Object-orientation also has significant usefulness beyond software development. It has real-world use in helping to understand and adapt-to the complexity of day to day dyanical expericences. I use the terms container, component, parent, and child to describe the object-oriented "context" or "profile" of a real-world object.

It is quite possible to build a model and corresponding information system of a complete organization as a single "object". I have process (IDEF0) and data (IDEF1X) modeled, developed, and prototyped such an "enterprise-object" IS in the past.

This enterprise-object information system could be easily built using Lotus Notes/Domino or using relational DBMS and network-directory technologies. Maintenance would be accomplished by 1) organizational proponents maintaining directory-enabled coded catalogs/lists of standard objects of interest (for lookup tables), and 2) each organization-member creating and maintaining a "profile" of the things (objects) that have significance to them, using the coded catalog objects in directory lookup fields. The secret in keeping the enterprise-object manageable and dynamic is in the underlying data/object model and its taxonomy of specific object classes and instances.

The benefit of the enterprise-object approach is that it provides a powerful multidimentional analysis capability, as well as a stable core for building a variety of enterprise functional/transactional MIS, all from a core object directory/database.

The advent of the Web, its collaborative technologies, and Web-enabled database application environments makes this enterprise-object approach even more accessible and powerful.

Roy Roebuck

Sr. Business Engineer