Data modeling: Moving to an object oriented DBMS

Databases were designed originally to eliminate redundancy in data storage while speeding data retrieval in a specific problem domain. However, because these databases were constrained to specific problem domains, it war impossible to develop new applications without changing the structure of the database. Relational databases were developed to overcome this problem by creating a data storage structure that was independent of the application. This data independence allowed new applications to be developed without concern for the ways in which data is stored, unlike the previous systems. Although these relational databases continue to work well with most applications, the advent of newer technologies has placed demands on data storage that go well beyond their capabilities. As the power of application software has grown, breakthroughs in database technology have been achieved to meet these new demands. Organizations now face the decision of which technology to use, and this choice is not an easy one. What is needed is a model that can be used to structure the decision process, taking into account those issues that affect the outcome of the decision. This paper seeks to construct such a model by enumerating and discussing the issues and providing some insight as to how an organization might incorporate it into their decision process.