Database management is a system of managing the information that is used to support a company’s business operations. It involves storing data, distributing it to applications and users and editing it when needed, monitoring data changes, and making sure that data integrity is not compromised due to unexpected failure. It is a 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 the 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 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 is a collection of tables www.lidercontabilidadeba.com.br which organize data in accordance with a specific pattern, such as one-to many relationships. It makes use of primary keys to identify records, and allow cross-references between tables. Each table has a variety of fields, known as attributes, that provide 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 design is based on normalizing the data, making it more easy to use. It also makes it simpler to update data by avoiding the necessity of changing various databases.

Most DBMSs can support multiple types of databases and offer different internal and external levels of organization. The internal level deals with cost, scalability, as well as other operational issues like the physical layout of the database. The external level is the representation of the database on user interfaces and applications. It could include a mix of different external views based on different data models and can include virtual tables that are computed using generic data to enhance the performance.