Design support for initiatives and policies in conceptual models of information systems/spl minus/a Statechart approach

The advent of event trigger execution functionality in DBMS allows the realization of so-called active databases, which are able to detect the occurrence of user-defined situations and to initiate appropriate actions (e.g. calls to stored procedures) upon detection. This kind of situation monitoring represents an important technical prerequisite with respect to a large number of dynamic aspects of information systems, like the definition and enforcement of transition constraints or workflow modelling. Entity-relationship Statechart (ERSC) monitors are proposed as a formal design language aiming at several design issues related to dynamic aspects of information systems. They include extended ER diagrams for static design issues and modified Statecharts for dynamic design aspects. A graphical representation of ERSC monitors is used to support man-machine interaction, whereas an equivalent algebraic representation serves for analytical purposes and final compilation to ECA rules.<>