What are the problems with the flat-file approach? How does the database approach solve them?
Data redundancy causes significant data management problems in three areas: data storage, data updating, and currency of information. Data storage is a problem because if multiple users need the data, it must be collected and stored multiple times at multiple costs. When multiple users hold the same information, changes must be updated in all locations or data inconsistency results. Failure to update all occurrence of a data item can affect the currency of the information. If update messages are not properly disseminated, some users may not record the change and will perform their duties and make decisions based on outdated data.
Another problem is task-data dependency which is the user's inability to obtain additional information as needs change.
With a database system, these problems are solved. There is no data redundancy since a data item is stored only once. Hence changes require only a single update, thus leading to current value. A common database is shared by all users, eliminating the problem of task-data dependency.
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