When designing an information system conceptual modeling is the activity thatelicits and describes the general knowledge the system needs to know. Thisdescripti... » 

When designing an information system conceptual modeling is the activity thatelicits and describes the general knowledge the system needs to know. Thisdescription called the conceptual schema is necessary in order to develop aninformation system. Recently many researchers and professionals share a visionin which the conceptual schema becomes the only important description to becreated as the system implementation will be automatically constructed fromits schema this is e.g. the basic idea behind OMGs Model DrivenArchitecture. Olivs textbook explains in detail the principles of conceptualmodeling independently from particular methods and languages and shows how toapply them in realworld projects. He covers all aspects of the engineeringprocess from structural modeling over behavioral modeling to metamodeling andcompletes the presentation with an extensive case study based on the osCommercesystem an online storemanagement software program freely available under theGNU General Public License. His presentation is based on wellknown industrystandards like UML and OCL as a particular conceptual modeling language yetalso delivers the basics of the formal logical language background. Written forcomputer science students in classes on information systems modeling as well asfor professionals feeling the need to formalize their experiences or to updatetheir knowledge Oliv delivers here a comprehensive treatment of all aspectsof the modeling process. His book is complemented by lots of exercises andadditional online teaching material. «