User Guides (Getting Started with Base).Someone’s name, address and favourite colour are all examples of data.Lots of Base examples and answers to questions in the Base Forumĭatabase Description of the features of OpenOffice Base (short overview), Documentation resources and official sites Knowledge is making use of information, eg I’m opening a shoe shop, I should stock plenty of size 9 shoes for men.ĭata isn’t just numbers.Information is data with meaning, eg the average man’s shoe size is 9.Data is a value with no obvious meaning, eg 9.It’s easy to get confused between the three. The difference between data, information and knowledge

Security can be better than paper files, eg using a password to view or edit a file.

Multiple people can access a database at the same time.

Other applications can import data, for example mail-merge templates make use of databases to send personalised letters to customers.

Data can be sorted easily, eg date first registered.

It’s easy to add to or amend existing records.

It is much quicker to query or search a database than it is to riffle through hundreds or even thousands of paper records.

paperĭatabases can store huge amounts of data without taking up any space in the real world. Your school probably keeps track of the most popular dishes on the canteen menu so that it always has enough to serve to students. know which friends two individuals have in common.suggest related videos, depending on videos a user has already watched.serve adverts based on what a user searches for.send letters or emails to employees, clients or customers.The services and companies mentioned above use their databases to: Any company or organisation that stores large amounts of data almost certainly stores it in a database. Schools, the NHS, supermarkets, Facebook, Google and YouTube all make use of databases. Microsoft Office Access is a popular database package but there are alternatives such as OpenOffice Base.ĭatabases are widely used.

Openoffice base database guide