Abstract: In a database management system of the present invention, a trigger definition means which defines activation condition an contents of a triggered operation activated upon execution of updating for a table further defines an operation where an exception is generated for an update request against the constraint given to the table, or a triggered operation based on the reference constraint given among a plurality of tables, or a triggered operation based on the relations among the system tables contained in the system directory. The trigger definition means also specifies an operation mode as a condition for execution of the triggered operation. The trigger execution means executes the triggered operation when the trigger operation mode designated by the update request and the operation mode specified in the trigger definition are the same and does not execute any trigger execution when they are not the same.