Database 101: How to make smart database

Let me clear this first, Excel is not a database. Understandably, many companies start their journey by recording their data, transactions, and sometimes other forms of information. But in the long run, the realization will hit you in the face. Now that we have gotten that out let’s talk about the database.

Every company in every industry will eventually reach the point where it can capitalize on the data it has collected over the years of operation to catapult itself to a competitive position. Your database architecture plays a key role in efficiency, scalability, and reliability. A well-thought-out database architecture at the beginning will help you expand further as per requirement through relations (primary key, foreign key).

So, what steps should you take to ensure building a robust and scalable database?

1. Define Requirements: The first step is defining requirements. Engage with stakeholders to understand the system’s objectives, the nature of data to be stored, and how it will be used. These requirements need to be documented properly so that they can be consulted during every phase of the design process. This will also reduce continuous back-and-forth between you and your stakeholders.
2. Conceptual Design: The second step is creating a conceptual database model. This phase focuses on entities, relationships, and attributes without delving into implementation details. Visual aids such as entity-relationship diagrams (ERDs) are a popular method for conceptualizing the data structure.
3. Normalize Data: Normalize the data to ensure integrity and minimize redundancy. Larger tables should be broken down into smaller and related tables to eliminate duplicate data and reduce the risk of anomalies. 
4. Optimize Queries: Design queries that leverage indexes, join strategies, and other optimization techniques. But keep an eye out for performance. An industry veteran and a mentor of mine once said, “If it takes 7 seconds to execute a query, then it is 5 seconds too many.”
5. Ensure Security: I will be honest; this is not my area of expertise, but I have had the chance to work with an individual with strong knowledge of cyber security. General recommendation is to protect the databasei, implementaccess controls, encryption, and auditing mechanisms to protect data from unauthorized access. Keeping up with the latest industry practices will contribute to ensuring the security of the database.
6. Backup and Recovery: This is your very own “Oh crap!” button. For example, sometimes the malware or user error can wipe the database, in that case recovery will be difficult if there was no back up of the database. Most online databases nowadays provide backup for even their lowest-tier options. But if you own a server, make sure toback it up every few days.
7. Documentation and Maintenance: Documentation is very important. It helps future database administrators understand how the database was originally designed. Creating detailed documentation covering schema definitions, data dictionaries, indexing strategies, and configurations will help all new administrators charged with maintaining the database. Remember, you might be jumping to a new company, but the database will stay here. There is no point in making the life of a colleague from the same industry harder than it is. 
8. Iterate and Evolve: It is advisable to keep updated with the latest practices and procedures. Technology improves very fast, so keeping up to date is important. The database should be agile and fast to adopt new practices quickly and optimize its performance over time.