Database Management Systems

That is, the implemented infrastructure has to recognise a point beyond simply having the ability to store and retrieve a document. It also has to allow manipulation of the individual data elements. This is where two technologies coincide. The relational database model is strongly focused on the collection and storage of individual data elements, and forming a logical relationship based on the original model for the database. XML structure and by extension native-XML databases are modelled by the documents that they store. The relational model has an implemented schema, while the XML model has multiple schemas.

The true business requirement is to remove the distinction between the two; to create an infrastructure that handles both relational and hierarchical structures. Furthermore, there has to be a connection between the two types. It is not as simple as having relational models and hierarchical models; there has to be different models from a technical point of view due to the physical limitations of the internal systems (it is inherently difficult to implement a hierarchical structure in a relational model, and maintain consistency). These physical limitations must not be allowed to extend to the use of the data. Data is not a single purpose entity, it can have multiple purposes, but only if this fact is recognised and the cross-database barriers are broken down.

This Report covers three main areas:

Further analysis is also included on the markets to help the decision-making process (Section 5).

The Report is biased towards the use of the relational model for two main reasons: