Comparative analysis of model management and relational database management

There has recently been considerable interest in research and practice that rely substantially on ideas from both model management and database manage ment to solve problems that cannot be adequately addressed by either field alone. Following this frontier, this paper examines the essential nature of model management and relational database management, and discusses the val idity of parallels which appear to exist between them. The characteristics of applications, functions, representations, utilizations, and research are used as a basis for conducting comparisons. Through these comparisons, the strengths and weaknesses of each field are evaluated, and significant simi larities and differences are identified. An application for making use of t he parallels identified is also presented in the paper. Rather than restric ting the ideas and techniques applied within each field, this paper encoura ges the cross-fertilization of both model management and relational databas e management, in the hope that this may spawn creative ideas for research. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.