A database is simply a bunch of information (data) stored on a computer. This could be a list of all your clients, a list of the products you sell, the results of a chess tournament or everyone in your family tree. The most common type of database is a relational database. Relational databases consist of tables of data with clearly defined columns.If you run a design agency, somewhere on your computer you probably have a spreadsheet with all your clients’ names and addresses. Along the top of the spreadsheet are the column headings: Name, Address, Telephone Number, Email Address, etc. Down the left side you might have customer identification numbers, and in the middle all the data. This is the same thing as a table in a relational database. It’s your “clients” table.And tucked away in your filing cabinet, you might have a separate folder for every project you’ve ever worked on. This paper contains the project number, the name (or ID number) of the client, a description of the project, the current status, the budget and a completion date. In database terms, this is your “projects” table.

If one day a couple months from now you realize that a check for project number 3068 bounced, you can dig out your “projects” folder and find out the name of the client. Then you can use this name to look up the client’s telephone number in your “clients” file. In this way, your “projects” file is related to your “clients” table, and you essentially have the beginnings of a relational database. Next, you’ll need to migrate your data to some sort of database software.

How do I use database software?

Another popular answer to the question “What is a database?” could be “A piece of software that you use to store your data.” This is because the word “database” can refer to both the software and the actual data.The above section gave more of a dictionary definition of a database. This section talks about the actual software, which makes storing all that data much easier.

Database software is purchased and installed just like any other type of software. Once installed, you can create a database and then start setting it up.First you create the tables, specifying the name of each column and the type of data it will contain (a number, a piece of text or a date).Then you relate bits of data in one table (like your client identification number in your “clients” table) to bits of data in another table (the client identification number in your “projects” table). Finally, you type in or import all that valuable data. Now you can start searching through it to extract all sorts of information.For instance, it would be pretty time consuming to find clients who have spent more than $1,000 on projects with you if you had to rummage through the filing cabinet adding things up, but it would be almost instantaneous with database software.

Who makes this database software?

There are a lot of database software manufacturers out there and a wide range of prices, sizes, speeds and functionalities.

At the lower end of the scale are personal database software products like Microsoft Access, which is designed to be used by individuals or small companies relatively little data. User friendliness and ease of use are the priority rather than speed and scalability (in other words, it works well when you have 100 projects but not when you have 100,000). At the higher end are full-fledged enterprise solutions, such as Oracle Enterprise Edition. These database software products can handle millions of data entries and are fast and efficient. They have many optimization and performance tools and generally require a database administrator (DBA) to look after them. Products in this range can also be very expensive.

In the middle are products like Microsoft SQL Server, which is a logical upgrade from Microsoft Access for Windows users.There are also several very good free database software products, such as MySQL and PostgreSQL. These are lacking on the user interface side, but can certainly compete on speed and scalability.