Database management is a method of managing the information that supports a company’s business operations. It involves storing data, distributing it to applications and users, editing it as needed and monitoring changes to the data and protecting against data corruption due to unexpected failure. It is a part of a company’s informational infrastructure that aids in decision-making and growth of the company as well as compliance with laws such as the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act.
In the 1960s, Charles Bachman and IBM among others came up with the first database systems. They developed into information management systems (IMS), which allowed large amounts of data to be stored and retrieved for a variety of reasons. From calculating inventory, to supporting complex financial accounting functions as well as human resource functions.
A database is a set of tables that arrange data according to a certain schema, such as one-to many relationships. It uses the primary key to identify records and allow cross-references between tables. Each table has a variety of fields, called attributes, that represent facts about the entities that comprise the data. The most popular type of database that is currently in use is a relational model, created by E. F. “Ted” Codd at IBM in the 1970s. This model is based on normalizing the data, making it simpler to use. It is also simpler to update data since it doesn’t require changing many sections of the databases.
The majority of DBMSs are able to support different types of databases by offering different levels of internal and external organization. The internal level deals with cost, scalability, and other operational issues, such as the physical layout of the database. The external level is the representation of the database in user interfaces and applications. It may include a mix of different external views that are based on different data models and could include virtual tables that are computed using generic data in order to improve the performance.