Databases can also be stored in two ways – As a flat data source or by an application called Relational Database Management System.

When you group a number of related fields, you create a record and the simplest way to create a record is by making lists using a column format and mentioning with the field names on the top. When you group a number of related records, you create a data table.

Below is an example of a customer data table:

Company	Street Address	City	State	Agent
ABC Corporation	123 Main Street	Philadelphia	PA	US101
XYZ Industries	222 South Avenue	New York	NY	US102
LMN Company	321 NE West Blvd.	CapitolCity	CA	UX202
Massive Dynamic	890 Central Road	Denver	CO	US102

Usually, this type of data also contains other facts that can be associated with it. In the data table above, each company has an agent and these agents have a column of their own that contains Agent IDs. Such fields that are common for two tables are called key fields. Most times key fields have the same field name but that is not a necessity because when there are multiple tables to be considered, they can be linked directly or indirectly through these tables and this is known as a Relational Database. 

Databases can also be stored in two ways – As a flat data source or by an application called Relational Database Management System. 

Flat data sources are tables that can be stored as text files sing a symbol known as a delimiter, which is often a comma or tab, between the values or by entering it into a spreadsheet like MS Excel. Such databases don’t have any specific method for properly describing the data or to associate their key fields with other tables.

For this purpose, RDMS applications like MySQL, MS Access or SQL Server and Oracle were built to handle large amounts of data, data tables and how they relate to each other.

So, these are the fundamentals of data as an important part of variable data printing and cross-media campaigns. Check out AudienceOne for more insight on databases and how to utilize them in cross media marketing.

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