Data Model Patterns

1. Introduction

A data model is a representation of the things of significance to an enterprise and the relationships among those things. It portrays the underlying structure of the enterprise’s data, so this can then be reflected in the structure of databases built to support it.

This book takes the position that the underlying structures of many businesses and government agencies are very similar, and that it should therefore be possible to model these similar structures in similar ways. Using common shapes for common situations makes the models easier to read, and it guides the modeler closer to identifying truly fundamental things.

Data Modeling’s Promise—and Failure

Data modeling* serves two purposes in the systems analysis process: First, ...