An Improved Algorithm for Translating Relational Schemas into an Object Model

Today\u27s war fighter is inundated with data from numerous Command, Control, Communications and Computers and Intelligence systems. Integration of these systems is desirable, yet integration results in a static solution to a dynamic problem-by the time a global schema can be devised, it is out of date. Automating schema integration will mitigate this problem, but data model disparity must be addressed via translation to a common data model prior to integration. To address this requirement, this thesis presents an improved, relational to object-oriented schema translation algorithm, which is derived from a base algorithm proposed by another research effort. The improved algorithm incorporates many benefits over the base algorithm, including increased automation, semantic equivalence assurance via tracing key migrations, and decreased inter-entity association redundancy. The improved algorithm is implemented in a highly automated schema translation application, which is demonstrated against a sample schema and validated on another schema from an operational course scheduling system. Given a relational schema, the application provides an initial object-oriented translation and retranslates when schema change is detected