• Database Management Systems (DBMS) refer to the technology solution used to optimize and manage the storage and retrieval of data from databases.

Existing DBMSs provide various functions that allow management of a database and its data which can be classified into four main functional groups:

• Data definition – Creation, modification and removal of definitions that define the organization of the data.
• Update – Insertion, modification, and deletion of the actual data.
• Retrieval – Providing information in a form directly usable or for further processing by other applications. The retrieved data may be made available in a form basically the same as it is stored in the database or in a new form obtained by altering or combining existing data from the database.
• Administration – Registering and monitoring users, enforcing data security, monitoring performance, maintaining data integrity, dealing with concurrency control, and recovering information that has been corrupted by some event such as an unexpected system failure.