to note that what works for a fellow DBA might not work for an end user.
Security is an Important Part of Database Project Management
Security is one of the most important things to look at when managing a database. Every database administrator needs to understand the importance of security and what they should do to ensure that their databases are secure all the time.
Database administrators cannot prevent or predict all disasters that might happen with their databases. However, they can improve the security of their data and make it easy for their organisations to manage risks with a data breach.
When doing this, some of the important things to keep in mind include recovery, backup, and maintenance planning. This is the only way the entire project can remain safe and meet its performance expectations.
Database administrators play a vital role when it comes to the management of a database. They, however, need to follow the best practices discussed above to succeed in project management.
