Does your database serve you well?
Almost everybody has at least once encountered a database in his everyday life. We usually encounter them when visiting a website or when reading emails. But most people don’t even notice that they are working with databases, for the simple reason that they usually work in the background of a computer application. In fact, only few people know how modern database systems work, and this is why this article has been written. The main idea behind a database is to organize data in such a way, that it can be accessed and manipulated in an easy and efficient way. The difficult part of this is that the administration of the data needs to be tailor-suited to the needs of all potential users of the database, including specialized software products. This is where database management systems come into play. These are usually highly complex software systems, guaranteeing the integrity of the data and administrating the rights and priorities of the different users. The rights of the users define which user is allowed to manipulate which part of the data in which way. We have to imagine the right management system as gatekeeper that allows some users to edit or delete the data, while others might not even view it. The priorities among the different users define which user is served fist when the system’s capacities are insufficient due to a traffic overload.
Even the best database management systems are useless without data that is to be managed. This data is saved in a so-called database model. One has to imagine that model to look a bit like a big chart, in which all data points are entered. There are many different forms of database models, as the model is usually tailor-suited to the various requirements of its users. There are many examples that illustrate the variety of pieces of software that are dependent on their database system. The most notable are the automation of warehouse stocks, resource planning in medium and big enterprises, data warehousing in market research, and the administration of accounts and transactions in the banking and insurance industry.