Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Conference on Conceptual Modeling

ER 1994: Entity-Relationship Approach — ER '94 Business Modelling and Re-Engineering pp 112–131Cite as

Database evolution: the DB-MAIN approach

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 881))

Abstract

The paper analyses some of the practical problems that arise when the requirements of an information system evolve, and when the database and its application programs are to be modified accordingly. It presents four important strategies to cope with this evolution, namely forward maintenance, backward maintenance, reverse engineering and anticipating design. A common, generic, framework that can support these strategies is described. It is based on a generic data structure model, on a transformational approach to database engineering, and on a design process model. The paper discusses how this framework allows formalizing these evolution strategies, and describes a generic CASE tool that supports database applications maintenance.

The DB-MAIN project is partly supported by ARIANE-II (Be), Banque UCL (Lux), Centre de recherche public H. Tudor (Lux), CGER (Be), Cockrill-Sambre (Be), Computer Associates, CONCIS (Fr), DIGITAL, IBM, OBLOG Software (Port), Winterthur (Be), 3 Suisses (Be). It is developed in collaboration with the Database Laboratory of the EPFL (Lausanne, CH). The DB-PROCESS subproject is supported by the Communauté Française de Belgique.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Andany, L, Léonard, M., Palissier, C., Management of Schema Evolution in Databases, in Proc. of the 17th Int. Conf. on VLDB, Morgan-Kaufmann, pp. 161–170, 1991

    Google Scholar 

  2. Balzer, R., Transformational implementation: An example, IEEE TSE, Vol. SE-7:1, 1981

    Google Scholar 

  3. Batini, C., Ceri, S., Navathe, S., Conceptual Database Design, Benjamin/Cummings, 1992

    Google Scholar 

  4. Batini, C., Di Battista, G., Santucci, G., Structuring Primitives for a Dictionary of Entity Relationship Data Schemas, IEEE TSE, Vol. 19, No. 4, 1993

    Google Scholar 

  5. Biggerstaff, T. J., Mitbander, B. G., Webster, D., The Concept Assignment Problem in Program Understanding, in Proc. of the IEEE Working Conf. on Reverse Engineering, Baltimore, May 1993, IEEE Computer Society Press, 1993

    Google Scholar 

  6. Chung, L., Katalagarianos, P., Marakakis, M., Mertikos, M, Mylopoulos, J., Vassiliou, Y., From information system requirements to designs: A mapping framework, Information Systems, Vol. 16, pp. 429–461, 1991

    Google Scholar 

  7. Davis, K., H., Arora, A., K., Converting a Relational Database model to an Entity Relationship Model, in Proc. of Entity-Relationship Approach: a Bridge to the User, 1988

    Google Scholar 

  8. Desclaux, C., Ribault, M., Cochinal, S., RE-ORDER: A Reverse engineering Methodology, in Proc. 5th Int. Conf. on Software Engineering and Applications, Toulouse, 7–11 December, pp. 517–529, EC2 Publish. 1992

    Google Scholar 

  9. Ewald, C., A., Orlowska, M., E., A Procedural Approach to Schema Evolution, in Proc. of CAiSE'93, Springer-Verlag, 1993

    Google Scholar 

  10. Fikas, S. F., Automating the transformational development of software, IEEE TSE, Vol. SE-11, pp1268–1277, 1985

    Google Scholar 

  11. Fonkam, M., M., Gray, W., A., An approach to Eliciting the Semantics of Relational Databases, in Proc. of 4th Int. Conf. on Advance Information Systems Engineering — CAiSE'92, pp. 463–480, May, LNCS, Springer-Verlag, 1992

    Google Scholar 

  12. Hainaut, J.-L., A Generic Entity-Relationship Model, in Proc. of the IFIP WG 8.1 Conf. on Information System Concepts: an in-depth analysis, North-Holland, 1989

    Google Scholar 

  13. Hainaut, J-L., Entity-generating Schema Transformation for Entity-Relationship Models, in Proc. of the 10th Entity-Relationship Approach, San Mateo (CA), 1991

    Google Scholar 

  14. Hainaut, J-L, Database Reverse Engineering, Models, Techniques and Strategies, in Preproc. of the 10th Conf. on Entity-Relationship Approach, San Mateo (CA), 1991

    Google Scholar 

  15. Hainaut, J-L., Cadelli, M., Decuyper, B., Marchand, 0., Database CASE Tool Architecture: Principles for Flexible Design Strategies, in Proc. of the 4th Int. Conf. on Advanced Information System Engineering (CAiSE-92), Springer-Verlag, LNCS, 1992

    Google Scholar 

  16. Hainaut, J-L., Cadelli, M., Decuyper, B., Marchand, O., TRAMIS: a transformation-base database CASE tool, in Proc. 5th Int. Conf. on Software Engineering and Applications, Toulouse, 7–11 December 1992, EC2 Publish., 1992

    Google Scholar 

  17. Hainaut, J-L., Chandelon M., Tonneau C., Joris M., Contribution to a Theory of Database Reverse Engineering, in Proc. of the IEEE Working Conf. on Reverse Engineering, Baltimore, May 1993, IEEE Computer Society Press, 1993

    Google Scholar 

  18. Hainaut, J-L, Chandelon M., Tonneau C., Joris M., Transformational techniques for database reverse engineering, in Proc. of the 12th Int. Conf. on ER Approach, Arlington-Dallas, ER Institute/Springer-Verlag, 1993

    Google Scholar 

  19. Jarke, M., et al., DAIDA: An environment for evolving information systems, ACM Trans. on Information Systems, Vol. 10, Jan. 1992

