Managing change in the Rufus system

Rufus is an information system that models user data with objects taken from a class system. Due to the importance of coping with changes to the schema, Rufus has adopted the conformity-based model of Melampus. This model enables Rufus to cope with schema changes more easily than traditional class- and inheritance-based data models. The paper reviews the Melampus data model and describes how it was implemented in the Rufus system. The authors show how changes to the schema can be accommodated with minimum disruption. They also review design decisions that contributed to streamlined schema evolution and compare this approach with those proposed in the literature.<>