Month Year Issue

February 2000 Issue: 12

Journal of Conceptual Modeling
www.inconcept.com/jcm

Analysis Problem
By Dr. John K. Sharp

Sharp Informatics is providing an analysis problem for each issue. These problems will consist of only variables so analysts will not be able to rely on their own subject matter expertise to determine a solution. Analysis results will be published the following month in the Journal of Conceptual Modeling and at www.sharp-informatics.com.

Scoring will be based on the number of tables and the number of keys that are required by the problem. Correct solutions must be fully normalized. Correct tables will receive 2 points each. Correct keys in correct tables will receive 1 point each. Partial credit will not be given for "correct" keys in incorrect tables.

A solution should be sent to John at Sharp Informatics and it must arrive by the 20th of the month before publication to be included in the published solution statistics.

You will probably want to print this page.

Assumptions: Each string means exactly one thing. The populated instances are significant.

A	B	C	D
a1	b1	c1	d1
a1	b2	c1	d2
a2	b1	c2	d3

Please place your results below and fill out the questions to follow (these are for statistical purposes only) Send the results to John via the contact information listed in the bio (below).

Show Your Analysis Results (only tables and keys are needed):

Analysis Time:_______

Preferred Analysis Methodology:

___ ER

___UML

___OO

___NIAM

___ORM

___NLM

___other: ______________

Name: __________________ (names and any other contact information will not be published)

Function: __________________ (information analyst, data administrator, manager, etc.)

Company: ___________________

Address: _____________________

City: ______________________

State: ______________________

Zip: ____________________

Phone: __________________

e-mail ______________________

Do you want to be notified by e-mail that the results and a new problem are available?

___ Yes; ___ No

Dr. John Sharp is the founder and principal consultant for Sharp Informatics.Before starting Sharp Informatics in 1997 he was employed by Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM for 18 years. While at Sandia he held staff and management positions in all areas of information technology, including analysis, design, implementation, maintenance, information architecture, data administration, and information technology research. He has worked closely with Prof. Shir Nijssen of The Netherlands to improve the NIAM analysis methodology. Dr. Sharp is the creator of the first information analysis procedure known to be mathematically precise.This procedure reformulates the usual (imprecise and inaccurate) statements and examples from a subject area into verified fact types. The output of this productivity enhancing process (a set of information requirements) is compatible with all the latest and most productive database application creation tools. John is the editor of the international standard for conceptual schemas. He has co-chaired two international conferences on natural language modeling and he has presented numerous papers and seminars at professional conferences.

Contact information:

Dr. John Sharp
Sharp Informatics
1604 Vassar SE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
sharp@sharp-informatics.com
505-243-1498
fax 505-248-0345
http://www.sharp-informatics.com