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 applications and modifying it as needed as well as monitoring changes to the data and preventing the data from becoming corrupted due to unexpected failure. It is part of the entire informational infrastructure of a company that aids in decision-making, corporate growth, and compliance with laws like the GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act.

The first database systems were invented in the 1960s by Charles Bachman, IBM and others. They developed into information management systems (IMS) which allowed huge amounts of data to be stored and retrieved for a range of reasons. From calculating inventory to supporting complicated financial accounting functions, and human resource functions.

A database is a set of tables that arrange data according to a certain scheme, like one-to many relationships dunapower.com. It uses primary key to identify records and permits cross-references among tables. Each table has a collection of fields called attributes which provide information about data entities. The most popular type of database currently is a relational model, designed by E. F. “Ted” Codd at IBM in the 1970s. This design is based upon normalizing data to make it easier to use. It also makes it simpler to update data since it eliminates the need to update many sections of the database.

Most DBMSs support multiple database types by providing different levels of external and internal organization. The internal level addresses cost, scalability and other operational concerns, such as 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 the various data models) and may also include virtual tables that are computed from generic data to improve performance.