Month Year Issue

December 1999 Issue: 11

Journal of Conceptual Modeling
www.inconcept.com/jcm

Editor's Notes: Back At It
By Scot A. Becker

Back At It

Well, we're back from our unexpected, but necessary break. For those of you who missed having our informative rag to read in October, we apologize. Lots of stuff necessitated our absence last issue, not the least of which was massive hardware problems at the JCM headquarters (read: my home network). Suffice it to say that I am now - as if I wasn't before - intimately aware of NT installations and back-up requirements.

We hope this issue is worth the wait and that you used the extra time to catch up on past issues and articles that you missed before.

A New ORM Product

On December 6th, Visio released the long anticipated Visio Enterprise 2000, which has greater ORM support. Keeping with Visio's past pricing structure, this new breed of Visio retails for just under a grand. When you consider the fact that you are getting UML, ER, and ORM tools (all of which used to or currently sell for around 3 grand) wrapped into all of the other great features of Visio, purchasing this product, from a bang-for-buck perspective, is a no-brainer -- in my opinion.

I plan on doing a detailed product review for the next issue, but for now I can sum up what I have seen as follows:

It's missing some of the key features of VisioModeler (nee InfoModeler) that we have grown to expect (more on this later).
It adds many nice to have features not present in VisioModeler (layering, HTML support, exporting features, better enterprise modeling support, hyper-linking, VBA interfaces, better drawing in general, etc.)
It is, in my opinion, possible to -- with some extra effort -- use Visio Enterprise 2000 as your sole ORM tool; but don't throw away your copy of VisioModeler just yet.

I'll have more details soon. For now, you can check out the press release at: http://www.visio.com/press/default.asp?loadpage=/press/content/120699a.htm

Some New Faces

We are happy to welcome Dr. Bill Karakostas, Dr. George Fakas, and Dr. Judith Barnard to the JCM with their first submissions. Welcome, and thanks for contributing!

Content is Still Needed

Folks, we need your insight, experience, and skills to make this publication the source for conceptual modeling information. We have some great content, and if it wasn't for the dedication of our regular authors (Thanks!), this publication would not exist today, but I'd like to have more content each issue.

Content isn't just articles; we could use links, book reviews, product reviews, case studies, conference reports, tips and tricks, challenge problems, industry rumors, etc.

Have something we could use? Feel free to contact me at path@inconcept.com

Volunteers are Needed

Editing the JCM can be a daunting task. I could use someone who has a few hours a week (at most) to devote to assisting me. The job doesn't pay much (only the admiration of our readers and myself). If you're the kind-hearted sort who may be interested in giving me a hand, drop me a line at scotb@inconcept.com.

More Updates are Coming

I plan on adding a lot more content to the JCM website (links, books, and more) in the near future. Do you have any suggestions?

Preface

In this issue, Dr. Terry Halpin begins a new series on ER Modeling, Pat Hallock and Dick Barden discuss pair-subset constraints, Dr. Bill Karakostas and Dr. George Fakas discuss conceptual modeling of workflow, and Dr. Judith Barnard discusses Object COMX. And, as always, Dr. John Sharp gives us another analysis problem and last issue's solution.

Scot A. Becker is a software consultant and the founder of Orthogonal Software Corporation. He is also a certified ORM consultant and trainer, a certified Visio trainer, and former Editor of the Journal of Conceptual Modeling.

Contact Information:

Scot A. Becker
Orthogonal Software Corporation
scot@orthogonalsoftware.com
www.orthogonalsoftware.com