Integrating database technology, rule-based systems and temporal reasoning for effective information systems: the TEMPORA paradigm

Abstract. Recent years have witnessed a growing realization that the development of large data-intensive, transaction-oriented information systems is becoming increasingly more difficult as user requirements become broader and more sophisticated. Contemporary approaches have been criticized for producing systems which are difficult to maintain and which provide little assistance in organizational developments. This paper introduces the TEMPORA paradigm, which is currently under development and which advocates a closer alignment between organizational policy and information system functionality. This viewpoint impacts on a number of critical issues related to the development process of information systems most notably in the nature of conceptual models, the discipline adopted for the development, the type of support provided by CASE tools and the run-time environment. The paper introduces the philosophy and architecture of the TEMPORA paradigm and describes the conceptual models, tools and run-time environment which render such an approach a feasible undertaking.