Analysis of Names and Relationships Among Data Elements

When making decisions, managers like to obtain pertinent information quickly and accurately from the information systems in an organization. But, often, different answers are obtained, depending on how the information request is phrased or from which information system the information is requested. In order to correct this problem, the system analyst and data base administrator have to resolve any conflicts in defining elements, their names and their relationships before computerized information systems are designed. A syntax method, described in this paper, has been developed to handle this process. This method standardizes names and mathematical relationships of elements. These standard data elements become the input to most system analysis methods facilitating the design of computerized information systems.