What is a Database?

Essentially a database is an electronic method of storing data in an organized manner.

Data can be anything that a business or individual needs to keep track of and that, prior to computers could have only been tracked on one or more paper documents, such as a ledger.

Many companies use Excel spreadsheets as databases because they are easy to use to store data. However, spreadsheets do not make a very efficient database. Spreadsheets are easy for most people to use, but are not very efficient for storing information that will be used by more than one user, or that will be added to over time.

An efficient database allows the data to be easily retrieved, utilized, displayed, and used in reports without errors or duplicated information.