Dictionary of Business Terms: sequentialaccess
sequentialaccess
electronic storing of records based upon some sequence determination, such as alphabetic or numeric order. Direct access file processing requires a direct access device such as a magnetic disk unit, where retrieval time can be in milliseconds as compared to several seconds or even minutes in a sequential file utilizing a tape unit. A majority of today's computerized information systems that use the direct access method also use sequential processing for some portion of the processing activities in the same information system.
