Information Modeling and Relational Databases, 2nd Edition

14.5. Conceptual Schema Optimization

The previous three sections discussed how to transform conceptual schemas to equivalent, or at least acceptable, alternatives. Conceptual schema optimization involves transforming a conceptual schema into an alternative conceptual schema that maps to a more efficient (ideally, the most efficient) implementation. Section 14.1 gave a simple example of this. Guidelines for performing such optimizations are now discussed.

Four main factors to consider when optimizing a conceptual schema are the target system, the query pattern, the update pattern, and clarity. The target system is the DBMS or other platform used for implementation. Here we assume it is a centralized, relational system. The query pattern includes ...