Establishing Enterprise Data Standards - High-Performance Web Databases: Design, Development, and Deployment - page 13

in an n-tier environment from thin or fat clients using embedded SQL or
remote procedure calls (RPCs). System management, change management,
and version control tools are implemented to meet this objective based on
procedures defined in the “Procedures Category.”
Benefits
Provides a standard physical environment that is easier to support and
enhance. Maintenance and support costs are also reduced. A standard
architecture and physical environment also simplify application portabil-
ity and interoperability.
PROCEDURES CATEGORY
Objectives
This includes all the procedures required to support data for opera-
tional or development groups. This can include system management,
change management, and version control procedures. Included in this
group are project naming standards (using tools like Microsoft Source-
Save), module check in/check out procedures, support for multiple ver-
sions, and delta merging procedures.
Benefits
A significant benefit supported by this category includes the use of
proven, consistent procedures for maintaining the integrity of the data
environment. It is also becomes easier to measure compliance with the
standards processes.
N-TIER/LAYERS CATEGORY
Objectives
This category contains anywhere from one to n-tiers, with three being
the most common. The growing popularity of components will continue to
increase the number of tiers. The predominant case includes three tiers,
namely, user interface tier (or layer), data tier, and the business logic tier.
The user interface tier is discussed in the next category. The n-tier cate-
gory includes naming standards in terms of variable names, field names,
data object names (e.g., tables, indexes, databases, user-defined datatypes,
triggers, stored procedures), forms class libraries, and objects.
Benefits
There are significant benefits derived from standardizing in this cate-
gory. Application modules are easier to read, build, and maintain. There is
increased reuse of code and improved application portability and interop-
erability. This results in faster development and more accurate debugging.