Computer systems organize data in a hierarchy that begins with bits and bytes and progresses to more complex groupings of data:

• Fields: Group of characters, words, or a complete number
  
  
• Records: Group of related fields, describes an entity (a person, place or thing about which information must be kept - each characteristic of an entity is an attribute
  
  
• File: Group of records of the same type
  
  
• Database: Group of related files
  
  

Figure 6-1

FIGURE 6-1 THE DATA HIERARCHY A computer system organizes data in a hierarchy that starts with the bit, which represents either a 0 or a 1. Bits can be grouped to form a byte to represent one character, number, or symbol. Bytes can be grouped to form a field, and related fields can be grouped to form a record. Related records can be collected to form a file, and related files can be organized into a database.

In most organizations, the traditional approach to information processing meant that databases and other systems tended to grow independently without a company-wide plan. Accounting, finance, manufacturing, human resources, and sales and marketing all developed their own systems and data files.

Figure 6-2

FIGURE 6-2 TRADITIONAL FILE PROCESSING The use of a traditional approach to file processing encourages each functional area in a corporation to develop specialized applications and files. Each application requires a unique data file that is likely to be a subset of the master file. These subsets of the master file lead to data redundancy and inconsistency, processing inflexibility, and wasted storage resources.

Problems resulting from the traditional file environment include:

• Data redundancy: duplicate data in multiple files, leading to data inconsistency, different values used for the same attribute
  
  
• Program-data dependency: Changes in programs requiring changes to the data
  
  
• Lack of flexibility
  
  
• Poor security
  
  
• Lack of data sharing