Grupo Alarcos · Conference paper · 2000
Measures to Get Better Quality Databases
Marcela Genero Bocco, Mario Piattini Velthuis, Coral Calero Muñoz, Manuel Ángel Serrano Martín
Due to the growing complexity of information systems, continuous attention to and assessment of the quality of databases, which are the essential core of information systems, it is necessary to produce quality information systems. In a typical database design a conceptual schema which specifies the requirements of the database is first built. Even more conceptual schemas determine what information can be represented by an information system, so their quality can have a significant impact on the quality of the database which is ultimately implemented. Unfortunately, most of the work regarding conceptual schemas quality merely lists properties, without giving quantitative measures that assess the quality of such models in an objective way. In this work, we will propose a set of metrics for measuring the complexity of the well known Entity Relationship schemas, which will allow database designers to measure the complexity of conceptual designs in order to improve their quality. We will also put them under theoretical validation following Zusc’s formal framework.