Relational Database Model

Due to the increase in behavioral tracking and the amount of information that circulates the World Wide Web in today’s world, companies now have a plethora of data that needs to be stored. They have data based on customers, based on clients, and based on internal operations, such as their own employees and systems. In order to use this data to benefit the company, the easiest data model to use is the relational database model.
The relational database model allows a company to break down their data into groups of tables, all of which are related in some way to create links within the database. Through these relations, information can be separated into relative segments, meaning information that should be seen together is listed in the same table. These segmented tables share attributes with other tables, allowing them to be linked together within the database. These attributes that link the tables together are called keys. Each table has key that is specific solely to that table. By specific, I do not mean that it can only be found in that table. Instead, this key represents a specific entity in the table and cannot repeat within that table. This primary key is used as an identifier for that entity. For example, when a customer orders a product from Amazon.com, they usually receive an Order ID number. That number, most likely, is the identifier for that purchase in a table with its related information. The other type of key is known as a foreign key. A foreign key is an attribute in one table, but it also is used as the primary key of another table, providing the link for the database. This key is allowed to repeat in the table(s) for which it is not a primary key. In the Amazon.com example, a foreign key in the Order table could be Customer ID, which would identify the customer’s details who made the purchase. In the Order table, this attribute may show up multiple times because customers can make numerous purchases. However, Customer ID may also be the primary key in another table, say Customer Table, which holds the specific demographic data that the customer provides upon making their purchase. Now, the database consists of all of the data regarding the purchase linked to all of the information of the customer who made that purchase.
The relational database model can be extremely beneficial for companies in figuring out what to do with the amount of data that is being collected today. First and foremost, it is an extremely simple model in terms of grouping of information. This process of creating a simpler database from a more complex one is known as normalization. In the relational database model, all relevant information is grouped together and provides links to more information that may be necessary. This allows someone to not have to look through one gigantic table in order to pull out a few pieces of information. Also, because the information is all connected through these relationships, the time it takes to pull out relevant information from the database is reduced, moving closer to real-time data. However, as simple as the model seems, its major con is that it is not easy to set up. Establishing the keys is not a simple task because functional dependencies need to be avoided. Functional dependencies occur when a primary key is not specific to the entity it is describing. Along with this comes the process of finding the proper links to other information in the database, which is also not an easy task. However, overall, the relational database model is an efficient way of storing data and can help a company succeed.