Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) [Hardcover]

David C. Hay (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0120887983 | ISBN-13: 978-0120887989 | Publication Date: July 7, 2006 | Edition: 1

In recent years, companies and government agencies have come to realize that the data they use represent a significant corporate resource, whose cost calls for management every bit as rigorous as the management of human resources, money, and capital equipment. With this realization has come recognition of the importance to integrate the data that has traditionally only been available from disparate sources.

An important component of this integration is the management of the "metadata" that describe, catalogue, and provide access to the various forms of underlying business data. The "metadata repository" is essential keeping track both of the various physical components of these systems, but also their semantics. What do we mean by "customer?" Where can we find information about our customers?

After years of building enterprise models for the oil, pharmaceutical, banking, and other industries, Dave Hay has here not only developed a conceptual model of such a metadata repository, he has in fact created a true enterprise data model of the information technology industry itself.

* A comprehensive work based on the Zachman Framework for information architecture-encompassing the Business Owner's, Architect's, and Designer's views, for all columns (data, activities, locations, people, timing, and motivation)
* Provides a step-by-step description of model and is organized so that different readers can benefit from different parts
* Provides a view of the world being addressed by all the techniques, methods and tools of the information processing industry (for example, object-oriented design, CASE, business process re-engineering, etc.)
* Presents many concepts that are not currently being addressed by such tools - and should be

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A very ambitious undertaking, masterfully described. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first published version of the detailed models implied by the Zachman Framework. David Hay builds the models one step at a time, describing in each increment why the new entities were added, and how they related to the rest of the model. At least as important he sprinkles in lessons learned from his vast experience modeling in various other industries."
- Dave McComb, President, Semantic Arts, and author of Semantics in Business Systems

"Dave Hay's latest book provides detailed metaschemas for the main concepts underlying the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture, incorporating recent proposals from the Business Rules Group. By covering this vast territory in an easy-to-read style, Dave provides a valuable resource that should be of interest to data modeling professionals." - Terry Halpin, Neumont University

From the Back Cover

A very ambitious undertaking, masterfully described. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first published version of the detailed models implied by the Zachman Framework. David Hay builds the models one step at a time, describing in each increment why the new entities were added, and how they related to the rest of the model. At least as important he sprinkles in lessons learned from his vast experience modeling in various other industries. --Dave McComb, President, Semantic Arts

Dave Hay's latest book provides detailed metaschemas for the main concepts underlying the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture, incorporating recent proposals from the Business Rules Group. By covering this vast territory in an easy-to-read style, Dave provides a valuable resource that should be of interest to data modeling professionals. -- Terry Halpin, Neumont University


In recent years, companies and government agencies have come to realize that the data they use represent a significant corporate resource, whose cost calls for management every bit as rigorous as the management of human resources, money, and capital equipment. With this realization has come recognition of the importance to integrate the data that has traditionally only been available from disparate sources.

An important component of this integration is the management of the "metadata" that describe, catalogue, and provide access to the various forms of underlying business data. The "metadata repository" is essential for keeping track both of the various physical components of these systems, but also their semantics. What do we mean by "customer?" Where can we find information about our customers?

After years of building enterprise models for the oil, pharmaceutical, banking, and other industries, Dave Hay has here not only developed a conceptual model of such a metadata repository, he has in fact created a true enterprise data model of the information technology industry itself.

- The book is comprehensive, in that it is based on the Zachman Framework for information architecture, encompassing the Business Owner's, Architect's, and Designer's views, for all columns (data, activities, locations, people, timing, and motivation).
- The book is comprehensible, in that it provides a step-by-step description of model and is organized so that different readers can benefit from different parts;.
- The book takes advantage of the author's vast experience modeling various other industries;
- The model provides a view of the world being addressed by all the techniques, methods and tools of the information processing industry (for example, object-oriented design, CASE, business process re-engineering, etc.).
- Indeed it presents many concepts that are not currently being addressed by such tools, but should be.

