A RELATIONAL INFORMATION RESOURCE DICTIONARY SYSTEM.

The article presents a relational model of a passive information resource dictionary system (IRDS) that is consistent with the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) specifications and can be implemented and used with existing relational database management systems (RDBMS) products easily. The model intends to enhance the dictionary capabilities of existing RDBMSs while remaining easy to implement and use. It is described how the model is enhanced by adding another metalayer and the actual implementation of the enhanced model using the ORACLE RDBMS is demonstrated. The drawbacks of the model include the inability to express rules easily and the lack of time semantics for capturing the dynamic aspects of an information resource environment.