Database management is a method of managing information that supports a company’s business operations. It includes data storage, distributing it to users and applications and modifying it as needed and monitoring changes to the data and preventing the data from becoming corrupted due to unexpected failure. It is part of the overall infrastructure of a company that assists in decision making as well as corporate growth and compliance with laws such as the GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act.
In the 1960s, Charles Bachman and IBM among others came up with the first database systems. They evolved into information management systems (IMS) which allowed large amounts of data to be stored and retrieved for a variety of purposes. From calculating inventory to supporting complicated financial accounting functions, and human resource functions.
A database is a collection of tables that store data in accordance with a certain scheme, like one-to many relationships. It uses primary keys to identify records and allows cross-references between tables. Each table is comprised of a set of attributes, or fields, that represent facts about data entities. Relational models, created by E. F. “Ted” Codd in the 1970s at IBM and IBM, are among the most popular database type today. This model is based on normalizing the data, making it more easy to use. It is also simpler to update data because it doesn’t require the modification of various databases.
Most DBMSs can support multiple types of databases by providing different internal and external levels of organization. cybsysonline.com The internal level is concerned with cost, scalability and other operational issues like the layout of the database’s physical storage. The external level is how the database is displayed in user interfaces and other applications. It could comprise a combination of various external views (based on different data models) and can also include virtual tables that are computed using generic data to improve performance.
