The New Jazz Thing - Vince Outlaw's Audblog
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Kathy Long: Enterprise Data Model
Kathy Long: Enterprise Data Model: A Key Ingredient for Sucessful Data Warehouse Modeling
Here is an article which put the Information (Data) Layer of Enterprise Architecture (EA) into a much more clearer perspective for me. I would recommend reading it for any of us wanting to be able to understand the (one) role the Information Layer plays in (EA) and to be able to communicate this to the folks that need to be involved in the Information (Data) Layer of an EA initiative. It does it in the context of a Data Warehousing initiative, but I believe it could have been written to describe an EA initiative also.
The articles explains the Enterprise Data Model (EDM, a term that I believe I'm going to adopt for the overall effort I'm leading up) within the Zachman Framework, specifically within the Owner Model (Row 2 of Zachman),
"This model defines the common terms and strategic business rules for corporate entities without technology constraints. In this model, Customer and Product are defined as conceptual enterprise-wide entities. The critical business rules that govern the management of each entity are defined with a common corporate viewpoint.The articles goes on to explain the challenges, which in doing lots of thinking about our subject areas and business entities, I can totally understand:
The EDM is an entity relationship model with primary entities, common supertypes, important subtypes, and important attributes defined. Many-to-many relationships are not resolved. The scope of the EDM should cross-functional and organizational boundaries. There is no such thing as a Sales and Marketing 'enterprise data model'."
And there are lots of really good points in the rest of the article. Including this one that kind of gives a roadmap for what we want to do, I believe:Comprehending the complexity of the business Deciding on the appropriate scope Agreeing on the best names Developing common, complete definitions Transcending biases in today's data
"Because the EDM is at a conceptual business level its development explores the entities and business rules most important to corporate survival and success. It is developed with key decision makers and its purpose is to represent information in a manner that will help the enterprise compete and grow. The development of the EDM provides a good understanding of business party roles and important super-type and sub-type entities which will be critical to the design of the data warehouse and dimensional models."
Wilshire Conferences - Conceptual Data Modeling Seminar - The Entity/Relationship Model
Wilshire Conferences - Conceptual Data Modeling Seminar - The Entity/Relationship Model
Ummmm...
Popkin Software's Enterprise Data Modeling
Popkin Software's Enterprise Data Modeling:
From the section on Conceptual Data Modeling, confirmation on what I'm finding that there isn't any consensus on what a Conceptual Data Model is AND, more importantly, there aren't really any easily available patterns for domain-specific conceptual data models,
"There is no industry-wide standard as to what constitutes a conceptual data model. Some think it's another name for 'logical data model'; some think it's a business model that contains entities with attributes and no constraints; some agree with the last definition but would include constraints; etc. System Architect provides the power and flexibility you need to create a conceptual model no matter how you define it."
OOPSLA'96 Analysis Patterns and Business Objects
OOPSLA'96 Analysis Patterns and Business Objects:
So this is the great Martin Fowler, based on the number of books written on pattens and such. The bad news first:
"I've spent much of my career around people who have been trying to come up with standard plans for businesses, such as corporate data models. On the whole, they don't work. A colleague of mine remembers a case in a large corporation when they tried to come up with a standard definition of account. The business had 13 incompatible definitions, and could not resolve them. That was a single corporation. Most organizations can relate similar tales. Sometimes the issues that sink the standardization are political, sometimes they reflect real conceptual differences. Either way the standard is doomed. The prescriptiveness of business objects is a two-edged sword. Patterns are easier to promulgate. Since they are suggestive they more likely to spread. The benefits of patterns are less, but you are more likely to realize them. Thus you can patterns as a low impact way to get some commonality amongst systems, with business objects acting as a high demand / high payoff approach."
And a positive direction to pursue, if still with concrete business process domains ("accounting, planning, trading...") still left incomplete,
"I believe that analysis patterns and business objects are best organized by abstract processes, for example diagnosis, accounting, planning, and trading. I'm not sure exactly how these divide up, or what the overall picture of abstract processes is. But I think that is the direction to go in."
Ralph Johnson on Business Objects
Ralph Johnson on Business Objects: "I've been looking at several kinds of frameworks for business objects. These are not the only frameworks you would need for business objects, but are representative of the more business-specific ones. I am always looking for partners, so if you are interested in using or building a framework like this, please let me know. "
I'm looking for a starting point for a conceptual model of Business Objects (Entities). I found the ones on Transactions and Accounts particularly interesting.
News watch
News watch: "Biotechnology company GenVec of Gaithersburg and the National Institutes of Health have expanded a contract to include manufacturing for a SARS vaccine candidate.
The additional work has the potential of increasing revenues by about $1.3 million to $30 million.
GenVec is working with SAIC-Frederick to develop a vaccine for the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome."
lamonitor.com: The Online News Source for Los Alamos
lamonitor.com: Ukrainians visit Los Alamos : "'Twenty-five years ago we couldn't have been here - this is a breakthrough between our countries,' Kolesnyk said. 'When I get home I am going to tell my father I was in the town of the Manhattan Project. My father's generation would never have been allowed to come here.'
Kolesnyk, 25, holds a specialized degree in foreign language interpretation and is a first lieutenant in the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine in Kiev.
Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) provides program coordination."
CMU 'Robo' racer losing bugs
CMU 'Robo' racer losing bugs: "the Red Team had spent $382,000 on its entry. When Whittaker factors in the value of equipment and services provided by sponsors such as Boeing, Intel and SAIC, and the labor provided by students and volunteers, he estimates that the equivalent of $2.7 million has been invested thus far."
