The Benefits of Using a Normalized Relational Model for Collecting and Analyzing the California Recreational Fisheries Survey Data

The data collected by the California Recreational Fisheries Survey (CRFS) are a valuable resource for fisheries management. A strong data governance plan dictates that these structured data must be precisely entered, meticulously maintained, and securely protected. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife uses Microsoft SQL Server (SQL Server) as its enterprise standard for data collection and storage. Two important advantages of SQL Server in an enterprise environment are that it can receive data from a variety of sources (web applications, mobile devices, flat files from adjunct surveys), and it supports a comprehensive security model that protects the data against inappropriate access. In addition to the stringent data entry and storage requirements, CRFS needs a flexible system for data analysis and reporting. Microsoft’s acquisition of Revolution Analytics demonstrates their commitment to R, a statistical and numerical analysis language. In addition, Microsoft’s recent advances in Power Pivot, Power Query, Power View, Power BI and Machine Learning Studio provide a wealth of opportunities for scientists to examine this powerful data set. This poster will demonstrate why SQL Server is a good choice for data storage, and will provide examples of Microsoft’s analysis tools to examine the CRFS data set.