Knowledge transfer in database reverse engineering: a supporting case study

While the database reverse engineering problems and solving processes are getting more and more mastered, the academic community is facing the complex problem of knowledge transfer, both in university and industrial contexts. The paper addresses one efficient support of this transfer, namely academic case studies, i.e., small, clean, self-contained applications exhibiting representative problems and appropriate solutions that can be mastered in a limited time. First it recalls the basics of a generic methodology for database reverse engineering comprising two main steps, namely data structure extraction and data structure conceptualization. Then it describes a small academic case study, which has been used for several years both as an illustration of the principles of DBRE and as an exercise aimed at academic and industrial students.