List and discuss at least five specific database management system (DBMS) advantages.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Scalability: Scalability means that a system can be expanded, modified, or downsized easily to meet the rapidly changing needs of a business enterprise. For example, if a company decides to add data about secondary suppliers of material it uses, a new table can be added to the relational database and linked with a common field.• Economy of scale: Database design allows better utilization of hardware. If a company maintains an enterprise-wide database, processing is less expensive using powerful servers and communication networks. The inherent efficiency of high-volume processing on larger computers is called economy of scale.• Enterprise-wide application: A DBMS is typically managed by a person called a database administrator (DBA). The DBA assesses overall requirements and maintains the database for the benefit of the entire organization rather than a single department or user. Database systems can support enterprise-wide applications more effectively than file processing systems.• Stronger standards: Effective database administration helps ensure that standards for data names, formats, and documentation are followed uniformly throughout the organization.• Better security: The DBA can define authorization procedures to ensure that only legitimate users can access the database and can allow different users to have different levels of access. Most DBMSs provide sophisticated security support.• Data independence: Systems that interact with a DBMS are relatively independent of how the physical data is maintained. That design provides the DBA flexibility to alter data structures without modifying information systems that use the data.