Question

What is meant by the term single user view as it applies to flat files, and why is this a problem? 

Answer 1

The flat-file approach is a single-view model. Files are structured, formatted, and arranged to suit the specific needs of the owner or primary user of the data. Such structuring, however, may exclude data needed by other users, thus preventing successful integration of data across the organization. For example, because the accounting function is the primary user of accounting data, these data are often captured, formatted, and stored to accommodate financial reporting and generally accepted accounting principles(GAAP). This structure, however, may be useless to the organization’s other (nonaccounting) users of accounting data such as the marketing, finance, production, and engineering functions.

These users are presented with three options:

(1) do not use accounting data to support decisions,

(2) manipulate and massage the existing data structure to suit their unique needs, or

(3) obtain additional private sets of the data and incur the costs and operational problems associated with data redundancy.