Graham Witt

This book brings all of the elements of database design together in a single volume, saving the reader the time and expense of making multiple purchases. It consolidates both introductory and advanced topics, thereby covering the gamut of database design methodology ? from ER and UML techniques, to conceptual data modeling and table transformation, to storing XML and querying moving objects databases. The proposed book expertly combines the finest database design material from the Morgan Kaufmann portfolio. Individual chapters are derived from a select group of MK books authored by the best and brightest in the field. These chapters are combined into one comprehensive volume in a way that allows it to be used as a reference work for those interested in new and developing aspects of database design. This book represents a quick and efficient way to unite valuable content from leading database design experts, thereby creating a definitive, one-stop-shopping opportunity for customers to receive the information they would otherwise need to round up from separate sources.

Sooner or later many technical professionals need to write-or contribute to-documents, such as requirements specifications, user manuals, and standards documents.A major contribution to the success of any project is the quality of the documentation.This book will assist anyone who wants to communicate more effectively when writing in the English language, in the US, the UK, the EU, or the British Commonwealth.It discusses what makes written communication effective, and-more to the point-what makes it ineffective. It contains practical advice for the technical writer, covering choice of words, arrangement into sentences, document organization, and layout. It contains numerous examples of both well-formed and poorly-formed statements.

This book is for all data modelers, data architects, and database designers―be they novices who want to learn what's involved in data modeling, or experienced modelers who want to brush up their skills. A novice will not only gain an overview of data modeling, they will also learn how to follow the data modeling process, including the activities required for each step. The experienced practitioner will discover (or rediscover) techniques to ensure that data models accurately reflect business requirements. This book describes rigorous yet easily implemented approaches to: modeling of business information requirements for review by business stakeholders before development of the logical data modelnormalizing data, based on simple questions rather than the formal definitions which many modelers find intimidatingnaming and defining concepts and attributesmodeling of time-variant datadocumenting business rules governing both the real world and datadata modeling in an Agile projectmanaging data model change in any type of project transforming a business information model to a logical data model against which developers can codeimplementing the logical data model in a traditional relational DBMS, an SQL:2003-compliant DBMS, an object-relational DBMS, or in XML.Part 1 describes business information models in-depth, including: the importance of modeling business information requirements before embarking on a logical data modelbusiness concepts (entity classes)attributes of business conceptsattribute classes as an alternative to DBMS data typesrelationships between business conceptstime-variant datageneralization and specialization of business conceptsnaming and defining the components of the business information modelbusiness rules governing data, including a distinction between real-world rules and data rules.Part 2 journeys from requirements to a working data resource, covering: sourcing data requirementsdeveloping the business information modelcommunicating it to business stakeholders for review, both as diagrams and verballymanaging data model changetransforming the business information model into a logical data model of stored data for implementation in a relational or object-relational DBMSattribute value representation and data constraints (important but often overlooked)modeling data vault, dimensional and XML data.

Writing Effective Business Rules moves beyond the fundamental dilemma of system design: defining business rules either in natural language, intelligible but often ambiguous, or program code (or rule engine instructions), unambiguous but unintelligible to stakeholders. Designed to meet the needs of business analysts, this book provides an exhaustive analysis of rule types and a set of syntactic templates from which unambiguous natural language rule statements of each type can be generated. A user guide to the SBVR specification, it explains how to develop an appropriate business vocabulary and generate quality rule statements using the appropriate templates and terms from the vocabulary. The resulting rule statements can be reviewed by business stakeholders for relevance and correctness, providing for a high level of confidence in their successful implementation.

Data Modeling Essentials, Third Edition, covers the basics of data modeling while focusing on developing a facility in techniques, rather than a simple familiarization with "the rules". In order to enable students to apply the basics of data modeling to real models, the book addresses the realities of developing systems in real-world situations by assessing the merits of a variety of possible solutions as well as using language and diagramming methods that represent industry practice. This revised edition has been given significantly expanded coverage and reorganized for greater reader comprehension even as it retains its distinctive hallmarks of readability and usefulness. Beginning with the basics, the book provides a thorough grounding in theory before guiding the reader through the various stages of applied data modeling and database design. Later chapters address advanced subjects, including business rules, data warehousing, enterprise-wide modeling and data management. It includes an entirely new section discussing the development of logical and physical modeling, along with new material describing a powerful technique for model verification. It also provides an excellent resource for additional lectures and exercises. This text is the ideal reference for data modelers, data architects, database designers, DBAs, and systems analysts, as well as undergraduate and graduate-level students looking for a real-world perspective.