FCO-IM
Encyclopedia
Fully Communication Oriented Information Modeling (FCO-IM) is a technique for building conceptual information models. Such models can be automatically transformed into ERM
, UML
, Relational
or Dimensional
models with the FCO-IM Bridge toolset, and it is possible to generate complete end-user applications from them with the IMAGine toolset. Both toolsets were developed by the Research and Competence Group Data Architectures & Metadata Management of the HAN University of Applied Sciences in Arnhem, the Netherlands.
FCO-IM includes a detailed operational procedure specifying how to draw up an information model , and is supported by intelligent software tools such as CaseTalk and Infagon.
The distinguishing feature of FCO-IM is that it models the communication about a certain Universe of Discourse (UoD)
completely and exclusively, i.e.: it does not model the UoD itself, but rather the facts users exchange when they communicate about the UoD. Fully Communication Oriented Information Modeling (FCO-IM) is therefore a member of the family of information modeling techniques known as Fact Oriented Modeling (FOM), as are Object Role Modeling (ORM)
, Predicator Set Model (PSM) and Natural language Information Analysis Method (NIAM) .
There are two main reasons why FCO-IM claims to be 'fully communication oriented'. First, FCO-IM is the only FOM family member that completely incorporates the actual verbalizations of facts by domain experts (fact expressions) in an information model. An FCO-IM model therefore contains the soft semantics – i.e.: the meaning of the facts – as well as the hard semantics – i.e.: the fact types and the constraints. These verbalizations can be regenerated verbatim at any time from an FCO-IM model, for validation and verification purposes. Second, FCO-IM uses a very simple and small set of meta-concepts, by having abolished the unnecessary distinction between fact types and object types: in FCO-IM all object types are fact types as well. In other words: object types are not modeled independently from the communication, but as inextricable parts of the communication itself; FCO-IM never leaves the communication domain. Consequently FCO-IM is the only conceptual modeling technique that completely complies with the 100% conceptualization principle .
Entity-relationship model
In software engineering, an entity-relationship model is an abstract and conceptual representation of data. Entity-relationship modeling is a database modeling method, used to produce a type of conceptual schema or semantic data model of a system, often a relational database, and its requirements...
, UML
Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...
, Relational
Relational database
A relational database is a database that conforms to relational model theory. The software used in a relational database is called a relational database management system . Colloquial use of the term "relational database" may refer to the RDBMS software, or the relational database itself...
or Dimensional
Dimensional modeling
Dimensional modeling is the name of a set of techniques and concepts used in data warehouse design. It is considered to be different from entity-relationship modeling . Dimensional Modeling does not necessarily involve a relational database. The same modeling approach, at the logical level, can be...
models with the FCO-IM Bridge toolset, and it is possible to generate complete end-user applications from them with the IMAGine toolset. Both toolsets were developed by the Research and Competence Group Data Architectures & Metadata Management of the HAN University of Applied Sciences in Arnhem, the Netherlands.
Overview
FCO-IM is being taught in universities in the Netherlands and abroad. It has proven its practical value in large projects in national and international big companies and is used by IT services companies to develop corporate conceptual data models or design datawarehouses and datamarts.FCO-IM includes a detailed operational procedure specifying how to draw up an information model , and is supported by intelligent software tools such as CaseTalk and Infagon.
The distinguishing feature of FCO-IM is that it models the communication about a certain Universe of Discourse (UoD)
Domain of discourse
In the formal sciences, the domain of discourse, also called the universe of discourse , is the set of entities over which certain variables of interest in some formal treatment may range...
completely and exclusively, i.e.: it does not model the UoD itself, but rather the facts users exchange when they communicate about the UoD. Fully Communication Oriented Information Modeling (FCO-IM) is therefore a member of the family of information modeling techniques known as Fact Oriented Modeling (FOM), as are Object Role Modeling (ORM)
Object role modeling
Object Role Modeling is a method for conceptual modeling, and can be used as a tool for information and rules analysis, ontological analysis, and data modeling in the field of software engineering.- Overview :...
, Predicator Set Model (PSM) and Natural language Information Analysis Method (NIAM) .
There are two main reasons why FCO-IM claims to be 'fully communication oriented'. First, FCO-IM is the only FOM family member that completely incorporates the actual verbalizations of facts by domain experts (fact expressions) in an information model. An FCO-IM model therefore contains the soft semantics – i.e.: the meaning of the facts – as well as the hard semantics – i.e.: the fact types and the constraints. These verbalizations can be regenerated verbatim at any time from an FCO-IM model, for validation and verification purposes. Second, FCO-IM uses a very simple and small set of meta-concepts, by having abolished the unnecessary distinction between fact types and object types: in FCO-IM all object types are fact types as well. In other words: object types are not modeled independently from the communication, but as inextricable parts of the communication itself; FCO-IM never leaves the communication domain. Consequently FCO-IM is the only conceptual modeling technique that completely complies with the 100% conceptualization principle .