Research On Database Technology Supporting Enterprise Group Work

Database technology is the supporting part of CSCW. In enterprise environment, DBMS is used as the base of data sharing. It is also the platform on which applications are developed and execute. The capability of DBMS supporting cooperative work determines the feasibility of development of CSCW system. Traditional DBMS permits multi-users access database concurrently, however it does not allow group members to operate data cooperatively. It is not easy to develop enterprise applications, especially cooperative applications, in traditional DBMS. The research in the area attracts great interest of researchers. However, there is no satisfactory model or prototype system as I know. It is important to do research on technology of database to facilitate enterprise group activities.Sponsored by National 863 Hi-tech R&D Project"Enterprise Cooperative Work Environment Based on CORBA","Computer Supported Cooperative Concept Design"and National Ninth Five Year Key Project"the Research on Enterprise Cooperative Computing Components and Their Application", the thesis focuses on database technology facilitating enterprise group work. The Main research work and contribution includes:1. Extended relational data modelRelational DBMS is most widely used in the real world. However, relational data model is not powerful enough to be applied in group work. Yet most of the applications have to be developed on relational DBMS, it is necessary to extend relational data model.Enlightened by EDBMS, a prototype system developed by our research group, the thesis extends relational data model to relational-network data model. The extended model provides long record data type and complex relationship especially dynamic relationship management. Method of combining file system and database is exploited to manage long record type data, which improve the efficiency and flexibility of management of multimedia files.