David C. Hay is founder of Essential Strategies, Inc., a consulting firm dedicated to helping clients define corporate information architecture, identify requirements, and plan strategies for the implementation of new systems, including data warehouses. A pioneer in the use of standard data models for standard business situations, he is the author of the book Data Model Patterns: Conventions of Thought. Taking advantage of thirty years' experience helping companies identify systems requirements, he is also the author of Requirements Analysis: From Business Views to Architecture. He is a member of DAMA International and the Oracle Development Tools User Group, and has spoken frequently at events sponsored by these groups and others.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 1 edition (July 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0120887983
• ISBN-13: 978-0120887989
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #400,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Hay was born in Grand Junction, Colorado, mid-way through the last century, when it was significant that his home town was some 250 miles from any city of any size. Back in those days, it mattered. His knowledge of the outside world was limited to magazines, movies, and the public library. (OK, he'd had some friends who'd been there, but he didn't believe a word of what they said.) It was all fiction. This valley was the whole world to him.

Then one beautiful September day, he took his first plane ride. Three hours later, he was by himself in the middle of Los Angeles International Airport at 5:00 on a Friday afternoon--trying to find his way to college.

Pretty much the rest of his life has been spent recovering from that afternoon.

The college was Claremont Men's College (now Claremont McKenna College) in the heart of the smoggy San Gabriel Valley. He remembers it as being pretty traumatic for him, but then this was Southern California in the late 1960s and life was traumatic--and exciting--for everyone. And this "outside world" business was pretty intriguing, too. So much so that when he graduated, he decided that the only logical thing to do was to move to New York City. Why not?

So, with no money, no job, no experience, and a degree in Philosophy, he set out to find his fortune in the big apple.

From there he discovered the rest of the world. Among other things, in 1973, he had a life-changing trip through Eastern Europe during the height of the Cold War. OK, that one wasn't quite so traumatic. He went back to Warsaw the following year to marry the single most wonderful woman he'd ever met.

He got his MBA from New York University the year after that.

In the late 1980s, he discovered data modeling. He took to it in a big way. But not the way most people did. Rather than viewing it as a vehicle for database design, he viewed it as a way to crack open the secrets of a company's semantics, and with that, its very nature. He discovered, among other things that if you model the underlying nature of a business, you have just modeled the underlying nature of pretty much any business.

From this experience came "Data Model Patterns: Conventions of Thought", a groundbreaking book describing a set of standard data models for standard business situations.

At about the same time, he created a consulting practice, Essential Strategies, Inc. (http://essentialstrategies.com), that offers data modeling services to a wide range of industries all over the world. He uses data modeling to support strategic planning, requirements analysis, analysis of semantics and business rules, and data warehouse design. His clients have included representatives of oil (both production and refining), pharmaceutical research, television and movies, banking, among others. In each case, he goes into the company knowing only what he'd learned as a customer, and within a very short time (thanks to the model patterns) understand more about its underlying structure than many who worked there.

In 2003, he wrote "Requirements Analysis: From Business Views to Architecture", his unique approach to that subject. This is a compendium of some thirty years' worth of analytical techniques, organized according to his version of John Zachman's "Framework for Enterprise Architecture".

Then, in 2006, he published "Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map", the only book available that describes a complete schema of metadata--encompassing all aspects of both business and technical views. Moreover, it not only describes data from these various points of view, but also covers functions and processes, people and organizations, locations, timing, and motivation.

He has been an active participant in DAMA International, various Oracle user groups, the Object Management Group, and the Business Rules Group. He has given presentations on various data and methodological subjects all over the world.

A library of his articles may be found at articles.essentialstrategies.com. Thanks to the World-wide Web, his writings are read by practitioners from all over the world.

Not bad for a kid from Grand Junction, Colorado, eh?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Stuff, May 28, 2008

By 

R. Gantt "Comandante Zero" (Cyberland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) (Hardcover)

This book is great stuff for Enterprise Architects. The discussion of Zachman is better than any of the Zachman Institues articles. The explanation of the value of architectural meta-models is excellent.

On the down side, the meta-models presented are very good EXCEPT that the author still presents data as being a part of an application. Surely 20 or so years after James Martin we are past that. Applications with their own data schemata are to be avoided and suppressed, rather than endorsed.

