Database management is a system of managing the information that supports a business’s operations. It involves storing data and distribution to users and application programs, modifying it as necessary and monitoring changes to the data and preventing it from getting corrupted due to unexpected failure. It’s a component of a company’s total informational infrastructure which aids in decision making and corporate growth, 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 the information management systems (IMS) which made it possible to store and retrieve massive amounts of information for a range of uses, from calculating inventory to supporting complex human resources and financial accounting functions.
A database is a set of tables that organizes data according to the specific scheme, for example one-to many relationships. It uses primary key to identify records and permits cross-references between tables. Each table has a collection of fields, referred to as attributes, that represent facts about data entities. Relational models, invented by E. F. “TedCodd Codd in the 1970s at IBM and IBM, are the most popular database type currently. The design is based on normalizing the data, making it easier to use. It also makes it easier to update data by avoiding the need to change various databases.
Most DBMSs can support multiple types of databases by offering different internal and external levels of organization. The internal level is concerned with the cost, scalability, and other operational issues, such as the physical layout of the database. The external level determines how the database is presented in user interfaces and other applications. It may include a mix of external views based on different data models. It may include virtual table that are calculated using generic data in order to improve the performance.
