COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR STORING DATA IN HIERARCHICAL MANNER

The invention concerns a computer system for data administration, wherein a number of data fields are stored in a memory. The data fields are subdivided into data segments. For each data segment, the associated structural and ordering information is stored in the memory. The structural information serves to describe the type of data segment. The structural information is also used to define the path from the location of the data segment within an associated structure tree to its root. The ordering information serves to determine the order of the data segment within a data field. By storing in particular the structural information, it is possible to use that information for queries. The structural information may also be used for indexing. As a result, the speed of the query process is substantially increased.