Hello,
There are several factors to consider that pertain to the advantages and disadvantages of indexed sequential file organisation.
The method behind this concept works on a system of records being arranged sequentially, in the order that they appear. This means that the first record written is the first emergent file. This order is fixed and once processed, can not be amended, other than additional records following suit.
The benefit of this is that it is easy to locate a file based on it's date of creation, i.e. Knowing that the files that were written first are at the beginning and vice versa.
Some of the advantages of sequential file organisation could be as followed:
- Highly efficient
- Simple and clear strategy
- Low software support required
- Admin time is diminished due to efficacy of filing system
- More resourceful of storage space
Some of the disadvantages can be considered as follows:
- Difficult to adjust, amend or update
- Due to the nature of the format, any mistake or adjustment of order would require all files to be rewritten post-error
- Can not randomly access files
