Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.
€˙

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.

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.

If a topic becomes fashionable the bookshelves are crowded with books having the topic in their titles or subtitles. Add a 'famous' writer and the people will go for it. Dont' believe the titles and famous writers, have a closer look. If you need some generic data models for OLTP systems this book is a good start. But if you look for real data warehouse models read Ralp Kimballs Data Warehouse Toolkit, this is the real stuff.

This book provides excellent starting points for modeling basic business functions. I have found when modeling that it helps to ask another DBA's opinion on how they would aproach the same business process or data segment. This book serves as that second person. It provides proven models that can be effective for your own modeling activities. It is well worth the investment and then some.

The most difficult part of creating a business data model is recognizing and correctly identifying the entities of the business and the true relationships that connect them. Do this part wrong, and the rest of your design and programming effort will suffer immensely. Get it right, and the rest will come easy. This book gives you a tremendous jump start on the modeling task. Rather than trying to describe how to do it, this book works through the actual development of many of the most commonly encountered business data models. Not only are business entities identified and classified, but the complex relationships that most information systems need to address are modeled clearly and concisely.

Whether you use the templates as presented or just use them as a basis in your own modeling efforts, you should find this book a great resource. I wish something like this had been available years ago.

I have been looking for a book like this for years. It is a great book. I would describe it as a "Pattern-Oriented Data Modeling" book. The authors do not provide "how-to" guide lines. They provide generic data models.

The book includes real-world examples like work orders, invoices, an so on (not the classic car-wheels or house-rooms examples that you never find in real life).

There are several great logical data models. Physical models are data warehouse oriented though (this is the star left in my rating). I would rather like to see both (data warehouse and non-data warehouse) physical models.

If you are looking for some generic data models, this is an excellent book. I have used this book in the last three projects I worked on. There are models on generic Ordering, Shipping, Sales, Product & Inventory, HR, and other applications.

I found this book to be well written and a reflection of a vast amount of data modeling experience. The book provides insight into a number of very good data modeling techniques and provides enough detail to enable substantial productivity benefits over developing a data model from scratch. I see this book as an excellent reference for anyone needing to develop a data model as a part of any system development activity, including data warehousing. I agree however with the other reviewers of this book that star schema design is a critical component of most data warehousing solutions and that if your developing a data mart solution that Ralph Kimball's "Data Warehouse Toolkit" is an excellent book to buy as well.

Whether you are a beginner or have some experience in data modeling, this book can save you much time. It is absolutely practical and full of samples that you can use almost right away. I like the way the authors model people and organisations. The only thing that is missing here is demography/firmography which usually is paid great attention in data warehousing. I did not like the fact that the chapters on dimensional modeling only give an idea that there are modeling techniques other than ER-modeling. To learn them better I recommend one of those Kimball's books on dimensional modeling. So, this and other minor flaws gives the book four stars instead of five.