Traditional File Approach (TFA)

• Traditional or simple file processing system is the first

computer based method to handles business applications.

• When there were no databases, computer- based data

processing was first available.

• Gradually computer were introduced into the business

world, to be useful for business applications.

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 1
 Traditional File Approach (TFA) (CONT)
• Computer must be able to store, retrieve, and manipulate
data, so computer-based processing system were
developed for this purpose.

• Although these systems have developed gradually, their

basic structures and purpose have changed little over
several decades.

• As business applications become more complex, it become

evident that T.F.Processing system had number of
shortcomings and limitations.

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 2
 Traditional File Approach (TFA) (CONT)

• As result, these systems have replaced by database

processing systems, in most critical business
application today.

• Some familiarities with a file processing system are

i) :- File processing system are still widely used today
especially backing up database system.

ii):- Understanding the problems and limitations

inherent in file processing system can help us avoiding
these some problems when designing database.

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 3
 Traditional File Approach (TFA) (CONT)

• Let we study the following example (furniture making

company) for traditional file processing.

• Pine Valley Furniture Company

-Make different type of furniture

-Distributor to national wide.

-Company using traditional file processing system

-Company have three departments (Order

department, Accounting department, Payroll department)

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 4
 Traditional File Approach (TFA) (CONT)

• Each department having own information system (File

system) which are specially designed for related files of
each department.

• The following Fig shows the company’s departments and

their file system.which they are using. (next page)

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 5
 Traditional File Approach (TFA) (CONT)
Figure. Three file processing systems at Pine Valley Furniture

Duplicate
Data

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 6
 Traditional File Approach (TFA) (CONT)

• This approach to information system design focused on the

data processing needs of individual departments instead of
evaluating the overall information needs of the
organization.

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 7
 Disadvantages of File Processing System
• Program-Data Dependence
– All programs maintain metadata for each file they use
• Data Redundancy (Duplication of data)
– Different systems/programs have separate copies of the
same data
• Limited Data Sharing
– No centralized control of data
• Lengthy Development Times
– Programmers must design their own file formats
• Excessive Program Maintenance
– 80% of of information systems budget
PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 8
 Advantages of File Processing System

• Traditional file processing system is less complex system

• One application can fail without effecting the others.

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 9
 Database Approach
--The database approach emphasizes the integration and
sharing of data throughout the organization (or at least
across major segments of the organization).

--The Database Approach

• Central repository of shared data
• Data is managed by a controlling agent
• Stored in a standardized, convenient form

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 10
 Database Approach (cont)
Database approach at pine valley furniture company

--Pine valley furniture company’s first step in converting to a

database approach was to develop a list of the high level
entities that support the business activities of the
organization.

--Some of the high-level entities identified at pine valley

furniture are the following
CUSTOMER, PRODUCT, CUSTOMER ORDER,
EMPLOYEE and DEPARTMENT.

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 11
 Database Approach (Cont)
-- After these entities were identified and defined, the
company proceeded to develop an Enterprise Data Model.

Enterprise Data Model:- “A graphical model that shows the

high-level entities for the organization and the
relationships among those entities”

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 12
 Database Approach (Cont)

Figure 3 Segment from enterprise data model

(Pine Valley Furniture Company)

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 13
 Database Approach (Cont)
The entities shown in above segment model are the
following;

CUSTOMER: People and organization that buy or may

potentially buy products from pine valley furniture.

ORDER: the purchase of one or more products by customer.

PRODUCT: The items pine valley furniture makes and sells.

ORDER LINE: Details about each product sold on

particular
Customer order (such as quantity and price).
PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 14
Figure 3
Database Approach (Cont)
Segment from enterprise data model

One customer may place many

orders, but each order is placed
by a single customer
 One-to-many relationship

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 15
Figure 3 Database Approach (Cont)
Segment from enterprise data model

One order has many order lines;

each order line is associated with a
single order
 One-to-many relationship

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 16
Figure 3
Database Approach (cont)
Segment from enterprise data model

One product can be in many order

lines, each order line refers to a
single product
 One-to-many relationship

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 17
 Database Approach (Cont)
Figure 3 Segment from enterprise data model

Therefore, one order involves many

products and one product is involved
in many orders
 Many-to-many relationship

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 18
 Database Approach (Cont)
• Some Charactistics of the Enterprise Data Model.

3. It is a model of the organization that provides valuable

information about how the organization functions as
well as important constraints.

5. The enterprise data model stresses the integration of data

and process by focusing on entities, relationships and
business rules.

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 19
 Database Approach (Cont)
• Relational Database: A database that represent data as a
collection of tables in which all data relationships are
represented by common values in related tables.

• The company decided to implement modern relational

database management system that views all data in form of
tables.
• The following fig shows tables represent four entities
shown in the enterprise data model.

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 20
 Database Approach (Cont)
Figure ; Order, Order_Line, Customer, and Product tables
Relationships established in special
columns that provide links between
tables

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 21
 Database Approach (Cont)

• Each column of table represent an attribute (or

characteristics) of an entity.
• Each row of a table represent an instance (or occurrence)
of the entity.
• An important property of a relational model is that it
represents relationships between entities by values stored
in the columns of the corresponding tables.

• For example: Notice that Customer_ID is an attribute of

both the customer table and the order table, as result we
can easily link an order to its associated customer.

PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT 22
 COMPARATVE STUDY B/W TFA & DBMS

• TFA • Database Approach

• The programs and data are
inter-dependent..
• Data may be duplicated in
different files that cause
data redundancy.
• The data in different files
may be different that
creates inconsistency
• The data is distributed in
many files and can't be
shared
PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT
• The programs and data are
independent of each other.
• Data is not duplicated and
appear only one.
• The data appear only once
so it is always consistent.
• The data is stored at one
place and can be share
easily
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 COMPARATVE STUDY B/W TFA & DBMS

• It is difficult to apply data • This approach provides

integrity checks on files
• It provides poor security
as the data is widely
spread
• It is difficult to maintain
as it provides less
controlling facilities
• It is less complex system
• One application can fail
without effecting the
others
PRESENTED BY S.HAYAT
many constraints for
integrity.
• It provides many
procedures to maintain
data security.
• It provides many facilities
to the programs easily
• It is very complex system
• Problem in one
application will effect the
whole system.
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