Database management is the method for managing information that aids the business operations of an organization. It involves storing and distributing data it to applications and users and editing it as required and monitoring changes to data and protecting against data corruption due to unexpected failure. It’s a component of a company’s overall informational infrastructure that supports decision-making, corporate growth and compliance with laws like the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act.
The first database systems were invented in the 1960s by Charles Bachman, IBM and others. They evolved into information management systems (IMS) which allowed for the storage and retrieve large amounts of information for a range of applications, from the calculation of inventory to supporting complex financial accounting and human resources functions.
A database is a set of tables that store data according to a certain scheme, like one-to-many relationships. It makes use of primary keys to identify records and allows cross-references between tables. Each table is comprised of a variety of fields, also known as attributes, that provide information about the data entities. Relational models, invented by E. F. “Ted” Codd in the 1970s at IBM and IBM, are the most popular database type currently. This design is based upon normalizing data to make it easier to use. It also makes it easier to update data, avoiding the need to modify various databases.
Most DBMSs support multiple types of databases and offer different internal and external levels of organization. The internal level is concerned with cost, scalability and other operational concerns including the layout of the database’s physical storage. The external level is the way the database is represented in user interfaces and other applications. It could include a mix of various external views based on different models of data and can include virtual tables that are calculated with generic data to enhance the performance.