Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Can an Author write more than one Title ?
Can a Title exist without an Author ?
Can an Author exist without a Title ?
Of course, there is quite a bit more information we could model in this spreadsheet, but
in order to keep things readable in the layout on this page, we can stop here for now and
confidently conclude that we completed our first data model.
There are three very important similarities between the exercise we just completed on mod-
eling the information on this topic and any modeling assignment we do for real:
1.
Process. The process we went through, where we looked at something ambiguous
(such as a topic cover) and brought precision to it, is what the data modeler spends
at least half our time working on. Data modeling is the process of organizing things
and making them more precise. Data modelers are fantastic organizers. We can
take complete chaos and bring clarity by organizing and sorting “things” - in this
case, descriptive information about a title becomes neatly organized into a spread-
sheet.
2.
Creativity. There are many ways we can communicate information via a data
model through various data modeling notations and formats. You can choose In-
formation Engineering (IE, for short), which is the notation used in this topic, In-
tegration Definition for Information Modeling (IDEF1X), Object Role Modeling
(ORM), the Unified Modeling Language (UML) Class Diagram, and many others.
But the documentation coming out of data modeling does not need to be in the
form of a traditional data model - it can also be a list of business assertions, for
example. It comes down to knowing which form the audience for the data mod-
el would best understand. After all, a data model is a communication tool, and
therefore we should choose the visual that is easiest to communicate for a par-
ticular audience. We can be very creative on which forms to use in a given situ-
ation. In this first publishing example, we have chosen to use the easy-to-under-
stand spreadsheet format.
3.
80/20 rule. Every modeling assignment I have ever worked on has been con-
strained by time. I always wish I had more time to complete the data model. “If
only I had one more week, I could really make this perfect.” In reality, we never
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