Conceptual modeling is about describing the semantics of software applications at a high level of abstraction in terms of structure, behavior, and user interaction. Embley and Thalheim start with a manifesto stating that the dream of developing information systems strictly by conceptual modeling – as expressed in the phrase “the model is the code” – is becoming reality. The subsequent contributions written by leading researchers in the field support the manifesto's assertions, showing not only how to abstractly model complex information systems but also how to formalize abstract specifications in ways that let developers complete programming tasks within the conceptual model itself. They are grouped into sections on programming with conceptual models, structure modeling, process modeling, user interface modeling, and special challenge areas such as conceptual geometric modeling, information integration, and biological conceptual modeling. The Handbook of Conceptual Modeling collects in a single volume many of the best conceptual-modeling ideas, techniques, and practices as well as the challenges that drive research in the field. Thus it is much more than a traditional handbook for advanced professionals, as it also provides both a firm foundation for the field of conceptual modeling, and points researchers and graduate students towards interesting challenges and paths for how to contribute to this fundamental field of computer science.

This Festschrift volume, published in honor of John Mylopoulos on the occasion of his retirement from the University of Toronto, contains 25 high-quality papers, written by leading scientists in the field of conceptual modeling. The volume has been divided into six sections. The first section focuses on the foundations of conceptual modeling and contains material on ontologies and knowledge representation. The four sections on software and requirements engineering, information systems, information integration, and web and services, represent the chief current application domains of conceptual modeling. Finally, the section on implementations concentrates on projects that build tools to support conceptual modeling. With its in-depth coverage of diverse topics, this book could be a useful companion to a course on conceptual modeling.

This book constitutes the refereed joint proceedings of six workshops held in conjunction with the 26th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling. Topics include conceptual modeling for life sciences applications, foundations and practices of UML, ontologies and information systems for the semantic Web , quality of information systems, requirements, intentions and goals in conceptual modeling, and semantic and conceptual issues in geographic information systems.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 40th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, ER 2021, which will be held as virtual event, in October 2021. The 14 full and 18 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 85 submissions. The conference presents topics on conceptual modeling, its foundations and applications. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the overall theme of ER 2021 is: Conceptual Modeling in an Age of Uncertainty.

This book compiles contributions from renowned researchers covering all aspects of conceptual modeling, on the occasion of Arne Sølvberg’s 67th birthday. Friends of this pioneer in information systems modeling contribute their latest research results from such fields as data modeling, goal-oriented modeling, agent-oriented modeling, and process-oriented modeling. The book reflects the most important recent developments and application areas of conceptual modeling, and highlights trends in conceptual modeling for the next decade.

This book is a comprehensive presentation of entity-relationship (ER) modeling with regard to an integrated development and modeling of database applications. It comprehensively surveys the achievements of research in this field and deals with the ER model and its extensions. In addition, the book presents techniques for the translation of the ER model into classical database models and languages, such as relational, hierarchical, and network models and languages, as well as into object-oriented models.

Conceptual modeling represents a recent approach to creating knowledge. It has emerged in response to the computer revolution, which started in the middle of the 20th century. Computers, in the meantime, have become a major knowledge media. Conceptual modeling provides an answer to the difficulties experienced throughout the development of computer applications and aims at creating effective, reasonably priced, and sharable knowledge about using computers in business. Moreover, it has become evident that conceptual modeling has the potential to exceed the boundaries of business and computer usage. This state-of-the-art survey originates from the International Seminar on the Evolution of Conceptual Modeling, held in Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, in April 2008. The major objective of this seminar was to look into conceptual modeling from a historical perspective with a view towards the future of conceptual modeling and to achieve a better understanding of conceptual modeling issues in several different domains of discourse, going beyond individual (modeling) projects. The book contains 14 chapters. These were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing and improvement from 26 presentations at the seminar and are preceded by a detailed preface providing general insights into the field of conceptual modeling that are not necessarily discussed in any of the chapters but nevertheless aid in conceptualizing the inner structure and coherence of the field. The chapters are grouped into the following three thematic sections: the evolution of conceptual modeling techniques; the extension of conceptual modeling to a service-oriented, peer-to-peer, or Web context; and new directions for conceptual modeling.

This book draws new attention to domain-specific conceptual modeling by presenting the work of thought leaders who have designed and deployed specific modeling methods. It provides hands-on guidance on how to build models in a particular domain, such as requirements engineering, business process modeling or enterprise architecture. In addition to these results, it also puts forward ideas for future developments. All this is enriched with exercises, case studies, detailed references and further related information. All domain-specific methods described in this volume also have a tool implementation within the OMiLAB Collaborative Environment – a dedicated research and experimentation space for modeling method engineering at the University of Vienna, Austria – making these advances accessible to a wider community of further developers and users. The collection of works presented here will benefit experts and practitioners from academia and industry alike, including members of the conceptual modeling community as well as lecturers and students.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 42nd International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, ER 2023, held in Lisbon, Portugal, during November 6-9, 2023. The 21 full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 121 submissions. Additionally, the book contains 4 keynote speeches and 3 tutorials, and one invited paper corresponding to one of the keynote speeches. The papers cover a broad spectrum of classical and modern topics on conceptual modeling, including research and practice in the theories of concepts and ontologies, techniques for transforming conceptual models into effective implementations, and methods and tools for developing and communicating conceptual models.

Information systems development is not merely a technical intervention but involves social and ethical dilemmas that affect the human, social and organizational domains. To demonstrate this point, the authors conduct a thorough and substantive description and analysis of the conceptual and philosophical underpinnings of systems development. In particular they analyse a number of systems development methodologies including structured methods, prototyping, ETHICS and Soft Systems Methodology to reveal the underlying conceptual and philosophical foundations. The book provides an in-depth analysis of data modelling theory and its links with theories of language and cognition. It offers a framework to describe and analyse different systems development approaches and to explain their strengths and weaknesses. The book is aimed at graduate students taking courses in information systems and data modelling, but will also appeal to information systems managers and professionals for whom the summary of methodologies will be useful.