In the simplest sense, a database is a collection of records and files that are organized for a particular purpose. On your computer system, you might keep the names and addresses of all your friends or customers. Perhaps you collect all the letters you write and organize them by recipient. You might have another set of files in which you keep all your financial dataaccounts payable and accounts receivable or your checkbook entries and balances. The word processor documents that you organize by topic are, in the broadest sense, one type of database. The spreadsheet files that you organize according to their uses are another type of. | ACCESS DESIGNING VDC MEDIA - 2001 Access Designing Tables of content What is a Database .2 Designing Your Database Database Design Building Your Database in Microsoft Importing Linking and Exporting Data In Microsoft Adding Power with Select Designing a Relational Advanced Query Design And SQL select commands Forms and Control Access Tools in Designing Custom Multitable Creating Bound Multiline and Calculated Text Designing Access The Finishing VDC Media Page 1 11 27 01 Access Designing What is a Database In the simplest sense a database is a collection of records and files that are organized for a particular purpose. On your computer system you might keep the names and addresses of all your friends or customers. Perhaps you collect all the letters you write and organize them by recipient. You might have another set of files in which you keep all your financial dataaccounts payable and accounts receivable or your checkbook entries and balances. The word processor documents that you organize by topic are in the broadest sense one type of database. The spreadsheet files that you organize according to their uses are another type of database. If you re very organized you can probably manage several hundred spreadsheets by using folders and subfolders. When you do this you re the database manager. But what do you do when the problems you re trying to solve get too big How can you easily collect information about all customers and their orders when the data might be stored in several document and spreadsheet files How can you maintain links between the files when you enter new information How do you ensure that data is being entered correctly What if you need to share your information with many people but don t want two people to try updating the same data at the same time Faced with these challenges you need a database management system DBMS
