Database Reference
In-Depth Information
In addition to generating all the documentation you need to build your
data model, remember that you'll need to present your data model, along
with supporting documentation, to all the stakeholders of the project. Let's
look at some of the documentation you'll need.
Design Documentation
Undoubtedly, one of the most tedious tasks for designers and developers is
generating documentation. Often, we have an extremely clear idea of what
we have done (or what we are doing), and generating documentation, par-
ticularly high-level overview documentation, can seem to take time away
from actual work. However, almost everyone who has ever had to design
anything has learned that without appropriate documentation, stakehold-
ers will be confused and you will likely experience delays in the project.
Even though there are a myriad of ways to document a data model,
there are a few key principles to keep in mind that will help you write clear,
concise documentation that can be read by a wide, nontechnical audience.
First, remember that not everyone understands the terms you use. You
need to generate a list of highly technical terms and their basic definitions,
up and including terms like
entity, attribute,
and
record.
Also, as we all
know, there are a lot of acronyms in the IT and IS industry. Try to avoid
using those acronyms in your documentation, or if you use them, be sure
to define them.
Second, create a data dictionary. A
data dictionary
is a document that
lists all the pieces of data held in a database, what they are, and how they
relate to the business. Recently it has become customary to label this in-
formation
meta data,
but
data dictionary
is the most familiar term.
Finally, make sure to work with application developers to create a com-
prehensive list of all the systems involved in the current project, and de-
scribe how this data model or database will relate to them. If your new
project will work with existing systems, it is often helpful to describe the
new project in terms of how it relates to the applications users are already
familiar with. This kind of document is helpful for technical and nontech-
nical people alike.
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