Data Structures and CAATTs for Data

Extraction
Data structures have two fundamental components: organization and
access method.
1. Organization - refers to the way records are physically arranged on the
secondary storage
device. It may be sequential or random.
Sequential records are stored in contiguous locations that occupy a
specified area of disk space.
Random records are stored without regard for their physical
relationship to other records of the same file.
2. Access Method - is the technique used to locate records and to navigate
through the database or file.
FLAT FILE STRUCTURES:
- Individual Data files are not integrated with other files.
- Data files are structured, formatted, and arranged to suit the specific needs
of the owner or primary user.

Sequential Structure

Indexed Structure - is so named because, in addition to the actual

data file, there exists
a separate index that is itself a file of record addresses.
Index- contains the numeric value of the physical disk storage location
(cylinder, surface, and record block) for each record in the associated
data file.
Indexed Structured May be random or sequential.

Virtual Storage access method (VSAM) structure - is used for

very large files that require routine batch processing and a moderate
degree of individual record processing.