The benefits of using relational database instead of file-based approach (AS).

Keywords: data redundancy, data privacy, data consistency, data integrity, data dependency, search & query

1. Data redundancy: the same data stored more than once. It's common that there are several copies of files so that the data can be shared to different people. This increases the data redundancy. One of the primary aims of the data base approach is the elimination of data redundancy.
2. Data privacy: one problem of file-base approach is lack of data privacy. Data file copies are shared to different people and no control to the access of the data. This leads to data privacy issue. Using relational database, different views can be created for different people. Each one can only see parts of data that is related to his work. This protects data privacy in a much better way.
3. Data consistency: since there are copies of data, if there is an error in the original data, each copy will contain the same error. Later if the error needs to be corrected, all the copies have to be updated. Otherwise, the data is inconsistent. This is a different cause of data lacking integrity. Relational database can be used to avoid this.
4. Data dependency: Programs can be used to manipulate data. The program code depends on the format of data and the way data is organized if file-based approach is used. If there is a need to change the format of data or append a field to the structure of the data, the program code has to be changed accordingly. Relational database approach can reduce the complexity of and the time to complete such work.
5. Search and query: using databases, complex search and query can be carried out with SQL.