A database contains data that are related, and stored in a way that facilitates the access and data search for the users. A Data Base management System (DBMS) is a software application used to crate, search, organize and hold data from one or more databases. Data bases appeared for the first time in the 1960s, with the main goal of facilitating the data storing for companies or organizations that required the use of large amounts of data. Before, the equivalent for DBMS were offices, the equivalent for databases were file drawers, the equivalent for records were file folders and the equivalent for attributes were reports. In the 1960s, organizations started to manipulate data electronically, using the file processing approach: data were kept in long computer files which were saved on tape. The first real types of DBMS appeared in the 1980s and were different from creator to creator. Pretty much all major computer hardware suppliers included in their package some sort of database management system, in order to cope with the increasing necessity. IBM had the most complete DBMS, but there were some important competitors, as well as firms that were starting to clone the IBM model. Gradually, DBMSs increased in complexity and soon after their ability to perform and schedule data backup became routine, as did file reorganization and reindexation of data. In present time, DBMSs dominate all computer based IS. Each individual database within a DBMS is a collection of attributes about certain entities. Entities are the subjects about which the data is collected. Records are collections of related attributes about a specific entity; each attribute are single bits of information.
Sources: 1) Information Systems Today, by Jessup, Valacich and Wade, 2nd ed.
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