Datasheet
6
Part I ✦ Laying the Foundation
Suitability of Design
Several possible data store design models or types may be selected depending on the data
store’s scope and purpose.
The scope of the database involves the granularity of use within the organization (individual,
department, business unit, company, enterprise) and the temporal nature of the data (for
today only, for this fiscal year, forever). The rigor applied in the design and implementation
should be proportional to the scope of the data.
Table 1-1 summarizes the data store design types and their suitability for various data store
attributes (configuration and requirements).
Table 1-1: Suitability of Data Store Types by Level of Support
Relational Generic Data
Attribute DBMS Object DB O/R DBMS Pattern Warehouse
Suitable for master data store
Suitable for reference data store
Data retrieval performance
Supports schema flexibility
Ease of SQL Query/traditional
reporting tools
Well-established vendor
support
Requirement include several
“is-a” relationships
Stores complex data types
Complex multi-relational
associations
Ease of operations and tuning
Persisting application objects
Preventing data update anomaly
represents poor support, represents limited support, and represents full support.
Data Store Configurations
An enterprise’s data store configuration includes multiple types of data stores, as illustrated
in Figure 1-1. There are multiple types of data stores: master data stores, caching data stores,
reference data stores, data warehouses, and data marts.
05_542567 ch01.qxp 9/27/06 9:58 PM Page 6