Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Order, Return, Complaint, With-
drawal, Deposit, Compliment, In-
quiry, Trade, Claim
Event or transaction of interest to the enterprise. These events keep
the business afloat. That is, “
Why
is the business in business?”
Why
Documentation of the event of interest to the enterprise. Documents
record the events such as a Purchase Order recording an Order event.
That is, “
How
does the business keep track of events?”
Invoice, Contract, Agreement,
Purchase Order, Speeding Ticket,
Packing Slip, Trade Confirmation
How
For each concept you identify in the Concept Template, write a definition that is at least a
few sentences in length. Include examples and feel free to clarify concepts that are often
frequently confused (e.g., you may want to explain the difference between
Customer
and
Consumer
in the
Customer's
definition).
For example, there is a bank that is replacing one of their core applications: the operational
system that stores the account balances for each of its customers. Because it is an opera-
tional system, you will be building a relational conceptual data model. After meeting with
the business users, you were able to complete the template on the facing page. Note that
not all of the concepts identified in this spreadsheet will eventually appear on the conceptu-
al data model. Sometimes very granular concepts such as
Account Open Date
make their
first appearance on the logical data model instead of the conceptual.
Account Project Concepts
Who?
What?
When?
Where? Why?
How?
1. Customer
1. Account
1. Account Open Date
1. Branch
1. Check Debit
1. Check
2.
2.
2.
2.
2. Deposit Credit
2. Deposit Slip
3.
3.
3.
3.
3. Interest Credit
3. Withdrawal Slip
4.
4.
4.
4.
4. Monthly Statement Fee
4. Bank Account Statement
5.
5.
5.
5.
5. Withdrawal Debit
5. Account Balance
Following is a full list of the concept definitions that you arrived at from your meetings
with the business users. These definitions are provided to give you an idea of the level of
detail needed to provide value for the people using your model (that is, a definition of
Ac-
count
which only says “The Customer Account” offers little if any value to the user):
