But the spreadsheet doesn't know that. Databases, meanwhile, allow for data integrity: the system checks whether data I enter makes sense or not. Unlike spreadsheets, this is built into the setup itself. When you add a column to a database, you include the expected data type and limitations along with the column name. In the case of age, this means verifying the data is an actual number. This can save you a lot of headaches.
This is a little technical, but spreadsheets are kind of static. Every spreadsheet, and each worksheet, are more-or-less separate from one another. You can kind of change this with formulas, pulling in information from other places, but that doesn't change the fact that these are separate entities.
Databases, meanwhile, are usually relational by default. This means you can update a piece of data in one place, and it will automatically update everywhere else. None of this is to say that spreadsheets are bad. They're not. They're just not an alternative to an actual database. If the UK government had used a database instead of a spreadsheet to track COVID cases, they probably wouldn't have run into the problems they did.
That's a lesson your business can learn from. So if you're working with a lot of data and need to make regular connections, it's a good idea to look into setting up a proper database. That could mean hiring someone to set up MySQL, or it could mean trying out a user-friendly database like Airtable.
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And that is it — you cannot pick a font colour or size. Our main goal is to save the numbers. Another substantial difference is that, in a spreadsheet, different cells can contain calculations, such as functions and formulas. This means, if you want to combine two integers, the result will be stored in another cell. In a database, all calculations and operations are based on the existing data and are done after its retrieval. These objects also contain columns that can be normal columns like the ones in the tables or could contain a certain type of calculation.
There is no way you can mistake a record of data with a calculation. Data integrity is a strong advantage when working with databases. Naturally, you might think a spreadsheet can contain multiple worksheets, so one can create tables in the worksheets, and then use the worksheets to create relations between the tables. Why bother using relational databases? Well, in a spreadsheet, such relations will be logically limited. Instead of setting up spreadsheets or worksheets, one can set up relations between the tables, and this will boost the performance of operations, increasing the speed with which you could manipulate your dataset.
Albeit powerful for many circumstances, spreadsheets have their limitations. Excel is incapable of handling over 1 million rows of data. This immediately induces us to look for a solution. Usually, the fix is to use databases, where having 2, 5, or 10 million records is not a problem. Referring to the multi-user property, spreadsheets are lagging. Essentially, every person must update their own spreadsheet with new data. You would justifiably think Google Docs and the latest versions of Office solve this issue, but they do so only partially.
In Google Docs, you might have trouble finding out who changed or deleted information incorrectly, which often leads to a cumbersome situation where people have a hard time organizing their tasks. Databases provide a stable structure, controlling access permissions and user restrictions. One person can make a change that is visible to everybody instantly.
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