Temporality in Databases

Research in temporal database management has suggested that the Entity-Relationship (E-R) model lacks appropriate constructs for representing the dynamic nature of the real world. To make up for this claimed deficiency numerous structural extensions have been proposed. The notion that the fundamental E-R model is inadequate for representing the temporal nature of the world arises from the mistaken idea that an E-R model represents only a "snapshot" of reality. Practitioners have long used the E-R model without temporal extensions to design systems with rich support for temporality. This is accomplished by using entities to represent the events that cause state changes rather than by defining temporal attributes to record past states. While both approaches represent temporality, only the event approach represents why a particular state exists. This approach is consistent with research on the ontological foundations of information systems. Ontology suggests that events are a f...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: ADVIS
• Authors: Abdullah Uz Tansel
• Keywords: ADVIS 2004, E-R Model, Fundamental E-r Model, Information Management, Temporal Database Management