Plus&Minus’ single file design uses one file to store transactions. The software industry refers to our design as a flat file database. We took this a step further and designed structural relationships among the records, eliminating a search index.
The Plus&Minus developers use one format, consisting of: Gen, Sub, Invoice, Reference, Date, Journal, Amount, and Description. The original design has never changed. From the days of a simple bookkeeping system to a fully developed management information system, the developers have never found a need to change the structure or the format.
When you couple the single file with one format, only one key is needed to find any record in the file, thus making response queries instant. In addition, programmers can use just one comparison routine throughout Plus&Minus for searching.