Information Modeling and Relational Databases, 2nd Edition

1.2. Modeling Approaches

When we design a database for a particular business domain, we create a model of it. Technically, the business domain being modeled is called the universe of discourse (UoD), since it is the universe (or world) that we are interested in discoursing (or talking) about. The UoD or business domain is typically “part” of the “real world”. To build a good model requires a good understanding of the world we are modeling, and hence is a task ideally suited to people rather than machines. The main challenge is to describe the UoD clearly and precisely. Great care is required here, since errors introduced here filter through to later stages in software development. The later the errors are detected, the more expensive they are ...