Round-Trip Engineering for Maintaining Conceptual-Relational Mappings

Conceptual-relational mappings between conceptual models and relational schemas have been used increasingly to achieve interoperability or overcome impedance mismatch in modern data-centric applications. However, both schemas and conceptual models evolve over time to accommodate new information needs. When the conceptual model (CM) or the schema associated with a mapping evolved, the mapping needs to be updated to reflect the new semantics in the CM/schema. In this paper, we propose a round-trip engineering solution which essentially synchronizes models by keeping them consistent for maintaining conceptualrelational mappings. First, we define the consistency of a conceptualrelational mapping through "semantically compatible" instances. Next, we carefully analyze the knowledge encoded in the standard database design process and develop round-trip algorithms for maintaining the consistency of conceptual-relational mappings under evolution. Finally, we conduct a comprehensive se...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: CAISE
• Authors: Yuan An, Xiaohua Hu, Il-Yeol Song
• Keywords: CAISE 2008, Conceptual Model, Conceptual-relational Mappings, Conceptualrelational Mapping, Information Management