3 TYPES OF DATABASES AND HOW THEY WORK
Technology is a tool that is wielded within many industries today. Gone are the days of fax machines and bulky computers. Today, there are smaller tech components such as databases that help to keep businesses thriving.
One of these tools includes digital databases. We’re going to focus on three types of databases and how they work.
- Transactional Database
The first database type to tackle is the transactional database. Database transaction involves information that is captured from transactions. Through various forms of analytical processing, a transactional database will record different facets of the transaction. Companies such as data science software industry leader TIBCO utilize the components of the transactional database in their everyday actions. The different components of this database include the time of the transaction in the database, where it occurred, the price points of the items that were purchased, the payment method employed, discounts, and any other quantities and qualities associated with the transaction. The transactional database focuses on each part of the transaction, providing raw data about the transaction itself. The data that’s captured during this transaction is usually taken at the point of sale.
In addition to this transactional data, this type of database includes data that is generated by various applications. This is completed while also running or supporting everyday business process, whether that includes buying or selling. Some of the best examples of transactional databases include point-of-sale servers, ATMs, security software, and payment gateway data. In some cases, the raw data generated in a database transaction can be difficult to read, and sometimes contains unnecessary extra information such as letters, or random symbols.
The data produced in transactions also differs from other data categories including analytical data and master data. Analytical databases are the types of databases that comes into existence through calculations or analyses that are run through transactional data. With master data, this characterizes the actual, critical business objects through which transactions are performed. The transactional database is but one of the many databases that exist.
- Relational Database
A relational database involves a digital database that is based on a relational model of data. This database helps to store and provide access points to data points that are related to each other. Regarding how such a database works, as mentioned before, a relational database will take data and organize it into tables that can be linked based on common data.
When you utilize this ability, you can retrieve new data in one or more tables in the query. This file system allows you to follow raw data in real time, helping you in whatever field of industry that you are using a relational database for. This provides strong consistency for you and your business brand, in addition to giving a safe place for data storage. The integrity of your data will also be maintained in such a relational database. Upon running your own single query using a database of relations, your report generators will take the query and run them on demand to create formal reports. A database focused on relationships of data is another tool that businesses utilize in their day-to-day operations.
- OLTP Database
Many businesses utilize an OLTP (online transaction processing) database for working with their own data. The OLTP database helps to facilitate real-time execution of large numbers of database transactions through large numbers of people. This often happens through the internet, speaking to the online component of the OLTP database. How such systems work is through normalized databases through a small number of records at a time in a decentralized system. This decentralized system then optimizes all the transactional tasks that are being predefined to the system. The OLTP is one of many databases that various industries use in their internet transactions with customers.