Database management is a method of managing the information that a company needs to run its business operations. It involves storing data, distributing it to applications and users making edits as needed and monitoring changes to the data and stopping data corruption due unexpected failure. It is an integral part of the overall infrastructure of a business that assists in decision making as well as corporate growth and compliance with laws like the GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act.
In the 1960s, Charles Bachman and IBM among others developed the first database systems. They developed into information management systems (IMS), which allowed huge amounts of data to be stored and retrieved for a range of purposes. From calculating inventory to aiding complex financial accounting functions and human resource functions.
A database is a collection of tables that store data according to a certain scheme, like one-to many relationships. It utilizes primary keys to identify records and allows cross-references between tables. Each table contains a number of fields, called attributes, that contain information about the data entities. The most widely used kind of database 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 also makes it easier to update data by avoiding the need to update different sections of the database.
The majority of DBMSs support a variety of databases by providing different internal and external levels of organization. The internal level deals with the cost, scalability, and other operational issues, such as the physical layout of the database. The external level is the way the database is presented in user interfaces and other applications. It could comprise a mix of various external views based on different models of data and could include virtual tables that are computed using generic data in order to improve the performance.