---
tags:
- "⭐topic/\U0001F4BEsoftware/colleague"
- "\U0001F6A9purpose/ℹ️documentation"
---
# Files & Tables   
   
Colleague was originally designed to run on the [multivalue](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MultiValue_database) file-based database [UniData](https://www.rocketsoftware.com/products/rocket-multivalue-application-development-platform/rocket-unidata) (part of the [U2 suite](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_U2)), so while most Colleague installations now run on some kind of SQL backend, Colleague UI, Ellucian documentation, and Colleague Studio source code may refer to tables as “files” and rows as “records”. For example, the “`PERSON` file” is actually the `person` table in the Colleague SQL database, and the `WHERE.USED.FILES` valcode (see **VAL**) refers to shorthand names of tables, not files. Due to this mixing of terminology, “file” may also refer to actual directories and files on the Colleague server where non-obvious, such as `_HOLD_`.   
   
## `_HOLD_`   
The `_HOLD_` directory lives under `apphome` and contains per-user folders where they can store whatever they want. If it can be exported from Colleague, it can likely be saved to `_HOLD_` instead. Most automatic processes write to `_HOLD_` and use it as a cache, unless specified otherwise. Users can then view these files or export them at a later date. **UTFB** lets you read the output of files without exporting them.