Data Base Management Software

• Publication year: 1984
• Pages: 1656

13 Colo.Law. 1656 Colorado Lawyer 1984.

1984, September, Pg. 1656. Data Base Management Software

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1656

Vol. 13, No. 9, Pg. 1656

Data Base Management Software

by Phil J. Shuey

Lawyers are just beginning to realize that a computer might have a place in law firms, having accepted word processing and, thereafter, accounting and professional timekeeping and billing. Now, a new software package offers an application that looms large on the horizon and will play a very significant role in the law offices of the 1980s and beyond.

The Most Flexible Application

Data base management software ("DBMS") is the most flexible and, after word processing, potentially the most important software package in the law office. It is possible that DBMS is totally unknown to most lawyers, but if the DBMS package were called "litigation support" or "docket control," most lawyers would understand its purpose.

DBMS is nothing more than a computerized filing system. Although there are many variations in the methods of "tracking," the concept of DBMS is the random input of information and its subsequent retrieval in a desired manner.

Terms Used in Data Base Management

'---A field is a single fact, the smallest element of a data base. For example, in a client list, the client's city might be a field

---A record is a collection of related fields, treated as a unit. For example, all the information on one client---first name, last name, street address, city, state, zip code and telephone number---would constitute a record.

---A file is a collection of related records. By way of analogy, a file might be all the folders in one drawer of a file cabinet.

---A data set is a group of related files. A data set could be compared to one entire file cabinet in a group of file cabinets.

---A data base is a group of related data sets---an organized collection of information about one or more related subjects. The data base might be compared to a set of file cabinets or, perhaps, a library. The data base can be used whole or in part.

There are many types of DBMS systems, including indexing systems, simple file managers and hierarchical and relational data-base systems. Their appropriateness for a specific law office depends on the functions they will be called on to perform. Systems vary in speed, capacity, ease of use and purpose.

Litigation Support

In protracted litigation, an attorney may have...