Article,
An Ontological Metamodel of Classifiers and Its Application to Conceptual Modelling and Database Design
Conceptual Modeling - ER 2007, (2008)
Abstract
Classification is a key concept in conceptual modeling. However, the recognition that there might be different kinds of classeshas received limited attention in conceptual modeling research. Most work has focused on the concept of role. However, confusionexists on the definition, properties, and representation of role. In this paper, we propose a metamodel of classifiers basedon ontological foundations. We focus on the notion of role in the object-oriented and conceptual modeling literature. Themetamodel conforms to the fundamental role features identified in the literature and handles several problems associated withrole modeling. Furthermore, we contrast conceptual models created using our metamodel to those created using traditional ERor class modeling approaches, and highlight the database design implications of the differences. Using examples, we demonstratethat relational database schemata generated using our approach are more stable with respect to changing requirements.
