Ternary relationships—to three or not to three, is there a question?

Hitchman, Steve

doi:10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000333

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Grounded in the structured analysis and design methods [DeMarco, 1978;Yourdon, 1975] and data modeling techniques [Chen, 1976], business analysis has long been an important part of IS scholarship and practice. IS researchers focus on various facets of business analysis, including user involvement [Gallivan and Keil, 2003], requirement elicitation methods [Hickey and Davis, 2004;Grunbacher, Halling, Biffl, Kitapci, and Boehm, 2004;Pitts and Browne, 2004;Schenk, Vitalari, and Davis, 1998], modeling tools and techniques [Hitchman 1999;Parsons 2002], and so on. The role afforded to business analysis by researchers may differ depending on their assumptions regarding the causal agency in IS.…”

Section: The Case For Business Analysis Business Analysis and Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Business Analysis as an Opportunity for IS Programs in Business Schools

Sidorova

2013

CAIS

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The growing complexity and high rate of change in the technological and business environments, paired with resource constraints faced by educational institutions, make it difficult for IS programs to offer in-depth education across the variety of topics comprising the IS discipline. Specialization may be an effective way for IS educators to provide rigorous education, while incorporating material related to the latest technological and business developments. This opinion essay considers the area of business analysis as one such area of specialization. The essay examines the place of business analysis in IS research and practice, as well as the current state of business analysis coverage in IS curriculum. Recommendations regarding strengthening the area of business analysis are provided, including the creation of a stand-alone business analysis course in IS curriculum, defining business analysis as a specialization area or career track, and strengthening ties with professional associations.

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Section: The Case For Business Analysis Business Analysis and Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Business Analysis as an Opportunity for IS Programs in Business Schools

Sidorova

2013

CAIS

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“…The main argument against ternary notation is that their use in data modelling actually undermines the design process [Hitchman 1999]. When practitioners are formally asked (this only happened once) about ternary relationship notation, the notation is perceived as problematic [Hitchman 2000].…”

Section: Figure 3 Attributed Relationshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These problems are due to fourth and fifth normal form issues. Ternary relationships are thought to undermine the modelling process because they discourage the specification of required data, such as worker skills and because the business requirement is not normalized [Hitchman 1999].…”

Section: Figure 3 Attributed Relationshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Interpretive Study of How Practitioners Use Entity-Relationship Modelling in a Ternary Relationship Situation

Hitchman¹

2003

CAIS

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This paper discusses the use of interpretive research to learn about the practicality of entityrelationship modelling in ternary relationship situations. The findings can be compared with previous studies of novice modellers who used the same invented scenario. Previous research excluded the interaction between practitioners that would occur during a modelling session because novices were used to complete tasks in isolation. A team of experienced practitioners are shown to use entity-relationship modelling in a business context of social interaction about design. The interaction proves to be a key part of the modelling process. Practitioners 'talk with the notation' as well as using the notation to draw a diagram. The entity-relationship model constrains the social interaction because the model provides a way of talking about design. The practitioners use the model to talk about a normalized relational data structure in a way that undermines the idea of the entity-relationship model as an independent conceptual model. The findings show that theories from the field of linguistics explain why the model is used in this design-dependent way and suggest that this dependency may be inevitable. When the design conversation is about a normalized relational data structure there is no benefit to the practitioners from using a special notation for ternary relationships. On the contrary, the practitioner's design dependence seems to enable them to expose aspects of a domain that do not make business sense. The wider implication is that interpretive research's role is important in generating insights about the extent to which conceptual modelling is usable by practitioners. Interpretive research highlights the importance of being able to distinguish between ideas about conceptual modelling and ideas about how to apply modelling to practice.

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“…Indeed, there is a strong oral tradition that practitioners were influenced more by the work of Bachman on database design. Evidence on the use of n-ary relationships in practice suggests that ternary notation is actually counter-productive [Hitchman 1999]. N-ary relationships, like many-to-many relationships, would in any case be converted to entity-types in the Barker method.…”

Section: The Formal Approach To Relationship Notationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Details of Conceptual Modelling Notations are Important - A Comparison of Relationship Normative Language

Hitchman¹

2002

CAIS

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Discussions of conceptual modelling assume that notation details are of secondary importance, a matter of taste and past experience rather than of science. For example, it does not really matter if cardinality is shown wi th a 'crow's foot' or with the symbol '1..*'. This paper argues that such an assumption is wrong and that the notation is extremely important in the process of modelling relationships because of the normative language that the notation specifies. Normative language is shown to be a useful way of understanding and comparing relationship notation. Barker's practical relationship definition, using a formal notation, is shown to be sufficiently well formed to allow the modeller to make sense of the domain i n their own linguistic context. Less formal notations are shown to disadvantage the less experienced modeller

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Ternary relationships—to three or not to three, is there a question?

Cited by 7 publications

References 6 publications

Business Analysis as an Opportunity for IS Programs in Business Schools

Business Analysis as an Opportunity for IS Programs in Business Schools

An Interpretive Study of How Practitioners Use Entity-Relationship Modelling in a Ternary Relationship Situation

The Details of Conceptual Modelling Notations are Important - A Comparison of Relationship Normative Language

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