WEEK 2

CONCEPT OF COMPUTER FILES II

Types of file organization

DEFINITION OF FILE ORGANIZATION: File organization refers to the logical relationships

among the various records that constitute the file particularly with respect to the means of
identification and access to any specific record.

THE FOUR TYPES OF FILE ORGANIZATION METHODS (by method of access)

- Serial file organization

- Sequential file organization
- Indexed file organization
- Random file organization.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FOUR TYPES OF FILE ORGANIZATION METHOD

i. Serial file organization: It refers to a file with the simplest possible organization
of record within it. Records are stored in physical adjacent location on a storage
medium without references to any particular sequencing. The first transaction
record generated will be the first record in the file, followed by the second, third
etc.
------------------
-
SANI M

WHITE B

JOHN H

WALKER T

WALKER T JOHN H WHITE B SANI M ------------------

-

ii. Sequential file organization: it is a serial file but with records sorted in a certain
order depending on the sort key. Like in serial files records are stored physically
one after the other but in this case, they are logically ordered on a key, therefore
they are the by-products of a sorting process operated upon serial files e.g if the
sort key is the agent name, file would be organized as shown below:
 WALKER T JOHN H WHITE B SANI M -----------------
-

SORTING

JOHN H SANI M WALKER T WHITE B ------------

--

iii. Indexed file organization: it is a computer file with an index that allows easy
random access to any information and it contains records that are ordered by a
record key(the key used for both operations of storing and accessing the
record)Therefore records are stored one after another in the order at which they
are added to a file.

INDEX
Walker T 11-12
John H 63
White B 1, 74, 77, 79
iv. Random file organization: it is a situation where files are stored at random and
unlike the others, a random file can be accessed directly regardless of whether or
not the previous records have been accessed therefore a record key is used to
make selection easier.
v. Relative file organization: it is a situation where files in which each record is
identified by its ordinal position are stored. It can also have random or
sequential access modes hence such a file contains records ordered by their
relative key i.e the record number or identity representing the record. e.g record
1,record 2, record 3…..

DIFFERENT METHODS OF ACCESSING FILES.

 Serial Access
 Sequential Access
 Random Access.
 ACCESS METHODS

File Organization Serial Sequential Random

Serial X

Sequential X

Indexed X X

Random X X

File Classification (According to Use)

DEFINITION OF A MASTER FILE: It is defined as a file which shows the current state of
some aspects of an organization’s activities. It is therefore a semi-permanent reference
information usually on disk or tape in a stored form which undergoes updates,
maintenance, amendments, deletion and insertion and can also generate other master files.

Using the instructional resource, the teacher explains how certain records can be updated
on the master file.

DEFINITION OF A TRANSACTION FILE.

The teacher defines a transaction file as a file which contains changes made to the master
files. It is also called transient data and so has no static qualities because it is not retained
for a long period of time.

DEFINITION OF A REFERENCE FILE.

It is a file with a reasonable degree of permanency. Data used for reference purposes
include price list, salary table, names, address, tax table, table of rates etc.

OTHER TYPES OF FILES:

i. Program file: contains a program or program module.

ii. Data file: contains relevant data only i.e user’s file
iii. Document /text file: used in conjunction with word processing or desktop
publishing applications.
iv. Work file: it is a file created under works application.
v. Scratch file:it is a file that is no longer needed and could be overwritten.
vi. System files: these are files that the computer needs to boot, operate etc.
vii. Movement file: a file utilized to convey updated information from one section or
department to another in an organization.

THE CRITERIA FOR CLASSIFYING FILES.

- Nature of contents
- Organization method
- Storage medium