Establishing Enterprise Data Standards - High-Performance Web Databases: Design, Development, and Deployment - page 14

There is a reduced learning curve. The end result is improved product
quality.
USER INTERFACE CATEGORY
Objectives
This category includes all types of user interfaces, including application
screens and reports (both online and printed). The objectives in this cate-
gory are to specifiy placement of data on screens or printed forms. Catego-
ries such as screen navigation are outside the scope of this topic.
Benefits
Standards in this category result in consistent look and feel for user
screens and printed reports. Users know where to search for specific types
of information. An example of this is an error line on a screen or the page
number on a report.
CATEGORIES OF ENTERPRISE DATA STANDARDS
Enterprise data standards are required to support both operational and
development groups within an organization. Operational groups include
those who perform the company's business on a day-to-day basis. These
groups require access to information, the ability to manipulate informa-
tion, procedures, and forms of various kinds. Development groups are
more project-focused, in that they are restricted by some sort of timelines
and deliverables. These groups require many of the data standards
required by the operational groups, but their demands go further. Since
development groups get right into the architecture and plumbing of appli-
cations, they are dependent on how data is stored, accessed, and manipu-
lated at the code level.
The exhibits that are included in this section provide subcategories for
each category defined previously. Each of the subcategories should be con-
sidered in your organization and allocated standards. Exhibit 3 shows the
subcategories for the Architecture and Physical Environment category.
Exhibit 4 shows the subcategories that are included in the Procedures
category. Most of these are focused on protecting data (in databases or
files) during the development cycle.
Exhibit 5 shows the subcategories for the n-tier/Layers category. These
are divided between the different tiers in the architecture model. This
example covers the business logic tier and the data tier. The user interface
layer is covered in Exhibit 6.
Exhibit 6 shows the subcategories for the User interface category. There
are two primary subcategories, namely user screens and reports.