Dictionary/3000 Reference Manual (32244-90001)

Chapter 3 39
Using the DICTDBM Commands
Using Commands to Define Categories
Using Commands to Define Categories
The Dictionary provides a way for you to identify functional areas in your business and to
show how information flows from area to area. The Dictionary uses CATEGORY to define
this information.
Each functional area is a category in the Dictionary. The information may consist of
departments, people, functions, documents, and so forth. The organizational flow chart for
the functional area can be documented by defining a hierarchical relationship between
them. This relationship is established by using the RELATE command. (Refer to Chapter
4 of this manual for a description of this command.) This hierarchical relationship is
summarized in Figure 3-4.
Figure 3-4. Summary of Hierarchical Structure for a Category
The category at the top of the structure is a PARENT category. Other categories are
related to the top category and are CHILD categories. A CHILD category can in turn be a
PARENT category to other CHILD categories. In this hierarchical structure, a PARENT
category cannot have data elements associated with it.
The following description outlines the steps involved when the DICTDBM commands are
used to define categories. A complete description including examples for all the commands
is given in Section IV of this manual.
CATAGORY
PARENT catagory
CATAGORY ...
CATAGORY
CATAGORY ...
CATAGORY
CATAGORY
data
elements
data
elements
CHILD catagory
PARENT/CHILD
catagory
CHILD
catagory