engleski

Logical Model of the Database as Means of Information System Usage and Development Control

Three global development phases may be identified in the design and development of information systems (IS). The first phase is the design of IS development strategy plan, the second phase is modeling and generation of database with development of business applications, and the third phase is the implementation of business applications and putting the new IS into function. The past experience indicates that business systems have difficulties in controlling the second phase of development, regardless of whether it is executed within its own informatics activity or through outsourcing. As a result, the implementation is more complex, and the costs of the third phase are higher. This situation is caused by the fact that in most cases the second and the third phase of the IS development are carried out entirely by the producers of business software, and their individual operational phases are hard to control by the business system of the customer for several reasons. New tools for the design of the logical data model and the generation of relational database enable division of the second global phase in two relatively independent design sub-phases. The first sub-phase includes the design of the logical data model and the generation of relational database, while the second phase relates to the design of business applications over physical database. The separation of the mentioned first sub-phase of the design, which is an independent phase, opens a new possibility for business system to control the design and implementation of business applications, the basis of which is a detailed logical model of database, created within the framework of the IS strategic development plan. In view of the above, this paper defines a new system of controlling the implementation of a strategic plan of the IS development, based on the management of logical model of the database, from the beginning of the business applications design to their final implementation. With the application of such system the logical model of the database is defined as a separate software product owned by the customer, and updated by the producer of business applications during the design of business applications, while the customer controls the design. A new level of interactive relationship is thus created between the business system as customer and the producer of the business software. This results in higher quality of the software product, shorter time and lower costs of design and implementation, and better partnership between the participants in the project.

strategic plan for information systems design; information systems design control; logical model of the database; database generator

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