Methodology for Design and Evolution of XML Schemas using Conceptual Modeling

Abstract

XML has achieved the leading role among languages for data representation and, thus, the amount of related technologies and applications exploiting them grows fast. However, only a small percentage of applications is static and remains unchanged since its first deployment. Most of the applications change with newly coming user requirements and changing environment. In this paper we describe a framework and a methodology for management of evolution and change propagation throughout XML applications. We also introduce its proof-of-concept implementation called eXolutio, which has been developed and improved in our research group during last few years. We also provide an evaluation of the methodology in the domain of electronic health.