Databases are for simple facts, but there are fewer simple facts than people think. That’s why the database problem gets bigger and bigger.
SchemaSpy: Graphical Database Schema Metadata Browser
SchemaSpy is a Java-based tool (requires Java 5 or higher) that analyzes the metadata of a schema in a database and generates a visual representation of it in a browser-displayable format. It lets you click through the hierarchy of database tables via child and parent table relationships as represented by both HTML links and entity-relationship diagrams. It’s also designed to help resolve the obtuse errors that a database sometimes gives related to failures due to constraints.
Industry Standard Data Models Fall Short
Every manufacturer takes orders and ships products to fulfill the orders. Every insurance company sells policies and processes claims. Every transportation company moves cargo between an origin and a destination. The list goes on across other industries. Why bother “recreating the wheel” by designing custom data models to support these common business processes when you can buy an industry-standard model instead?
Drill Down to Ask Why, Part 1
In 2002, Bill Schmarzo, a former member of the Kimball Group, proposed a very useful architecture for decision-making, which he called the analytic application process. According to Bill, an analytic application consists of five stages:
- Publish reports. Provide standard operational and managerial “report cards” on the current state of a business.
- Identify exceptions. Reveal the exceptional performance situations to focus attention
- Determine causal factors. Seek to understand the “why” or root causes behind the identified exceptions.
- Model alternatives. Provide a backdrop to evaluate different decision alternatives.
- Track actions. Evaluate the effectiveness of the recommended actions and feed the decisions back to both the operational systems and DW, against which stage one reporting will be conducted, thereby closing the loop.