Databases can be talked to with "Structured Query Language" (SQL). It's a language made up specifically for asking questions of databases, and it's very effective for finding things out quickly. Any application we write will use SQL to access the database behind the scenes.
Sometimes, though, you need an answer immediately, and SQL can come to the rescue. For example- you want to know how many yellow widgets you made last year, you could ask a simple SQL question and get the answer.
There are lots of references to how to use SQL- if you look at some you'll see how flexible and powerful it is.
We provide a form, the Ad-Hoc Query Tool, that allows you to use multiple queries to get all sorts of data, if you want to. Some queries you'll only ever use once, some you might use regularly, it's down to how you use the system.