Implementing SOA: Total Architecture in Practice

Chapter 23. Common Data Models (CDM)

When information is moved from one system to another and those systems organize that information differently, the information originating in one system’s representation must be transformed to that of the other. When such transformations are required, you have a design choice to make: Should you simply transform this information directly from one system’s format to the other, or should you transform it first to a system-neutral data format and then to the recipient’s format? Such a system-neutral format is generally referred to as a common data model. Designed properly, common data models can make the information more accessible. Their power increases further when they become the data representations that ...