Data Capture

In a general sense you can think of data capture as automated data entry where no intermediate step of a human entering data is required. Barcode sensors, biometric security devices and web scraping are all methods of data capture. The key issue in data capture is to capture the data in a form usable by computers or transform the captured data into a form usable by computers/databases.

Data has become the lifeblood of modern consumer societies. The wide proliferation of various types of data capture methods is one of the primary factors in the growth of Big Data and underlies the development of the field of data analytics.

SQL Server added a data capture feature in 2008 called “Change Data Capture” (CDC). When working with databases, many specifications of applications require the value of data must be recorded before it is changed. CDC allows developers to deliver data archiving and capturing with no additional programming. When you apply CDC features on a database table, a mirror of that table is created with the same column structure and with metadata that summarizes the change in the database table row.

Database admins and auditors sometimes need more detailed data about specific users and their use of a database. Idera’s SQL Compliance Manager uses a lightweight agent to perform data capture directly from the SQL Server trace stream in real-time. This enables you to find out exactly who did “what”, “when”, “where”, and “how”, and whether the actions in question were undertaken by privileged users or hackers. SQL Compliance Manager also helps you to meet regulatory and data security requirements including SOX, PCI, GLBA, HIPAA(HITECH), and Basel  l and II.