Management of Multiple Models in an Extensible Database Design Tool

We describe the development of a tool called MDM for the management of multiple models and the translation of database schemes This tool can be at the basis of an integrated CASE environment sup porting the analysis and design of information systems that allows di er ent representations for the same data schemes We rst present a graph theoretic framework that allows us to formally investigate desirable prop erties of schema translations The formalism is based on a classi cation of the constructs used in the known data model into a limited set of types Then on the basis of formal results we develop general methodologies for deriving good translations between schemes and more in general between models Finally we de ne the architecture and the function alities of a rst prototype that implements the various features of the approach