In modem organizations, data has been added to the classical economic
assets of land, labor, and capital. Data on company products, finances,
and operations are gathered into data bases that are used to support
management reporting and decision making. Effective use of these data
bases requires control over their design and development and
coordination among the various users. The exercise of these management
functions is called data base administration (DBA). DBA is an
evolutionary area. In many organizations, it was formed as a response to
the problems created by the installation of sophisticated systems for
data base management. As a result, the practice of DBA has been strongly
influ- enced by its technological and organizational environment. The
size, organiza- tional position, staffing, and defined role of DBA vary
from firm to firm. How- ever, certain fundamental tasks and
responsibilities are, or should be, recognized as the province of DBA.
To date, literature on the DBA function is sparse. Most texts on data
base management systems (Date, 1975; Kroenke, 1977; Martin, 1978;
Sprowls, 1976; Tsichritzis and Lochovsky, 1977)* discuss DBA as one
aspect of that technology.