Database Management Basics
Database management is the process to manage information that is essential to an organization’s business operations. It involves storing and distributing data it to applications and users and editing it as required and monitoring changes to data and protecting against data corruption due to unexpected failure. It is an element of a company’s informational infrastructure which aids in decision making and growth of the company as well as compliance with laws like the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act.
In the 1960s, Charles Bachman and IBM among others developed the first database systems. They evolved into information management systems (IMS) which made it possible to store and retrieve large amounts information for a range of uses, from calculating inventory to supporting complex financial accounting milestonemedia.com.ng and human resources functions.
A database is a set of tables that arrange data in accordance with a certain scheme, like one-to many relationships. It uses the primary key to identify records and allows cross-references among tables. Each table is comprised of a set of attributes or fields that represent facts about data entities. Relational models, developed by E. F. “TedCodd Codd in the 1970s at IBM and IBM, are among the most widely used type of database currently. This model is based upon normalizing the data, making it easier to use. It also makes it easier to update data, avoiding the need to update several databases.
Most DBMSs can support multiple types of databases by offering different internal and external levels of organization. The internal level deals with costs, scalability, and other operational concerns such as the layout of the physical storage. The external level is the representation of the database in user interfaces and applications. It can include a mixture of external views based on different data models. It could include virtual tables that are calculated using generic data in order to improve the performance.