Data Access, Analysis, and Delivery Software

Data access

Data access is a generic term referring to a process which has both an IT-specific meaning and other connotations involving access rights in a broader legal and/or political sense. In the former it typically refers to software and activities related to storing, retrieving, or acting on data housed in a database or other repository. Two fundamental types of data access exist:

1. sequential access (as in magnetic tape, for example)
2. random access (as in indexed media)

Data access crucially involves authorization to access different data repositories. Data access can help distinguish the abilities of administrators and users. For example, administrators may have the ability to remove, edit and add data, while general users may not even have "read" rights if they lack access to particular information.

Historically, each repository (including each different database, file system, etc.), might require the use of different methods and languages, and many of these repositories stored their content in different and incompatible formats.

Over the years standardized languages, methods, and formats, have developed to serve as interfaces between the often proprietary, and always idiosyncratic, specific languages and methods. Such standards include SQL (1974- ), ODBC (ca 1990- ), JDBC, XQJ, ADO.NET, XML, XQuery, XPath (1999- ), and Web Services.

Some of these standards enable translation of data from unstructured (such as HTML or free-text files) to structured (such as XML or SQL).

Structures such as connection strings and DBURLs[1] can attempt to standardise methods of connecting to databases.

A program for data analysis

A data analysis program is a specially developed software that can analyze any information. This is usually a database program. It is within the database that you can store any information in any amount. A functional program allows incoming and stored data to analyze. Software development can be done for any tasks, which means that the program for data analysis can be customized for any activity. If, for example, you have a trade organization, then your data analysis program will analyze products, customers, funds, product balance, and more.

On-demand software delivery

A type of software delivery service where the software is provided to the customer through a network (such as the Internet) as a service. On-demand software delivery is also called software on-demand. The terms on-demand software and Software as a Service (SaaS) are often used interchangeably.

Data access, analysis and delivery software are end-user oriented tools for ad hoc data access, analysis and reporting as well as production reporting.  These products are most commonly used by information consumers or power users rather than professional programmers.