Databases and Traditional File Processing Systems Traditional file processing system or simple file processing system refers to the first computer-based approach of handling the commercial or business applications. That is why it is also called a replacement of the manual file system. Before the use computers, the data in the offices or business was maintained in the files (well in that perspective some offices may still be considered in the pre-computer age). Obviously, it was laborious, time consuming, inefficient, especially in case of large organizations Computers, initially designed for the engineering purposes were though of as blessing, since they helped efficient management but file processing environment simply transformed manual file work to computers. So processing became very fast and efficient, but as file processing systems were used, their problems were also realized and some of them were very severe as discussed later. It is not necessary that we understand the working of the file processing environment for the understanding of the database and its working. However, a comparison between the characteristics of the two definitely helps to understand the advantages of the databasesand their working approach. That is why the characteristics of the traditional file processing system environment have been discussed briefly here. Program and Data Interdependence Fig. |: A typical file processing environment The diagram presents a typical traditional file processing environment. The main point being highlighted is the program and data interdependence, that is, program and data depend on each other, well they depend too much on each other. As a result any change in one affects the other as well. This is something that makes a change very painful or problematic for the designers or developers of the system. What do we mean by change and why do we need to change the system at all. These things are explained in the following The systems (even the file processing systems) are created after a very detailed analysis of the requirements of the organizations. But it is not possible to develop a system that does not need a change afterwards. There could be many reasons, mainly being that the users get the real taste of the system when it is established. That is, users tell the analysts or designers their requirements, the designers design and later develop the system based on those requirements, but when system 1s developed and presented to the users, it is only then they realize the outcome of the effort. Now it could be slightly and (unfortunately) sometimes very different from what they expected or wanted it to be. So the users ask changes, minor or major. Another reason for the change is the change in the requirements.So we need changes in the system, but due to program-data interdependence these changes in the systems were very hard to make. A change in one will affect the other whether related or not. For example, suppose data about the customer bills is stored in the file, and different programs use this file for different purposes, like adding data into the bills file, to compute the bill and to print the bill. Now the company asks to add the customers’ address in the bills, for this we have to change the structure of the bill file and also the program that prints the bill. Well, this was necessary, but the painful thing is that the other programs that are using these bills files but are not concerned with the printing of the bills or the change in the bill will also have to be changed, well; this is needless and causes extra, unnecessary effort. Another major drawback in the traditional file system environment is the non-sharing of data. It means if different systems of an organization are using some common data then rather than storing it once and sharing it, each system stores data in separate files. This creates the problem of redundancy or wastage of storage and on the other hand the problem on inconsistency. The change in the data in one system sometimes is not reflected in the same data stored in other system. So different systems in organization; store different facts about same thing. This 1s inconsistency as is shown in figure below. Library xam Regist ration Duplication of Data Vulnerable to Inconsistency Fig. 2: Some more problems in File System EnvironmentAdvantages of Databases It will be helpful to reiterate our database definition here, that is, database is a shared collection of logically related data, designed to meet the information needs of multiple users in an organization. A typical database system environment is shown in the figure 3 below, Advantages of Database Approach — == Sa snination. Registration Library - Data Sharing - Controlled Redundancy - Data Independence - Better Data Integrity Fig. 3: A typical Database System environment The figure shows different subsystem or applications in an educational institution, like library system, examination system, and registration system. There are separate, different application programs for every application or subsystem. However, the data for all applications is stored at the same place in the database and all application programs, relevant data and users are being managed by the DBMS. This is a typical database ‘system environment and it introduces the following advantages: © Data Sharing ‘The data for different applications or subsystems is placed at the same place. This introduces the major benefit of data sharing. That is, data that is common among different applications need not to be stored repeatedly, as was the case in the file Processing environment. For example, all three systems of an educational institution shown in figure 3 need to store the data about students. The example data can be seenfrom figure 2. Now the data like registration number, name, address, father name that is common among different applications is being stored repeatedly in the file processing system environment, where as it is being stored just once in database system environment and is being shared by all applications. The interesting thing is that the individual applications do not know that the data is being shared and they do not need to. Each application gets the impression as if the data is being for stored for it. This brings the advantage of saving the storage along with others discussed later. Data Independence Data and programs are independent of each other, so change is once has no or minimum effect on other. Data and its structure is stored in the database where as application programs manipulating this data are stored separately, the change in one does not unnecessarily effect other. Controlled Redundancy Means that we do not need to duplicate data unnecessarily; we do duplicate data in the databases, however, this duplication is deliberate and controlled. Better Data Integrity Very important feature; means the validity of the data being entered in the database Since the data is being placed at a central place and being managed by the DBMS, so it provides a very conducive to check or ensure that the data being entered into the database is actually valid. Integrity of data is very important, since all the processing and the information produced in return are based on the data. Now if the data entered is not valid, how can we be sure that the processing in the database is correct and the results or the information produced is valid? The businesses make decisions on the basis of information produced from the database and the wrong information leads to wrong decisions, and business collapse. In the database system environment, DBMS. provides many features to ensure the data integrity, hence provides more reliable data processing environment