Representing And Enforcing Business Rules In Relational Data Model
- Conference
- Location
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Chicago, Illinois
- Publication Date
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June 18, 2006
- Start Date
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June 18, 2006
- End Date
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June 21, 2006
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Information Systems
- Page Count
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8
- Page Numbers
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11.1082.1 - 11.1082.8
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--932
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/932
- Download Count
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1884
Paper Authors
Reza Sanati-Mehrizy
REZA SANATI MEHRIZY is an associate professor of the Computing and Networking Sciences Dept. at Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah. He received his MS and PhD in Computer Science from University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma. His research focuses on diverse areas such as: Database Design, Data Structures, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Computer Integrated Manufacturing.
Curtis Welborn Utah Valley State College
Afsaneh Minaie Utah Valley State College
AFSANEH MINAIE is an associate professor in the Engineering Department at Utah Valley State College. She received a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. all in Electrical Engineering from University of Oklahoma in 1981, 1984 and 1989 respectively. Her current interests are in computer architecture, embedded systems, digital design, and computer interfacing.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Representing and Enforcing Business Rules in Relational Data Model
Abstract
Organizations have many business rules to implement in their daily operations. This is done mainly by action assertions1 traditionally implemented in procedural logic buried deeply within user’s application program in a form that is virtually unrecognizable, unmanageable, and inconsistent. This approach places a heavy burden on the programmer, who must know all the constraints that an action may violate and must include checks for each of these constraints. An omission, misunderstanding, or error by the programmer will likely leave the database in an inconsistent state.
The more modern approach is to define assertions at a conceptual level without specifying how the rule will be implemented. Thus, there needs to be a specification language for business rules. We have seen that the Enhanced Entity Relationship (EER) notation works well for specifying many business rules. In fact, EER notation was invented to allow more business rules to be shown in graphical form than was allowed with the simpler ER notation.
In this paper, we use the ER/EER notation to represent business rules graphically. These rules will be used to enforce database consistency. Using the ER/EER notation, we represented the rules at conceptual level in relational data model without specifying how the rule will be implemented.
Introduction
By applying a business rule, it is intended to assert business structure, or to control or influence the behavior and daily operation of the business.2 Organizations have many business rules to implement in their daily operations. Traditionally, this is done mainly by action assertions implemented in user’s application programs in a form that is not clearly recognizable, manageable, and consistent. This approach places a heavy burden on the programmer to know all the constraints that an action may violate, to implement them carefully, and to include a check for each of these constraints. This is not a reliable approach because an omission, misunderstanding, or error by the programmer will likely leave the database in an inconsistent state.
The more modern and more reliable approach is to define assertions at a conceptual level without specifying how the rules will be implemented. The aim of this approach is to build the constraints into the system to reduce the chance of programming errors. Thus, there needs to be a specification language for business rules. We have seen the Enhanced Entity Relationship (EER) notation works well for specifying many business rules. In fact, EER notation was invented to allow more business rules to be shown in graphical form than was allowed with the simpler ER notation.3 Associating business rules with the data to which they apply has a natural appeal because the rules are all about the data.4,5
Sanati-Mehrizy, R., & Welborn, C., & Minaie, A. (2006, June), Representing And Enforcing Business Rules In Relational Data Model Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--932
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