Businesses rely on data more these days. Anything from decision-making to getting a clearer view of operations can be done with higher accuracy with the right set of data in hand. A strong and efficient database (or databases) sits at the heart of it all. Businesses now maintain extensive databases on site and in the cloud for various reasons.
The conventional SQL database with the traditional table structure is usually sufficient for most operations, but that doesn’t mean you cannot take it a step further. For more complex business needs, building a better database is a necessity and not an option. As an engineer, these five tips will help you get started with building a better database for your business or business clients.
Create an Information Structure
Making an information structure is a step that even the most experienced database engineers often skip. It is a tedious process of defining the types of data that need to be collected, how to process them, and the kind of output that is expected from data processing routines. It is much simpler to just build the tables and work from there, isn’t it?
In the long run, not having a well-defined information structure isn’t always a good thing. When you start with creating an information structure, you also work on something very important - the objectives of building and maintaining a business database.
Let’s say the business needs to maintain a consistent picture of customers and their activities. You can then structure information in a way that allows queries to accurately depict customers’ behavior and interactions with the business. From that simple objective, it is also easier to determine the kind of data to gather (and when to collect them) and how details about customers need to be stored.
Integrate
Data fragmentation is a serious issue with many corporate databases. Instead of using information in a convergent way, businesses are stuck with separating data from different departments and parts of the operations, which means it is much harder to see the big picture.
This is a flaw that you can fix from the start. Data integration should not be a problem when you have a clear plan and a set of objectives in mind. Once again, having a good and well-defined information structure gives you a head start in this matter.
Every query can be constructed to retrieve and process data as needed, even when the data is stored in different tables. Advanced queries from multiple databases can also be done with certain programming languages. As long as you have a clear plan, data integration should not be a problem.
Maintain Transaction History
SQL Server now supports the use of Temporal Tables, which automatically maintains a full history of changes made to the data. Using Temporal Tables and system versioning, keeping track of time-sensitive data changes is actually easier than you think.
Having a complete transaction history enables you to do more things that can benefit the business. For example, the system automatically manages the validity period of each row, which means data processing and analysis can also utilize time sensitive entries accordingly.
When the business needs information on the latest inventory of certain products, for example, complex queries using commands like GROUP BY, WHERE, or FOR SYSTEM TIME are no longer needed. All you need is to call the data using the standard SELECT * FROM table-name, and you are all set.
Keep in mind that this simple query is also friendlier to the server. It doesn’t tax the server too much and you can keep server resource usage at an optimum level. You can do this while still enabling advanced data analysis.
Optimize for Transactional Queries
SQL isn’t made to be transactional by nature, but the way you set up the database can make transactional queries and other requirements easier to handle. Using add-ons like Transact-SQL or T-SQL, for example, you can add parameters like UDF and further optimize the business database. With careful planning, taking your business database to a whole new level is only a couple of steps away.
Transactional queries are useful for business users. Some of the commands are compatible with different versions of SQL Server, along with Azure SQL Database. Simple additions like correlated subqueries are immensely useful for when you need to build a complex set of data based on their relationship with each other.
You can also optimize supporting systems, including the business software that connects to the database, to use transactional queries. Parameters like UNION and HAVING are very useful for advanced data queries and analysis, all while making the process of acquiring, processing, and storing those data more manageable.
Think About Maintenance
Having a strong team of database specialists is the best way to keep the database itself well-maintained in the long run. When the people maintaining business databases know exactly what they are doing, they can do more than just keeping the database running.
Database cleanups and regular maintenance routines are among the things you can do to keep the database optimized. There are other advanced tasks to add to your maintenance routine, including performance optimizations and updates.
Many SQL training programs now focus on these long-term maintenance tasks as well as the development of a capable database using available tools. Investing in training your database specialist is a must, so why not find out more about the training here? There are a number of useful SQL training courses available right now and you should be able to find one in your area using the link provided.
With the tips and tricks that we covered in this article, building a stronger, more capable database for business is certainly easier to do. If you have your own database secrets that you want to share, be sure to leave them in the Comments section below.