Month Year Issue

October 2000 Issue: 16

Journal of Conceptual Modeling
www.inconcept.com/jcm

Analysis Problem: Solution
By Dr. John K. Sharp

Solution for the August 2000 Analysis Problem:

A	B	C	D
a1	b1	c1	d1
a1	b2	c1	d1
a1	b1	c2	d2
a2	b3	c1	d1

Analysis results (only tables and keys are needed):

Three tables exist: AB, BC, and CD

Keys exist over B in AB, BC in BC, and C and D in CD

Here is the real world example that this problem was developed from:

Joe Smith identified by 512-48-xxx works on project P21 that is named Time Card Database.

The rules are:

A social security number identifies a person.
A person has one name.
A project number identifies a project.
A project name identifies a project.
A person works on many projects.
A project can employ more than one person.
A project has exactly one project name.
A project name is for exactly one project.

This problem appeared to be too hard.

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