    Google Scholar 

  20. Jarke, M., et al., NATURE: Requirements Engineering: An Integrated View of Representation, Process and Domain, NATURE Report Series, No. 93-07, available from natrep@informatik.rwth-aachen.de

    Google Scholar 

  21. Joris, M., Van Hoe, R., Hainaut, J-L., Chandelon M., Tonneau C., Bodart F. et al., PHENIX: methods and tools for database reverse engineering, in Proc. 5th Int. Conf. on Software Engineering and Applications, Toulouse, 7–11 December 1992, EC2 Publish., 1992

    Google Scholar 

  22. Kozaczynsky, Lilien, An extended Entity-Relationship (E2R) database specification and its automatic verification and transformation, in Proc, of Entity-Relationship Approach, 1987

    Google Scholar 

  23. Mylopoulos, J., Chung, L., Nixon, B., Representing and Using Nonfunctional requirements: A Process-Oriented Approach, IEEE TSE, Vol. 18, No. 6, June 1992

    Google Scholar 

  24. Navathe, S. B., Schema Analysis for Database Restructuring, in ACM TODS, 5:2, 1980

    Google Scholar 

  25. Navathe, S., B., Awong, A., Abstracting Relational and Hierarchical Data with a Semantic Data Model, in Proc. of Entity-Relationship Approach: a Bridge to the User, 1988

    Google Scholar 

  26. Nguyen, G. T., Rieu, D., Schema evolution in object-oriented database systems, Data & Knowledge Engineering, 4 (1989) pp. 43–67, North-Holland

    Google Scholar 

  27. Nilsson, E., G., The Translation of COBOL Data Structure to an Entity-Rel-type Conceptual Schema, in Proc. of Entity-Relationship Approach, October, 1985

    Google Scholar 

  28. Potts, C., Bruns, Recording the Reasons for Design Decisions, in Proc. ICSE, IEEE, 1988

    Google Scholar 

  29. W.J. Premerlani, W., J., Blaha, M.R., An Approach for Reverse Engineering of Relational Databases, in Proc. of the IEEE Working Conf. on Reverse Engineering, Baltimore, May 1993

    Google Scholar 

  30. Roddick, J. F., Schema Evolution in Database Systems — An Annotated Bibliography, SIGMOD Record, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 35–40, Dec. 1992

    Google Scholar 

  31. Roddick, J. F., Craske, N. G., Richards, T. J., A taxonomy for Schema Versioning Based on the Relational and Entity-Relationship Models, in Proc. of the 12th Int. Conf. on ER Approach, Arlington-Dallas, ER Institute, 1993

    Google Scholar 

  32. Rolland, C., Modeling the Requirements Engineering Process, in Proc of the 3rd European-Japanese Seminar in Information Modeling and Knowledge Bases, May 1993, Budapest (preprints)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Rosenthal, A., Reiner, D., Theoretically sound transformations for practical database design, in Proc. of Entity-Relationship Approach, 1988

    Google Scholar 

  34. Sabanis, N., Stevenson, N., Tools and Techniques for Data Remodelling Cobol Applications, in Proc. 5th Int. Conf. on Software Engineering and Applications, Toulouse, 7–11 December, pp. 517–529, EC2 Publish. 1992

    Google Scholar 

  35. Schneiderman, B., Thomas, G., An architecture for Automatic Relational Database System Conversion, ACM TODS, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 235–257, 1982

    Google Scholar 

  36. Souquières, J., Lévy, N., Description of Specification Developments, in Proc. of Int. Conf. on Requirements Engineering, San Diego, IEEE, 1993

    Google Scholar 

  37. Springsteel, F., N., Kou, C., Reverse Data Engineering of E-R designed Relational Schemas, in Proc. of Databases, Parallel Architectures and their Applications, March, 1990

    Google Scholar 

  38. Teorey, T. J., Database Modeling and Design, Morgan Kaufmann, 1990

    Google Scholar 

  39. Tsuda, K., Yamamoto, K., Hirakawa, M., Tanaka, M., Ichikawa, T., MORE: An Object-Oriented Data Model with a Facility for Changing Object Structure, IEEE Trans, on Knowl. and Data Eng., Vol. 3, No. 4, Dec. 1991

    Google Scholar 

  40. van Bommel, P., Database Design Modifications based on Conceptual Modelling, in Proc. of the 3rd European-Japanese Seminar on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases, May 1993, Budapest, pp. 276–288 (Preprint)

    Google Scholar 

  41. Van Zuylen, H., The REDO Handbook — A compendium of reverse engineering for Software Maintenance, REDO Project report 2487-TN-WL-1027, Nov. 1991

    Google Scholar 

  42. Weiser, M., Program Slicing, IEEE TSE, Vol. 10, 1984, pp 352–357

    Google Scholar 

  43. Winans, J., Davis, K., H., Software Reverse Engineering from a Currently Existing IMS Database to an Entity-Relationship Model, in Proc. of Entity-Relationship Approach: the Core of Conceptual Modelling, pp. 345–360, October, 1990

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut d'Informatique, Univ. of Namur, rue Grandgagnage, 21-B-5000, Namur

    J. -L. Hainaut, V. Englebert, J. Henrard, J. -M. Hick & D. Roland

Authors
  1. J. -L. Hainaut
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. V. Englebert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J. Henrard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. J. -M. Hick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. D. Roland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Pericles Loucopoulos

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Hainaut, J.L., Englebert, V., Henrard, J., Hick, J.M., Roland, D. (1994). Database evolution: the DB-MAIN approach. In: Loucopoulos, P. (eds) Entity-Relationship Approach — ER '94 Business Modelling and Re-Engineering. ER 1994. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 881. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-58786-1_76

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-58786-1_76

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-58786-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49100-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation