How To Buy The Right Data Modeling ToolData models in Information Technology refer to organizing data. Data could be of several types such as customer information, employee information, product inventory, finances, and so on. When you organize all this data in a manageable structure, you create a data model. In other words, data modeling means preparing data into a data model. Today, you can use a data modeling tool for managing data and making data models. These tools are also software packages. Software designers often create data modeling software as entity-relationship diagrams (ERD). An ERD is a graphical representation of the data, where each entity represents a subject which influences the data. Entity can be the name of a person, or an expense head, or the name of a computer. Entities are linked to one another by relationships. For example: 'Graham operates computer A'. In this, Graham and computer A are the entities while 'operates' is the relationship. In the same way, if it were 'Graham repairs computer B', then Graham and computer B are the entities while the relationship is now 'repairs'. So, there can be several relationships between the entities, resulting in a weblike pattern, known as a diagram. Many companies use data modeling tools to organize both simple and as well complex data. One instance of this would be how different members of the staff handle different clients, or how different employees perform different jobs and assignments given to them. The ERWIN data modeling tool is popular with many companies. ERWIN stands for Entity Relationship for Windows. Logic Works developed this data modeling tool especially for the Windows platform. Microsoft Windows itself has an efficient data modeling tool, known as Visio. You can use both these tools on SQL servers. They first record the entities graphically and then convert the graphical diagrams into the respective SQL codes for Windows. There are also many other data modeling tools available, such as the Poseidon, Case, Oracle Designer, MagicDraw, Druid, and Saphir. When buying a data modeling tool for your company's needs, you must first ask a few questions. First, consider the environment you want to model. There should be some relationship between the entities, which you can show in a graphical form. There must be a super-type entity, and further, subcategories if needed. For example, some data models would require you to keep supplier and customer contacts separately, whereas with others you can merge both contact lists into one. You also want your data modeling tool to show all the possible relationships between the entities in a single data model. Data modeling tools use a type indicator to find similar relationships between entities and then merge them into a single tool. Finally, you want to consider the look and feel of the data model is also important. The way the diagrams look, the fonts and colors used - everything makes a difference. You should be able to view the data model in subset views and from different perspectives. |