Database management is a method of managing information that a company needs to run its business operations. It involves storing data, distributing it to users and application programs and then modifying it if necessary, monitoring changes in the data and preventing it from being corrupted by unexpected failures. It’s a component of an organization’s overall informational infrastructure that supports decision-making and growth of the company as well as compliance with laws such as the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act.
The first database systems were developed in the 1960s by Charles Bachman, IBM and others. They evolved into information management systems (IMS) which allowed massive amounts of data to be stored and retrieved for a range of reasons. From calculating inventory, to supporting complex financial accounting functions and human resource functions.
A database consists of tables that arrange data according to a particular arrangement, like one-to-many relationships. It uses the primary key to identify records and permits cross-references between tables. Each table is comprised of a set of fields called attributes that provide information about data entities. The most popular type of database currently is a relational model, created by E. F. «Ted» Codd at IBM in the 1970s. This model is based upon normalizing the data, making it more easy to use. It is also easier to update data since it does not require the changing of various databases.
Most DBMSs support different types of databases by offering different levels of internal and external organization. The internal level focuses on cost, scalability and other operational concerns, such as the design of the database’s physical storage. The external level focuses on how the database appears in user interfaces and other applications. It could comprise a mix of different external views that are based on different models of data and may include virtual table that are calculated using generic data in order to improve the performance.