Database in an Organization - Relational Database Management System (rdbms)

Databases in an Organization

Databases in an organization have become common place and an essential tool for everyday office work. In Corporate America, Databases are used to electronically collect information and organize it so it can be easily managed, accessed and updated at any time. Database Managers in an organization utilize database software programs to systematically organize, categorize and store this information in secure computer storage units for later use. Currently there are no office database systems used at the Training Facility, although a desktop database such as Microsoft Access has been recommend for daily office use. A (RDBMS) Relational Database Base Management System is integrated into an old Hewlett Packard set of software that is taught to students at the Ford Island Training Facility.

(RDBMS) Relational Database Management System

According to Comtech (2010), "(RDBMS) Relational Database Management System is a database management system that organizes data into a series of records that are stored in linked tables." The RDBMS stores data in tables (relations) that are two dimensional. These tables have rows (record or objects) and columns (fields). Data stored in these tables can be integers, real numbers or string values. An example would be a list of items:

Item ID Description Location

00001234 Small computer Storage room

00002345 Large computer Storage room

The columns include an Item ID, Description and location. Each row has the required information and must be unique to identify itself. There may be several small computers but, a particular small computer can be identified by it unique ID and can be queried by this same unique ID.

Structured Query Language (SQL) is the computer language designed to manage this data. This SQL interfaces the user and the (RDBMS) to manage, query data, update and modify this data. The Ford Island Training Facility uses this system to identify, categorize, and update a database of ships and their locations.

Desktop Databases

Desktop databases are inexpensive and offer a viable solution for database management in a small office. Desktop databases are intuitive and offer user friendly (GUI) graphic user interface icons to navigate through the program. Desktop databases such as Microsoft Access offer the same functionality as other databases do (Microsoft, 2010). It will allow data to be created, organized, categorized, stored and shared. This program has been recommended at the Ford Island Training Facility to expedite computer inventories and eliminate the manual manipulation