AN ONTOLOGY-BASED EXPERT-SYSTEM FOR DATABASE DESIGN

Although it is possible to encode a great deal of process knowledge ab out database design into a system, experience has shown that the contr ibution of a human designer extends beyond his or her knowledge of dat abase design techniques. The next step in the evolution of automated d atabase design tools is to incorporate knowledge and reasoning capabil ities to support this higher level of participation. Doing so requires some understanding of what different terms mean. This paper presents an ontology that can be used as a surrogate for the meaning of words i n a database design system to simulate the contributions that a design er would make based on his or her general knowledge. The ontology clas sifies a term into one or more categories such as person, abstract goo d or tradable document. It is comprised of a semantic network, a knowl edge base containing information on the meaning of terms that have bee n classified, an expert system knowledge-acquisition component, and a distance measure for assessing the distance between the meanings of te rms. The ontology was tested by different types of users on a variety of problems and was shown to be quite effective. (C) 1998 Elsevier Sci ence B.V.