Lessons from an enterprise-wide technical and administrative database using CASE and GUI front-ends

An enterprise-wide database built via Oracle*CASE is a hot topic. The authors describe the PEP-II/BABAR Project-Wide Database, and the lessons learned in delivering and developing this system with a small team averaging two and one half people. They also give some details of providing World Wide Web (WWW) access to the information, and using Oracle*CASE and Oracle Forms4. The B Factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) is a project built to study the physics of matter and anti-matter. It consists of two accelerator storage rings (PEP-II) and a detector (BABAR)--a project of approximately $250 million with collaboration by many labs worldwide. Foremost among these lessons is that the support and vision of management are key to the successful design and implementation of an enterprise-wide database. The authors faced the challenge of integrating both administrative and technical data into one CASE enterprise design. The goal, defined at the project`s inception in late 1992, was to use a central database as a tool for the collaborating labs to: (1) track quality assurance during construction of the accelerator storage rings and detectors; (2) track down problems faster when they develop; and (3) facilitate the construction process. The focus of the project database, therefore, is on technical data which is less well-defined than administrative data.

[1]  J. Poole Databases for accelerator control-an operations viewpoint , 1995, Proceedings Particle Accelerator Conference.