WATFILE (WATerloo FILE system) was developed between 1973 and 1983 by Prof. J. W. Graham and associates. It was developed to assist the Director of Computing Services at University of Waterloo with the manipulation of large amounts of data (i.e. service records, costs, mailing lists, etc.). The many suggestions of WATFILE's users resulted in changes and additions and led to the creation of WATFILE/Plus, a powerful, easy-to-use data manipulation system.

WATFILE was designed for professional people with advanced data management needs, but little or no programming experience. The program was to be a file processing calculator, and was similar to a paper filing system. It stored data, and allowed the user to search for, update, and use stored information to produce reports. WATFILE/Plus was manipulated through commands that did exactly as they suggested. (eg. SORT, TOTAL, SELECT, etc.).

UW Special Collections. GA 133-1280. Wes Graham Fonds. Series 4.2: UW Post-1973 Files. WATFILE/Plus Workshop: Computer Science Days - University of Waterloo, 1991.

Throughout the 1980's, WATFILE/Plus was one of WATCOM's most versatile and popular products. The program had many educational and administrative applications. It was even used by the Molson Indy in 1987 to keep track of basic race-related information.

Terry Wilkinson, "Away to the Races with WATFILE/PLUS," WATCOM News. (1987, Vol. 5, J.E. Carter ed.), 1.