Database Basics
Introduction
Three years ago, Michael Ching set up a production facility for automobile parts. He began with a core team of ten people. As the business grew, so did the number of employees in his company. Soon however, Michael began to notice that this did not improve the productivity or overall performance of the company. Worried, Michael consulted his friend, George, who agreed to help him investigate the problem.
To begin with, George decided to gather his employee’s details. After collecting data, he realized that he needed to use a database program to analyse it.
Databases
What is a database? A database is a program used for storing and retrieving information. It is similar to a card catalogue from a library. Each card has information about a book, such as title, author, publisher, and others. Whenever a new book comes into the library, a new card is made, and it is added into the catalogue. People can search for the book of their choice by looking through the cards. Today databases are used by airlines, hotel industries, banks and almost everyone who handles information.
If you have booked a train or airline ticket, you can be sure that a database program was used to identify the travel dates, time and seating availability. Databases are an essential part of the modern world.
Thus, armed with employee details such as application information, skill sets, job position, and others, George stored the collected information into a database. This database would help him identify the areas in which employees required training to improve their performance.
Let us see some of the common database management terms:
- Database System: It is computerized record keeping system.
- Data inconsistency: Data inconsistency can occur if there is a mismatch in the updating of information pertaining to an individual that is stored in two different records. For instance, in a residential school if two files are being maintained - one for the school and the other for the hostel, problems may arise. Students who live in the hostel may have records stored separately in the school and the hostel file. If school authorities were not able to change the student’s correspondence address in the school file while the record was updated in the hostel, there will be two addresses in the records pertaining to the same student. This is what we call data inconsistency.
- Data redundancy: Duplication of data is called data redundancy which can result to data inconsistency.
- Relational Database Management: A system that manages data in terms of special tables called relations.
- Tables: Are used to store your data.
- Queries: Are used to find and retrieve the data that you want.
- Forms: Are used to view, add, and update the data.
- Reports: Are used to analyze or print data in a specific layout.
- Data access pages: Are used to view, update, or analyze the database's data from the internet or intranet.
- Relationships: After different tables are created in a database, there has to be a way to bring all those information back together again. The first step in this process is to define relationships. A relationship is an association that is established between common fields (columns) in two tables. A relationship can be one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many. When relationships between tables are established, queries, forms, and reports could now be created.
We all to keep records. It could be records of our personal music collection, a college library, or an employee database. Databases not only help us store information, it also allows us to quickly locate relevant details. Databases also enable us to easily and quickly add or delete information. Another advantage is that two or more databases can be combined to create a bigger database.
A database is an essential tool for anyone who handles information. It reduces data redundancy and data inconsistency. It also facilitates the sharing of information, and enforces standards and data security.
