Database Software
Advantages
- You only have to enter the data once
- Files/tables are linked and this means that if the data is changed in one application then the database will be automatically updated for other applications.
- Access to th inforation is very fast, which means you do not wait long to get the information you require
- Complex search criteria can be constructed and these may be saved and used again or even modified.
- validation checks may be performed on the data as it is entered, protecting the integrity of the database.
Disadvantages
- If the file server containing the database breaks down, then none of the applications that use the data can be used.
- Security needs to be considered carefully as all the data is now held centrally
- uses of the system will need careful training and this can be expensive.
Access 2010: Introduction to Databases
Report
A report is a printout of results from a database. Reports give the user control over whar and where the information they want is output: printed on paper or to the screen.
Queries
One way of searching for the data in a database is to use commands written in a language called structured query language (SQL)
Queries
For example in this query we have shown the DVD's that come under the genre 'Comedy'
Queries!
The whole point in storing data in a database is the fact that it is easy to perform searches to extract data satisfying certain criteria.
Import/export
The data in a database may have taken years to collect and create and is a very valuable commodity to the organisations. its important that the data is easily imported and exported between different software, for exmaple: names and address' from a customer databasecan be imported into word proccessing software in order to produce a mail merge.