On The Role Of 'Understanding Models' In Conceptual Schema Design

This paper suggests that two levels should be considered when designing a conceptual schema: the 'understanding level' and the'conceptual data base level'. The first level includes two realms of importance - the set of information requirements (IRQ) and the conceptual information model (CIM). The next level includes two realms: - the conceptual data base model (CDBM) and the conceptual processing model (CPM). The CIM is full time-perspective, unrestricted view of the enterprise and aims at defining relevant relatiionships, events and inference relations. The CDBM is, together with CPM, a data base realization of CIM which satisfies IRQ. In this paper designs at both levels are illustrated and the utility of the conceptual information model is discussed.