Database for office automation

Abstract

With a fast growth in the quantity and quality of software applications for office systems and advanced workstations, it is becoming clear that the trend is towards a more integrated software architecture for workstation or office systems. A critical piece in a truly integrated system is a well-designed general purpose database mangement system (DBMS) that supports all applications running on the workstation (or office system). Sophisticated DBMSs have been developed on the main frames, primarily for large data processsing (DP) applications. Is it true, then, that all we need is to transport these systems to the workstation? The first problem that one faces to move a full scale DBMS to a workstation is the size. It is not clear that trimming a big DBMS down is an easy task. Some of the advanced capabilities might be modular and relatively easy to remove. Others could be quite difficult as the code is distributed throughout the system. In some cases, it might not even be possible to “trim” when the general capability is needed but to a lesser extent. In practice, most major DBMSs are built without serious concern on the space restrictions. It might be easier to design and implement a new system with “smallness” in mind than to trim down a huge one. The considerations on smallness include the data structures, control blocks, interfaces, buffer requirements, configuration and packaging of the system, as well as the number of lines of code. Size is only the beginning. Smallness makes the DBMS possible to run on a workstation. Because of the new operating environment, there are new requirements for the DBMS which are different from the traditional DP environment on a main frame. The real challenge is to determine what these requirements are and how to design a system accordingly. On an advanced workstation, one has to support word processing, data processing, engineering and scientific, administrative, as well as