View source for Data hierarchy

'''Data hierarchy''' refers to the systematic organization of [[Data (computing)|data]], often in a hierarchical form.

Data organization involves [[Field (computer science)|fields]], [[Record (computer science)|records]], [[Computer file|files]], and so on.

== Description ==

A data field holds a single fact or attribute of an entity.

Consider a date field, e.g. "September 19, 2004". This can be treated as a single date field (e.g. birthdate), or 3 fields, namely, month, day of month and year.

A [[Record (computer science)|record]] is a collection of related [[Field (computer science)|fields]]. An Employee record may contain a name field(s), address fields, birthdate field and so on.

A [[Computer file|file]] is a collection of related [[Record (computer science)|records]]. If there are 100 employees, then each employee would have a record (e.g. called Employee Personal Details record) and the collection of 100 such records would constitute a file (in this case, called Employee Personal Details file).

Files are integrated into a [[database]]. This is done using a [[database management system]]. If there are other facets of employee data that we wish to capture, then other files such as Employee Training History file and Employee Work History file could be created as well.

== See also ==

* [[Computer file]]
* [[Data dictionary]]
* [[Data element]]
* [[Data acquisition]]
* [[Field (computer science)]]
* [[Record (computer science)]]

== External links ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_hierarchy Data hierarchy] @ Wikipedia

[[Category:Computer science]]
[[Category:Computing]]