6 Regional_ce business rules

6.1 Introduction to business rules

The following are a list of business rules applying to the regional_ce database. A business rule is a written statement specifying what the information system (i.e., any system that is designed to handle regional catch effort data) must do or how it must be structured.

There are three recognised types of business rules:

Fact Certainty or an existence in the information system.
Formula Calculation employed in the information system.
Validation Constraint on a value in the information system.

Fact rules are shown on the ERD by the cardinality (e.g., one-to-many) of table relationships.

Formula and Validation rules are implemented by referential constraints, range checks, and algorithms both in the database and during validation.

Validation rules may be part of the preloading checks on the data as opposed to constraints or checks imposed by the database. These rules sometimes state that a value should be within a certain range. All such rules containing the word 'should' are conducted by preloading software. The use of the word 'should' in relation to these validation checks means that a warning message is generated when a value falls outside this range and the data are then checked further in relation to this value. Hence in a small number of cases values may legitimately be outside the range of business rules containing the word 'should'.

6.2 Summary of rules

Observer trip record (t_trip)

trip_no	Must be a unique integer.
vessel_key	Must be a valid vessel key as allocated for the vessel by the Ministry of Fisheries.
version_no	Must be an integer greater than zero.
start_datetime	The start date of the trip must be a valid date.
end_datetime	The end date of the trip must be a valid date.
	Multiple column checks on date: The start date must not be later than the finish date. The dates should be within a period of 180 days of each other.
land_date	The land date of the trip must be a valid date.
fads	Must be an integer greater than zero.
tender	Must be Y or N.

Trip comment record (t_trip_comment)

trip_no	Must be equal to a trip number as listed in the t_trip table.
version_no	Must be an integer greater than zero.

Permit record (t_permits)

trip_no	Must be equal to a trip number as listed in the t_trip table.
version_no	Must be an integer greater than zero.
grp_no	Must be an integer greater than zero.

Station record (t_effort)

trip_no	Must be equal to a trip number held in the t_trip table.
station_no	Each station number must be a unique integer within all station records, for a given trip number.
version_no	Must be an integer greater than zero.
datetime_s	The start date of the station must be a legitimate date and the start time must be a valid 24-hour time of between 0000 - 2359.
	Multiple column checks on station start date, trip start date and trip finish date: The station start date must fall within the range of the trip start and finish dates. The station start date should be sequential between stations, for a given trip.
target_sp	Must be a valid species code as listed in the curr_spp table in the rdb database, or a CCAMLR Target Species Codes as listed in Appendix 2
latitude_s	Must be a valid latitude and degrees should fall within the range of 0 - 80.
longitude_s	Must be a valid longitude.
depth_bottom_ s	Bottom depth at start, should fall within the range of 10 - 2000 meters.
datetime_e	The end date of the set must be a legitimate date and the end time must be a valid 24-hour time between 0000 - 2359.
	Multiple column checks on station finish date, trip start date and trip finish date: The station end date must fall within the range of the trip start and finish dates.
	Multiple column checks on station start date/time and station finish date/time: The station finish date/time must not be before the station start date/time.
latitude_e	Latitude degree at end, must be a valid latitude and degrees should fall within the range of 0 - 80.
longitude_e	Longitude end must be a valid longitude in the range 0 -359 degrees.
	Multiple column checks on station start and finish positions: The start and finish positions should be within a defined maximum distance. The validation parameter for the distance between positions is set at 25 nautical miles. The distance between stations should be within a distance that could be covered by the vessel in the elapsed time period between stations.
depth_bottom_ e	Bottom depth at finish, should fall within the range of 10 - 2000 meters.
method	Fishing method must be a valid code, as listed in Appendix 2.
depth_fishing_s	Depth at start, should fall within the reasonable range of 10 - 2000 meters.
depth_fishing_e	Depth at end, should fall within the reasonable range of 10 - 2000 meters.
hooks_baited	Percent baited must be a value within the range 0 - 100.
hook_spacing	Must be an integer greater than zero.
line_length	Must be an integer greater than zero.
num_hooks	The number of hooks should fall within the range of 10 - 15000.
form_type	Must be a valid form type code as listed in Appendix 2.
regional_ce	catch record (t_catch) trip_no Must be equal to a trip number as listed in the t_trip table.
	Multiple column checks on trip and station number: The combination of trip and station_no must exist in the t_effort table.
version_no	Must be an integer greater than zero.
species	Must be a valid species code as listed in the curr_spp table in the rdb database or a valid CCAMLR species code.
discard	Must be a valid code, indicating discard status, as listed in Appendix 2.
weight	Must be a number greater than zero.
number_caught	Must be a number greater than zero.
average_weight	Must be a number greater than zero.

regional_ce landings record (t_landings)

rip_no	Must be equal to a trip number as listed in the t_trip table.
version_no	Must be an integer greater than zero.
species	Must be a valid species code as listed in the curr_spp table in the rdb database
green_wt	Must be a number greater than zero.
dated	Must be a valid date.

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Updated : 16 November 2007