Global Information Resources Dictionary

The Metadatabase Structure: GIRD Model

The metadatabase itself employs a generic meta-structure, the Global Information Resource Dictionary (GIRD) model, abstracting the enterprise metadata resources (i.e., models). As such, each and every local model is represented (but not duplicated, nor removed) into the metadatabase as ordinary metadata tuples populating the structure.

The metadata independence at the model integration level is achieved since any change in enterprise models would involve only ordinary metadata transactions similar to the usual relational processing, and do not require any change to the structure itself, nor reloading/recompilation.

The structure itself, as well as the representation of local models, is developed according to the Two-Stage Entity Relationship (TSER) method, which serves for this purpose as a meta-model. TSER provides at the first, functional stage two basic representation constructs: SUBJECTS (similar to objects in object-oriented paradigm) and CONTEXT (rule-based description of process and other contextual knowledge). At the second, structural stage, ENTITY (characterized with singular keys) and RELATIONSHIP (characterized with composite keys) plus two more types of associations signifying special integrity rules (functional and mandatory) are defined.

All these constructs, combined with hardware and software classes of metadata, are included in the GIRD model.