Information Analyses (070)-- Reports-

This report describeS approaches to database translation (i.e., transferring data and data definitions from a source, either a database management system (DBMS) or a batch file, to a target DBMS), and recommends a method for representing the data structures,of newly-proposed network and relational data models in a form suitable for database interchange. In the opening chapters, the current state of research in the field of database translation is summarized, various interchange forms that have been proposed as potential standards are examined, and proposed standard data models and other commonly-used data structures are discussed. Additional chapters analyze the results of experiments with database translation between data models--hierarchical or relational to network, hierarchical or network to relational, hierarchical to, network, and network to hierarchical--and summarize a cost benefit analysis of