Decision Support Systems using Object - Oriented

Object-oriented databases are a relatively new technology that has great potential for a variety of business applications. The primary advantage of the object-oriented database is that it preserves the natural hierarchical structure of the real world, and for certain cases allows more efficient communication between the database application software and the stored data. This thesis examines two decision support systems that currently employ relational databases and evaluates the structure of each of the application. A design change is then proposed for each of these applications such that an object-oriented database replaces the relational database and the potential benefits versus potential costs of the replacement are discussed. Thesis Supervisor: Amar Gupta Title: Co-Director, Productivity From Information Technology (PROFIT) Initiative