The Data Model Resource Book: A Library of Logical Data Models and Data Warehouse Designs [Paperback]

Len Silverston (Author), W. H. Inmon (Author), Kent Graziano (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471153648 | ISBN-13: 978-0471153641 | Publication Date: March 1997 | Edition: 1

Proven data models that save companies' time and money developing data architectures, databases and data warehouses.

The Data Model Resource Book provides a common set of data models for specific functions common to most businesses, such as sales, marketing, order processing, contracts, shipments, invoicing, work efforts, budgeting, and accounting. Readers can apply more than one data model to their own company to meet specific data needs.

A CD-ROM ,sold separately, contains the SQL for all of the data models contained in the book in Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Microsoft SQL Server and ANSI compatable formats.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Proven data models that save companies' time and money developing databases and data warehouses. The Data Model Resource Book provides a common set of data models for specific functions common to most businesses, such as sales, marketing, order processing, budgeting, and accounting. Readers can apply more than one data model to their own company to meet specific data needs. A CD-ROM, sold separately, contains all of the data models contained in the book in electronic form.

From the Back Cover

Database and data warehouse designers, this book can save you and your staff hundreds of hours of hard work and tens of thousands of dollars in systems development costs and/or consultants' fees.

Let's face it, most data models are made up of common constructs that have been developed countless times before in other organizations. As a consequence, each time you build a data model from scratch it's like you're reinventing the wheel. Clearly, developing database systems and data warehouses would be much simpler if you had your own library of "best models" to work from. Now you do.

The Data Model Resource Book arms you with a set of proven data models and data warehouse designs for the core functions shared by most businesses. You get a comprehensive set of detailed models for marketing and sales, human resources, inventory, professional services, order processing, billing, product delivery, work order management, budgeting, accounting, and more. The authors also show you how to quickly convert the logical data models into enterprise-wide data warehouses as well as data marts.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 355 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471153648
• ISBN-13: 978-0471153641
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #653,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Bible For The Most Flexible Way To Solve Problems, May 11, 2000

By 

Jeffrey Schenk (Smyrna, Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Data Model Resource Book: A Library of Logical Data Models and Data Warehouse Designs (Paperback)

I purchased this book several years ago, and while I have other good
references on modeling, and other books with the Inmon name on them, I must
say this is the book that is highlighted, annotated, and worn.

The sample relationships set forth in this text are so exhaustively thought
out that I seldom find a real-world circumstance that the model won't
handle.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this text is that the authors reason aloud
about their motives for creating things in a particular fashion... so
whether you agree or not, at least you understand the what and why behind
the decision... very helpful when you're considering an alternate solution.
This book doesn't spell out relationships... it thinks them out.

If you're someone who needs to understand the reasoning beneath the doing,
someone who needs to be able to articulate your modeling decisions... then
here's your book.
€ÿ

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource of data models and physical designs, March 2, 1999

By 

Van Scott - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Data Model Resource Book: A Library of Logical Data Models and Data Warehouse Designs (Paperback)

The Resource Book is one of the more useful books I have seen on data architecture. It is just what it says: an (excellent) resource library for seven logical data models, one warehouse design, and two data mart designs. These data models and designs can be used as templates or starting points for your own modeling, an introduction to subject areas you might not be familiar with, validating your existing models, and a help to building a corporate data model. The logical models tend to be very complete. You probably won't need all their features, but they provide a good reference.

The book provides a good notation for showing the relationship among high-level models, mid-level models, and data warehouse and data mart designs. Instance tables (sample data) help bring the models to life. The book also provides a good methodology for transforming logical data models to data warehouse designs. The book is an extremely useful resource.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good Resource for Initiating a Modeling Effort, October 16, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Data Model Resource Book: A Library of Logical Data Models and Data Warehouse Designs (Paperback)

Have you ever had difficulty overcoming the inertia of "getting started" when preparing for a requirements gathering session? How often do you encounter subject matter experts who are not quite sure just what it is that they "need" from an information standpoint? I have found "The Data Model Resource Book" to be of significant assistance in preparing for Logical Modeling Sessions. In an effort to develop "Straw Man" models, in particular, this book has proven to be an excellent resource. In some cases, the basic concepts identified in the book, if not the structures of the models themselves, survive the analysis effort. The definitions and the structures provide stimuli to the thinking of the project team, resulting in a more thorough analysis of the subject area under consideration. I agree that Kimball's book "The Data Warehouse Toolkit" is probably the best resource going for data warehouse design and implementation with today's technology. It is true that this book is not the "Silver Bullet" for slaying the data modeling werewolf. Nonetheless, for a wide variety of applications, (particularly Operational Applications) "The Data Model Resource Book" has been of much assistance.