Data as a Service: A Framework for Providing Reusable Enterprise Data Services

Chapter 5 Enterprise and Canonical Modeling

Topics Covered in this Chapter

• This chapter explains the significance of the Enterprise Data Model (EDM) as the foundational component required for building a robust and mature set of data structures, which can be reused across an entire organization.
• The concept of a canonical model is also introduced as well as its enabling role to promote consistent and reliable data exchange across disparate systems spread out over an organization(s).
• The detailed approach to designing and developing data services are explored, which can be reused across an enterprise by using common design components and standards.

The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of our everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.

—Late Professor Mark Weiser (Father of Ubiquitous Computing)

A robust and scalable DaaS strategy can only be sustained by an organization when their data service development efforts are built on the strong foundation of architectural principles and standards. The next few chapters look at several of the foundational components comprising the DaaS reference architecture.

This chapter explains the significance of the canonical model as a foundational component for underlying data services and the critical role it plays in the efficient exchange of data across systems. The focus is on explaining why the canonical model needs to be regularly kept in alignment with the underlying ...