New Book Review: "The Data Model Resource Book Volume 1 (Revised Edition)"
Recently posted book review for The Data Model Resource Book Volume 1 (Revised Edition): A Library of Universal Data Models for all Enterprises, by Len Silverston, John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2001, reposted here:
It is worth repeating what this reviewer indicated in his review of the second volume in this series of three texts on data models: although there are quite a few positive reviews for this series, there are also a nontrivial number of dissenters as well, who cite use of Barker's notation rather than Crow's Foot notation (i.e. Information Engineering notation) as well as unexpected contents within the accompanying CD. When first introduced to Richard Barker's "Entity Relationship Modeling" text during graduate school, this reviewer does admit that becoming familiar with his notation did take some, but all told it does not deviate significantly from Crow's Foot, and after a short amount of time the reader will actually notice some advantages in using it, one of which is the reduced space that substantive models need to consume. Sure, additional information not available with the CD can be purchased on Silverston's companion web site at Wiley, but it really is not necessary. Not only are these downloads not necessary, these may detract from the process of understanding the material that Silverston is attempting to present. And Silverston presents very well.
Silverston explains in this volume that clients have inquired on numerous occasions where they can find texts showing standard ways to model data constructs, and "based on numerous experiences of using template or 'universal data models' and customizing them for various enterprises, we have concluded that usually more than 50 percent of the data model (corporate or logical) consists of common constructs that are applicable to most organizations, another 25 percent of the model is industry specific, and on average about 25 percent of the enterprise's data model is specific to that organization. Of course, as John Zachman indicates in the second volume, "Let's get pragmatic. Starting with a universal data model does not absolve anyone of the responsibility of knowing his or her own enterprise intimately, at even an excruciating level of detail! Nor does it absolve anyone from the responsibility of learning how to build data models! What you have to do is start with the universal model, and then understanding data modeling and understanding your own enterprise, make the necessary modifications to make the universal model your own."
Barker's notation is presented along with basic modeling in the introduction to this text, after which the author presents chapters on modeling people and organizations, products, ordering products, shipments, work effort, invoicing, accounting and budgeting, and human resources. Five chapters on data warehousing modeling follow, including explanations on how to create the data warehouse data model from the enterprise data model, as well as star schema designs for sales analysis, human resources, inventory management analysis, purchase order analysis, shipment analysis, work effort analysis, and financial analysis. When determining which of the three volumes you might purchase, be aware that there is some overlap between the volumes. For example, the second volume in this series contains models for products and people and organizations. In respect to these subject areas, however, the second volume in this series presents this information in respect to specific industries, while this first volume discusses them in a manner universal to all industries, significantly expanding upon any overlapping areas of the second volume while at the same time remaining industry neutral. Remember though that all of these models are to be used simply as input to your enterprise modeling efforts rather than as end states in themselves.
This reviewer recommends this text just as wholeheartedly as the second volume in this series. It can never hurt to get additional insight from other industry practitioners, and compared to other available resources the cost of this text is trivial. Note also that the second volume in this series refers to this volume in a number of different areas, so it makes sense to acquire these two volumes together.