The first step of most database design methodologies consists in eliciting part of the user requirements from various sources such as user interviews and corporate documents. These requirements are formalised into a conceptual schema of the application domain, that has proved difficult to validate, especially since the graphical representations of data models have shown understandability limitations from the end-users standpoint. On the other hand, electronic forms seem to be more natural and intuitive to express data requirements for laymen. Besides, the necessity to associate end-users of a future system with its specification and development steps has long been advocated. In this doctoral research, we consequently explore the possible reverse engineering of user-drawn form-based interfaces to perform an interactive database conceptual analysis, and subsequently present the tool-supported RAINBOW approach resulting from this investigation. This user-oriented approach relies on the adaptation and integration of principles and techniques coming from various fields of study, ranging from Database Forward and Reverse Engineering to Prototyping and Participatory Design.
Reverse engineering: user-drawn form-based interfaces for interactive database conceptual analysis: the rainbow approach
Ramdoyal, R. (Author). 15 Dec 2010
Student thesis: Doc types › Doctor of Sciences