Database management is a method of managing the information that is used to support a company’s business operations. It involves storing data, distributing it to users and applications making edits as needed as well as monitoring changes in data and protecting against data corruption due to unexpected failure. It is a component of the entire informational infrastructure of a business which supports decision-making and corporate growth as well as compliance with laws like the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act.

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

A database is a collection of tables that arrange data in accordance with a specific pattern, such as one-to many relationships. It uses the primary key to identify records and allows cross-references among tables. Each table has a variety of fields, also known as attributes, that contain information about the data entities. The most well-known type of database today 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 easier to use. It also makes it easier to update data by avoiding the need to modify several databases.

The majority of DBMSs support a variety of databases by offering different internal and external levels of organization. The internal level is concerned with costs, scalability, and other operational concerns including the layout of the physical storage. The external level is the way the artabase.fr database is displayed in user interfaces and other applications. It can include a combination of various external views (based on different data models) and could also include virtual tables which are generated from generic data in order to improve performance.