If your are a "real" Enterprise Architect, then this is book indispensable, but review all of the meta-models carefully to insure that they comply with your particular religion.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Data Model Patterns - A Metadata Map by David C. Hay, November 17, 2006

By 

Margaret A. Tompkins (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) (Hardcover)

David Hay has produced another great book for the Data Architect, Data Administrator, and others who seek to understand data models, patterns in models, and metadata. It's more abstract than the previous Data Model Patterns, Conventions of Thought, and the focus is on information about information or metadata. The book is based on an Architecture Framework that is derived from John Zachman's "Framework for Enterprise Architecture". Examples are well developed and understandable. Much of the book expands on work and discussions through the Business Rules Group so you know the content is rock solid.

I especially liked the Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) for the EntityType, Attribute, and RelationshipEnd. This simple but comprehensive model allows for super and sub types and recursion. The Class Model (UML) with its components parallels the similarities for the object oriented perspective. One of the fundamental strengths of this book is the ability to view metadata from different perspectives. "Gemba" is a wonderful word from the worlds of Total Quality Management, Lean Thinking, and Six Sigma. It means "real place". This book is "gemba" for metadata. The different views or perspectives of metadata are excellent and perhaps that's why it fits the Architecture Framework so nicely.

Within each chapter, David Hay discusses a column of the Architecture Framework. The chapter on people and organizations is awesome! He covers the business owner's view, the architect's view, designer's view and security and governance. Significant numbers of easy to follow color-coded diagrams accompany each section in all the chapters that clarify and elaborate on the text discussion. At each level, the topic is put into the Zachman framework for added clarity.

The chapter on the motivation column is also exceptional. I've never seen ERDs for mission, vision, objective, goal, desired result, means, tactic, strategy, directive, fact, business rule, business policy, enforcement, and consequence. How outstanding! That chapter alone is worth the price of the book and it really got me to thinking in much larger metadata type terms. Those organizations faced with governmental and business policies such as Sarbanes-Oxley will have much to think about with this data model!

Back in 2002, it was my distinct pleasure to read for the first time David Hay's book, Requirements Analysis: From Business Views to Architecture. That book is excellent and is packed full of features that really impressed me. He's included those same terrific features in this book as well. So as I wrote then, I'll repeat now: "The index is excellent! It's quite extensive, complete, and well organized. The bibliography is also exceptional and very complete. The glossary of terms is first rate! I especially liked the notations of chapters where the terms were documented. All of these excellent features point to the superb organization of the book. It's a classic read and a must-have reference!"


Maggie Tompkins is a lead designer/developer for corporate database projects. She's a member of the Oracle Development Tools User Group (ODTUG) Board of Directors and is Editor Emeritus of the ODTUG Technical Journal. She is a previous vice president and secretary of ODTUG. She won the Best Speaker award for the ODTUG 2000 conference. Maggie has thirteen years of experience with Oracle tools and expertise includes Oracle SCM, Designer, database design, and methodology. She's a teacher, mentor, frequent presenter, and active participant on the ODTUG list serves. [e-mail].

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enterprise Architecture, April 1, 2010

By 

Retired Reader (New Mexico) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) (Hardcover)

This is a very good book with a somewhat obscure title. Its subject is how to construct an information management system for a commercial enterprise. Its sub-title, "A Metadata Map" actually refers to the fact that the first step in building such a management system is to describe the business of the enterprise for which it is being constructed.
What Hay has done is update the absolutely first rate work of John Zachman who over twenty years ago developed the "Enterprise Architectural Framework" which is essentially a matrix that can guide the development of an information management system based on the organization structure and processes of the enterprise itself. The Zachman framework is the basis for the "Data Model Patterns" in the title of this book and indeed the book is organized around this framework. It provides step by step descriptions on the construction of an information management system for a notional enterprise.
It should be noted that Hay is well aware that information management is more than simply building a database (data warehouse). Information storage is pointless without some means of organizing and classifying it. In his experience as a consultant to Oracle he learned to model the structure of an enterprise not simply a data base. This is something that is possible using a relational database which can be used to describe the structure of an organization. The "metadata" used in this book refers to a description of the information used and to the description of the enterprise itself. As Hay notes there are many resources that can be used when constructing an information management system for a commercial enterprise. For example he advises going to the Business Rules Group to obtain both correct terminology and rules compliant with standard business practices.
This book is good as a practical guide and as an excellent exposition on the Zachman Framework.