Fact-Based Data Analysis and Design

Deferring problems of identification and representation types in a hierarchical database or the record types in a network database. Nonflat data models (e.g., hierarchies and networks) will require additional design steps to replace some fields with structural paths (pointers). The methodology has not yet been developed to the point of a detailed procedure. This paper describes the concepts on which the methodology is based, and the major steps in the methodology. The first step is to identify the facts that are to be maintained, in terms of entities and relationships. Thereafter, the methodology essentially