The importance of the concept of time in the design of data structures: A literature review within the framework of the LMD system

Database designers and administrators regularly encounter difficulties when managing enterprise data due to poorly adapted structures, particularly when dealing with temporal data (specific to an academic year, semester, or month). Based on the MERISE method and document analysis, this study proposes a modeling approach that integrates the temporal variable at the conceptual level within the LMD system framework. Applying this method to the academic transcript management of students at the Higher Institute of Statistics of Kinshasa (ISS/KIN) highlighted the structural limitations of a static Conceptual Data Model (CDM). The results demonstrate that incorporating associations containing temporal attributes (such as course scheduling, credit transfers, and annual enrollments) guarantees historical traceability, prevents data overwrite, and enables the accurate generation of past, present, and future academic records.

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