Page 205 - Computer - 10(A&B)

about all entities in that entity set. So, all these makes it easy to extract or use the information quickly and easily
as compared to a manual file processing system.
Database can be created in the form of single spreadsheet or in the form of various tables correlated with
each other, but a spreadsheet can be used to handle simple data and that too of the limited size. To handle
large amount of data we need a database management system, which provide greater flexibility and many
sophisticated features to handle large amount of data in the form of various correlated tables.

It offers many advantages over the traditional file processing system like faster and easier data entry, quick
data retrieval, increased data security, data sharing among the various users, quick updates, minimised data
duplicacy, etc. which cannot be achieved effectively in a traditional file processing system.

Application Areas of Database System

Database systems support businesses of almost every field nowadays. Some of the most common database
applications are:

v Education Sector: Database systems are frequently used in schools and colleges to store and retrieve the
data regarding student details, staff details, course details, exam details, payroll data, attendance details, fees
details, etc. There is a lot amount of inter-related data that needs to be stored and retrieved in an efficient
manner.
v E-commerce: Integration of heterogeneous information sources (for example, catalogues) for business
activity such as online shopping, booking of holiday package, consulting a doctor, etc.
v Banking System: All the work like storing customer info, tracking day to day credit and debit transactions,
generating bank statements, etc. has been done with the help of database management systems.
v Sales: Databases store customer information, production information, and invoice details.

v Health Care Industry: Databases are used for maintaining the health care details of patients.
v Digital Libraries & Publishing: Databases manage bulk text and multimedia data.

v Human Resources: Organisations use data for storing information about their employees salaries, benefits,
taxes, and for generating salary cheques.

Advantages of Database Management System
A database management system offers many advantages over the traditional file processing system which has
many limitations. Some of these advantagesas are:

Reduced Data Redundancy

Data redundancy means duplication of the data in two or more files which is quite high in an ordinary file
processing system. For example, in the student information system, details of the student will be needed to the
admin department, fee department, examination department, and library for their records. This will lead to the
duplication of data stored in the different files maintained by each department. An ideal database management
system stores the information at one place which is accessed by the different departments. It helps to eliminate
the problem of redundancy up to the great extent.

Reduces Data Inconsistency
Data inconsistency means mismatched information in the different files. The chances of data inconsistency are
very high in an ordinary file processing system. For example, if the address of a student is changed, but it is not
updated in all files maintained by different departments, it will lead to the mismatched values in the different
files, whereas in case of DBMS, as the data is stored and updated at one place only, all the departments will
always access the latest updated information.

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