Uses of data model

Traditionally, data models are created to ensure that the requirements for a new applications are fully understood and correctly captured before the actual database is created. Usually data models are created during the analysis and designing phases of a project.
In this post let us see some of the uses of data models.
  1. To gather requirements.
  2. To understand a business area.
  3. To understand an existing application.
  4. To educate team members.
  5. To perform impact analysis.
In future post we are going to understand about requirement gathering in more detail. In this post let us see about the remaining uses.


Business Area:


Data modeling provides a formal process for learning how part of the business works. Before understanding how the application that support the business works, it is necessary to understand how the business works, the completed data model will describe the business area.

Example: Before building an Invoice System, you need to know about the Invoicing business process.


Existing Application:


A data model can be derived from an existing application. The technical term for the process of building data models from existing application is "Rivers Engineering". Instead of modeling a new application, the data modeler may capture the information in existing application.

Example: Deriving a data model from an existing packaged software such as Magneto, WordPress databases.


Educating Team Members:



Developers need to understand the requirements and new team members need to come up to speed, a data model is an effective explanatory medium. Data model can convey information at different levels of details.


Impact Analysis:


What is the impact of adding or modifying structures for an application already in production?. A data model can capture the concepts and interactions that are impacted by a development project or program.

Example: Data modeling used to determine what impact modifying its structures would have on the purchased software.

I hope this post will help you to make you aware of the uses of the data model. In the next post let us see about the different levels of a data model.

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