Do I need a database?

"Oh, obviously you need a database."

What?

What is a database, you ask? All you know is that it lives on the computer somewhere and keeps track of things. Why can't you just keep your paper and files? Or are you already using a computer? "Look, see - I have it all in a spreadsheet!".

The person who told you of your need for a database rolls his/her eyes and groans and says "THAT is not a database!"

Confusion reigns.

So, what is it?

Strictly speaking, ANY collection of data is a database. Your paper and files? That's a database. A bunch of index cards in a box? Database. That spreadsheet of yours. Also a database. Any one of many different software products with the word "database" in their name? Yeah, database. Really, a database is an organized body of related information. Period. The exact mechanics of it are where people get hung up.

Honestly, the person who recommended a database to you most likely meant that you would benefit from a "database management system" (DBMS) such as has been around for many years, specifically designed to manage your information. Even though your stack of paper is technically a database how long does it take you to find a very specific piece of data out of it, say, an invoice from a particular vendor? When the pile is small it is trivial. As the pile grows it becomes non-trivial.

You've moved from a small pile / number of cards / number of spreadsheets. What happens when someone else needs to get at the same information? Any more than a couple of people cannot effectively search through your pile. And when the information must be updated what do you do? Mark up the original? Attach sticky notes? Put the file on a shared drive and hope for the best? And if you want to know some kind of aggregate information like "how much money do I owe all people with outstanding invoices?" you now have a much larger task on your hands. That is where a DBMS really comes into its own.

A DBMS has been designed, from the beginning, to efficiently store your information, with methods to capture, store, analyze and create outputs based on the information stored within. They are at the core of much of the efficiency that is attributed to computer technology.

For anybody who is doing anything in their lives that requires capturing information, storing it for future use, sifting and analyzing it and creating output such as reports or simply answers to questions about the data the need for a computerized database is clear.

However, just like the question of "do I need a computer" (most often "yes") is followed by "what kind of computer do I need?" there are some questions you have to ask yourself before you start down the path of using a DBMS. As the blog title implies we will cover this in a techgnostic fashion in the next post.

For a sneak peek, the questions will be along the lines of:

• What kind of data am I storing?
• How much data am I storing?
• How many people need to get at it?
• What other requirements do I have?

That will be followed by another post wherein some of the more popular alternatives are considered, as well as some less popular choices. Come to think of it, this might become a series of posts. Stay tuned.