Database management is a system of managing the information that supports a company’s business operations. It involves storing data, disseminating it to applications and users making edits as needed as well as monitoring changes in data and making sure that data integrity is not compromised due to unexpected failure. It is one component of an organization’s overall informational infrastructure that aids in decision-making and corporate growth, as well as compliance with laws such as the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act.
In the 1960s, Charles Bachman and IBM along with others created the first database systems. They evolved into information management systems (IMS) which enabled the storage and retrieve large amounts of information for a range of uses, from calculating inventory to supporting complex financial accounting and human resources functions.
A database is a collection of tables which organize data in accordance with an established pattern, such as one-to aayaanscreation.com many relationships. It utilizes primary keys to identify records and permit cross-references between tables. Each table has a variety of fields, referred to as attributes, that contain information about the data entities. The most widely used type of database that is currently in use is a relational model designed by E. F. “Ted” Codd at IBM in the 1970s. This model is based on normalizing data to make it simpler to use. It is also simpler to update data because it doesn’t require the modification of many sections of the databases.
Most DBMSs are able to support different types of databases and offer different internal and external levels of organization. The internal level deals with cost, scalability and other operational issues, such as the layout of the database’s physical storage. The external level is the representation of the database in user interfaces and applications. It may include a mix of various external views (based on different data models) and may also include virtual tables that are constructed from generic data in order to improve performance.