Database Management Basics

Database management is the system to manage information that is essential to the company’s business operations. It involves storing data, distributing it to applications and users and then modifying it if necessary as well as monitoring changes to the data and preventing it from getting corrupted due to unexpected failures. It is an element of a company’s overall informational infrastructure which aids in decision making and growth of the company as well as compliance with laws such as the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act.

The first database systems were invented in the 1960s by Charles Bachman, IBM and others. They developed into information management systems (IMS), which allowed huge amounts of data to be stored and retrieved for a variety of reasons. From calculating inventory, to supporting complicated financial accounting functions, and human resource functions.

A database is a set of tables that store data in accordance with a certain scheme, like one-to-many relationships. It makes use of primary keys to identify records and allows cross-references between tables. Each table has a set of fields, also known as attributes, that contain information about the data entities. Relational models, developed by E. F. “Ted” Codd in the 1970s at IBM and IBM, are among the most used database type today. The design is based on normalizing the data, making it simpler to use. It also makes it easier to update data, avoiding the need to change several databases.

Most DBMSs can support various types of databases, by providing different levels of external and internal organization. The internal level deals with the cost, scalability, and other operational issues, like the physical layout of the database. The external level is the representation of the database on user interfaces and applications. It can include a mixture of various external views based on different crowleyla.wpengine.com data models. It also may also include virtual tables that are computed using generic data to enhance the performance.