OMT-A : An Extension of OMT to Model Active Rules

by Calestam, Bengt

Today there are commercially available databases with active features, i.e. active mechanisms are available for development of information systems. But the usage of active mechanisms is low in practice. This is due to the insufficient methodological support in analysis and design for developing ECA rule based software. It has been proposed that one of the most suitable ways to tackle this problem is not to develop new methods but to extend existing methodologies. In this thesis an extension of the Object Modeling Technique (OMT) is developed, called OMT-A, which is able to model active rules. The Active Database Management System Manifesto is used as a base for the refinements. OMT-A also supports an extensive set of event operators. Although the refined notation and the new, recommended steps, it is still possible to use OMT-A as if it is the original OMT. OMT-A is compared with OMT and two other extensions of OMT. The comparison revealed some interesting differences, e.g. to what extent OMT has been changed. It also turned out that OMT-A is the only one of the three refined versions having an explicit focus on the dynamic modeling, which is an interesting contribution of this work.