The Data Model Resource Book

Development of corporate database systems is complex, time-consuming, and expensive, leaving developers on the lookout for ways to cut costs. The authors of this text have found a way to do this. It's based on a simple observation: most companies handle a core set of basic business functions in similar ways. Therefore the databases that support these functions can be boiled down to a relatively few basic models. But most companies continue to "reinvent the wheel" by creating their own data models, a complicated and lengthy task. The solution is to identify the core data models that most companies share, standardize them, and make them available to all. This book provides a common set of data models for the specific core functions shared by most businesses such as sales, marketing, order processing, budgeting and accounting; it also provides a library of data models for companies in specific industry groups. In many cases, readers can apply more than one industry model to the organization, for example, for companies that both manufacture, market and distribute products. It also shows how to turn these data models into a structure suitable for data warehousing.
This practical volume provides proven data models that database developers can use to save the time it normally takes to develop databases for common business tasks, plus save considerable sums in consulting fees. The CD-ROM provides all of the data models contained in the main text in electronic form (ASCII). Companies can use the CD to load the data directly to most data modelling tools and customize the models to fit their specific requirements.