1. A method for managing data in a relational database, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a database server an XML document for storage in the relational database; storing in the relational database mapping information that indicates a mapping of one or more fields in the XML document to corresponding columns in the relational database; storing data from the XML document in the relational database in locations that are determined based on the mapping information; and in response to the database server receiving a request for data from the XML document, inspecting the mapping information to determine how to access the data from the XML document.