Data Modeling Articles
ModelRight, a data modeling software company, has released version 3.5 of its flagship product ModelRight, adding support for three additional database platforms as well as a wide variety of productivity enhancements. There are two editions of the product, the ModelRight Professional Version and the Free Community Version, and the new 3.5 release applies to both of them.
Posted August 18, 2009
New data modelers often see things as black and white. But rather than being concrete flooring beneath our feet, knowledge is more like a gossamer web that builds up layer upon layer to provide the effect of a solid foundation. We may think we know facts, such as one plus one equals two, or Columbus discovered America in 1492. What we have come to know about our world comprises our own internal knowledge base. We gain much of this knowledge because it has been passed onto us by others, people with experience, parents, educators, clever friends, verbally or in print. But how do we know such items are real, actual, absolute bona fide beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt truths?
Posted August 14, 2009
Quest Software recently announced the forthcoming release of Toad for Oracle version 10, the de-facto standard tool for Oracle database development and administration. Toad for Oracle 10 will offer new functionality enhancements that the Toad community has been asking for, providing improved productivity, better database manageability and easier access to educational resources. Toad for Oracle 10 is the culmination of suggestions gathered from the Toad community's "wish list," incorporating many enhancements in the areas of usability, automation, education, and flexibility.
Posted July 28, 2009
While good database design is always necessary, the value of good design is reinforced by such endeavors as service-oriented architecture. The semantics-laden engineering of service-oriented tactics used in creating solutions melds seamlessly into the semantics-laden world of data modeling. Although one aspect does not necessarily build on top of the other, each works as part of a team in braiding solutions that grow in usefulness as they emerge. The processes surface as a method to further define the meaning of an object, and the object serves as a harbinger of the processes that must exist. Business rules much more advanced than today's simple constraints may one day reside within the database itself as a built-in function of a some future DBMS. Therefore, data architects should never try to wall themselves behind a veneer of thinking only in terms of data without a thought regarding the processes that touch the data. As a database designer, working within projects that use service-oriented architecture approaches can be exhilarating.
Posted July 13, 2009
Oracle today introduced the Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler. The standalone tool supports logical, relational, multi-dimensional and data type modeling while featuring multi-layered design and generation capabilities to produce conceptual entity relationship diagrams (ERDs) and transform them to relational models.
Posted July 07, 2009
Embarcadero Technologies has released a new version of its database change management software. Change Manager 5.1 helps DBAs and developers by automating complex database change management tasks, resulting in more streamlined development cycles and fewer errors. Change Manager, which supports Oracle, IBM DB2 for LUW, Microsoft SQL Server, and Sybase from a single user interface, is available as a standalone tool or as part of All-Access, a cost-effective tool chest that includes all of Embarcadero's multi-platform application development and database tools.
Posted June 30, 2009
Enormous data volumes in complex systems exacting high total cost of ownership (TCO) are endemic in today's enterprises. Must this always be the case? Not for enterprises and agencies using today's advanced data virtualization to simplify data complexity and reduce costs, time to solution and risk.
Posted June 15, 2009
There comes a time at the start of a new engagement when the data architect must acquaint himself with the system for the first time. When first learning about a new application, the relevant data, and its foundational concepts, many questions are reviewed.
Posted June 15, 2009
An inherent awkwardness exists in every many-to-many relationship between entities. Ambiguity causes this persistent awkwardness, primarily because a many-to-many relationship is such a fuzzy thing. In data discovery, encountering many-to-many relationships may actually expose a level of disregard about details by the subject matter experts.
Posted May 15, 2009
In a relational database approach, regardless of whether one is considering persisted data or transitory query results, almost everything is viewed as a logical table. Associations between these envisioned tables are based on data values, versus the alternative to the pre-relational idea of linking multiple data structures via "hidden" pointers maintained by the system. Relationships among objects are ultimately derived from the semantics of a situation.
Posted April 15, 2009
Embarcadero Technologies recently held DataRage, three days of online technical sessions and a virtual trade show targeted at DBAs, data architects, database developers, security experts, and other database professionals, and found that the virtual approach was the right one for the times, according Greg Keller, chief evangelist, at the company. The online event was held March 17 through March 19.
Posted March 31, 2009
In formulating the tenets of relational theory, issues anent to order were explicitly addressed. These relational theory tenets included defining a relational database so that it need have no concern with the order of columns in a row, or with the order of rows in a table. And yet, such a stance seems counter-intuitive since the database brings structure and organization to content. Chaos is the primordial soup from which all things originated. Thus it seems only reasonable that a relational database, being the best and brightest of its kind, should abhor such chaos and bring ever more order instead, right?
Posted March 15, 2009
The time is past when the unique attributes of the MultiValue database model alone provided sufficient justification for the use of the technology, according to Pete Loveless. He explains why MV companies must support interoperability and integration from the ground up, in order to meet the challenges presented by the market now, and in the future.
Posted March 15, 2009
Embarcadero Technologies plans to hold DataRage, three full days of online technical sessions and a virtual trade show targeted at DBAs, data architects, database developers, security experts, and other database professionals, from March 17 through March 19. "We needed a conference tuned to the massive user base that we have—and beyond," Greg Keller, chief evangelist at Embarcadero, tells 5 Minute Briefing.
Posted March 03, 2009
Increased governmental oversight has amplified organizational attention concerning the tracking of content changes made to application database tables. Database log reading tools do not always provide the most useful means of reviewing specific changes for all organizational purposes. Fortunately, other reviewing options do exist.
Posted February 15, 2009
A leading supplier of data integration software for businesses, finding that its developers were spending too much time grappling with data management inside each of its products, adapted its architecture to a service-oriented architecture (SOA) and built its own data services platform (DSP). However, problems arose that required a complete rebuilding of the architecture. The underlying cause of those problems? Poorly architected data access.
Posted February 15, 2009
Altova, creator of XMLSpy, the industry-leading XML editor, announced the availability of Version 2009 of the Altova MissionKit, an integrated suite of XML, database, data integration, and UML tools.
Posted February 10, 2009
CA has announced a new release of its ERwin Data Modeling Suite, with updated data modeling capabilities, integrated data profiling, and new reporting features. The CA ERwin Data Modeling Suite is an integrated tool for a complete model-based approach to the analysis, design, and construction of high quality database and data warehouse applications. The capabilities and pricing of the new release allow data architects at midmarket-to-global 2000 companies to reduce time, cost, and complexity in providing timely, accurate information to the business.
Posted January 27, 2009
Occasionally the database under design becomes more than a one-off project. For example, the data mart or data warehouse might act as a profit center for the organization, and as a solution sold to many customers. The possibility exists to capture a basic truth for a given industry in a simple universal design exactly suiting everyone. But unless the situation really qualifies as a valid "one-size-fits-all" circumstance, one needs a level of customization within the architecture.
Posted January 15, 2009