A communication model for message management systems

Two of the main functions in an office are the communication and management of information. These functions are currently handled by different technologies. A message management system is an integration of the capabilities of a data base management system and a computer-based message system. We investigate the characteristics of, and present a model for, message management systems. This model captures both the underlying data structures and the underlying communication structures of these systems. The work in this thesis concentrates on the communication aspects. The model presented is a first attempt to apply data modelling techniques to the representation of communication through computer-based message systems. The semantics of communication in the model are formalized using axioms in first-order predicate calculus. A subset of the message management model, called the addressing scheme, is used as a framework for the investigation of properties of message routing within a system. Results concerning the properties of completeness, serializability and time-independence are presented. The applicability of the model is demonstrated through examples. One example concerns the representation of an existing mail system--the Network News bulletin board system. We also discuss how our model relates to the ISO Reference Model for Open System Architecture and examine the characteristics of an architecture to support message management systems.