On bi-level conceptual schemas

  • Authors:
  • Eugene Y. Sheng

  • Affiliations:
  • Computer Science Department, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois

  • Venue:
  • CSC '93 Proceedings of the 1993 ACM conference on Computer science
  • Year:
  • 1993

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Abstract

The advent of Entity-Relationship (E-R) model has revolutionized the database design process. The overwhelming success of Entity-Relationship approach to database design partly lies in the simplicity and semantic clarity of the E-R model. However, two seemingly conflicting measurements of database design: logical-clarity and physical-efficiency, force database designers to choose either logically-clear design or physically-efficient design. As a result, the resulting design is either logically-clear or physically-efficient, but not both. This paper is to provide a remedy for this situation. In this paper, we first discuss the concept of logical-clarity and physical-efficiency of logical database design. Then the concept of bi-level conceptual schema is introduced. The bi-level conceptual schema concept allows us to create a logical database design that is both logically-clear and physically-efficient. Finally, a database management system prototype (DBMSB) that supports bi-level conceptual schema is described.